Biggest Volcanic Eruptions | Mega Disasters | Free Documentary

Volcanic

eruptions

are one of the most powerful forces on Earth, from spectacular lava fountains to deadly explosions. They can bury entire cities under superheated clouds of ash and gas or turn calm rivers into torrents of mud and debris. Scientists are struggling to understand these unpredictable time bombs. We were caught off guard by what turned out to be an unprecedented event. We all circled the globe profiling some of the

biggest

eruptions

of our time, each one more devastating than the last, and each one leading to a potential

mega

eruption that could change the world as we know it. it

volcanic

eruptions are dramatic reminders that our world is a living planet the destructive force is four billion years old a force that demands respect volcanoes combine beauty and beast the power to create and destroy from the beginning they have served a function vital Function that releases heat gas and minerals from the depths of the Earth's crust.

These byproducts proved vital to human life. They created the earth's atmosphere. If volcanoes did not exist, we would not exist either. To me, they are one of the most beautiful things you can ever witness, but the people who live beneath them are the most terrifying and destructive thing you can ever witness. Cameraman Jeff Mackley's mission to film the world's volcanoes comes with risks on a mountain. He avoided death as a lethal mix of hot gas and ash swept over him. For him there was a loud roar like a freight train and a pyroclastic flow came down the valley we had just been in, so yeah, another five minutes would have been the curtain for us anyway.

Mackley risks his life to record the beauty of volcanoes. Others risk theirs. To record the power of it, many of us have experiences that could have gone one way or another depending on something small that has happened in the last 60 years. Volcanic eruptions have killed at least 27 scientists, yet their search for knowledge continues on average between 50 and 60 volcanoes erupt each year around 20 erupt at any given time all are vents on the earth's surface the Most take place within the ring of fire an area around the Pacific Rim where tectonic plates collide allowing molten rock or magma to be released thick magma charged with gas triggers explosive eruptions thinner magma with less gas is less volatile to compare and categorize eruptions scientists have developed the

volcanic

explosiveness index or vei scale each level on the scale means a higher ash cloud more rejected material and greater explosive energy the events described here will begin with a non-explosive eruption and culminate with a super eruption that will alter the planet and that, according to experts, will eventually happen.

Hawaii is a stunning tropical paradise, but beneath the sparkling sand and lush forests simmers a cauldron of tremendous heat and violence, this is the site of one of the most spectacular volcanic creations on the planet. All of the Hawaiian Islands are volcanoes built long ago. more than 70 million years by a powerful geological formation appropriately called the hot spot the hot spot is a narrow area that has an excessive amount of heat the heat rises and near relatively close to the surface of the earth this heat melts the rocks and then that molten rock erupts as lava february 1983 kilauea on the big island of hawaii sends fountains of lava 80 meters into the air because the magma is thin and does not contain much gas the eruption is not explosive but remains dangerous for seven years the eruption continues the lava moves slowly enough to be left behind but totally unstoppable in february 1990 it reaches the fishing village of kalapana hundreds are evacuated it became a very painful experience to see this because it was just crawling around the city you know every Within a week or so, other blocks of houses disappeared.

Residents have time to pack up their belongings and, in some cases, their entire homes. Others can only watch as lava destroys their past. We moved that afternoon and two days later, our house was engulfed in flames and we could see lava entering our yard. The entire town was buried under more than 15 meters of molten rock. Behind me is the eastern edge of what used to be the village of In Kalapana, in 1990 there were around 150 houses here and they have been buried by about five stories of lava despite the difficulties caused by the volcano. Some Hawaiians see beyond their personal tragedy.

They respect the power and beauty of lava. A force we worship a goddess called pele, we don't really resent it or feel like it was a loss for us because we know that pele, this is her land, her aina and she can come whenever she wants, go wherever she wants, the Hawaiians couldn't . to stop Kilauea's massive lava flow, but 3,000 miles away, an entire nation took a desperate stance when a volcano threatened one of its cities On January 23, 1973, the Eldfell volcano erupts on the Icelandic island with a slow lava flow more than 10 meters high. Threatens to engulf the town of Vesmania Most of the town is evacuated but a dedicated team stays behind to confront the formidable force For five months The teams spray approximately six million cubic meters of seawater onto the lava flows Nearly four million of cubic meters of molten lava becomes solid rock the town is saved such a herculean effort is impossible with the kilauea the flow is simply too large the lava that destroyed the kalapana is poured into the sea in a spectacular collision where the lava goes to the ocean It probably makes one of the most beautiful places in the flow field, but it is also one of the most dangerous beneath the solidified lava.

