Get to know CVO: Erin Lysne, VALT and… the ghost of VALT?

Happy Halloween from the Cascades Volcano Observatory.

By Cascades Volcano Observatory November 4, 2024

At the Cascades Volcano Observatory, staff use technical skills and creativity to solve complex problems and innovate for the future. Erin personifies the cleverness, craftsmanship and creativity that makes volcano science meaningful and FUN!

Meet Erin

Erin Lysne works in the USGS Cascades Volcano Observatory's Sediment Laboratory, where she processes soil, lahar, ash, and suspended sediment water samples from the Pacific Northwest, as well as locations all over the country. Erin enjoys sharing her love of suspended sediment with students, visitors, and the public. If you attend the May 2025 Cascades Volcano Observatory Open House (more on that soon) you will find her in the lab with our Sediment Analysis Laboratory Instrument, better known as SALI, the robot. Erin also works in the field survey setting, notably conducting the annual Crater Glacier survey at Mount St. Helens.

Erin Lysne teaches student from a local elementary school about how the Sediment Analysis Laboratory Instrument, better known

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View of volcano monitoring station VALT in the crater of Mount St. Helens with rock-covered Crater Glacier nearby.

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RIP VALT

The VALT monitoring station was installed in 2006 on Mount St. Helens' crater floor. For 18 years, it withstood snow, ice, rain, wind, and baking heat, detecting rockfalls, earthquakes, and the steady advance of Crater Glacier. As the distance between Crater Glacier and VALT decreased, it was clear a demobilization plan was needed. Anxious about damage to the station from the advancing glacier and hazards to people working at the site, a CVO field team dismantled VALT on June 6, 2024.

Because of its history, Mount St. Helens is a very well instrumented volcano and no gaps in monitoring are anticipated. In the future, a new site will be found for VALT away from the reach of Crater Glacier.

Erin had a front row view as Crater Glacier advanced toward VALT 

During the 2004-08 eruption, the emerging lava spines split Crater Glacier in two, shoving the ice up against the enclosing crater walls. This caused the separate arms of ice to surge around the east and west sides of the lava domes, moving as much as 4.5 feet per day. The arms merged in the spring of 2008 to completely encircle the lava domes. After the eruption ended, the glacier’s wide terminus continued to advance northward across the crater floor a rate of about 1 foot per day, headed toward VALT. We know this because the advance of Crater Glacier is measured using GPS survey techniques by CVO scientists, including Erin and Tami Christianson.

Erin Lysne using a GPS unit to measure the advancing front of Crater Glacier at Mount St. Helens in June of 2024.

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Erin wearing her handmade VALT costume for Halloween outside the Cascades Volcano Observatory.

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The Ghost of Vault

On Halloween, October 31, 2024, Erin dazzled in a handcrafted VALT costume, complete with working solar panels. This costume amazed the Volcano Science Center team, easily taking first place in the Cascades Volcano Observatory staff costume contest.

Congrats on your win, Erin and thank you for all you do!