Mount St. Helens Geographic Context

• Located 50 miles northeast of Portland, Oregon on western edge of Cascade Mountains
• 8,300 feet elevation, covered with snow year-round
• Active volcano with rugged terrain, not for faint of heart
• Young glacier rapidly growing around lava cone

2012 Discovery of Godzilla Hole

• Scientists conducting aerial survey discovered odd feature
• Massive hole 60 feet wide in glacier ice
• Ominous black object appearance led to "Godzilla hole" nickname
• Resembled entrance to monster's lair

Mount St. Helens Volcanic History

• Site of deadliest volcanic eruption in U.S. history (1980)
• Dormant for over 100 years before eruption
• Spewed 540 million tons of ash into air
• Triggered massive landslide killing 57 people
• Decimated everything within 8-mile radius

Crater Access and Safety Protocols

• Crater strictly off-limits to public
• Only researchers monitoring eruption signs allowed
• Perilous environment with rock slides, huge boulders
• Scorching steam blasting from ground
• Glacier covered in deadly crevasses and unstable ice

Scientific Expedition into the Hole

• Researchers descended despite incredible danger
• Required climbing equipment, gas monitors, self-contained breathing apparatus
• Scientific and medical equipment needed
• 40-foot rappel into dark passage
• Lethal gases present: carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulfide, sulfur dioxide

Ice Cave Discovery and Characteristics

• Eerie cavernous ice cave at bottom
• 100-foot ceilings, completely uncharted territory
• Tall, narrow, huge ice cavern
• Strange and otherworldly appearance
• Thousands of scallops on cave walls (tiny indentations in ice)
• Vast group of towering caves beneath ice

Cave Formation Analysis

• Seismic readings confirmed Mount St. Helens not about to erupt
• Glacial volcanic caves extremely rare worldwide
• Only exist in few places globally
• Unlike rock cave formations - constantly shifting and changing
• Glacier growing and expanding 2 feet per day
• 25 years old but parts over 600 feet thick
• Over half square mile in area

3D Mapping and Structure

• Team used disto laser to determine cave volume
• Mapped entire 3D structure
• Over 7,500 feet of passages discovered
• 10 distinct caves identified
• Some caves several hundred yards long

Cave Formation Mechanisms

• Normally melt water carves glacial caves horizontally
• Vertical cave with dry rocky floor unusual
• Hot steam blasts from volcanic vents underneath rock
• Steam temperatures reach 140 degrees Fahrenheit
• Rising steam alone doesn't account for scalloped patterns

Air Circulation and Weather Systems

• Surprising amount of air blowing through caves
• Snowfall above causes glacier growth
• Hot air from volcanic vents rises and melts ice
• Melting cools air, interacts with outside airflow
• Creates winds within caves that sculpt walls
• Caves have their own weather systems
• Unique hot and cold dynamics representative of Earth weather behavior

Ecosystem Discovery

• New signs of life discovered in caves
• Mushrooms, moss, and rare microbes growing
• Own weather system and ecosystem
• Newly formed caves filled with volcanic gases
• Life thriving in hostile, unstable environment
• New ecosystem just beginning to be probed