Unstable sand is prone to sudden and violent collapse. Suddenly all this hot lava is on the surface, it just breaks off, the ocean rushes in and creates huge explosions that send gigantic columns of material into the air and cover maybe three or four football fields in the area, launching rocks the size of soccer balls or basketballs throughout the area. This impressive exhibit is a look at prehistoric times when volcanoes first formed land, the same process is still happening today, new beaches are built and then over these beaches lava can flow and a sequential set of beaches is built and then flow lava and beach lava flow and a new piece is built. of land we call a lava delta since 1983, Kilauea has displaced nearly 200 families and destroyed millions of dollars worth of property;

At the same time, it has added more than 200 hectares of land to the island, continuing the 70 million year process that created all of Hawaii. It is a stunning example of how a volcano creates and destroys at the same time its slowly oozing magma is a permanent threat but rarely produces a violent explosion in our next event a thicker magma trapped in a geological powder keg triggers a much more explosive volcanic eruption and lethal. Hot clouds of gas descend on thousands of people, devastating an entire Caribbean capital and later, in our

mega

disaster scenario, a super volcano hits the heart of Europe, demolishing a major city and casting a shadow over the entire planet, the impressive Kilauea lava fountains and flows.

On the big island of Hawaii they both create and destroy, but they are rarely lethal, but there are much more explosive and dangerous volcanoes, which spew deadly gases and clouds of ash. One such volcano devastated half the nation and sent 19 people to their graves. Montserrat is a lush and peaceful haven in the Caribbean, but in 1995 the Sufia Hills volcano, silent for almost 400 years, roared back to life over the next two years with multiple eruptions spewing ash thousands of feet into the air over the capital. of plymouth is evacuated twice each time the residents return expecting the fury of the volcano it ended on June 25, 1997 those hopes are buried at 1 in the afternoon a gigantic cloud of ash explodes almost 10 kilometers high in the following 30 minutes about 800 degrees mixtures of ash and rock run downhill at more than 100 kilometers per hour the lethal clouds are called pyroclastic Flows Roy Daly lives three kilometers from the volcano, hears the eruption and runs out to see the flow running at less From 50 meters away, it began to feel some heat and darkness began to dominate the forest, so I got in my car and I drove away like crazy I drove to the top of the hill away from the pyroclastic flow the force of the thick mixture of gas and rock ash flattens everything in its path Roy watches helplessly as entire towns are destroyed he has managed to escape the pyroclastic flows but he is not out of danger but he was scared to death I thought he was going to live it was so dark that if you put your clothes on hands on your face you couldn't see them hot ash raining on you very hot ash I felt scared I couldn't move I couldn't see, I couldn't breathe properly so of course I felt like I was going to die but I hoped I wouldn't die and I didn't.

Roy is eventually evacuated by helicopter, but not everyone is able to escape. Dr. Sue Lockland. He is the director of the Montserrat volcano observatory and a witness to the eruption. The maximum speed of the pyroclastic flows that day could have been more than 150 miles per hour. Even though people saw it coming, there was very little they could do to stop it. escape The almost 8 million cubic meters of flow cover thousands of square kilometers of land, damage or demolish more than 100 homes and destroy the island's only airport, as well as a ferry service. Monserrat is isolated from the rest of the world, but the volcano is not finished.

