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Around the world, volcanoes are erupting more frequently—and the timing has scientists scratching their heads. The sudden global spike in volcanic activity occurred immediately after a period of unusually intense solar flares. Now researchers are investigating whether the Sun’s powerful bursts could be influencing Earth’s geological behavior in ways we never imagined.
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00:00A solar storm is crashing into Earth like a cosmic tsunami.
00:05First, the atmosphere ignites, sparking massive auroras.
00:09High-energy radiation slams into the surface, frying power grids,
00:13turning lights off across continents, and knocking out satellites.
00:18Planes lose navigation.
00:20Radios go silent.
00:22GPS systems crash.
00:24Radiation levels spike dangerously.
00:27Communication collapses, emergency services scramble in the darkness,
00:31and chaos spreads as people struggle to cope.
00:34Solar particles start to strip away the very air we breathe,
00:37slowly peeling off our atmosphere.
00:40Soon, Earth will become a harsh and hostile place.
00:43That's what solar activity can do to our planet and its inhabitants
00:47if we didn't have a protective shield called the magnetosphere.
00:52But even with this barrier, we're still in for serious problems.
00:58A mysterious 100-year solar cycle may have just restarted,
01:03and it could mean decades of dangerous space weather.
01:06New research suggests that the unexpected intensity of the ongoing solar maximum
01:11may be partly tied to a lesser-known 100-year solar cycle.
01:16If the sun is indeed entering its villain arc,
01:20solar activity could spike even further in the coming decades.
01:23It means more solar flares, more chances of them messing with satellites,
01:28and way more of those crazy northern lights people keep posting on Instagram.
01:33Sure, not everyone's buying it.
01:35Some space nerds want more proof before jumping on this solar hype train.
01:40Let's break it all down into detail first.
01:44The sun goes through a kind of mood swing every 11 years.
01:48This is called the solar cycle.
01:50It starts off at a solar minimum, which is pretty chill,
01:54then slowly gets rowdy.
01:56We're talking sunspots, solar flares, and other fiery drama.
02:01Once we reach solar maximum, the situation starts to calm down again.
02:06The sun gets sunspots, dark patches on its surface,
02:10like the freckles we humans have,
02:12when its magnetic field starts flipping out.
02:15Literally.
02:16The sun's magnetic field completely flips during peak solar drama.
02:20Scientists track how many of these spots show up
02:23to measure how spicy the sun is getting.
02:26But wait, plot twist, there are other cycles too,
02:29like the hail cycle, which occurs around every 22 years.
02:33This cycle controls how magnetic fields move across the sun.
02:38Plus, way back in history,
02:40there were moments when the sun basically went on do-not-disturb mode.
02:44During the maunder minimum,
02:46our star was basically in sleep mode for 70 years.
02:51In other words, the sun might be entering a new extra phase,
02:55and things could get dramatic.
02:57On the bright side, that means more auroras.
03:00At the same time, it could also cause issues for satellites,
03:04GPS, and other stuff we rely on.
03:07Ugh, let's just hope it doesn't mess with YouTube.
03:11This extra phase is called the Centennial-Gleisberg Cycle.
03:15It's basically the sun's
03:17once-every-100-years-I-do-something-weird moment.
03:21Scientists think it messes with how intense sunspot cycles get.
03:25No one has fully worked out how this cycle works yet,
03:29but some low-key sloshing of magnetic fields inside the sun might be causing it.
03:34Yep, I did say sloshing.
03:36Like a giant cosmic smoothie.
03:39A recent study from March 2025 claims that the CGC might have just hit restart.
03:46That could explain why this current solar maximum,
03:49the sun's drama phase that started in early 2024,
03:53is being so weird and unpredictable.
03:55How did researchers figure this out?
03:58They looked at something called proton flux.
04:01Basically, it's how many positively charged particles
04:04are flying around in Earth's radiation belt.
04:06There are two of these belts,
04:09shaped like donuts that wrap around Earth,
04:11full of particles from the sun.
04:13The thing is, when the sun is active,
04:16our upper atmosphere swells,
04:18which makes the inner radiation belt lose some of those protons.
04:21And when the sun is chill,
04:23proton numbers go up again.
04:25So those protons have been increasing for like 20 years,
04:29but just started to drop in the past year.
04:32Which basically screams,
04:34CGC has just hit minimum.
