WEBVTT - Could Humans Control Volcanic Eruptions?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff from How Stuff Works, Hi brain

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<v Speaker 1>Stuff Lauren Vogelbaum here. When Alaska's Pavlof volcano erupted in

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<v Speaker 1>March of it ejected a cloud of ash four hundred

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<v Speaker 1>miles or six d forty KOs high. The stream of sharp,

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<v Speaker 1>powdered rocks shut down air travel and major highways. Then

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<v Speaker 1>twice in May and July, the U S Geological Survey

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<v Speaker 1>raised the alert level for pavlov which seemed ready to

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<v Speaker 1>do it again, but then they downgraded it in August.

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<v Speaker 1>Volcanic eruptions are notoriously unpredictable. Hans Lechner, a doctorial candidate

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<v Speaker 1>in geology and engineering sciences at Michigan Technological University, says

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<v Speaker 1>volcanologists haven't figured out the timing yet. He wrote via email,

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<v Speaker 1>a volcano may show all the signs of an impending eruption,

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<v Speaker 1>increased seismicity, high gas flux, surface deformation, but then never

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<v Speaker 1>actually erupt and over time returned back to baseline levels.

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<v Speaker 1>Or he says, it can show none of the signs

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<v Speaker 1>of an impending eruption and then erupt. There are those

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<v Speaker 1>in the field who muse about going on the offensive.

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<v Speaker 1>The volcanic preemptive strike if you will. The idea is

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<v Speaker 1>humans somehow modify the eruption process, either by initiating an

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<v Speaker 1>eruption under controlled conditions, or by downgrading the energy of

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<v Speaker 1>an impending eruption to limit the resulting damage. The energy

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<v Speaker 1>involved in a volcanic eruption defies the imagination. Italy's infamous

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<v Speaker 1>Mount Etna spewed about three cubic feet that's ten cubic

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<v Speaker 1>meters of lava per second during its four month eruption.

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<v Speaker 1>In Lechno reports that in Mount Pinatubo's initial blast ejected

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<v Speaker 1>about two point four cubic miles or ten cubic kilometers

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<v Speaker 1>of material to an altitude of about twenty five miles

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<v Speaker 1>or forty kilometers. He says that magma represents massive amounts

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<v Speaker 1>of energy. It originates deep inside the Earth, where extreme

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<v Speaker 1>temperatures and pressures can melt rock. Molten rock or magma

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<v Speaker 1>is lighter than solid rock, so it rises, forming a

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<v Speaker 1>magma chamber that moves upward through Earth's crust. As the

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<v Speaker 1>volume of magma grows, the pressure in the chamber increases,

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<v Speaker 1>forcing magma through the volcanoes vents tubes formed by prior

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<v Speaker 1>eruptions sealed at the surface by a lid of rock.

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<v Speaker 1>If the pressure gets high enough and Events suddenly opens

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<v Speaker 1>to the atmosphere, the rapid depressurization causes gases to come

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<v Speaker 1>out of solution, which causes the magma to explode. It

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<v Speaker 1>spews through the open vents, along with pulverized rock, steam,

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<v Speaker 1>and various gases. In the case of Mount Saint Helen's

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<v Speaker 1>in eighty, Lecener says that extreme pressure had forced event

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<v Speaker 1>lid to bulge outward, a classic sign of impending eruption,

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<v Speaker 1>and landslide took it off. To modify that eruption, Lecner theorizes,

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<v Speaker 1>I suppose humans could have triggered the landslide or removed

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<v Speaker 1>the overburden lid through say excavation or even donating a

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<v Speaker 1>nuclear device. Of course, nowton a volcano should not be

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<v Speaker 1>anyone's first plan, and drilling into the magma chamber to

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<v Speaker 1>release the pressures out too. Volcanologist Eric Clemetti, writing on

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<v Speaker 1>Wired in likened that theory to trying to bleed to

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<v Speaker 1>death with a needle prick. But we couldn't avert an

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<v Speaker 1>erupt and by slowly depressurizing the chamber either Lechner wrote,

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<v Speaker 1>we have to get past the misconception that a magma

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<v Speaker 1>chamber is like a fluid filled balloon or soda bottle

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<v Speaker 1>that we can gently insert a straw and suck out

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<v Speaker 1>the lava and gas. We're talking about pressures and volumes

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<v Speaker 1>of material that are beyond the capacity of man made equipment.

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<v Speaker 1>He says, would have to drill down several kilometers with

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<v Speaker 1>massive pipes hundreds of meters in diameter to handle the

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<v Speaker 1>volcanic output that would rush from the chamber. The pipes

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<v Speaker 1>would have to withstand temperatures above three thousand, six hundred

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<v Speaker 1>degrees fahrenheit that's two thousand degrees celsius, and pressures quote

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<v Speaker 1>beyond our capabilities to manage and even comprehend. And then

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<v Speaker 1>he adds there would still be the gases held in

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<v Speaker 1>solution by the pressure of the chamber that escape violently

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<v Speaker 1>when the chamber depressurized. Generally speaking, it seems the main

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<v Speaker 1>problem facing human modication of volcanic eruptions is that it's

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<v Speaker 1>laughably impossible. Volcanoes are too big and volcanic eruptions are

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<v Speaker 1>too powerful. Yet, says Janet Bab, geologist with the U

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<v Speaker 1>s GS Hawaiian vulk cano observatory. Humanity is not completely

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<v Speaker 1>without modification options, Bab rope via email. Humans cannot stop

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<v Speaker 1>or control an eruption, but we have taken some actions

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<v Speaker 1>to control products erupted from a volcano. Diverting lava flows.

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<v Speaker 1>For instance, Bab points to Mount Etna and that three

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<v Speaker 1>eruption mentioned earlier, which sent lava flowing into populated areas.

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<v Speaker 1>With the lava flow threatening to overrun three towns, hundreds

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<v Speaker 1>of workers desperately constructed a system of massive rebel barriers

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<v Speaker 1>to redirect it, and it worked. They successfully diverted the lava.

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<v Speaker 1>Attempts to guide lava flows by bombing them have generally failed.

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<v Speaker 1>Cooling them has shown promise, though. In ninety three, when

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<v Speaker 1>lava from a volcano on the Icelandic island of Haymi

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<v Speaker 1>was flowing into towns, officials built barriers to stop its

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<v Speaker 1>progress and dumped seawater on the lava to cool it down,

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<v Speaker 1>slow the flow, and help it harden. The barriers held

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<v Speaker 1>against the lower energy lava flow. As for exerting control

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<v Speaker 1>before the lava starts flowing, Lechner says it's mostly science

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<v Speaker 1>fiction daydreaming volcanology research instead focuses on advancing methods of

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<v Speaker 1>monitoring and prediction. However, he writes, it's not absurd to

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<v Speaker 1>think that our own hubrists might encourage us to attempt

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<v Speaker 1>to modify a volcanic eruption. Humans have a history of

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<v Speaker 1>large scale engineering feats that have forever modified the service

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<v Speaker 1>of the Earth. Today's episode is written by Julia Layton

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<v Speaker 1>and produced by Tristan McNeil. For more on this and

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<v Speaker 1>lots of other explosive topics, visit our home planet, how

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<v Speaker 1>Stuff Works dot com.