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A false-color infrared satellite image of Mount St. Helens and surrounding region from 1973, showing the mountain before its major eruption. Vegetation appears bright red, exposed land is gray, mountain snow caps appear light blue, and water bodies are dark blue. The Columbia River is visible in the lower left corner of the image.

Mt. St. Helens from Landsat

This 1973 Landsat 1 false-color infrared image shows Mount St. Helens almost a decade before its catastrophic 1980 eruption. Created using MSS bands 7, 5, and 4 displayed as red, green, and blue, the visualization highlights healthy forest vegetation in bright red, with the snow-capped peak appearing light blue at the center. This pre-eruption landscape would be dramatically altered when the mountain erupted, destroying much of the surrounding forest that appears intact in this view.

Image Credit: NASA/Jesse Allen
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