Earth  ID: 10934

Devastation And Recovery

Story by Adam P Voiland | Visualizations by Robert Simmon Released on March 27, 2012
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Shades of green have slowly reclaimed the scarred landscape around Mount St. Helens.
After two months of geologic volatility, an earthquake on May 18, 1980, triggered the northern flank of Mount St. Helens to collapse, sending an enormous avalanche of debris crashing toward the North Fork Toutle River in southwest Washington. Like a bottle of champagne shattering as it's uncorked, hot rocks, ash, gas and steam exploded from the volcano, obliterating the forested landscape to the north. The velocity of the blast exceeded speeds of 670 miles per hour, shearing trees at their trunks up to 19 miles away. The video below, based on images captured by USGS-NASA Landsat satellites between 1979 and 2011, documents the scale of the devastation and the surrounding vegetation's slow road to recovery. Some finer details aren't visible from space, so scientists have closely monitored the aftermath from the ground, as seen in photos taken from the USGS archive included in the media gallery.
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False-color and true-color images show the vegetation (red and green, respectively) around Mount St. Helens before and after the eruption.
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Little visible regrowth of vegetation had occurred around Spirit Lake and the North Fork Toutle River by 1984.
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By 2011, the only area that appeared bare in satellite images was the Pumice Plain, which saw heavy lava flow after the eruption.
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This aerial photo, taken the day after the eruption, shows the remains of once-lush forests around Spirit Lake.
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Enough timber to build 150,000 homes was flattened or damaged by the blast of the eruption.
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Fireweed, seen in this 1984 photo, was one of the first plants to return to the area. In the background, floating debris covers Spirit Lake.
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By 2005, regrowth could be seen throughout the main channel carved by the avalanche and eruption.

For More Information

NASA Earth Observatory

Story Credits

Lead Visualizer/Animator:
Robert Simmon (Sigma Space Corporation)

Lead Writer:
Adam P Voiland (Wyle Information Systems)

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA Earth Observatory
Photos courtesy of USGS: Mount St. Helens, Washington Regrowth and Recovery Images 1980-Current

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https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10934

Keywords:
SVS >> App
NASA Science >> Earth