Giant magma ball threatens Greek island Santorini. A huge balloon of magma about 15 times the size of London’s Olympic stadium is growing beneath the holiday island of Santorini. Geologists led by Oxford University say the chamber of super-heated rock expanded from ten to 20million cubic metres between January 2011 and April this year. The balloon is so big it has forced the Greek island upwards by 14cm (5.5in) in that time. It also triggered a series of small earthquakes, the first seismic activity in 25 years. The movements were spotted by Michelle Parks, an Oxford University DPhil student, on field trips and using satellite radar images. ‘The tour guides, who visit the volcano several times a day, would update me on changes in the amount of strong smelling gas released from the summit, or changes in the colour of the water around the islands,’ Ms Parks told Nature Geoscience.
The team says the magma balloon does not mean an eruption is about to happen. It was devastated by an enormous volcanic explosion in about 1620BC. Volcano Watch: Swift Swelling at Santorini. Reports of heavy breathing on the popular Greek isle of Santorini are making headlines again. Following a surprising swarm of earthquakes in early 2011, Santorini’s volcano drew a rapid breath that has raised the surface of the island by as much as 5.5 inches (14 centimeters). That’s the most significant change the volcano has experienced since 1955, shortly after its last eruption, according to a study published in Nature Geoscience. ANALYSIS: Volcano Watch: Heavy Breathing in Santorini The island’s new bout of restlessness is not lost on locals. Michelle Parks of Oxford University’s Department of Earth Sciences, a co-author of the new report, describes her visits to Santorini in 2011: The tour guides, who visit the volcano several times a day, would update me on changes in the amount of strong smelling gas being released from the summit, or changes in the color of the water in some of the bays around the islands.
ANALYSIS: All Choked Up: How to Read Volcano Throats. Scenic Greek Island Shows Signs of Volcanic Unrest. The volcanic caldera on the picturesque tourist island of Santorini is showing signs of unrest. But researchers detecting the caldera's movement say it doesn't necessarily mean an eruption is imminent. The Greek island was the site of one of the most massive volcanic eruptions in history 3,600 years ago. That eruption, which created tsunamis 40 feet (12 meters) tall, may have spawned the legend of the lost city of Atlantis. The volcano last erupted in 1950, albeit on a much smaller scale. Global positioning system (GPS) sensors placed on the caldera have detected renewed movement after decades of peace. The earth around the caldera (a depression at the top of a volcano) is deforming, or expanding outward, researchers report in an upcoming article in the journal Geophysical Research Letters. "What we're seeing now is the first significant deformation and the first deformation that has any significant earthquake activity associated with it," Newman told LiveScience.
Magma builds under infamous volcano - Technology & science - Science - OurAmazingPlanet. Molten rock is pooling beneath Greece's Santorini volcano, the site of one of the largest eruptions in the past 10,000 years. That eruption, which took place about 3,600 years ago, wiped out the Minoan civilization of the Greek islands and may have spawned the legend of the lost city of Atlantis. In the past 1.5 years, the magma chamber beneath the volcanic island has ballooned by as much as 350 million cubic feet (20 million cubic meters), or up to 15 times the size of London's Olympic Stadium.
This giant mass of magma has caused the island to rise by as much as 5.5 inches (14 centimeters), according to a new study published Sunday in the journal Nature Geoscience. This research follows reports earlier in the year of renewed earthquake activity beneath the volcano after it had been silent for the past 25 years. The reports have spurred concerns the volcano could erupt in the near future, but when that might happen is still unclear, researchers said in a statement.
Doooom! The Perception of Volcano Research by the Media | Wired Science. Japan’s Fuji seen with clouds and snow blowing at the summit on March 6, 2004. Image: Gabuchan/Flickr It seems we’ve entered the DOOOOM season in the media this month. I’m not sure what triggers this cascade of apocalyptic thinking, but once it gets going, it is like a game of “telephone.” What starts off as a benign report about some piece of volcanologic research ends up with the media running around like this (NSFW: language).
Sure, I’m not naive enough to think this isn’t about getting people to read the articles, but when it comes down to it, it does a great disservice to the science and the ability of public officials to convince people when a real danger appears. So, what has got the interwebs all worked up? Fuji, Japan News like this has the tendency to reappear when you least expect it, like a zombie in a horror movie. Now, some of the reporting of this research has been downright appalling.
This is not to say that Fuji isn’t a threat. Santorini, Greece.