volcano Archives - Northwest Public Broadcasting

At Age 6, He And Classmates Fled Mount St. Helens. 40 Years Later, This Reporter Recalls That Day

By Austin Jenkins May 18, 2020

Reporter Austin Jenkins, in green circle, was part of a Puget Sound Primary School trip to Camp Cispus in May 1980. Austin and his classmates were evacuated from the camp after Mount St. Helens erupted.

Olympia Correspondent Austin Jenkins was a first grader on a school camping trip near Mount St. Helens when the volcano erupted on May 18, 1980. Austin recently unearthed his scrapbook from that time and interviewed several others who were on that memorable trip. On this 40th anniversary of the eruption, Austin recounts their harrowing escape.Read More

A Landscape Changed In An Instant Keeps Evolving, 40 Years After Mount St. Helens Blew

By Nicholas Deshais May 17, 2020

The 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens sent a plume of ash that blotted out the sun in parts of Washington and North Idaho. The ash fell like snow, drifted as deep as two feet, and crushed crops, halted transportation and caused businesses to close. CREDIT: Christopher Anderson / Courtesy of Spokesman Review Archives

The photos of Mount St. Helens’ eruption taken on May 18, 1980, suggest a cataclysm that remains in the past, safely ensconced in history and available for warm recollection of when the world exploded and we survived. But that’s wrong.Read More

Eruption Anniversary Plans Blown Up And Reborn, Sort Of Like The Honoree: Mount St. Helens

By Tom Banse May 13, 2020

File photo. A classic view of Mount St. Helens from the Johnston Ridge Observatory and Visitor Center

There were once big plans for many public events to mark the 40th anniversary of the catastrophic 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens. The coronavirus pandemic blew up those plans, but many are resurfacing online this week and next.Read More

Video: Mexico’s Most Active Volcano Erupts, Spews Ash Cloud Nearly 20,000 Feet

By NPR News January 10, 2020

The dramatic explosion of Popocatépetl, about 40 miles south of Mexico City, sent columns of ash and debris shooting into the sky. Read More

Giant Pumice Raft Floating Towards Australia Could Help Replenish Great Barrier Reef

By NPR News August 25, 2019

NASA's Terra satellite captured the mass of floating pumice rock on August 13. NASA

An underwater volcano is thought to have produced a sheet of pumice that stretches 58 square miles.Read More

VIDEO: At Volcano Summer Camp, Safety Is A Blast

By NPR News May 24, 2019

Studying active volcanoes can be dangerous. Which is why a group of 40 scientists and engineers from all over the world came together to simulate volcanic blasts. What they're learning will help them at a real eruption.

Volcanoes have been crucial to life on earth. Oozing lava helped form our planet's land masses. Gases from volcanoes helped create our atmosphere. But despite the growing field of volcanology, there's still a lot we don't understand about volcanic eruptions.Read More

Scientists Are Getting New Tools To Monitor The Northwest’s Volcanoes

By Erin Ross March 22, 2019

File photo. Glacier Peak volcano Washington's central Cascades. CREDIT: Walter Siegmund/Wikimedia/Creative Commons BY-SA 3.

Eighteen volcanoes are classified as “very high threat” in the United States; eight of them are located in the Pacific Northwest. And right now only Mount St. Helens is considered well-monitored. The National Volcanic Early Warning and Monitoring Systems Act, passed in February, sets out to change that.Read More

Why Is Mount St. Helens Out Of Line With Other Peaks?

By Kristian Foden-Vencil September 5, 2018

Mount St. Helens is several miles west of where it might be expected to be when looking at the Ring-Of-Fire. CREDIT: OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY

For years, scientists have wondered why Mount St. Helens is out of line with other volcanoes on the Pacific Northwest’s ring-of-fire. Oregon State University scientists think they now have the answer.Read More