The last time Mount St. Helens erupted was nearly 10 years ago, but there’s some unfounded fears that it might again blow.
However, that appears to be just the product of a misleading headline.
An Associated Press report a few days ago said that the Washington state volcano is showing signs of life again.
The US Geological Survey has developed new equipment around the US and the world to monitor seismic and geologic activity.
John Ewert, a scientist with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Cascades Volcano Observatory, said that the volcano is in the process of building up magma and re-pressurizing, which will likely cause an eruption in the future.
Scientists, however, do no believe the next eruption will be as massive and violent as the one in 1980, which killed 57 people and did large quantities of damage. The eruptions in 2004 and later in 2006 were far less destructive.
“Every eruption that we observe contributes some new clues about volcanic systems, and opportunities to test equipment and warning systems useful for saving lives at volcanoes in the U.S. and around the world,” Ewert stated in a press release, via Weather.com. “Mount St. Helens has become our ‘go-to backyard volcano’ for testing volcano monitoring tools and models applied to understanding re-awakening volcanic systems.”
Meanwhile, a USGS seismologist, Seth Moran, told AP that “It looks like Mount St. Helens is getting ready to erupt again and it can happen in the order of years to decades.”
Some of the fears of another eruption were triggered by the deadly Mount Ontake eruption in Japan a few days ago.
