Volcanic hazard

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]

NH Medallists episode III – Claire Horwell and her interdisciplinary work on volcanic emission hazards for human health

Vale Cigala June 8, 2020

Yogyakarta city, Indonesia, with Merapi in the background. Merapi is an active volcano and Yogyakarta with its 2.4 million inhabitants is only about 28 km away. Photo credit: Claire J. Horwell with permission.

In today’s interview, we talk with Prof. Claire J. Horwell. Claire has been awarded the 2020 Plinius Medal for her outstanding interdisciplinary research on the respiratory health implications of inhaling volcanic emissions, and other particulates. my research focuses on protecting communities from exposures to potentially harmful airborne particulates Hi Claire, can you please briefly introduce ...[Read More]

The bad, the good and the unpredictable: living with volcanoes / part 2

Jazmin Scarlett November 11, 2019

1812 eruption of La Soufrière, painted by J.M.W. Turner.

Before continuing, if you haven’t read it yet, catch up with the first part of this blog article by clicking on this link. The good Living with volcanoes is not all bad. Volcanoes provide a wealth of natural resources in the form of building materials, hot springs, freshwater and fertile soil. However, there are more hidden aspects, which was the focus of a recent collaboration with an archa ...[Read More]

The bad, the good and the unpredictable: living with volcanoes / part 1

Jazmin Scarlett October 28, 2019

Rabacca Dry River with La Soufrière volcano in the background. Photo taken by Jazmin Scarlett, 2016.

Introduction Humans have existed and lived alongside volcanoes for as long as we have been on the planet. For some, this has been beneficial and often, in fact, we can see how indigenous knowledge finds a sustainable approach living with them. However, in some cases, societies cannot cope and are overwhelmed with volcanic eruptions. There are many examples from archaeological studies dealing with ...[Read More]