USGS/CVO Permanent Hydrological Research Station
The existing Hydrological Research Station located at Upper Smith Creek is a critical multipurpose station that helps scientists at the USGS to collect, analyze and interpret the influence of the 1980 Mt. St. Helen’s eruption blast deposit and tephra falls on hill slope runoff. The research sites consists a of variety of scientific instruments that measure precipitation, soil moisture, soil temperature, snow accumulation and melt, wind, solar radiation, soil water infiltration and subsurface water flow.
Visible structures at the research station include a 20 foot tall aluminum precipitation tower and a second smaller 15 foot Rhone tower that is mounted with a solar panel, ultrasonic sensor, and wind vane. Additional equipment includes a small steel enclosure located at the base of the smaller tower that holds up to 4 100 AHr silicone sealed batteries and a data logger. Data is manually download by staff from the USGS.
Currently, CVO operates only one multi-instrumented hydrological research station within the Mt. St. Helens Volcanic National Monument. Coordinates for the station are included below.
| Hydrologic Monitoring Station | ||||||
| Station Name | Latitude | Longitude | Elevation | Township | Range | Section |
| Upper Smith Creek Watershed | 46.24767 | -122.08233 | 3400 Ft. | 9N | 6E | 20 |
