00:00Our planet's biggest and meanest supervolcanoes are waking up. When they erupt, you'll surely
00:06notice it, even if you live thousands of miles away from the epicenter. Scientists are worried
00:11we might not have enough time to prepare and deal with the consequences of a supereruption.
00:17There's some volcanic activity close to the Italian city of Naples. And no, it has
00:23nothing to do with the famous Mount Vesuvius, but with another volcano. This one is harder
00:29to see, as it doesn't have a tall peak like Vesuvius. But don't let this bad guy
00:33trick you. It could be way more dangerous than its giant neighbor. It does have a huge
00:38crater that's about 8 miles wide. This volcano is called Campi Flegrei, and it's actually
00:44one of the largest volcanoes in Europe, sitting under the town of Pozzuoli. So, Campi Flegrei
00:50erupted 39,000 years ago, with a bang so massive it spread ash across the whole Mediterranean
00:56region. It also caused the temperature to drop by over 16°F across Eastern Europe.
01:03It was the biggest volcanic eruption in Europe in 200,000 years. Since then, Campi Flegrei
01:09has had smaller eruptions, and the last one happened in 1538. Now the area is full of
01:14small craters, hot springs, and bubbling pools, and they're all proof that this volcano is
01:20still very much alive and brewing something. Since the early 2000s, the ground in the giant
01:26crater and the town nearby have been slowly rising by about 1 to 1.5 inches every year.
01:33There were at least 150 earthquakes that shook this supervolcano lately. In May 2024, there
01:39was a 4.4 magnitude in the area, the biggest in the last 40 years. Residents had to leave
01:45their homes and camp outside, fearing there would be more earthquakes. No one knows how
01:49Campi Flegrei is going to behave in the following months or years, but the authorities are organizing
01:55evacuation exercises to prepare the population just in case.
02:01The Italian volcano looks like an innocent kitten compared to the real giants like Yellowstone.
02:07For a volcano to deserve the title of a super one, it must be able to produce catastrophic
02:12scale eruptions and eject huge amounts of magma, ash, and volcanic gases. The Yellowstone
02:18giant meets these criteria. Even though it moves from time to time, the Yellowstone supervolcano
02:25hasn't erupted for 640,000 years. But when it does wake up, it might erupt with incredible
02:31power – about the same amount as 10 huge nuclear power stations can produce.
02:37Under the ground beneath Yellowstone, there's a super-hot area full of molten rock called
02:42magma. As more magma moves into a big space called a magma chamber, the ground above starts
02:48to swell or rise. When the magma cools down, the ground falls. Between 2004 and 2009, the
02:56ground at Yellowstone rose by almost 10 inches, but then it started to slowly go back down
03:02in 2010. Scientists aren't sure if it's going to erupt anytime soon.
03:07There's also another big volcano called Long Valley in California that has been active
03:13since 1980, and it can be a really big threat. Scientists studying this supervolcano found
03:19out that before its biggest eruption 760,000 years ago, the buildup may have taken less
03:25than a year. Now that's bad news, because a supervolcano eruption can have a huge effect
03:32on the world, like the eruption of the Toba volcano in Sumatra around 74,000 years ago.
03:39It became the biggest volcanic eruption the Earth had seen in 28 million years. It covered
03:44parts of Indonesia, India, and the Indian Ocean with a thick layer of volcanic debris,
03:50almost like a 6-inch blanket. The amount of rock it spewed out was like stacking nearly
03:553 million Empire State Buildings. The giant crater it left behind can still be seen from
04:00space. All the ash and gases shot up into the air and blocked some of the sunlight.
04:05It caused a volcanic winter that lasted about 6-10 years. Some scientists think this eruption
04:11might have even affected early humans. Around the time Toba erupted, the human population
04:17took a sharp dip, and there were far fewer people. Some say this is why all modern humans
04:22come from a small group of survivors. According to the Toba catastrophe theory, most early
04:27humans in Europe and Asia didn't survive the cold and harsh climate after the eruption,
04:32but a lucky group lived through all that in Africa. Not all scientists agree with this
04:37idea, and some archaeological and climate records show a different story.
04:44Another volcano that changed the world in a big way was Mount Tambora in 1815. The next
04:50year went down in history as the year without a summer. It was cold and rainy, and there
04:55was snow and frost even in the middle of summer, especially in Europe and North America. This
05:01happened because the volcano sent out a lot of sulfur dioxide into the sky, which spread
05:06all over the world and made the planet colder. When Tambora erupted, it caused huge tsunamis
05:12that smashed homes and took the lives of around 10,000 people. Afterward, about 80,000 more
05:18people passed away because of the consequences the eruption had caused in the world. The
05:22cold weather ruined crops, so food became really expensive. And because horses were
05:28the main way people traveled, the cost of oats that they ate went way up too. Some people
05:33even think this led to the invention of the bicycle in 1870 as a new way to get around.
05:39The eruption made the Earth colder for about 3 years. Even though the Tambora eruption
05:45was so powerful, Krakatoa, another volcano in Indonesia, stole the show when it erupted
05:51in 1883. It was just easier to spread information about it through telegrams and photos. Its
05:57final blast was the loudest recorded sound in history, and people could hear it on 10%
06:03of the entire Earth's surface. The eruption started a tsunami with waves about half as
06:08tall as the Statue of Liberty.
06:12If we only had 12 months to prepare for a supervolcano eruption, it would be really
06:17hard to store enough food and get ready. But don't panic just yet! Supervolcano eruptions
06:23are very rare, and the last one happened 26,500 years ago in New Zealand. Scientists
06:29think that a supereruption happens once every 100,000 years on average. But the sad part
06:35here is that the Earth doesn't follow a perfect timeline. There could be clusters
06:40of supereruptions with shorter gaps between them and then longer quiet periods. Since
06:45there have already been two supereruptions in the last 100,000 years, there's always
06:50a chance one could happen again sooner than we expect.
06:55Plus, although there are places like Yellowstone and Long Valley where we expect volcanoes
07:00to erupt, there are less obvious possible hotspots. In Chile, there's a volcano called
07:06Laguna del Male that has erupted in the past and left behind a huge crater. Over the last
07:1220 years, the ground there has been swelling really fast, rising up to almost 1 foot a
07:18Some people are worried that this could be a sign of a big eruption coming. But scientists
07:23say there's not enough magma yet to cause a supereruption. In Bolivia, the Jutirancu
07:28volcano is also acting up. It's part of a group of volcanoes that have caused supereruptions
07:34in the past. Since the 1960s, the ground around Jutirancu has been lifting, but the last eruption
07:41was 250,000 years ago. Even though the magma might be rising, it's not enough to worry
07:46about just yet. The chances of a supereruption happening during
07:51our lifetime are 1 in 1,400, which is pretty low, so you don't need to worry too much.
07:58But just like someone wins the lottery every week with very small chances, a supereruption
08:03could happen sometime in the future. And when it does, we'll need to be prepared.
08:09That's it for today! So, hey, if you pacified your curiosity, then give the video a like
08:13and share it with your friends! Or, if you want more, just click on these videos and
08:17stay on the Bright Side!
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