1 00:00:02,040 --> 00:00:07,040 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff from How Stuff Works, Hey, brain Stuff, 2 00:00:07,120 --> 00:00:10,800 Speaker 1: Lauren volcabam here it seems like a scenario tailor made 3 00:00:10,800 --> 00:00:13,720 Speaker 1: for a cheesy disaster film, the next Big Thing on Netflix, 4 00:00:13,840 --> 00:00:16,520 Speaker 1: or a soon to be sci fi network classic. A 5 00:00:16,600 --> 00:00:20,360 Speaker 1: rumbling volcano on a remote tropical island. A monster is 6 00:00:20,480 --> 00:00:25,000 Speaker 1: hurricane barreling relentlessly towards it, lava, lightning, stinging rain, flooding, 7 00:00:25,200 --> 00:00:29,160 Speaker 1: man eating sharks dropping out of the sky. It strike 8 00:00:29,280 --> 00:00:32,160 Speaker 1: that last part. This isn't Sharknado, but the odd coupling 9 00:00:32,200 --> 00:00:35,800 Speaker 1: of active volcano and hurricane still can be pretty cool 10 00:00:36,280 --> 00:00:40,840 Speaker 1: and scary, and it's very real. When a hurricane meets 11 00:00:40,840 --> 00:00:43,920 Speaker 1: a volcano, and it happens probably more often than you think, 12 00:00:44,400 --> 00:00:48,320 Speaker 1: some strange and wondrous sparks begin to fly. How big 13 00:00:48,360 --> 00:00:51,720 Speaker 1: those sometimes literal sparks become depends on a few key factors, 14 00:00:51,720 --> 00:00:54,680 Speaker 1: of course, including the strength of the hurricane, how active 15 00:00:54,680 --> 00:00:59,240 Speaker 1: the volcano is, and the topography surrounding the volcano. Because 16 00:00:59,240 --> 00:01:02,920 Speaker 1: of those variable it's almost impossible to accurately predict what 17 00:01:03,000 --> 00:01:06,520 Speaker 1: will happen when a big storm settles over a big volcano. 18 00:01:06,640 --> 00:01:11,360 Speaker 1: But lightning, lava, rain, and winds are all possibilities. We 19 00:01:11,400 --> 00:01:14,560 Speaker 1: spoke with Stephen Bussinger, a professor in the Department of 20 00:01:14,600 --> 00:01:18,520 Speaker 1: Meteorology at the University of Hawaii, who admits we always 21 00:01:18,560 --> 00:01:22,520 Speaker 1: get excited when a hurricane comes by in Hawaii. The 22 00:01:22,600 --> 00:01:25,840 Speaker 1: volcano Kilauea on the Island of Hawaii, also known as 23 00:01:25,840 --> 00:01:29,000 Speaker 1: the Big Island, has been actively spouting off since nine 24 00:01:30,400 --> 00:01:34,040 Speaker 1: It's latest stretch, which began in mid May, has spute 25 00:01:34,120 --> 00:01:37,440 Speaker 1: lava from the volcano, destroying seven hundred houses and adding 26 00:01:37,440 --> 00:01:39,920 Speaker 1: more than eight hundred and fifty acres. That's about three 27 00:01:40,000 --> 00:01:42,560 Speaker 1: hundred and forty three hectares of new land to the 28 00:01:42,600 --> 00:01:46,800 Speaker 1: Big Island. But in August of researchers from the U 29 00:01:46,880 --> 00:01:50,320 Speaker 1: S Geological Survey said activity from Kilauea's fission number eight, 30 00:01:50,600 --> 00:01:54,400 Speaker 1: the largest and most active, has decreased to only a glow. 31 00:01:54,920 --> 00:01:57,760 Speaker 1: It's not just the lava that makes volcanoes dangerous, though. 32 00:01:58,080 --> 00:02:01,200 Speaker 1: Volcanoes shoot vast amounts of into the sky that can 33 00:02:01,240 --> 00:02:04,520 Speaker 1: contribute to a lot of rain and flooding. Oregon State 34 00:02:04,600 --> 00:02:08,079 Speaker 1: University's Volcano World website explains that the ash thrown into 35 00:02:08,080 --> 00:02:12,000 Speaker 1: the atmosphere can attract and collect water droplets, creating more 36 00:02:12,120 --> 00:02:15,639 Speaker 1: rain and lightning in the immediate area. When a tropical 37 00:02:15,639 --> 00:02:18,720 Speaker 1: cyclone or hurricane heavy with rain and strong winds is 38 00:02:18,760 --> 00:02:22,560 Speaker 1: added to that already volatile volcanic weather mix, things can 39 00:02:22,600 --> 00:02:27,720 Speaker 1: become even diceier. Bussenger said, its circulation is more vigorous. 