Hi All,

I've got some catching up to do in letting you know how Melanie is doing on the mountain. Yesterday they installed another GPS unit on the lava dome which brings the total to three. The South Side webicorder was recalibrated and desensitized so it doesn't record the quakes where they take up the entire line all of the time and thus its easier to read. They've also installed a broadband seismometer as well.

The rain from Tuesday night has left 20 million gallons of water on the dome and also caused two lahars. One in the north Toutle River and a smaller one occurred at Spirit Lake. Meanwhile, despite the lower seismicity the dome grew an additional 100 feet in the last two days. So far the dome has risen 250 feet since Saturday. She says it is very apparent to anyone who visits daily when they get out of their cars to immediately see the changes. As I can't see it personally, I imagine that since most rooms have 8 foot ceilings to visualize 50 feet up and then try to image 250 feet and realize it's like a sky scraper in the making.

She's done a good job of ferreting out bits of information. She's been to the scientists area where the reports hang out and they call it "satellite city." Last night she sat down to dinner immediately behind a group of scientists, overheard the discussion and then politely asked them some questions after she had her dinner. They were very nice about it and don't mind discussing issues with her. As for the thoughts on what may happen they said those who feel this is just a dome building event are in a scant minority and the rest feel quite confident an explosive eruption is going to occur. They feel relatively certain this eruption will go straight up from the data readings they've developed so far. No one has mentioned anything having to do with Helium 3.

Today nothing very spectacular occurred. The volcano was emitting steam all day long and there were a multitude of helicopter fly overs to gather more information.

It's supposed to rain for the next three days so she remains a little puzzled as to how much longer she will be staying. She's rather hanging loose to see what develops before she makes a final decision as to when to return to the Bay Area.

She's had her story told several times for many publications including one from the UK and when she turned on the TV news last night, got to see herself. LOL

Petra