04:36Time for the sun to crank it back up.
04:40The data came from NOAA satellites
04:43that flew through the South Atlantic anomaly,
04:45which is like the Bermuda Triangle of space.
04:48It's this bizarre zone over South America,
04:51where Earth's magnetic field is weaker,
04:53and space radiation gets closer to Earth.
04:56This area is perfect for observing proton activity
05:00without sending a satellite into the actual danger zone.
05:04So, right now,
05:06we're probably nearing the end of the sun's current chaos phase,
05:10aka the peak of Solar Cycle 25.
05:14Back in May 2024,
05:16it hit us with one of the craziest geomagnetic storms in 500 years or so.
05:20And yes,
05:21that means super bright auroras lighting up skies all over the world,
05:26even in places that usually only get clouds and vibes.
05:29But the scariest thing?
05:31This wasn't supposed to happen.
05:34During the last cycle,
05:35the sun was oddly calm.
05:37So NASA and NOAA looked at that
05:40and thought that the next solar cycle would probably be the same.
05:44No biggie.
05:45Well,
05:45they were wrong.
05:46And they even admitted it.
05:49Now,
05:50scientists think that SC24's quiet phase
05:53was because of the Centennial-Gleisberg cycle being at its low point.
05:57That probably made it the quietest sunspot cycle in 100 years.
06:01So now that SC25 is lit again,
06:05pretty literally,
06:06it might just mean the sun is back to doing what it normally does,
06:10being a little chaotic and wild.
06:13Recent studies think the CGC minimum is finally over.
06:17That would explain why the current solar activity is turning up the heat
06:21and why the last one felt like a cosmic snooze.
06:26An even cooler thing is that a 2024 study
06:29used AI to analyze sunspot patterns
06:32and found that CGC might be messing with our forecasts
06:35more than we thought.
06:37And if this long-term mood swing of our star is really back on the rise,
06:42future solar cycles could be just as wild as the one we're in now,
06:46or even wilder.
06:48After all,
06:49we've just passed the CGC's low-energy mode
06:51and we won't hit the next maximum for another 40 to 50 years,
06:56around solar cycle 28.
06:58That's a few decades away,
06:59but the sun's already throwing tantrums.
07:02The scariest part is that future solar activity
07:05might be twice as intense as what we're seeing now.
07:08You might be wondering right now,
07:10why should I care?
07:12Well, because when the sun freaks out,
07:14it messes with our stuff,
07:15especially in space.
07:18Satellites get dragged out of orbit
07:19because Earth's upper atmosphere
07:21literally puffs up like a marshmallow in a microwave
07:24when solar activity spikes.
07:27And this has already happened to a few spacecraft recently.
07:30And with tons of private satellite mega constellations
07:33like Starlink and its squad,
07:35the risk goes way up.
07:37There are some,
07:38even though those are few,
07:40that might not be ready
07:41for a full-blown sunrage event.
07:44Time to wear SPF-100 for your satellites.
07:50Astronauts are also at risk.
07:51More solar flares mean more radiation
07:53and more danger for humans in orbit.
07:56At the same time,
07:57more space tourists and missions
07:59mean more people potentially
08:01in the sun's cosmic splash zone.
08:03At the same time,
08:05not everyone is buying into the whole
08:07CGC is back and ready to party theory.
08:10Some experts say it's a cool theory,
08:12but we shouldn't get carried away.
08:13The thing is,
08:14the proton flux,
08:15those space particles we've been watching,
08:18only started dropping last year.
08:20That's not a lot of time.
08:21It might just be a short-term dip,
08:24like the sun sneezed
08:25and now everyone's freaking out.
08:27Also,
08:28we've only been able to track this stuff properly
08:30for 30 to 40 years or so,
08:32which is basically nothing in sun time.
08:35So there's no solid before and after data
08:38to compare CGC cycles and say,
08:40yep, this is definitely a pattern.
08:43Plus, the CGC itself is kind of mysterious.
08:47Like no one can fully agree on what it even is,
08:50how it works
08:51or how much it actually messes
08:53with sunspot cycles.
08:55It's like the Bigfoot of solar science,
08:58blurry, weird,
08:59and causing drama in group chats.
09:01But even skeptics admit
09:02that the new study is interesting
09:04and well-intentioned
09:05and that it might help us predict
09:07future solar cycles better.
