Volcanoes

She and her team flew these drones while they were standing inside the crater to compare faraway atmospheric measurements with those closer to the source. They also used traditional ground-based sampling techniques to collect CO2 directly from the volcano’s gas vents.With their drone data, the researchers found concentrations that were 23 percent higher than usual atmospheric levels, indicating that—despite measuring far from the source—the samples contained enough volcanic CO2 that they could distinguish it in the data.…

Baleen whale skeleton in the Paris Museum of National History. Credit: Mark Clementz Today, increasing levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are warming up the planet. Climate change can disrupt the balance of ecosystems and contribute to endangerment and extinction of some species. New research suggests that a period of intense volcanism in the Central Andes may be the missing link in the story of past climate changes…

On the earth, there are often up to 50 volcanoes that are actively erupting at any given moment. In many of these volcanoes, heated gases like steam and carbon dioxide are more likely to be released than lava. Although it might be risky, collecting these gases is essential to understanding the puzzling behaviour of volcanoes. Collecting samples of gases being discharged by volcanoes is dangerous but now drones are making it safer and easier than ever before.…

An overhead shot of a volcano crater in east Java, Indonesia. Credit: Shutterstock Volcanic eruptions cannot be predicted with 100% certainty. However, details about an upcoming eruption can be estimated using the hot and smelly gases a volcano produces. …

Fagradalsfjall volcano in Iceland erupting at night.Recent discoveries from Iceland’s Fagradalsfjall eruptions alter what we know about how volcanoes work.Learning something that fundamentally changes how we understand our world doesn’t happen very often. But for University of California, Santa Barbara Earth scientist Matthew Jackson and the thousands of volcanologists across the globe, such a revelation has just occurred.While sampling magma from the Fagradalsfjall volcano in Iceland, Jackson and his colleagues uncovered…

Geological setting. a, Geological setting of the RP and the ITSCs of Reykjanes, Svartsengi, Fagradalsfjall, Krýsuvík and Brennisteinsfjöll extending from west to east are shown in bold13. The inset map of Iceland shows the location of the RP. Scale bar, 5 km b, The Fagradalsfjall ITSC and the eruption sites. The extent of the lava field corresponds to 10 May 2021 . The eruptive vents are shown with red circles. Sampling localities are also shown with…

Researchers rely on the rumble of magma moving underground to predict impending volcanic eruptions. But standard seismic tools provide only a rough picture of what's happening beneath Iceland's ice-covered volcanoes. ETH Zurich seismologist Andreas Fichtner and his colleagues recently showed how the same ice sheets that hide these volcanoes can amplify otherwise undetectable seismic signals. Iceland's most active volcano, Grímsvötn, is entirely covered by Europe's largest glacier. In recent history it has erupted…

A chest and table in one of the newly discovered rooms in the House of the Lararium.Photo: Courtesy of the Archaeological Park of PompeiiArchaeologists at Pompeii have announced the discovery of several furnished rooms in the House of the Lararium, a middle class residence on the ancient city’s northern side.Pompeii was famously preserved by the devastating eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE, an eruption that baked and suffocated its cosmopolitan habitants in superheated pyroclastic flows. The eruption covered the…

A tourist visits Fagradalsfjall on August 4.Image: Jeremie Richard (Getty Images)A volcano in Iceland has been spewinglava for the past few days, and as spectators angled their phones for the perfect shot, three tourists have been injured in an attempt to visit.Fagradalsfjall is a volcano in Iceland that is currently erupting approximately 18.6 miles (30 kilometers) southwest of the country’s capital, Reykjavik. Eruptions in Iceland are not uncommon, given the country’s geology, and as Fagradalsfjall began erupting on…

The volcano, named Fagradalsfjall, erupted 20 miles (32 kilometers) southwest of Reykjavik. Image: Marco Di Marco (AP)The Icelandic volcano Fagradalsfjall, located near the country’s capital Reykjavik and its airport Keflavik, has travelers both worried and in awe as the hotspot spews lava into the surrounding areas.In the midst of flight cancellations and lost luggage, the last thing you think might threaten your travels is a volcanic eruption sending hot magma to the surface and clouds of gas into the atmosphere. But…