The Italian coasts are home to a submerged volcanic arc whose instability threatens an upcoming Mediterranean tsunami
A new UNESCO oceanographic mission has approached what it calls the “gates of hell”: they are off the Italian coast, where the seabed hosts one of the most active volcanic arcs in the world. Its intensity is increasing and heralds a Mediterranean tsunami in the next 30 years.
UNESCO has just completed an exploratory mission around the archipelago of the Aeolian Islands in Italy, a site known for its intense volcanic activity.
On May 13, the volcano Stromboliwhich is part of that archipelago, experienced another large explosion that generated a thick cloud of smoke and landslides that reached the sea.
UNESCO highlights that while this shallow eruption was highly visible, most of the world’s volcanic activity is actually hidden from view. More than a million volcanoes are underwater, generating 80% of the world’s volcanic activity.
Among the most active areas on the planet are the Italian coasts. If Italy has two of the most mythical and dangerous volcanoes on the planet, Stromboli and Vesuvius, its seabed is just as active. More specifically in the heart of the Tyrrhenian basin, the part of the Mediterranean located between Sardinia and the Italian peninsula, Oceanographic highlights.
exploratory mission
As part of the Decade of Ocean Sciences (2021-2030), coordinated by UNESCO, an exploration mission “UNESCO – 1 Ocean”, led by photographer and explorer alexis rosenfeldcarried out an underwater exploratory mission at the beginning of this month of June not far from Stromboli, in front of the island of panareato shed light on the activity of submarine volcanoes.
Panarea Island is the second smallest of the eight Aeolian Islands, which form a chain of volcanic islands north of Sicily. The images taken by Alexis Rosenfeld and the Italian filmmaker Robert Rinaldi they reflect the depths of the Panarea submarine crater along the rim of its caldera.
At a depth of only a few meters, permanent eruptions of gas, coming directly from the volcano’s magma chamber, escape from the bowels of the Earth to form impressive curtains of bubbles. Some areas release more than a million liters of gas a day.
Much deeper, more than seventy meters below the surface, an exceptional site has recently been discovered: The Smoking Land: a multitude of hydrothermal vents that expel acidic fluids at temperatures that can exceed 200°C.
gates of hell
“From the surface, you wouldn’t suspect a thing. However, the underwater volcanoes of Panarea are one of the most amazing landscapes I have ever seen. We are at the same time enveloped by the infinite silence of the ocean and in the middle of a Dantesque spectacle of volcanic chimneys that spit burning gases and fluids; It’s a bit like being at gates of hell. You realize that the Earth is alive & rdquor ;, explains Alexis Rosenfeld.
These phenomena are monitored daily by the teacher’s team Francesco Italianhead of the Palermo section of the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV), because they may represent a risk to the population.
In recent years, scientists have noted an “instability” in the behavior of these underwater volcanoes that requires further investigation. They believe that a “big event” is possible in the next 30 years, with waves over a meter high and seven hundred meters deep that would have catastrophic effects. A threat to Europe.
They estimate that, according to a natural cycle, a large explosion occurs in this area every 70 years. The last one took place in the late 1930s.
little time to react
In the event of an explosion, one of the risks is the formation of a tsunami. This is a phenomenon that moves at a very high speed, at least 300 km/h. Therefore, it could hit the Mediterranean islands in a few minutes, which means that we have to react very quickly, explains Francesco Italiano.
UNESCO has a long experience in this field, thanks to its Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC). Since the 1960s, he has coordinated the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWS). In 2005, it added three more systems: the CTWS in the Caribbean, the IOTWS for the Indian Ocean, and the NEAMTWS for the Northeast Atlantic and Mediterranean.
The UN has also developed a training program for coastal populations. It has been successfully implemented in various regions of the world, such as Southeast Asia, Oceania and the Caribbean, and currently is being implemented throughout the Mediterranean.
UNESCO will announce its new global goal in this area at the United Nations Conference on the Oceans, to be held from June 27 to July 1 in Lisbon.