Scientists simplify things to help lay people understand volcanoes. The reality, of course, is more complicated. Every volcano is unique. Volcanologists need to learn each one's "personality" and history when trying to help people nearby.
With limited resources, how do you choose which volcanoes to study? Here we have selected the 10 most dangerous in the world.
10. Mount Merapi, Indonesia
Population: nearly 25 million
Last known eruption: 2019
Merapi is one of Indonesia's most active volcanoes and is located in a densely populated region. Merapi's eruptions are also violent with long-lived pyroclastic flows. In addition to these terrible gray death clouds, Merapi hazards include lahars (an Indonesian word for mudflows) and large landslides. Merapi's worst eruption in 2010 killed over 100 people.
9. Nyiragongo, Democratic Republic of Congo
Population at risk: just over nine million people live within 100 km. One million of them are less than 20 miles from the summit.
Last known eruption: 2019
This African volcano has a flat top like Galeras in South America. Unlike Galeras, Nyiragongo has hosted a series of lava lakes for centuries. This is a deadly hazard because these lakes drain every few decades and the lava is extremely fluid, which means it travels long distances to the nearby city of Goma This happened twice recently: in 1994, during the civil war, and again in 2002, when about 150 people were killed and enormous damage was caused. Unfortunately, warfare and social problems have limited the ability of international volcanologists here. But local hands have taken on the task of researching and monitoring this decade volcano.
8. Mount Rainier, USA
Population at risk: nearly three million
Last known eruption: 1450 AD (eruptions in the 19th century were reported but not confirmed).
This world-famous landmark near Seattle, Washington, had its last major explosion about 2,200 years ago. But that's not the only danger. The heavily glaciated Mount Rainier tends to collapse and cause enormous mud flows. This has not happened in recorded history. Many people near Rainier are still in denial. This is understandable, but very sad: it is human nature to never really believe that something so bad can happen to you - until it does.
7. Sakurajima, Japan
Population at risk: 2.6 million
Last known eruption: 2019
You may not have heard of this volcano, which is on the same island as Mount Fuji, but further south. World-famous Fuji-san is a serious threat to Tokyo and the subject of intense research. Perhaps the decade volcano selection committee chose Sakurajima instead because this dangerous volcano is not as well known. After all, you haven't seen the above in Tokyo recently. However, the video from 2013 shows one of the dangers that citizens of Kagoshima city, less than eight kilometers from Sakurajima, often face. Sakurajima volcano was an island in Kagoshima Bay until 1914, when one of its explosive eruptions also released lava flows that connected it to the mainland. Now thousands of people live in the area. Children there wear hard hats just in case it rains rocks on their way to school.
6. Santa Maria / Santiaguito, Guatemala
Population at risk: 6,200,000
Last eruption: 2019
These are not two separate volcanoes, as with Avachinsky and Koryaksky on Kamchatka. Here, "Santa Maria" is the stratovolcano and "Santiaguito" is the name given to the lava dome complex near the summit. Santiaguito has frequent minor eruptions. Also, the domes sometimes collapse and cause pyroclastic flows. Larger explosions and mud flows are also possible. Despite this, many people still like to climb a 300-meter Santa Maria so they can look down on an eruption and take silly pictures. This dome complex has existed since 1929, when Santa Maria ended 27 years of violent eruptions that killed over 7,000 people The status of the Santa Maria / Santiaguito Decadal Volcano has not yet resulted in many government-funded projects.
5. Santorini, Greece
Population at risk: 67,500
Last known eruption: 1950
Volcanologists are curious about the eruption history that gave Santorini - also known as Thera - a dramatic appearance. They have identified at least four caldera-forming events in the last 180,000 years. The most recent, about 3,600 years ago. This may have doomed the Minoan civilization, which was centered on the nearby island of Crete. Or not. No one is really sure yet what closed this amazing culture. Thanks to the Decade Volcano program, Santorini now has its first modern volcano observatory. So far, only occasional swarms of seismic activity have been detected, nothing that looks like an imminent eruption.
4. Teide, Canary Islands
Population at risk: 766,000
Last known eruption: 1909
In fact, the entire island of Tenerife is a complex of stratovolcanoes that have been active since the Miocene. Teide is simply the highest and also one of the youngest, and the views from the top are tremendous! Those sulfur-producing fumaroles up there are the only visible sign of current activity. Teide has also had some earthquake swarms, but is otherwise quiet.
3. Ulawun, Papua New Guinea
Population at risk: 61,000
Last known eruption: 2019
You may not have heard of this South Pacific island volcano, but (along with contributions from an equally obscure Russian fire mountain) Ulawun gave you purple sunsets last year! Ulawun is one of Papua New Guinea's most active volcanoes. Although the eruptions were explosive, they were rather minor until the 1970s. From that point on, larger explosions became more frequent, including an eruption in 2000. Right now, this beautiful tropical stratovolcano is again behaving like one of the Daily Planet's mild-mannered reporters. We just have to stay tuned and see what happens next.
2. Ounces, Japan
Population at risk: 7,300,000
Last known eruption: 1996
Yes, this is the one that killed volcanologists Harry Glicken, Katia Krafft and Maurice Krafft along with 40 other people in 1993. It is a mashup of three large stratovolcanoes and several lava domes that occupy most of the Shimabara Peninsula east of Nagasaki . Pyroclastic flows are a major hazard here. And sometimes collapsing material falls into the sea, creating tsunamis like the one in 1792 that caused most of Unzen's more than 14,000 casualties that year. Unzen awoke in 1990, forcing evacuations and destroying more than 2,000 buildings near Shimabara City. Now all is quiet. If Unzen moves again, activity predictions will be more accurate thanks to data from Decadal Volcano studies and other investigations.
1. Vesuvius, Italy
Population at risk: more than 6 million
Last known eruption: 1944
Pyroclastic flows, lava, and gas have killed people and caused massive damage in several Vesuvius eruptions, including the last in the 1940s. Tsunami landslides into the Bay of Naples are also possible. While everyone has been aware of the dangers here for centuries, the problem was first addressed as part of the Decade Volcano program. Now, contingency plans based on the Pompeii eruption and another powerful eruption in 1631 are in place and regularly reviewed. It is not easy to evacuate Naples and surrounding areas, but Vesuvius will not catch scientists and rescue workers napping next time. The worst volcano in the world will always be the one that erupts near you, whether it's a scientific list or not. However, thanks to the Decade Volcano program, lessons have been learned to help people survive and manage a volcanic crisis wherever it occurs.
great!!
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