Thursday, October 9, 2008

Deconstructing the Volcano Symphony

One of the things that has allowed people to put up subdivisions closer to active volcanoes, is the notion that seismic signals can portend the exact moment of eruption. Refining this wonderful idea, recent work can simulate some seismic signals in the lab.

These are the 'pressure release' signals, which come when you get things all bloated up, and suddenly release gas. There are other signals which mix up all together for the Volcanic Tremor Symphony. But there are some cautions that volcanoes aren't just big balloons, ready to burst, but they may, in fact, be somewhat complex.

So, when they make a mistake and some subdivision gets suddenly roasted without warning, they can just say 'Oops!', shrug their shoulders, and say "Who knew?".

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