Harry Glicken (March 7, 1958 – June 3, 1991) was an American volcanologist. He researched Mount St. Helens in the United States before and after its 1980 eruption, and was very distraught about the death of volcanologist David A. Johnston, who was Glicken's mentor and supervisor in Spring 1980 at Mount St. Helens. Glicken was initially assigned to the USGS observation post in the weeks leading up to the eruption but had to leave the night before the eruption, in order to attend a work appointment.
In 1991, while conducting avalanche research on Mount Unzen in Japan, Glicken and fellow volcanologists Katia and Maurice Krafft were killed by a pyroclastic flow. His remains were found four days later and were cremated in accordance with his parents' request. Glicken and Johnston remain the only American volcanologists known to have died in volcanic eruptions.
Despite a long-term interest in working for the United States Geological Survey, Glicken never received a permanent post there because there was a hiring freeze for federal agencies when he graduated with his PhD. While conducting research from sponsorships granted by the National Science Foundation and other organizations, Glicken accrued expertise in the field of volcanic debris avalanches. He also wrote several major publications on the topic, including his doctoral dissertation based on his research at Mount St. Helens titled "Rockslide-debris Avalanche of May 18, 1980, Mount St. Helens Volcano, Washington" that initiated widespread interest in the phenomenon.
Since being published posthumously by Glicken's colleagues in 1996, the report has been acknowledged by many other publications on debris avalanches. Following his death, Glicken was praised by associates for his love of volcanoes and commitment to his field.
Life and career
Early work
Glicken was born in 1958 to Milton and Ida Glicken. He graduated from Stanford University in 1980. Later that year, while a graduate student at the University of California, Santa Barbara, he was temporarily hired by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) to help monitor the volcano Mount St. Helens in Washington state. St. Helens, dormant since the 1840s and 1850s, resumed activity in March 1980.
As seismic and volcanic activity increased, volcanologists working for the USGS in its Vancouver branch prepared to observe any impending eruption. Geologist Don Swanson and others placed reflectors on and around the growing lava domes, and, on May 1, 1980,
On May 18, 1980, after working for six days straight, despite expressing concerns about its safety given indications of mobile magma within the volcano.
After the eruption, Glicken went to Toutle High School, the center for relief efforts, where he joined Air Force Reserve Rescue Squadron officials in a helicopter to look for Johnston or any sign of his post. Despite searching with three separate crews over a span of nearly six hours, Glicken found no trace. He attempted to enlist a fourth helicopter crew to aid his search, but they declined, fearing dangerous conditions. In his distraught state, Glicken refused to accept Johnston's death, and had to be comforted by Swanson before calming down.
In mid-1980, after the May eruption, USGS Survey scientists decided to establish the David A. Johnston Cascades Volcano Observatory (CVO) in Vancouver, intending to closely monitor volcanoes in Oregon, Washington, and Idaho. Glicken returned to St. Helens hoping to join the 'autopsy' team. However, every aspect of the eruption had been claimed by different survey scientists, and as a doctoral student at UC Santa Barbara studying with Richard Fisher, Glicken was not a survey employee.
Instead, he found work with newly appointed Survey employee Barry Voight, a specialist in landslides. Under Voight's guidance, Glicken absorbed himself in his work, motivated to earn a job at the Survey, and to relieve some of his anguish over Johnston's death. Glicken and a team of geologists mapped the debris field left over from St. Helens's structural collapse, which consisted of roughly a quarter of the mass of the volcano. Through extensive, meticulous analysis, the team traced the origins and the means of movement of each piece of debris, ranging from blocks in width to mere fragments.
With his group, Glicken compiled a landmark study in the field of volcanic landslides, establishing the principle that tall volcanoes have a tendency to collapse. The study garnered praise for its unique conclusions and attention to detail, inspiring volcanologists to identify similar deposit mounds at volcanoes around the world. After the findings from his dissertation were published in several shorter articles throughout the 1980s, also serving as an assistant researcher at the University of California at Santa Barbara.
From 1989 to 1991, Glicken continued his volcanological studies in Japan as a postdoctoral fellow at the Earthquake Research Institute of the University of Tokyo, supported by grants from the U.S. National Science Foundation. Later, while a research professor and translator at Tokyo Metropolitan University, Glicken became involved with research at Mount Unzen. The volcano had recently resumed eruptive activity in November 1990, after being dormant for 198 years. In the months after its first activity, it erupted sporadically, and the government evacuated its vicinity near the end of May 1991.
On June 2, 1991, Glicken visited the mountain with Katia and Maurice Krafft. and the remains of the flow extended in length. Glicken's remains were found four days later, and were cremated according to his parents' wishes.
Glicken's report is titled "Rockslide-debris Avalanche of May 18, 1980, Mount St. Helens Volcano, Washington". It comprises his extensive laboratory and field work, supplemented by photographs of the eruption, writings that describe St. Helens before the eruption, and references to previous publications, including Voight's work. In the report, Glicken constructed a map of the landslide deposit at a scale of 1:24000, followed by a lithologic map describing rock varieties at a scale of 1:12000.
Associate Robin Holcomb remarks that "Harry was very enthusiastic, very bright, and very ambitious, ambitious to do something worthwhile on volcanoes." Many studies have utilized Glicken's criteria for volcanic landslide recognition, and many subsequent papers on avalanches have acknowledged or referenced Glicken's 1996 report.
Selected publications
Most of Glicken's published work centers around the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens. He also coauthored works with other volcanologists that focused on debris avalanches. Colleague Jon Major writes that "The full scope of Harry's work ... has never been published."