Study of Subsea Volcanoes Aims to Improve Event Forecasting

Scientists from the UK’s National Oceanography Centre (NOC) have led an international team on an expedition in and around Santorini, Greece, to enhance forecasting ability for subsea volcanic eruptions.

Hundreds of the most dangerous volcanoes on Earth are found in the ocean, but almost none are monitored, making the hazards for nearby coastal communities and critical infrastructure difficult to forecast.

In the ocean, the explosivity of eruptions is complicated by interactions with seawater and fluids circulating through volcanoes, making them even more unpredictable.

Using advanced underwater robots, including the NOC remotely operated vehicle (ROV) Isis, scientists and engineers have studied how circulating fluids interact with magma deep beneath the Earth's surface. By mapping how fluid pathways connect to magma chambers and how these systems respond during volcanic events, they aim to improve understanding of how fluid circulation can influence the strength and hazard of volcanic eruptions.

The Minoan eruption of Santorini, and the 1650 eruption of nearby offshore Kolumbo volcano (Greece) were so large that the ground above collapsed into the space left by the emptying magma chamber, leaving a large hole in the ground, known as a caldera. Such large eruptions can have devastating consequences, as demonstrated recently by