09:09We just need more time,
09:11more data,
09:12and better definition of the CGC
09:14before we treat it like
09:16the ultimate weather app for the sun.
09:20On July 23rd, 2024,
09:23Europe's solar orbiter spacecraft
09:25observed a super-powerful solar flare
09:28erupting from the far side of the sun.
09:30This flare wasn't the most extreme ever recorded,
09:33but still,
09:34we got extremely lucky this time
09:37not to get fried by it.
09:38Such solar flares often cause
09:40long-lived raging radiation storms.
09:43And if such a storm moves
09:45in the direction of Earth,
09:46it can lead to worldwide blackouts.
09:51Before we go deeper into details
09:53of that potentially disastrous solar flare,
09:55we need to figure out
09:56what exactly this solar phenomenon is.
09:59Solar flares occur
10:00because the magnetic fields
10:02in the atmosphere of our star
10:03are moving non-stop.
10:05When the sun is approaching
10:07its solar maximum,
10:08and that's the most active period
10:10of its 11-year-long cycle,
10:11which is, by the way,
10:13exactly what's happening now,
10:15its magnetic fields
10:16get more and more tangled,
10:18making our star look
10:19like an enormous ball
10:20of tangled rubber bands.
10:22They loop around,
10:23cross over one another,
10:25cut one another off,
10:26and then reconnect.
10:29Ever seen iron filings
10:31sprinkled on a bar magnet?
10:33These filings line up
10:34along the magnetic lines of force.
10:36Like that,
10:37the hot plasma
10:38on the surface of the sun
10:39is at the mercy
10:40of the magnetic lines of force.
10:43Sometimes,
10:44when the magnetic fields
10:45interact with each other,
10:46some plasma gets disconnected
10:48from the fields,
10:49and its particles accelerate
10:50to immense speeds
10:52and send powerful radiation
10:53to space.
10:54That's what a solar flare is.
10:57Other times,
10:58our star throws off
10:59massive amounts of matter.
11:01Those events are
11:02coronal mass ejections,
11:04CMEs.
11:05Just one CME
11:06can contain
11:07as much as
11:0820 billion tons of material.
11:10If that material were rock,
11:12it would create a mountain
11:13about 2.75 miles across
11:16and almost a half a mile tall.
11:18The ejected material
11:19often travels
11:20at a speed of over
11:21a million miles per hour.
11:25Solar flares and CMEs
11:26are the most powerful explosions
11:28in the solar system,
11:29releasing unimaginable
11:31amounts of energy.
11:32Solar flares
11:33have their own classification
11:34according to their strength.
11:36The smallest and weakened ones
11:38are A and B class.
11:40Then there are
11:41C and M class solar flares.
11:43And the strongest
11:44are X class flares.
11:45A number from 1 to 9,
11:47and in some cases,
11:48a larger one,
11:49accompanies each letter.
11:51That's similar to the Richter scale
11:52for earthquakes.
11:53A and B class flares
11:55are too weak
11:56to affect our planet.
11:57As for C class flares,
11:59they may have
12:00small noticeable consequences.
12:02M class flares
12:03can cause short radio blackouts
12:05at the poles
12:06and weak radiation storms
12:07that can still harm astronauts.
12:09But the most dangerous
12:10of them all
12:11are X class flares.
12:13These are flares
12:14more than 10 times
12:15more powerful than X1.
12:17That's why
12:18the classification
12:18of X class flares
12:20can go higher than 9.
12:22Now, let's get back
12:24to that recent solar flare.
12:25It was X14 class 1.
12:27Now, we already know
12:29that it means
12:30it was an extra strong flare.
12:32Other large flares
12:33astronomers have detected recently
12:35include an X12 solar flare
12:37that happened on the 20th of May
12:38and an X10 flare
12:40that occurred on the 17th of July.
12:42All of them
12:43have come from
12:44the backside of the Sun.
12:47If we talk of the Earth side
12:49of our star,
12:50the largest solar flare
12:51that has been recorded so far
12:52within this solar cycle
12:54happened on the 14th of May.
12:56It was an X8.7 flare
12:58that led to radio blackouts
13:00and a strong geomagnetic storm
13:02leading to magnificent auroras
13:04all over the world
13:05occurred a few days earlier.
