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Forest Recovering From Mount St. Helens Eruption
The 1980 Mount Saint Helens eruption was one of the most significant natural disasters in the US in the past half-century. The eruption laid waste to 230 square miles. Landsat captured the extent of the destruction, with grey tones revealing widespread lava flows and ash deposits. Subsequent Landsat images over the years show the spread of vegetation recovery across the site.
The 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens leveled surrounding forest, blasted away over a thousand feet of the mountain's summit, and claimed 57 human lives.
Landsat satellites have tracked the recovery of the surrounding forest. This video shows that recovery, in a timelapse of annual images from 1979-2011.
Thirty years ago, Mount St. Helens roared back into major activity with a massive eruption that leveled surrounding forest, blasted away over a thousand feet of the mountain's summit, and claimed 57 human lives.
This short video shows the catastrophic eruption - and the amazing recovery of the surrounding ecosystem - through the eyes of the Landsat satellites, which have been imaging our planet for almost forty years.
For complete transcript, click here.
Credits
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight CenterImages used from NASA's Earth Observatory:
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/WorldOfChange/sthelens.phpLandsat is a joint program of NASA and USGS:
http://landsat.usgs.gov
http://www.nasa.gov/landsat
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Writer
- Ellen T. Gray (NASA/HQ)
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Video editors
- Jennifer A. Shoemaker (UMBC)
- Matthew Radcliff (KBRwyle)
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Producer
- Jennifer A. Shoemaker (UMBC)
Missions
This visualization is related to the following missions:Series
This visualization can be found in the following series:Datasets used in this visualization
Landsat-2 (Collected with the MSS sensor)
Landsat-3 (Collected with the MSS sensor)
Landsat-4 (Collected with the MSS sensor)
Landsat-5 (Collected with the TM sensor)
Note: While we identify the data sets used in these visualizations, we do not store any further details, nor the data sets themselves on our site.
Related pages
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ID: 12612 Produced Video
![In 1980, Mount St. Helens roared back into major activity with a massive eruption that leveled surrounding forest, blasted away over a thousand feet of the mountain's summit, and claimed 57 human lives.This short video shows the catastrophic eruption - and the amazing recovery of the surrounding ecosystem - through the eyes of the Landsat satellites, which have been imaging our planet for almost forty years. By observing red, near-infrared, and green wavelengths of light reflected off the surface, it is possible to distinguish healthy vegetation (in green) from bare ground (in magenta).Music: Running by Dirk Ehlert [BMI], Guillermo De La Barreda [BMI]Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.](/vis/a010000/a012600/a012612/12612-Mt-St-Helens-timelapse-print.jpg)
Landsat Tracks Mount St. Helens Recovery
Read moreIn 1980, Mount St. Helens roared back into major activity with a massive eruption that leveled surrounding forest, blasted away over a thousand feet of the mountain's summit, and claimed 57 human lives.This short video shows the catastrophic eruption - and the amazing recovery of the surrounding ecosystem - through the eyes of the Landsat satellites, which have been imaging our planet for almost forty years. By observing red, near-infrared, and green wavelengths of light reflected off the surface, it is possible to distinguish healthy vegetation (in green) from bare ground (in magenta).Music: Running by Dirk Ehlert [BMI], Guillermo De La Barreda [BMI]Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel. ||
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