USGS/Cascades Volcano Observatory, Vancouver, Washington
DESCRIPTION:
Volcano Photography
From:
Topinka, 1992,
Basic Photography at Mount St. Helens and Other Cascades Volcanoes:
IN: Ewert and Swanson, (eds.), 1992, Monitoring
Volcanoes: Techniques and Strategies Used by the Staff of the
Cascades Volcano Observatory, 1980-1990: USGS Bulletin 1966
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During the last decade, researchers at the
Cascades Volcano Observatory (CVO) in
Vancouver, Washington, have taken thousands of
photographs of Mount St. Helens
and the surrounding area, and hundreds more of other
Cascades volcanoes.
They
have used a great many types of cameras. Cameras are one of the most versatile
and useful tools available to document changes around volcanoes. Still cameras
take one picture at a time and can be divided on the basis of film size into
small format, medium format, and large format. There is also an
instant-processing still camera which produces a single image within 30 seconds.
Video and movie cameras are used for many of the same applications as still
cameras are are especially useful in oblique and illustrative terrestrial
photography. Video or movie footage is valuable when studying dynamic events
such as ash plumes or pyroclastic flows, or calculating the speed of lahars or
floods. Vertical and oblique aerial photography, repeat and illustrative
terrestrial photography, and time-lapse photography are all techniques available
for documenting changes occurring on or around volcanoes. the resulting
photographs and footage can be used for interpretation, illustrations in
publications, scientific talks and public slide shows, quantitative
measurements, and historical documentation of volcanic processes.
From:
Veatch, 1969,
Analysis of a 24-Year Photographic Record of Nisqually Glacier,
Mount Rainier National Park, Washington:
USGS Professional Paper 631
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A systematic coverage of Nisqually Glacier by photographs taken from a network
of stations on the ground was begun in 1942 to explore the value and limitations
of such photographs as an aid in glacier study. ...
Analyses were made of the annual photographs taken by the writer for 24 years
from about 20 stations. A number of pictures taken sporadically from 1884 to
1941 by others were also available for use in the study. Where possible, the
results obtained from photographs were compared with those from the available
engineering surveys. Such detailed analysis of an extensive photographic
coverage of a single glacier may be unique.
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URL for CVO HomePage is:
<http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/home.html>
URL for this page is:
<http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Monitoring/Photography/description_volcano_photography.html>
If you have questions or comments please contact:
<GS-CVO-WEB@usgs.gov>
04/24/98, Lyn Topinka