Mt. St. Helens, USA

A helicopter flies by the base of the slab or "fin" growing in the Mount St. Helens crater. This shot was taken from the northeast. Photo Courtesy of the U.S. Geologic Survey

A large "slab" or "fin" of molten rock is growing within the crater, pushing itself up and over previous lava dome growth, said Dan Dzurisin, a geologist with the U.S. Geologic Survey in Vancouver. The fin grows about four to five feet a day but loses some of that growth from rockfalls off its tip, Dzurisin said. The fin is about 300 feet tall from its base, reaching to 7,700 feet above sea level. That puts it about 70 feet below Shoestring Notch, the lowest point of the mountain's horseshoe-shaped crater. Cloudy weather blocked scientists' view of the mountain for several days, but Friday they were able to fly into the crater to adjust equipment and take photographs. They hope to have an animated clip on the MSH website at http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Volcanoes/MSH/ to show the growth in a five-day window. (Story via AP)

Cleveland, Alaska, USA

Cleveland Volcano erupted on May 23,2006 in a short-lived spurt that lasted only two hours. NASA astronaut and Expedition 13 science officer/flight engineer Jeffrey Williams on board the ISS grabbed a camera and caught this magnificent image.