The leap in the dark: Geological thoughts about an unpredictable planet

Todesco, Micol

doi:10.1002/2017jb014274

Cited by 5 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…The periodic publication of bulletins is an eagerly awaited appointment, commonly re-posted by many followers, Meanwhile, a steady flux of contents contributes to building a stronger relation with our public, consolidating our online presence as a trusted institution (Sennert et al, 2018). Dissemination articles that do not directly refer to ongoing eruptions allow us to share basic volcanological information and clarify the way in which scientific knowledge is built and how it is continuously refined and tested against new data (Todesco, 2017). Widespread understanding of the scientific process is needed to allow science to play its unique role in society, by providing citizens with information that is justified beyond individual understanding, being founded on reliable, systematic segments of scientific knowledge.…”

Section: Discussion and Final Remarksmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To further complicate the task, scientists usually lack a specific training in science communication, and may inadvertently burden their information with too many details, or with unclear technical jargon (Fearnley et al, 2018a). Despite these difficulties, the dissemination of timely and accurate information about volcanic activity is considered essential to raise awareness of the population (Dufty, 2015;Todesco, 2017;Fearnley et al, 2018a;Dallo et al, 2022). Thanks to the widespread use of social media, when an interesting or dangerous event occurs the news spreads out quickly, in a surge of contents where actual information combines and mixes with fake or click-baiting news.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Eruptions and Social Media: Communication and Public Outreach About Volcanoes and Volcanic Activity in Italy

Todesco

Lucia²,

Bagnato³

et al. 2022

Front. Earth Sci.

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Italy is the land of iconic volcanoes, whose activity has been witnessed, described and portrayed for centuries. This legacy has greatly contributed to shaping the public perception of volcanoes and their impact, well beyond the national borders. Stories about famous eruptions overlap and nowadays easily mix up with the impressive footage that is readily available from ongoing eruptions worldwide. As a result, the public discourse may flatten the wide spectrum of possible phenomena into an oversimplified sketch of volcanic eruptions and their impact, where all events seem equally probable and look alike. Actual volcanoes differ in size, eruption magnitude, state of activity, eruptive style, geographical position, and each is located within a specific social and cultural context. All these elements combine in defining the consequences of volcanic activity as well as in determining the severity of the damage and the size of the impacted area. How can we convey such a complexity to the general public? Can social media contribute to raise awareness and build a more resilient society? An effective hazard communication should propose a comprehensible yet realistic description of volcanic settings and provide adequate tools to recognize and understand the specific features of each phenomenon and volcanic area. As we write, two Italian volcanoes display persistent eruptive activity, while other two are going through unrest phases that started in 2012, at Campi Flegrei, and in late summer of 2021, at Vulcano Island. Other active volcanoes (Vesuvius, Ischia, Colli Albani, Lipari, and Pantelleria) have been dormant for tens, hundreds, or thousands of years. Communication in these different contexts also require different approaches that take into account the specific needs of local communities. Social media may provide a unique opportunity to quickly share relevant news and information. Yet, this type of communication has its challenges and volcano observatories can rarely rely on expert social media managers. Sharing experiences and lessons learned is a key to ensure the growth of the volcanological community and improve its ability to connect and engage local residents. Here we discuss the online communication strategies implemented by the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV) since 2018 to inform Internet and social media users about volcanoes, volcanology, and ongoing volcanic activity, both in Italy and abroad. We describe the internal procedures that we developed and practiced and the experience gathered so far, during both quiet periods and a few volcanic crises. Our experience confirms previous indications about the importance of a steady online presence and suggests that public interest is not always easily predictable.

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Section: Discussion and Final Remarksmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Eruptions and Social Media: Communication and Public Outreach About Volcanoes and Volcanic Activity in Italy

Todesco

Lucia²,

Bagnato³

et al. 2022

Front. Earth Sci.

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“…On March 16, 2017, the explosive interaction of lava and snow on the flank of Mt. Etna injured 10 people, with ejected products ranging from ash to decimeter-sized bombs (Todesco 2017;Andronico et al 2018). A sudden explosion at the ocean entry of Kilauea, Hawaii, on July 16, 2018, damaged a tour boat, and 23 people were burned by a lava bomb that had penetrated the roof (U.S. Geological Survey 2018; DLNR 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Experimental approach to rootless eruptions using kitchen materials

Noguchi

Hamada

Suzuki

et al. 2018

Earth Planets Space

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Rootless eruption is caused by lava flow entering inland water or wet sediment and forms craters and cones far from the actual vent. Since the rootless eruption can be significantly explosive, the possibility of rootless eruption is critical for hazard management; however, forecasting occurrence and explosiveness of a rootless eruption remains difficult because explosiveness is considered to correlate nonlinearly with the mass ratio of hot lava and water. Here, we show the nonlinear nature of this type of eruption roots from the nonlinearly determined area between lava and underlying wet sediment as a function of water content within the wet sediment by a series of analog experiments can be implemented in a kitchen. In our analog experiment, lava and wet sediment were replaced by heated syrup and mixture of baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) and cake syrup. From measurements of mass loss due to CO 2 gas emission during the heat-induced decomposition of baking soda, we estimated the reaction efficiency for various proportions of baking soda and cake syrup in the substrate. We observed a nonlinear dependence of CO 2 emission; the peak efficiency was achieved for the substrate with 15 and 35 g of baking soda and cake syrup, respectively. Considering physical properties such as density and viscosity, we found that the Rayleigh-Taylor instability between the poured heated syrup and the substrate can explain the observed nonlinear dependence of CO 2 emission. For natural settings, the results of this study suggest that both the availability of water and rheological properties of the substrate affect the occurrence and stability of hydrovolcanic eruptions.

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