Agencies around the world cooperate on volcano monitoring, research
Yellowstone Caldera Chronicles is a weekly column written by scientists and collaborators of the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory. This week’s contribution is from Shaul Hurwitz, research hydrologist with the U.S. Geological Survey.
View of the Chaitén lava dome in Chile looking north, on May 26, 2008. Note simultaneous explosion and effusion of new lava on the left-central side of the dome. The caldera is about 3 kilometers wide.
View of Chaitén lava dome looking north, on May 26, 2008. Note simultaneous explosion and effusion of new lava on left-central side of dome. Caldera is about 3 km wide.
To understand why scientists need to better understand volcanic hazards, we can learn from Marie Curie, the first woman to be awarded a Nobel Prize, and the first person to receive the award twice, in physics (1903) and chemistry (1911). Curie stated that “Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less”. In other words, the more we know, the less we should fear.
It is the responsibility of the USGS