The next four months the eruptions and pyroclastic flows continued to devastate the island we had more than 70 explosions in one month sometimes there were four explosions per day each explosion generated a mushroom cloud that rose rapidly to great heights above the volcano each explosion generated pyroclastic flows that spread In all directions around the volcano you can see behind me the impact on Gage Mountain of the waves that came over the mountain during one of these explosions and scorched and burned all the vegetation there. The cost of pyroclastic flow on the island's natural resources is immense. the toll is 19 lives the cause of this violent and tragic eruption lies far below the lush island the same process that created this tropical paradise threatens to destroy it here the tectonic plates of North and South America collide and sink below of the Caribbean plate in a process called subduction subduction takes place about 130 kilometers deep, that is, about 80 miles below the earth's surface, as the plate descends, parts of it melt and this It forms magma and the magma rises to the surface over many thousands of years, unlike Kilauea.

The Sofia Hills volcano produces thick magma over thousands of years. It forms the classic steep volcanic cone called a stratovolcano. Magma contains a variety of gases, all under intense pressure. It slowly rises until it reaches the surface of the earth when the pressure is released like a bottle. of champagne the gases suddenly expand and the volcano erupts violently thousands of kilometers away in barrie italy scientists are studying the hills of suffria more lethal side effect the purpose of these experiments is to understand the dynamics of pyroclastic flows to be prepared for upcoming events dr. Deleno and his team load around 200 kilos of real volcanic ash from Mount Vesuvius into a cylinder.

The pressurized gas creates an explosion that expels the ash. Volcanologists track the height, direction and density of the ash with a variety of instruments and high-speed cameras. The models here. They are large enough to be accurately scaled up to real events, something that could not be achieved in a laboratory. Experiments have determined that both the amount of magma and the force applied to it are fundamental in the creation of pyroclastic flows. The next researchers will agree with the test. With the topography of specific volcanoes, they will be able to identify specific areas where pyroclastic flows are likely to hit.

Local authorities can evacuate those areas before an eruption, which could save many lives, but tragically for those in the path of stratovolcanoes like the Sufria Hills pyroclastics. clothing and asheville are not the only threats each year between 1200 and 2000 millimeters of rain fall on montserrat heavy rains run through the channels created by pyroclastic flows transforming them into enormous landslides called lahars most of this debris that we see around us around are caused by lahars that washed away all the debris from the pyroclastic flow further down the hill and progressively buried plymouth under all this mud and rocks.

Lahars have buried so much of Plymouth that the city has been permanently abandoned. They were the final salvo from the volcano in a brutal unilateral war. The Sufria Hills volcano destroyed more than a thousand homes,left more than half of the island uninhabitable and destroyed the nation's capital. Some forty-five hundred people remain on the once prosperous island of twelve thousand inhabitants. It was sad to see that people had to go buy mantra herds but it was understandable because these people lost their properties it was pure force why I stayed here I mean you had no place to go, no place to live with families and friends who They were still shocked in schools and churches, it was difficult and it was very sad, but the volcano has also created new opportunities that have helped revitalize the island.

Volcano-related tourism is increasing. Roy Daly owns and operates a tour bus business. People are eager to see a live volcano. I don't think there is anywhere on the surface. On Earth you could see a live volcano about a mile away bubbling, rolling, and walking across hills. Multiple pyroplastic flows and lahars were lethal and destructive. Its eruptions never exceeded three on the volcanic explosiveness index, but when it fires a vei-5. A single 24 megaton explosion destroys thousands of acres of land and kills dozens of people and later scientists explore the potential for a super eruption that has not been seen in modern times and could kill millions.

Pyroclastic flows and lahars from the Sufia Hills volcano in Montserrat were destroyed. the island's capital killed 19 people and changed the nation's landscape and thousands of lives forever 1980s the united states pacific northwest experienced a different and rare type of eruption that acted like a giant cannon blast leveling entire forests and killing Dozens of waterfalls are a majestic 1,100-kilometre-long chain stretching from Canada to Northern California. Hundreds of thousands of hikers and skiers find refuge and adventure here, but in the spring of 1980 one of the crown jewels of the waterfalls begin to fracture in motion small earthquakes extend deep beneath the peak of the mountains and helens after more than 120 years of dormancy the mountain is awakening this seismicity is typical of volcanoes when they awaken again because when the molten rock tries to open way up beneath the volcano, it makes a lot of noise in terms of pushing aside the hard rock that forms the edifice of the volcano on May 17 Keith Rongholm, a graduate student in geophysics intrigued by the activity of the mountains decides to see more of Nearby Mount St Helens was erupting approximately every five to eight days.

