Some volcanoes don’t give much — or any — warning before they go off.
Some volcanoes don’t give much — or any — warning before they go off. Veniaminof, Alaska, is one of them: it is a ‘stealthy’ volcano, which doesn’t show the traditional warning signs of an impending eruption, like the ground deforming or earthquakes. Now scientists have developed a way of modelling its behavior which could more effectively monitor potential eruptions and provide warning to people in the path of danger. Many stealthy volcanoes, like Stromboli in Italy or Popocatépetl in Mexico, are close to major air routes or large communities, so this modelling could save lives.
When volcanoes are preparing to erupt, scientists rely on typical signs to warn people living nearby: deformation of the ground and earthquakes, caused by underground chambers filling up with magma and volcanic gas. But some volcanoes, called ‘stealthy’ volcanoes, don’t give obvious warning signs. Now scientists studying Veniaminof, Alaska, have developed a model which could explain and predict stealthy eruptions.
“Despite major advances in monitoring, some volcanoes erupt with little or no detectable precursors, significantly increasing the risk to nearby populations,” said Dr Yuyu Li of the University of Illinois, lead author of the study in Frontiers in Earth Science. “Some of these volcanoes are located near major air routes or close to communities: examples include Popocatépetl and Colima in Mexico, Merapi in Indonesia, Galeras in Colombia, and Stromboli in Italy.
Read more at Frontiers
Photo Credit: dominickvietor via Pixabay
