Guest Thinkers — August 12, 2011

Instant Etna action: How volcano monitoring has changed in the 21st century

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We heard earlier today that Dr. Boris Behncke thought that Etna was heading for its 10th paroxysm via his Twitter account – and I posted about it here in Eruptions. A few hours later, sure enough we could all watch the eruption live on webcams from anywhere in the world – and discuss it with other volcano enthusiasts and experts. Dr. Behncke came back midday with stunning close-up images of eruption earlier in the day and posted them on Flickr. By the end of the (work) day here in Ohio, the NASA Earth Observatory had posted a MODIS image of today’s activity at Etna … and all before it even shows up in the news.

And that, my friends, is how volcano monitoring operates in the 21st century.

Top left: Etna erupting on August 12, 2011. Webcam capture from Eruptions reader Diane Germany.

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