Scienceblogtwo

According to specialists from the University of Birmingham and the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk (CSER) at the University of Cambridge, the world is "woefully underprepared" for a major volcanic eruption and its expected effects on global supply networks, the climate, and food. They claim that there is a "widespread misperception" that the likelihood of big eruptions is minimal and call the government's present lack of investment in monitoring and mitigating possible volcano disasters "reckless" in a paper that was published in the journal Nature. The researchers contend that protective measures against volcanic destruction can be adopted, including better surveillance, enhanced public awareness, and magma management, and the funding required to do so is long overdue. "According to information gleaned from ice cores on the frequency of eruptions over a long period of time, there is a one-in-six possibility that a magnitude seven explosi...

For millennia, people have been in awe of volcanoes' incredible power. Tourists descended upon Iceland earlier this month to witness lava flowing from a fissure eruption on the Reykjanes peninsula. After Eyjafjallajökull erupted in 2010, the so-called "country of fire and ice" experienced a massive surge in visitors. Despite what might seem to be a magnetic pull, volcanic explosions pose a serious threat to people. There is a widespread misunderstanding of the deadly threat that volcanoes offer to society and the entire planet Earth, according to a study published yesterday in Nature by the University of Birmingham and the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk (CSER) at the University of Cambridge. Despite the fact that a big eruption poses a greater risk than an asteroid hit, the authors Michael Cassidy and Laura Mani claim that this misperception has caused a general lack of interest in being ready for one. The Hunga Tonga-Hunga Haapai volcano in Tonga experienced it...