Volcanic hazard

“My teacher is a volcanologist”- Valeria Cigala tells us about her journey from academia to middle school teaching

Silvia De Angeli July 24, 2023

Valeria introduces minerals and the Mohs scale to her students, as part of her evaluation as a middle school teacher, while her tutor is holding the box with the mineral samples.

Valeria Cigala (Ph.D.) is a geoscientist by education and an expert in explosive volcanism and related hazards. She has been the Early Career Scientists Representative for the Natural Hazards Division of EGU from 2019 to 2022 and Editor-in-chief of our blog. Valeria is currently employed as a maths and science teacher at the middle school level in Italy. In this inspiring interview, she is sharing ...[Read More]

A look into the life of a volcanologist in Japan, one of the most hazardous countries for volcanoes

Shreya Arora December 7, 2020

Microscopic rock art. Chemical and textural features of olivine (ol) and orthopyroxene (opx) crystals in a lava flow from Ruapehu are revealed in these backscattered electrons (BSE) and electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) images. On the left, the grayscale intensity reflects the iron and magnesium contents of the minerals (brighter = higher iron (Fe); darker = higher magnesium (Mg)). On the right, unique colours correspond to the different orientations of the crystals in this cluster. Photo Credit: Chris Conway.

In this interview, I talk with Chris Conway about his experience as a volcanologist in Japan, which is one of the countries with the highest volcanic threat in the world. You will read how studying crystals found within erupted lava flows can help hazard mitigation at active volcanoes and how volcanic hazard is managed in Japan. Hi Chris!! Thank you for accepting this interview, first and foremo ...[Read More]

DE BELLO VULCANICO 40-year scientific effort of ‘predicting the unpredictable’ since the 1980 eruption of Mount Saint Helens

Mattia Pistone July 6, 2020

Figure 1 - Vesuvius from the series of 18 paintings (oil on canvas) by Andy Warhol (1985). This painting shows Mt Vesuvius (in red) and Mount Somma (in blue).

Volcanoes arouse emotions in the soul of men: at the same time, they are fascinating and frighten the population that lives on their slopes when they erupt (Fig. 1). Volcanoes can strike without warning and wreak horrific destruction and death. As such, in the ancient time, volcanoes discharging explosive eruptions have been interpreted as the wrath of gods that destroys and annihilates all around ...[Read More]

Mount Saint Helens 40 years later – May 18, 1980: for everything to stay the same, everything must change

Stefano Alberti June 22, 2020

Mount Saint Helens today image as captured from Google Earth.

Vancouver, Vancouver, this is it! Just a few words radioed by volcanologist David ‘Dave’ Johnston on May 18, 1980, to USGS headquarter in Vancouver, Washington State. It was 8:32 a.m., and a few hours later he lost his life during the (in)famous Mount Saint Helens eruption. That day, exactly forty years ago, the eruption of Mount St. Helen upset the world. It all started with a collapse on the nor ...[Read More]