Parts of Western North America Might Get Hit by a Volcanic Disaster; Early Warning Tech Might Be of No Use

Volcanic eruptions are one of the most destructive natural disasters that have taken countless lives throughout human history. However, with the help of modern technology, detecting certain natural phenomena has become relatively easier, giving people a window of opportunity to save their lives. However, this technology might not favor the residents of the Pacific Northwest region of America if Mount Rainier erupted, according to Popular Mechanics. 

Mount Rainier happens to be one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the country. This active stratovolcano towers over cities such as Seattle, Tacoma, Washington as well as Oregon which is home to over 90,000 people. Mount Rainier has not erupted or caused any massive destruction in the past 1,000 years but experts are worried it might blow up without a warning, causing widespread destruction.

"Mount Rainier keeps me up at night because it poses such a great threat to the surrounding communities,' Jess Phoenix, a volcanologist and ambassador for the Union of Concerned Scientists, previously said during an appearance on CNN. "Tacoma and South Seattle are built on 100-foot-thick ancient mudflows from eruptions of Mount Rainier."

When a volcano erupts, heaps of ash and volcanic clouds threaten to choke people. The volcanic mudflows or lahars are violent and fast-moving and can ravage communities in a matter of minutes. As mentioned by the U.S. Geological Survey, lahars can crush, bury, and carry away almost everything in their paths.

"Volcanoes are inherently unstable," Andy Lockhart, a former geophysicist at the CVO, explained per Popular Mechanics. "You might as well be standing on a slag pile. These are not mountains. These are just piles of rubble. They blow up. They fall apart. They float down rivers. Lahars that follow a volcanic eruption are forecastable. If there’s an uptick in seismic or volcanic activity at a volcano with a robust detection network, public officials will have advance notice and can evacuate communities early."

Volcanologist, Rocky Crandell published a report in 1963, expressing concerns about the glacial deposits at the foothills of Mount Rainier. Crandell described a massive lahar, known as the Electron Mudflow, that had formed about 500 years ago near an unstable region on Mount Rainier's western flank. "It’s not for lack of looking, it’s not for lack of expertise," Lockhart deduced. "We have some of the best people in the world focused on this. It’s just not there."

The last time America witnessed a catastrophic volcanic eruption was in 1980. Mount St. Helens located just 50 miles away from Mount Rainier, erupted and destroyed countless homes and took several lives.

"Anytime you’re trying to measure something in the field that happens infrequently and where it’s difficult to anticipate the magnitude, your chances of success are pretty small," U.S.G.S. scientist, Richard Iverson, said after he teamed up with U.S.G.S. technician, Richard LaHusen, to induce a landslide. They wanted to understand how some landslides become so mobile and started their experiment on the north side of Mount St. Helen where the 1980 landslide settled. It became clear to Iverson that the best way to study debris flows would be in a controlled, experimental setting, rather than in the field.