Glacier Peak doesn’t have the level of exposure Kilauea does, where fissures are opening in neighborhoods, said Seth Moran, scientist-in-charge of the USGS Cascades Volcano Observatory. But volcanic mudflows from a large eruption of Glacier Peak could reach communities in the Stillaguamish and Skagit valleys, and the volcano could spew ash as far as British Columbia.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
It would be starkly different than what’s happening in Hawaii, Moran said.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
An update from the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory on<\/a> Monday described “lava fountaining, explosion of spatter more than 100 feet into the air, and an advancing lava flow.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t “The main thing that would be in common is that (Glacier Peak and Kilauea) are both volcanoes,” Moran said. “We wouldn’t see lava fountaining, we wouldn’t see fissures. The lava in Glacier Peak is much, much stickier than what’s in Kilauea.”<\/p>\n Glacier Peak as seen from the east, from Buck Creek Pass, in July 2007. (Wenatchee World file)\n Glacier Peak viewed from the east from Buck Creek Pass in July 2007. Photo by Rob Ollikainen\/Wenatchee World<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t The two biggest hazards from Snohomish County’s volcano would be ash and lahars, or volcanic mudflows, which would be fed by glaciers melting on contact with hot volcanic rock. Mud, melt and debris roughly the consistency of wet cement would rush down the mountain.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t “Lahars can go for a while and they can be very destructive,” Moran said.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t Several communities, including Darrington, sit atop the remnants of such flows from millennia past.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t Of Washington’s five active volcanoes, Glacier Peak is the most remote. The peak is named for more than a dozen glaciers that cling to its sides. It has produced some of the largest, most explosive eruptions in the continental U.S. and has erupted at least six times since the end of the last ice age, according to the USGS<\/a>. Researchers estimate the most recent was less than 300 years ago.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t More than a decade ago, an assessment by the National Volcano Early Warning System found that Glacier Peak needs better monitoring. A single seismometer, installed in September 2001, is the only station there<\/a>.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t The goal is to add four more monitoring stations. That project is in the permitting phase with the U.S. Forest Service, Moran said.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t![\"Glacier](\"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/11932995_web1_M-0516_loc_GlacierPeak3-EDH-180513.jpg\")
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