13:07Powerful coronal mass ejections
13:09accompanied this storm.
13:11As for the July X class flare,
13:13it was so powerful
13:14that it could have ended up
13:15tragically for us.
13:17Luckily,
13:18all that magnetically charged
13:19plasma blast
13:20that accompanied the flare
13:21didn't travel in our direction.
13:23If it had,
13:24it would have been
13:25quite the solar storm.
13:27Auroras would have been
13:28incredibly impressive
13:29and a wee bit terrifying
13:31in their magnificence.
13:32But at the same time,
13:34such a dynamic blast
13:35of energetic particles
13:36hurtling our way
13:37could have caused
13:38major technological problems
13:40and electrical blackouts
13:41like the event in 1989
13:43which severely harmed
13:45Quebec's power grid
13:46or a much, much earlier catastrophe
13:48that still managed
13:50to cause a lot of harm
13:51to the world.
13:53I'm talking about
13:54the Carrington event
13:55which occurred in 1859
13:57and was the first documented
13:59solar flare affecting our planet.
14:01It happened on the 1st of September
14:03and was named after
14:04Richard Carrington,
14:05the solar astronomer
14:06who witnessed the flare
14:07through his own telescope
14:08and sketched the sun's sunspots.
14:11According to scientists,
14:12that flare was the most powerful
14:14documented solar storm
14:15over the last 500 years.
14:18The Carrington event
14:19triggered auroras
14:20that were visible
14:21as far south as the Caribbean.
14:23It led to severe interruptions
14:25in telegraph services
14:26all over the world,
14:28even shocking
14:28some telegraph operators
14:30and sparking fires
14:31after discharges
14:32from the lines
14:33ignited telegraph paper.
14:36Another major solar flare
14:37that erupted
14:38on the 4th of August 1972
14:40destroyed long-distance
14:42phone communication
14:43across a few states,
14:44including Illinois.
14:45This event even made
14:47the American Telephone
14:48and Telegraph Company
14:49redesign its power system
14:51for transatlantic cables.
14:53Now, let's move to March 1985,
14:57when two super-powerful CMEs
14:59triggered a geomagnetic storm,
15:01which, in turn,
15:02set off a power blackout
15:04in Canada on the 13th of March.
15:06This blackout left
15:07around 6 million people
15:08without electricity
15:09for nine hours.
15:11It is said that the flare
15:12disrupted electric power transmission
15:14from the Hydro-Quebec generation station
15:17and melted a few power transformers
15:19in New Jersey.
15:20And still,
15:21this solar flare was nowhere near
15:23the power of the Carrington event.
15:26The Bastille Day solar storm
15:28took its name
15:29from the French national holiday
15:30because it occurred
15:32on the same day,
15:33on the 14th of July
15:34in the year 2000.
15:36It was an X5-class event
15:38that caused some satellites
15:39to short-circuit
15:40and resulted in radio blackouts.
15:42It's still one of the most
15:44highly observed solar storm events.
15:47From October to November 2003,
15:50our star unleashed
15:51a series of large solar flares
15:53and coronal mass ejections.
15:55And they did reach Earth
15:56and slam into our atmosphere.
15:58Those solar storms,
15:59also known as Halloween storms
16:01of 2003,
16:02caused aircraft to be rerouted,
16:05impacted satellite systems,
16:06and led to power outages
16:08in Sweden.
16:09Besides,
16:10the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory
16:12couldn't fulfill its functions
16:14during this solar onslaught.
16:16On the 28th of October,
16:182003,
16:19the Sun sent a whopper
16:21of a solar flare our way.
16:22The fire was so powerful,
16:24it overwhelmed the spacecraft sensor
16:26that was measuring it.
16:27The sensor topped out
16:29at a whopping X-28.
16:31But later,
16:32scientists figure out
16:33that the flare had reached
16:34a peak strength
16:34of about X-45.
16:37One more thing
16:38that made the Halloween storm
16:40so scary
16:40was that they happened
16:42during a time
16:42in the solar cycle
16:43when solar activity
16:45is usually quiet.
16:46That's two to three years
16:48after the solar maximum.
16:49According to NASA statistics,
16:51just 17 powerful flares
16:53erupted from our star
16:55during that time.
16:56The Sun spewed out
16:57another X-class solar flare
16:59on the 5th of December, 2006.
