Not sure of my geography here-my understanding is that there is a large glacier on top of Mt. Rainier and that this could pose a problem in the event of a volcanic eruption.

http://edition.cnn.com/2004/US/11/10....ap/index.html

Am I correct?

umm...yeah...guess it is...

http://www.uccs.edu/~geogenvs/ges199...er/rainier.htm

There are several glaciers on Mt. Ranier. The Tahoma and Nisqually glaciers would be the one that posed the greatest threat to larger populated areas -- Tacoma and Olympia, WA.

Seattle would be spared the pyroclastic and mud floes, but might get dusted with alot of ash and some smaller debris.

Here is a drainage map.

South Puget Sound would be fouled with mud and debris. A large discharge of fresh water and mud would mess up the local ecosystem of the Sound. It might have effects well within the rest of Puget sound, also.

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Is there something going on with it? I've been following St. Helens but hadn't heard of anything else. Or is this a what if?

Well according to CNN, there has been an uptick in quakes at Mt Ranier in recent days (as bbp already indicated).

However, I wouldn't be to concerned yet.

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Old laser physicists never die, they just become incoherent.
These days, every Tom, Dick, and Harry thinks he knows what a photon is, but he is wrong. - Albert Einstein

Hey lookee there, he had a link too. ops:

OK, I need a nap.

[edited to add]
Blasted wrong button and computer problems.

OK, to continue. Is there anything other than one quake that's a cause for alarm. A similar sized quake happened in 2002 with no results, or is it just that with St. Helens we're sensitive to any little shake?

A few years back Discover did an article about what would happen if Rainier blows. Basically the little towns'll be gone (they have "volcano drills" even now to prepare in the event of an eruption) and Tacoma's not going to be too pretty either. As for Seattle, a past eruption did have the mudflow reach what is downtown Seattle... now I'm not a sadist or anything but I've got a soft spot for natural disasters so I'm watching this VERY closely! Muahahaha!

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How will this affect Microsoft's profitability?

Heh, probably not much. A nearby volcano isn't gonna stop Microsoft. :wink:

---blip---
"...Microsoft, the US software giant, has announced a proposal to payout more than $75 billion in dividends to shareholders over the next four years.
The huge windfall is set to commence late this year with a one-off dividend worth a huge $32 billion being scheduled for December..."
http://tinyurl.com/5j69j

Unless the $75 billion is under megatons of glowing lava. Perhaps they should write down the serial numbers and photo the bills?





Please don't explain to me there is no pile of cash.

Microsoft is in Redmond and not in any way at risk except for ash falls.

Orting, the 'small town' that has lahar drills in case of a Mt Rainier lahar, (essentially a hot mud slide), is really more of a suburb than a small town.

Lahars can occur without an eruption and there is evidence for many in the past. Orting and other towns and suburbs are built on past mud flows.

We had a couple of small quakes at Rainier. One of three webcorders have some tiny regular irregularities but I can't tell if the tracings are quakes or artifact. In any case, nothing noteworthy has occurred as of yet.

But it could happen. 8-[

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I find it interesting that Lassen and Mt Shasta are the only active cascades not to have a seisograph recorder, given the fact that they are amoung the most active of the cascade volcanoes.

Here are the current stations. It looks like Lassen's closed in 1999 and Shasta is monitored out of Yreka. There is no reason to have a webcorder on a peak unless it is actually active. Small volcano quakes are interesting, but actual magma activity will be picked up by other recorders and equipment can be put in place at any time.

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Volcano Sniffing:
"...False alarms should not occur, because carbon isotope ratios in magma differ significantly from those in the crust. The changes that the laser helps to detect also take place over weeks to months, providing time to compare data from other instruments, as well as ample evacuation notice..."

You can escape an eruption in time, but a lahar is a landslide and not always triggered by an eruption.

http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/About/High...highlight.html

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