40 00:02:28,040 --> 00:02:30,639 Speaker 1: People can be killed by the heavy winds that result 41 00:02:30,760 --> 00:02:33,639 Speaker 1: or the lightning that results. Bussenger has a pH d 42 00:02:33,800 --> 00:02:37,119 Speaker 1: in atmospheric sciences and has been tracking storms, including ones 43 00:02:37,120 --> 00:02:39,800 Speaker 1: that interact with volcanoes, at the University of Hawaii for 44 00:02:39,840 --> 00:02:45,720 Speaker 1: some twenty five years. Here's a historical example. Mount Pinatubo 45 00:02:45,800 --> 00:02:48,560 Speaker 1: in the Philippines blew its top the second largest volcanic 46 00:02:48,639 --> 00:02:52,640 Speaker 1: eruption of the twentieth century, when Typhoon Union brought heavy 47 00:02:52,720 --> 00:02:55,760 Speaker 1: rains just as the volcano was erupting. The volcanic ash 48 00:02:55,760 --> 00:02:58,320 Speaker 1: and rock that Pinatubo coughed up was washed down the 49 00:02:58,360 --> 00:03:02,240 Speaker 1: volcano slopes and flows known as lahars over the next 50 00:03:02,240 --> 00:03:06,120 Speaker 1: four years. Those lahars, originally prompted by Yunia and later 51 00:03:06,160 --> 00:03:09,560 Speaker 1: egged on by other storms and rainy seasons, eventually caused 52 00:03:09,560 --> 00:03:13,520 Speaker 1: more damage than the eruption itself. After observing tropical storm 53 00:03:13,520 --> 00:03:18,320 Speaker 1: Flossy roll over Kilauea, in Bussenger and colleague Andre patent 54 00:03:18,400 --> 00:03:22,919 Speaker 1: Hius measured something else, a marked increase in lightning. They 55 00:03:23,000 --> 00:03:25,560 Speaker 1: explained it in a paper in the journal Geophysical Research 56 00:03:25,639 --> 00:03:29,840 Speaker 1: Letters in quote, in the clean atmosphere, you have large 57 00:03:29,919 --> 00:03:33,959 Speaker 1: droplets form around few particles, and those large droplets tend 58 00:03:34,000 --> 00:03:36,600 Speaker 1: to fall out before these large droplets have a chance 59 00:03:36,640 --> 00:03:39,640 Speaker 1: to get up into the upper atmosphere where freezing takes place. 60 00:03:40,080 --> 00:03:44,000 Speaker 1: It's freezing that's required for electrification. When you have pollution 61 00:03:44,040 --> 00:03:47,360 Speaker 1: from a volcano that's producing lots of condensation particles, a 62 00:03:47,440 --> 00:03:51,400 Speaker 1: cloud condensation nuclei we call it. Then you get many droplets. 63 00:03:51,760 --> 00:03:54,720 Speaker 1: Those smaller droplets don't rain out, and they're more easily 64 00:03:54,800 --> 00:03:57,840 Speaker 1: lofted above the freezing level, and then you do get 65 00:03:57,920 --> 00:04:03,160 Speaker 1: charge separation electrification. By early August eighteen, just before Hurricane 66 00:04:03,200 --> 00:04:05,640 Speaker 1: Hector swung near the southern side of the Big Island, 67 00:04:05,920 --> 00:04:09,040 Speaker 1: seven tropical cyclones had already made landfall across the Hawaiian 68 00:04:09,040 --> 00:04:12,640 Speaker 1: islands since Kilauea began. As the latest run eruptions. The 69 00:04:12,680 --> 00:04:15,480 Speaker 1: three most recent, according to the Weather Channel where Flossy 70 00:04:15,520 --> 00:04:22,559 Speaker 1: in Hurricane Zel and Hurricane Darby in with Kilauea showing 71 00:04:22,600 --> 00:04:25,840 Speaker 1: few signs of abating, Hawaii may be facing several more 72 00:04:25,920 --> 00:04:29,919 Speaker 1: chances at hurricane versus volcano meetings. But even if a 73 00:04:29,920 --> 00:04:33,120 Speaker 1: tropical storm doesn't directly strike the big island, even if 74 00:04:33,120 --> 00:04:36,160 Speaker 1: it doesn't make landfall and glide over Kilauea, even if 75 00:04:36,160 --> 00:04:38,600 Speaker 1: the rains and lightning are somehow held to a minimum, 76 00:04:38,880 --> 00:04:42,680 Speaker 1: can still stir things up around Hawaii. Some of those byproducts, 77 00:04:42,720 --> 00:04:46,200 Speaker 1: given the alternative, might even be welcomed there. The heavy 78 00:04:46,240 --> 00:04:48,760 Speaker 1: moist air of a hurricane can help clean the air 79 00:04:48,880 --> 00:04:52,039 Speaker 1: of the bigger ash particles from a volcanic eruption, and 80 00:04:52,200 --> 00:04:55,120 Speaker 1: a good windy storm is always welcomed by some types 81 00:04:55,160 --> 00:04:58,120 Speaker 1: in the islands. Passenger said, it's going to kick up 82 00:04:58,160 --> 00:05:06,520 Speaker 1: some holacious surf. Today's episode was written by John Donovan 83 00:05:06,560 --> 00:05:09,680 Speaker 1: and produced by Tyler Clang. Brain Stuff has merchandise now. 84 00:05:09,880 --> 00:05:12,839 Speaker 1: You can contain your liquids, electronics, and or body in 85 00:05:12,960 --> 00:05:16,560 Speaker 1: brainy style by visiting t public dot com slash brain stuff, 86 00:05:17,080 --> 00:05:19,359 Speaker 1: and of course, for more on this and lots of 87 00:05:19,360 --> 00:05:22,839 Speaker 1: other explosive topics, visit our home planet, how stuff Works 88 00:05:23,000 --> 00:05:34,840 Speaker 1: dot com.