Terrawatch: Santorini braces as explosive volcano stirs - The Guardian
Terrawatch: Santorini braces as explosive volcano stirs - The Guardian
Jan 25, 202341 secs
It has been quiet for nearly 400 years, but Kolumbo, an underwater volcano just off the Greek island of Santorini, is not asleep.A previously undetected magma chamber is gradually filling with melt, prompting researchers to recommend real-time monitoring of the volcano.It is also liable to trigger a tsunami, making it a highly dangerous prospect.Using a new imaging technique – similar to a medical ultrasound – Kajetan Chrapkiewicz, from Imperial College London, and his colleagues spotted melt gathering roughly two miles beneath the volcano.Their conclusions, which are published in the journal Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, suggest that although an eruption is not imminent, the volcano poses a serious threat.Among other things, they hope to understand the links between earthquakes and volcanoes in this region, and to investigate the influence of sea-level change on the size and frequency of eruptions.