October 12, 2004
By JOSEPH B. FRAZIER, News My Way
Photo: A steam plume colored by the rising sun rises above the crater of Mount St. Helens in southwest Washington Monday, Oct. 11, 2004. (AP Photo/Don Ryan)
MOUNT ST. HELENS, Wash. (AP) - Mount St. Helens vented more steam Monday as new thermal images revealed that parts of the lava dome in its crater are piping hot, a sign that magma continues to rise within the volcano.
Heat from parts of the lava dome exceeded scientists' instruments, which hadn't been calibrated to measure temperatures that high, said Jeff Wynn, chief scientist for volcano hazards at the U.S. Geological Survey's Cascades Volcano Observatory.
Willie Scott, a Geological Survey geologist, said temperatures in some spots could be as high as 400 to 570 degrees Fahrenheit.
"They didn't expect it to get that hot," Wynn told The Associated Press.
For more than a week, the restless mountain has sent steam, sometimes mixed with ash, venting from an upswelling of rock on the south side of the lava dome that's risen to at least 330 feet since scientists first spotted it Sept. 30.
The high temperatures detected Sunday suggest the magma could be right beneath the surface or much farther down, with the heat rising because of steam spewing up from below, Wynn said.
Activity is expected to ebb and flow, and scientists say the most likely scenario is weeks or months of occasional steam blasts and possibly some eruptions of fresh volcanic rock.
Officials have said an eruption could occur with very little warning, but do not expect anything like the 1980 blast that killed 57 people and coated much of the Northwest with ash.
---
On the Net:
U.S. Geological Survey regional site: http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Volcanoes/Cascades/CurrentActivity/
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20041012/D85LS0HO0.html