17:01It was an X-9-class flare
17:03that disrupted
17:04satellite-to-ground communications
17:06and GPS navigational signals
17:08for around 10 minutes.
17:10That solar storm
17:11was so powerful,
17:12it even damaged
17:13the solar X-ray imager instrument
17:15on the GOES-13 satellite.
17:17It sustained damage
17:18to several pixels
17:19of its detector.
17:20In February 2022,
17:23SpaceX experienced
17:24the terrifying power
17:26of our star
17:26when a devastating
17:28geomagnetic storm
17:29destroyed 38 Starlink satellites
17:31worth tens of millions
17:33of dollars.
17:33It happened shortly
17:35after they were deployed.
17:36Unfortunately,
17:37Starlink satellites
17:38are especially vulnerable
17:39to geomagnetic storms
17:41since they're released
17:42into extremely low-altitude orbits
17:44between 60 and 120 miles.
17:46They also rely
17:48on their onboard engines
17:49to overcome the drag force
17:51and raise themselves
17:52to their final altitude
17:53of around 350 miles
17:55over the surface
17:56of our planet.
17:57The thing is,
17:59during a geomagnetic storm,
18:01Earth's atmosphere
18:02absorbs energy
18:03from the storm,
18:04heats up,
18:04and extends upwards.
18:06It results
18:07in a denser thermosphere,
18:08which means more drag,
18:10and it can be
18:11a serious issue
18:11for satellites.
18:12That's exactly
18:13what happened.
18:14The batch
18:15of newly released
18:16Starlink satellites
18:17didn't manage
18:18to overcome
18:18the increased drag
18:19and started to fall back,
18:21eventually burning up
18:22in the atmosphere.
18:28Frankenstein,
18:29unreasonably cold weather,
18:30and tons of lava.
18:31What do these things
18:32have in common?
18:33They all trace
18:34their origins
18:35back to Mount Tambora.
18:37This volcano
18:38in Indonesia
18:39had such a massive impact
18:40that the aftermath
18:42could be felt
18:42in Switzerland
18:43even a year later,
18:44and these spots
18:45are thousands
18:46of miles apart.
18:48Soon,
18:49we might be facing
18:50something similar again.
18:51Stick around,
18:52because I'm about
18:53to reveal
18:54the exact spot
18:55where the next eruption
18:56is expected
18:57to happen
18:57in 2025.
19:01Back in 1815,
19:03Mount Tambora
19:03erupted
19:04with unprecedented force,
19:06sending a colossal cloud
19:08of fine particles
19:09into the atmosphere.
19:10This cloud
19:11reflected sunlight,
19:12leading to global cooling
19:13and even the year
19:15without a summer
19:16in 1816.
19:18Temperatures plummeted,
19:20crops failed,
19:21and families worldwide
19:22faced food shortages,
19:24compounded by various
19:25health issues.
19:27Fun fact,
19:28Frankenstein appeared
19:29because of abnormally
19:30cold weather
19:31in the summer of 1816.
19:33The author
19:34got stuck indoors
19:35in Switzerland
19:36and wrote this story
19:37to pass the time.
19:38But that is the only
19:40positive aftermath.
19:42In England and Ireland,
19:43people struggled
19:44to find food.
19:45The crops were too bad
19:46that year,
19:47and this year without summer
19:49cost them lives,
19:50all because of the eruption
19:52in Indonesia.
19:54While many other volcanoes
19:56have erupted since then,
19:57none have had consequences
19:59as dramatic as Tambora.
20:01However,
20:02climate professor Marcus Stoffel
20:04from the University of Geneva
20:06believes potential serious eruptions
20:08aren't just a matter of luck,
20:10it's only a matter of time.
20:12So it's up to us.
20:14We can sit back
20:15and wait for the inevitable,
20:16or we can start preparing today.
20:19This future eruption
20:21will happen in a world
20:22that's vastly different
20:23from the one in 1815.
20:25Not only is our planet
20:27more densely populated now,
20:29but we've also experienced
20:31irreversible changes
20:32that affect our daily lives.
20:34Now, if you think volcanoes
20:36are always the bad guys,
20:38think again.
20:39They've actually played
20:41a crucial role
20:41in shaping our planet.
20:43They help with land formation,
20:45atmospheric development,
20:46and climate modulation.