He had gone to a place called bare prairie to try to see one of these little summit eruptions. ronholm gets much more than he bargained for at 8 32 on the morning of May 18 a 5.1 magnitude earthquake hits the north side of the volcano 2.8 billion cubic meters of earth fall at speeds of up to 257 kilometers per hour I was reading a book in my truck when I heard some people screaming and I looked up at the mountain and the entire north side of the mountain was sliding down the movement of the earth releases the enormous pressure that keeps the magma inside the volcano an explosion of 24 megatons more than 1,800 times more powerful than Hiroshima's atomic bomb shatters the north face of On the mountain, the explosion is unusual because it does not shoot upward like most eruptions do.

It is a rare lateral explosion that hits a huge cloud of rocks, trees and ash. About 180 degrees from the mountain was a dark gray cloud of churning ash. and in 10 10 15 seconds that ash had expanded and covered the entire mountain, all this was happening in silence and there was no noise to reinforce my flight response. It was 10 miles away and at least initially you don't feel like it. something is going to hurt you from 10 miles away, so I stood there and took pictures. I was fascinated to watch this event as the huge cloud of debris races over the two ridges between the volcano and Ron Holm at 300 miles per hour.

Keith suddenly realizes. He is in grave danger as I leave. I took one last over-the-shoulder shot and the motion is a little blurry, but I couldn't take the time to frame it or stop because I was driving and I remember looking back. parking area, I realized I was the last person to leave and thought maybe I had waited too long because this cloud was rushing towards me, luckily for Ron Holm the strongest part of the explosion is heading north and northwest , the part that heads northeast. directly towards him it has less energy allowing it to escape down the mountain the lateral explosion spews ash and gas to a height of 24 kilometers less than an hour later a vertical eruption sends more ash into the sky towards this somber scene flies jess hageman with the army from washington national guard most of the trees were blown down by the eruption and we're talking 14 to 15 miles downstream from mount st helens the whole landscape changed it made you feel like some kind of mosquito flying around the universe because compared to the size of the eruption was astonishing astonishing and horrific 800 degree pyroclastic flows rush down the steep slopes at up to 129 kilometers per hour in some places they are 37 meters thick in the first hours of the disaster the enormity of the destruction the landscape is impossible to describe understand, but it only takes one sobering moment for Jess Hageman to realize the human toll it took on this ridge right in front of us where we found the first two survivors in the explosion area and it turned out to be Jim.

Scamanki and we were finally able to pick up those two people. Leondy died in the hospital after we took him there, but Jim is still alive and survived. Rescuers find a handful of dazed survivors, but the eruption kills 57 people, mostly campers and tourists, nine hours after it began. The eruption ends Scientists struggle to understand the enormous scope of the event Before the eruption increased and Helen reached a height of 2,949 meters It is now 401 meters shorter The explosion destroyed enough trees to build 300,000 houses Thousands of logs still cover the lake of the spirits five kilometers from the From the summit, the volcano spewed more than 508 million tons of ash that spread across the United States in three days.

Two days after the eruption, geologists get a close look at the desolation for the first time. It was like walking on the moon. I had never seen anything like it. The entire area that is 600 square kilometers or 230 square miles was totally devastated, there was not a living being in that entire area, not an insect, not a bird, not an animal, it was of only one color and it was this gray color of the deposits that the soil had. Covered in hot rocks and there were hot vapors and gases coming out of the ground everywhere in the months after the eruption, teams of experts carefully studied every facet of the mountain.

An oddity about the Mts and Helens was that some people heard the eruption as far away as Canada, but eyewitnesses like Keith Rongholm, just 10 miles away, didn't hear anything due to the way the temperature structure in the Mt. Atmosphere cools with height, as sound waves from explosions are deflected from the Earth's surface and when they reach the stratosphere. and the temperature increases again with height, they tilt downward, so no one between six and sixty miles from Mount St. Helens heard the May 18 eruption. Since 1980, the mountain has experienced tens of thousands of small earthquakes and numerous minor eruptions, most significantly since 2004.

