New Atlas

Science Audio available

Drone-dropped "dragon eggs" made to monitor volcanoes

Ben Coxworth September 10, 2018

Would you want to climb up an active volcano to deposit a sensor at its crater? Probably not, and it's something that safety-conscious volcanologists would prefer not to do, too. With that in mind, British scientists have created drone-deployed sensing devices known as "dragon eggs."

A drone and a couple of the dragon eggs (with green release cords), atop Mount Stromboli

Environment Audio available

How a volcano short-circuited Earth's ionosphere to trigger "Year Without A Summer"

Michael Irving August 22, 2018

The unusually cold year of 1816 has been linked to one of the most powerful volcanic eruptions in recorded history, and now we may know how. A new paper explains how electrified ash from the eruption could have “short-circuited” the Earth’s ionosphere and triggered the “Year Without A Summer.”

New research shows how ash from volcanic eruptions could trigger drastic climate shifts, as was the ...

Space

Oldest volcanic meteorite dates back to the dawn of the solar system

Michael Irving August 6, 2018

Asteroids are the leftovers from the formation of the solar system, and they can tell us a lot about those early years. Now scientists have studied a weird space rock and found that it’s the oldest known igneous meteorite, dating back to one of the very first volcanic eruptions in the solar system.

Space

Mysterious Martian formation may be the Solar System's largest volcanic deposit

Michael Irving June 20, 2018

The Medusae Fossae Formation is a huge rocky structure on Mars that has had scientists puzzling over its origins for decades, but the new work suggests it’s the result of massive volcanic eruptions that would have changed the climate of the Red Planet.

Part of the Medusae Fossae Formation on Mars, which new research suggests is the largest explosive ...

Science

Pompeii skeleton found crushed under stone block while fleeing volcanic eruption

Michael Irving May 30, 2018

Aarchaeologists excavating a new site in Pompeii have uncovered a new victim of the disaster, who has quite a story to tell. The skeleton was found with its head crushed beneath a huge stone block that was thrown by the force of the volcanic cloud.

Archaeologists have uncovered the 2,000-year-old skeleton of a man crushed beneath a huge stone block, while ...

Science

Volcanic crystals could help scientists predict deadly eruptions

Anthony Wood January 23, 2018

A team of scientists may have developed a new method of predicting potentially deadly eruptions, by studying tiny crystals contained in volcanic debris. In the future, the research could provide greater warning, and so more evacuation time to at-risk populations.

Mount Etna (pictured) is the most active volcano in Europe

Science

Not one, but two super eruptions formed the colossal Yellowstone caldera

Anthony Wood October 26, 2017

According to new research, the colossal caldera of the Yellowstone supervolcano was created by not one, but two powerful and closely spaced eruptions that took place some 630,000 years ago. The eruptions were powerful enough to affect the global climate as the planet was recovering from an ice age.

The last time the Yellowstone supervolcano erupted, it caused a climate-altering volcanic winter

Space

Lava oceans gave the ancient Moon a watery atmosphere

Michael Irving October 8, 2017

The Moon isn’t quite the wasteland we might assume it to be. There’s more water up there than scientists previously thought, and it was a far wetter and more active place in the distant past. Now, a NASA study has found evidence that the ancient Moon may once have had a watery atmosphere.

An artist's impression of the Moon as it may have looked in the distant past with ...

Science

Undiscovered plants and animals may reside in warm caves under Antarctic glaciers

Rich Haridy September 11, 2017

Deep beneath Antartica’s glaciers, formed by steam from active volcanos, are extensive subglacial cave networks. A team has, for the time, examined soil samples for traces of DNA and revealed these caves could hold a much more diverse set of organisms than previously thought.

Cave systems beneath glaciers in Antartica could hold previously undiscovered life

Environment

Ancient global warming event linked to volcanic CO2

Michael Irving September 4, 2017

We might be on track to topple a climate record that’s held strong for about 56 million years. A new study has found evidence that intense volcanic eruptions were to blame for the Palaeocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), pumping mind-boggling amounts of carbon into the atmosphere and oceans.

Evidence has been uncovered linking volcanic eruptions to one of the most rapid periods of global ...