20:48Just look at Yellowstone,
20:50for example.
20:51When thick lava oozed
20:53to the surface,
20:53it spread across the landscape
20:55and transformed the area forever.
20:58When volcanoes blow their tops,
21:00they release a mix of lava,
21:02ash,
21:02and gases,
21:03including carbon dioxide.
21:05But don't worry.
21:06Compared to the emissions
21:07from fossil fuels,
21:09the amount from volcanoes
21:10is pretty tiny.
21:12What scientists are really
21:13keeping an eye on
21:14is sulfur dioxide,
21:15because it can have
21:17a big impact on our climate.
21:20When a major volcanic eruption happens,
21:23it can send sulfur dioxide
21:25soaring into the stratosphere,
21:27which is about 7 miles up
21:29in the atmosphere.
21:30Once there,
21:31it transforms into tiny aerosol particles
21:34that scatter sunlight,
21:36helping to cool the planet.
21:38This cooling effect
21:39isn't immediate, though.
21:41Those particles can hang around
21:42for a couple of years
21:44and even circulate
21:45all around the globe.
21:47Nowadays,
21:48we've got special equipment
21:49to monitor sulfur dioxide emissions
21:52from space.
21:53Take Mount Pinatubo
21:55in the Philippines.
21:56During its eruption in 1991,
21:58it released around 15 million tons
22:01of sulfur dioxide.
22:03Now,
22:04while that's a lot,
22:05it wasn't quite as massive
22:06as the eruption of Tambora.
22:08Still,
22:09Pinatubo managed to lower
22:10global temperatures
22:11by about 0.5 degrees Celsius
22:13for several years.
22:15Tambora,
22:16on the other hand,
22:17dropped average global temperatures
22:19by about 1 degree Fahrenheit.
22:21I know what you might be thinking.
22:23That's not much.
22:24But trust me,
22:25it makes a difference.
22:26If the planet warms up
22:28by just 1 degrees Fahrenheit,
22:29it could really mess
22:31with sea levels.
22:32Experts think
22:33we might see a rise
22:33of up to 8 inches
22:35by the end of this century.
22:36This could wipe out
22:37a lot of farmland
22:39and coastal habitats,
22:40which would be a huge blow
22:42to many communities.
22:44So maybe a volcano eruption
22:45that can cool off the planet
22:47is like a natural mechanism
22:49helping us out?
22:50Not exactly.
22:52While it does cool the planet off,
22:54don't get tricked into thinking
22:55it's the kind of coolness
22:56our planet needs.
22:58Such temperature shifts
22:59can severely mess up
23:00with the crops,
23:01like they did in 1816.
23:03There's also evidence
23:05that major eruptions
23:06can disrupt rainfall patterns,
23:08leading to drier conditions
23:09in monsoon regions
23:11across Africa and Asia.
23:13You see,
23:14the summer monsoon
23:15relies on the temperature difference
23:17between land and ocean,
23:18which can be altered
23:19by volcanic activity.
23:22Interestingly,
23:23a warmer climate
23:24may enhance the cooling effects
23:26of volcanic eruptions.
23:28Experts explain
23:29that the formation
23:30and movement
23:31of aerosol particles
23:32depend on climate conditions.
23:34As global temperatures rise,
23:37faster air circulation
23:38can lead to smaller aerosol particles,
23:41which are more effective
23:42at scattering sunlight
23:43and thereby intensifying
23:45the cooling effect.
23:47Oceans also contribute
23:49to this dynamic.
23:50A warming ocean surface
23:52creates a stratified layer,
23:54hindering the mixing
23:54of warm and cold water,
23:56which could mean
23:57that volcanic eruptions
23:58primarily cool
24:00the upper ocean layer
24:01and the atmosphere above it,
24:03according to Stoffel.
24:05Moreover,
24:06climate change may influence
24:07volcanic systems directly.
24:09The melting of ice
24:11can trigger more eruptions
24:12by reducing the pressure
24:13that allows magma
24:14to ascend more easily.
24:16Additionally,
24:18increased rainfall
24:19associated with climate change
24:20can seep into the ground
24:22and interact with magma,
24:24potentially sparking eruptions.
24:26While the prospect
24:27of a cooling period
24:29due to a volcanic eruption
24:30might seem beneficial
24:32amid climate change,
24:33scientists warn
24:34that the effects
24:35could be dire.