The volcano has been continually erupting lava creating a giant lava dome that is still growing today. The job of volcanologists like Rick Lahousen is to find ways to monitor all of this activity as much as possible. What we needed was a way to get our instruments out very quickly without having to put people on the ground in danger and still be able to monitor changes in the eruption, so what we came up with is this stainless steel superstructure that looks like a long-legged spider, so we call them spiders. This is a GPS antenna that receives timing signals from satellites and allows us to locate exactly where the signals enter the computer system and then the data comes out on demand from the computers in the office and is transmitted through this antenna with the secure connection to a helicopter.

It's time to head into the belly of the beast as you approach the crater, the new lava dome is seen spewing sulfur dioxide and steam. This is proof that magma is reaching the surface with the potential to generate another eruption. The most dangerous moment for the rake. and their pilot arrives as they place the spider in the lava dome so close to the crater floor. Exploding rocks or a sudden explosion of steam could easily kill them operating with the precision of surgeons. The men carefully placed the spider directly above the lava dome. Within seconds, the device begins collecting and transmitting data at the Cascades Volcano Observatory in Vancouver, Washington.

Lahouzen analyzes images from the spider's digital camera. The time-lapse photograph shows the formidable growth of the lava dome. What's really phenomenal about this is the amount of rock that comes out of the ground. Taller than the Empire State Building, it rises at five meters a day, it's over 200 meters wide, and it's right here in our backyard. No conclusions have yet been drawn about the rapid growth of the lava dome. Geologists warn that an eruption similar to the one in 1980 is possible. But they are unlikely to be sure, however, that future eruptions of some kind will occur.

Whatever their future, the mountain's recent past continues to reverberate today. , especially for those who are there, it is simply an amazing event to witness that we normally think of the earth as a very static place. stable environment that we don't change, but when you see a volcanic eruption and see how a giant piece of land slides followed by this dynamic cloud of ash that flattens tens of square miles of forest, you realize how powerful nature is. they can be and how powerful geological forces can be manson helen's vei5 lateral explosion destroyed an enormous amount of land and killed 57 people in just one level on the scale a vei6 volcano kills hundreds when its enormous eruption is followed by a long series of deadly side effects and Later, scientists revealed the unthinkable effects of a megaeruption guaranteed to occur at some point in the future.

The Vei-5 lateral eruption in Mounts and Helens devastated 600 square kilometers of land and killed 57 people, but there is one volcano that is one of a kind. It killed hundreds of people, affected millions, and affected the entire planet. Its eruption was only the first in a series of tragic events that lasted for days, months and years and continues to this day. Luzon is the largest of the Philippine islands. It is home to 56 million people. capital city of manila and mount pinatubo for centuries thousands of people have lived in and around the mountain harvesting rice and other crops from its fertile soil what many locals did not know or believe is that the mountain is a volcano, even most of the experts who knew it thought it was inactive on June 9, 1991 the mountain erupts for the first time in more than 500 years eruptions earthquakes pyroclastic flows and ash hit the island day and night geologist dr kelvin rodolfo arrives four days later the amount of ash falls so thick you couldn't see more than 20 feet there were pieces the size of chicken feet falling on us on June 15 a massive eruption spews five cubic kilometers of volcanic debris 35 kilometers high the top of the mountain collapses causing a series of large earthquakes rodolfo is one of thousands trapped in the city of a longest pole at 33 kilometers pinatubo was continually terrified during the eruption every three minutes or so there was a notable tremor one of the magnitude that would make you want impulsively running out of a building but outside the scene there is an equally terrifying reddish lightning bolt that was hurtling horizontally at the people and the thunder was practically simultaneous with the lightning.

This lightning within the cloud is caused by static electricity in the ash cloud. It is rarely dangerous because it hits horizontally rather than vertically. I am still afraid of the outside conditions preventing many locals from sweeping the ashes from their roofs, something that will have fatal consequences on the same day of the eruption, a typhoon hits Luzon, heavy rains mix with the ashes, as the ashes compound of fine particles of rock and minerals that add spins of water. It became a cement-like substance for those with several inches of ash on their roofs, the mixture is deadly.

