Right now there are almost 30 volcanoes exploding in the world But it’s a relatively small number, and indeed “just having this amount is more abnormal than if it were 50,” Manuel Regueiro, president of the College of Geologists, told Efe, because “volcanic regions are many: the edges of tectonic plates cover millions of kilometers”.
He added that some volcanoes, such as the Yellowstone caldera in Wyoming or La Garita in Colorado (both in the US) and Lake Toba in Sumatra (Indonesia), reach an “enormous” stretch of territory, but the most dangerous and one of them is known as Campos Flegreos near Naples (Italy).
It’s a “supervolcano that describes those that spewed 1,000 cubic kilometers of material at some point in their history,” and not only “has 24 crater mouths,” but “It stands next to a population of 3 million.”
Joan Martí, professor of the Scientific Research High Council and coordinator of the Barcelona Volcanology Group, also pointed to another Italian volcano, Efe. Having already destroyed the once Roman city of Pompeii, Vesuvius is considered one of the most dangerous in the world. and add Popocatépetl in Mexico, which last erupted at the end of May this year.
All this without forgetting the seven volcanoes that erupted in the Indonesian region such as Karangetang or Dukono, there are five more craters that “explode almost daily” in the so-called Ring of Fire in the Philippines.
Dangerous gases from explosions
During explosions “always emit gases such as carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide” and they can sometimes eject into the upper atmosphere at an altitude of twenty or thirty kilometers, affecting the Earth, as in the Krakatoa or Tambora cases,” Martín recalls.
CO2 “replaces oxygen and inhibits breathing” and an example is La Palma, the Canary Island, almost two years after the eruption of Tajogaite, where “the volcano was in a calm state but now has activity, high temperatures, and gas emissions from neighbors preventing its return.” Towns like Puerto Naos or La Bombilla.
Sulfur is particularly toxic.they also “produce sulfuric acid if combined with water,” which they emit and can “contaminate water, pastures and animal feed.”
In fact, Regueiro points out that a volcano’s atmospheric impact “remains over time due to the enormous amount of material it has suspended” beyond other specific effects, such as meteotsunamis caused by the Hunga Tonga submarine volcano in January 2022. South Pacific region.
Despite the “enormous influence” of the gases emitted by volcanoes, It’s about “specific moments” in the face of human emissions that we do permanently.
In the case of Spain, Regueiro points out that “an explosion is not expected in the short term”. Following the example of what happened in La Palma, at one point “people living on volcanic islands run the risk of it happening,” he cites the example of only 400 permanent residents of the Italian island of Stromboli. The sea combined with a constantly erupting volcano.