[Rockhounds] Why scientists are excited about Italy's volcanoes

[Kreigh Tomaszewski]

The top of the volcano exploded, sending a gigantic column of ash four or
five kilometres
<https://www.protezionecivile.gov.it/en/notizia/stromboli-update-volcanic-activity-and-civil-protection-response/>
(2.5-3
miles) into the sky. Mount Stromboli, off the north coast of Sicily, is one
of the most active volcanoes in the world. On 11 July, it produced a
paroxysm – a term in geology for a type of powerful eruption that
interrupts a period of milder volcanic activity. In the villages nestled
around the foot of the volcano, warning sirens blared.

The paroxysm occurred shortly after 2pm local time and news of the event
quickly began to spread online. Shortly after the explosion, two dozen or
so volcanologists around Europe were due to attend one of their regular
meetings. Chiara Maria Petrone, a volcano petrologist at the Natural
History Museum in the UK, joined the session online.

"We started the meeting just an hour after the paroxysm," she recalls. "It
was really exciting."

Immediately, the scientists began bringing each other up to speed. Some
shared real-time data from seismometers and other instruments. A few
attendees even happened to be on the island of Stromboli at the time,
according to Petrone, meaning they were able to describe what they were
seeing. "It was all just happening at that moment," says .

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20240806-why-scientists-are-excited-about-italys-volcanoes