The passing typhoon saturated the ash with water, making it much heavier, causing roofs to collapse and drag the walls of houses behind them. As if that weren't enough, vast pyroclastic flows fill the valleys around Pinatubo with debris. Once again, theTyphoon turns a volcanic byproduct into a lethal weapon. Lahars form when a large amount of debris quickly mixes with a huge amount of water, the powerful mass. It churns down the river destroying anything and anyone unlucky enough to get caught in its path. If you imagine an excavator traveling perhaps 15 miles per hour hitting the substructure of a bridge, the bridge is knocked down and that's the impact those big rafted rocks had after nine nightmares. hours the eruptions end more than 300 people have died and tens of thousands have been left homeless no matter how bad things are, they could have been much worse in the months leading up to the eruption locals reported seismic activity scientific monitoring ongoing confirmed expert-led reports that officials in specific high-risk areas evacuated more than 58,000 people in the days and hours before the eruption.

Before the eruption, we had made maps anticipating where the tephra would fog and that depended on seasonal, but otherwise deadly, winds. development the typhoon changed the direction of the wind areas that had been considered safe were flooded with a deadly mix of tephra or ash and rain that crushed houses and the people who lived in them while thousands began the massive cleanup the effects of the volcano go global a month after the eruption huge ash cloud surrounds the earth in the upper atmosphere sulfur dioxide becomes aerosols of sulfuric acid reflect the sun's radiation away from the earth cooling the entire surface of the planet by a degree the effects on the Earth's atmosphere will last more than two years in the past Philippines The aftermath of the volcano continues in the three months after the eruption.

Heavy rains unleashed more than 200 lahars as time progressed and the flows eroded deeper and deeper into the lahars. The canals became increasingly larger and became much more efficient conduits for sludge. to flow down to help the hundreds of thousands of people in danger. Lookouts are stationed upstream when they sign a lahar. They radio priests like Father Nestor Tayek, who ring their church bells to warn that the community will hear the ringing of the bells at any time of the day. the night like an alarm a warning warning be prepared lahari scott but once again a twist of fate conspires against the town of luzon in october 1995 another large typhoon hits the island and the lookouts are put on alert unfortunately the heavy rains that triggered the The lahars had not yet arrived loaded with sediment when they passed this lookout point, consequently the lookouts radio that nothing but flood water is coming down the mountain, but as the water runs down the channel it erodes a large amount. of loose material that increases the volume of the lahar in a mixture estimated at 80 sediments and only 20 water the higher the percentage of sediment the faster and more powerful the villaha hits with incredible force it was making this noise this sound like rampaging horses it was approaching Suddenly it invaded our parish church, the second floor of my rectory where I live was buried and I climbed it to the top of the bell tower.

The lahar kept coming, in fact you can hear the lahar still rising, burying the second floors of most of the houses, it you can hear people screaming, it was very dark, you can't see anything, the lahar kills dozens and buries the entire city of baccalaure like cement. The remains of the lahar dry out quickly and today become hard as a rock. The entire town is built on the dried lahar. Eerie reminders of the devastation are everywhere, including the Church of the Fatherland, where a new floor has had to be built on seven meters of mud since 1991.

Thousands of lahars have killed almost 400 people and destroyed more than 42,000 homes, but Scientists fear that the pinatubo is not yet finished. A new thread is forming at the top of the mountain, not magma, but years of heavy rain that has created a giant lake in the volcano's caldera. It broke its banks in 2002, generating a massive lahar. Geologists are concerned about a massive fault line running through the area. Rocks weakened by the fault erode more easily and the channel walls are very steep, so landslides could fall and plug the channel. and cause the lake level to rise again and then flow spontaneously in large quantities that would generate new large lahars the lake contains 100 million cubic meters of water 46,000 people live below everything would be threatened by a major lahar until the date of the eruption and lahars have affected nearly 2 million people for the battered but resilient residents of Luzon pinatubo is a constant threat to scientists it is a continuous spectacle in geological training that we are accustomed to think of in terms of small events repeated over millions , tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of years to generate mountains, but here we see events that happen in one day, a large amount of pyroclastic material, a huge hole developed in a matter of hours or days and that to me is very fascinating, the devastating byproducts of the pinatubo eruption. it had long-term effects that killed hundreds of effects that continue to this day, but a mega eruption that volcanologists are sure will occur could threaten millions of people the vei-6 eruption of mount pinatubo and its subsequent effects killed over 700 people sent a huge ash and gas cloud around the world and reduced the temperature of the earth's surface if we were to experience a vei 7 super eruption it would be 10 times larger it would destroy all life within tens of kilometers it would drastically change the Earth's climate and scientists say it will happen one day Five million people in the Naples area, Italy, live in the world's highest volcanic risk area.

