Volcanoes can wake up faster than expected

The most frequent active volcano in Iceland erupted again last weekend, after 7 years of silence. Meanwhile, scientists warn, seemingly sleeping volcanoes can "wake up" much faster than expected.

>> Europe's largest volcano 'wakes up'
>> Video: Iceland's most active volcano erupted

The strongest eruption in a century

The 20km column of smoke rising from Grimsvoetn volcano on Saturday night is the first sign that it is about to start a new eruption. Located under Iceland's largest glacier, Grimsvoetn is the most active volcano in this country. It erupted nine times between 1922 and 2004. Some of Iceland's airports were closed and domestic flights were temporarily interrupted due to volcanic ash fears.

MagnusscientistTumi Gudmundssonacknowledged that there are still many issues of volcanic activity that are beyond the knowledge of today's science.

According to scientists, this may be the strongest eruption of the Grimsvoetn volcano over the last 100 years, larger than the eruption of Eyjafjallajokul last year. This disaster caused more than 95,000 flights across Europe to be postponed and economic losses of up to $ 200 million per day. However, the impact of Grimsvoetn on aviation operations will not be as serious as Eyjafjallajokul. Magnus Tumi Gudmundsson, Iceland University geophysicist, said ash from the Grimsvotn volcano was larger than Eyjafjallajokull's ash, so they fell to the ground faster and thus could not fly too high or spread. far.

Danger from sleeping volcanoes

Although volcanic activity is very high, Grimsvoetn is not a dangerous volcano, compared to the giants who have slept for many years as volcanoes in the Yellowstone (USA) area, Valles (Mexico). ), the islands of Japan, New Zealand . At least two recently published studies warn that these volcanoes can wake up much faster than predicted by scientists. learn.

Scientists still believe that volcanic magma moves to the surface at a rather slow speed, so they can detect abnormal seismic signs in the surrounding area for several days, even weeks ago. eruption. But research conducted by the Earth Science Institute (France) at volcano Chaitén (Chile) shows that in this volcanic eruption in 2008, this time only lasted less than 30 hours.

Another study done by Washington University experts (USA) with the computer model, then compared with some actual eruptions, typically the 1991 Pinatubo disaster in the Philippines. also give the same results. Accordingly, in the disaster of Pinatubo, volcanic magma furnace only needs 20 - 80 days to reach the liquid and temperature enough to operate again, instead of 500 years as traditional theory. George Bergantz, co-author of the study, said that one of the reasons for volcanoes to wake up so quickly is because the magmatic transport in the system is much more effective than what scientists do. had speculated before. However, Bergantz also emphasized that the hot magma furnace did not always lead to eruption.

The scientist acknowledged that there are still many issues of volcanic activity that are beyond the knowledge of today's science."Watching a volcano is like seeing a car exhaust, while what you really want to see is a car engine. Its entire process is hidden inside the Earth's crust."