24:36The immediate consequences
24:39could be severe,
24:41particularly for the estimated
24:42800 million individuals
24:45residing near active volcanoes.
24:47A major eruption
24:49could devastate entire cities.
24:51For example,
24:52Campi Flegre,
24:54located near Naples, Italy,
24:56is showing signs
24:56of increased activity
24:58and threatens the lives
24:59of about 1 million people.
25:01Now, if you're from Oregon,
25:03beware.
25:04As experts say,
25:05this state might experience
25:06volcano eruptions.
25:08Are you scared?
25:10Don't be.
25:10It's actually not as scary
25:12as it seems.
25:13Let me explain why.
25:14There are more than
25:1680 volcanoes in Oregon,
25:17but we're not interested
25:19in a single one of them
25:20because it's an underwater volcano
25:22that is likely to erupt
25:23in 2025.
25:26Axial Seamount
25:27is the most active volcano
25:28in the Pacific Northwest,
25:30yet it remains largely unknown
25:32to the public
25:32due to its location
25:34approximately 300 miles offshore
25:37and nearly a mile
25:38beneath the ocean surface.
25:41While its upcoming eruption
25:42is expected to pose
25:44no threat of a tsunami
25:45or significant land-based earthquakes
25:47because of its depth
25:48and distance
25:49from the Cascadia Fault,
25:51the data gathered
25:52from studying its eruptions
25:53can enhance our monitoring
25:55of potentially
25:56more hazardous volcanoes.
25:58Let's call it
25:59a friendly eruption,
26:01shall we?
26:02In reality,
26:04predicting eruptions
26:04is a complex endeavor.
26:06We often encounter
26:07alarming headlines
26:09such as
26:09Yellowstone is about to erupt.
26:12Should we take
26:12these claims seriously?
26:15Not really.
26:16Yes, Yellowstone sits
26:18atop an active supervolcano
26:19that has experienced
26:20three major explosive eruptions
26:23in the past 2.1 million years.
26:25The last eruption occurred
26:27approximately 70,000 years ago
26:29with the most significant explosion
26:31taking place
26:32around 631,000 years ago
26:35forming the massive
26:36Yellowstone caldera.
26:38Naturally,
26:39many people are curious
26:40about whether Yellowstone
26:42will erupt again
26:43and when that might happen.
26:45Fortunately,
26:46scientists are employing
26:47new techniques
26:48to delve into these questions.
26:50A recent study suggests
26:52that Yellowstone
26:53is unlikely to experience
26:54another major eruption
26:56anytime soon.
26:57The reason
26:58is that the magma
26:59beneath the park
27:00is divided into a network
27:01of separate chambers.
27:03While there is
27:04a substantial amount
27:05of magma present,
27:06it's not sufficiently
27:08interconnected
27:08to support an eruption.
27:11Previous studies
27:12proposed that
27:12the existence
27:13of a massive layer
27:14of magma
27:14beneath Yellowstone,
27:16but these latest findings
27:17changed that notion.
27:18To gain a clearer understanding
27:20of the subterranean dynamics,
27:23researchers utilized
27:24a technique
27:24called Magneto Tellurics,
27:26which employs
27:27Earth's natural
27:28electromagnetic fields
27:30rather than seismic waves.
27:32Since magma
27:33is a good conductor
27:34of electricity,
27:35this method
27:36is particularly effective
27:38for mapping
27:38molten rock
27:39and comprehending
27:40underground activity
27:41in volcanically
27:42active regions.
27:44By using
27:45Magneto Tellurics,
27:46scientists created
27:47a detailed map
27:48of the magma
27:49under Yellowstone,
27:50enabling them
27:51to make more
27:52informed predictions
27:53about future eruptions.
27:56But what will happen
27:57if an eruption
27:58similar to Mount Tambora
27:59occurs?
28:00By and large,
28:01there will be
28:02huge climate chaos.
28:04Yeah,
28:04the best scientists
28:05are looking for the solution
28:06should it really happen,
28:08but they don't have it yet.
28:09So technically,
28:10we're not ready
28:11for the second
28:12Mount Tambora.
28:13But for now,
28:14we're pretty much safe.
28:15No major eruptions
28:17are predicted.
28:18Phew!
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