Approximately 11 kilometers to the east is Mount Vesuvius. Its eruption in 79 AD He killed more than 20,000 people in Pompeii and other villages. Since then, the volcano has erupted 50 more times. As recently as 1944, Vesuvius looms over Naples as a constant threat, but 15 kilometers to the west is a much less conspicuous but potentially much deadlier volcano. Fifty thousand people actually live within the caldera walls, since Campy Flagray is not a tall, imposing volcano like Vesuvius, it attracts little attention, but volcanologists like Steve Self know the enormous power it contains. Here we are in the middle of a volcano that has a remarkable history of eruptions since it first formed about 35,000 years ago, this area has had repeated eruptions forming craters like the one we are in, we are in a volcanic crater that still has vents of steam acting and hissing, as you can hear this steam behind us.

The vents reach temperatures of nearly 700 degrees to a casual observer, that's impressive, but to experts, the vents along with soil changes are ominous warning signs. An indicator of the corny flagray's power lies in deposits left by a massive eruption 35 to 40,000 years ago. They were 10,000 times larger than the 1991 Pinatubo eruption, these 80 meter high cliffs in Sorrento, 30 kilometers from Campy Flagray, are composed of volcanic material left over from the super eruption. Volcanologist Giuseppe Mastro Lorenzo knows his geological proof that huge pyroclastic flows swept across this area. The pyroclastic flow moved. in this way like a turbulent cloud and then I am placed in a mass that is causing the entire area around Naples to collapse.

What scientists know about Campy Flagray's past gives them a realistic model of what could happen in its future. The scenario begins with a massive cloud. disturbance somewhere within the vast caldera a super eruption more than 240 cubic kilometers of dust, gas and pumice would be launched into the air and bury very large areas the size of a major city or more in thicknesses of ash hundreds of feet thick. enormous thickness. Pyroclastic flows exit the volcano at almost supersonic speeds. Buildings that are not yet buried by ash are torn down by the force of the flows or incinerated by their 800-degree temperatures.

The once proud city is completely annihilated. The number of deaths from flows and ashes. It is apocalyptic we can assume that in the event of a super eruption several million people will die the victims and destruction will spread far beyond the immediate area the eruption column grows to an astonishing height of 30 kilometers the heavy Asheville suffocates the cities near the It was cold and spread In places as far away as Rome, 225 kilometers away, the city receives more than 20 centimeters of ash, enough to cause roofs to collapse and kill thousands of people. Small amounts of ash fall in Eastern Europe and parts of Asia, but even small amounts of ash cause big problems, even a layer of dust of a few centimeters would create a total disruption in transportation systems, in water supplies, in the things we usually depend on in our daily lives, enough to bury plants, enough to tear branches and leaves off trees and things like that, the enormous amount of ash and sulfur dioxide released by the volcano They trigger a planetary condition that affects millions of people.

Atmospheric models predict that the temperature could drop several degrees Celsius and this would affect the climate for many years, four or five years later, perhaps after a very large eruption and temperatures. would change, uh, the areas where crops would grow might not be able to grow those crops, huge areas of vegetation would die, millions could starve, ultimately the entire planet and everyone on it would be dramatically affected if consider the number of volcanoes, supervolcanoes around the world. world that could potentially produce super eruptions recognizing the fact that there are probably several out there that we don't know about, but we still have a lot to learn about this scale of volcanism, so there is possibly something like a one percent chance that a super eruption could occur. eruption in the next hundred years, which is quite high, in fact high enough for scientists to urge discussion of this type of disaster in the international community.

Volcanologists know that there is no way to prevent an eruption, so they learn from the past and study the present to help humanity prepare for the future.