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The search for eruption signals in volcanic noise

A volcano that erupted with few precursory signals offers a test bed for seeking out ways of forecasting disaster — and a reminder that analysis on a global scale is necessary for a comprehensive understanding of volcanoes.
  1. Emily K. Montgomery-Brown

    1. Emily K. Montgomery-Brown is at the US Geological Survey, Cascades Volcano Observatory, Vancouver, Washington 98683, USA.

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The beginnings of volcanic eruptions are often heralded by changes in observable features such as seismic activity, gas chemistry and the shape of the volcano. That wasn’t the case, however, on 22 May 2021, when Mount Nyiragongo in the Democratic Republic of the Congo erupted. As Smittarello et al.1 report in a paper in Nature, the volcano had been undergoing low-intensity eruptive activity since 2002 and had remained mostly unchanged from this condition until its striking and destructive eruption. The authors’ analysis provides clues to how such eruptions can be forecast in the absence of the usual precursors.

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Nature 609, 36-38 (2022)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-02347-x

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Competing Interests

The author declares no competing interests.

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