eruption

Extreme geothermal power

November 25, 2024 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Krafla is one of the most explosive volcanoes in Iceland, which is home to many active volcanoes, including one recently in the news near Reykjavik that hadn’t erupted for 800 years . Krafla is the site of the Krafla Magma Testbed, which may end up being for geoscientists what the Large Hadron Collider has been for particle physicists.

For over a decade, researchers have been drilling straight into the ground at Krafla to study what goes on deep beneath an active volcano. Ten years ago, they encountered an unexpected magma chamber a little over a mile down. Their equipment was destroyed but the researchers decided that they had uncovered a unique opportunity to study magma dynamics and potentially be able to tap into a significant new energy source.

The plan is to use the tremendous heat energy contained in magma to dramatically improve the production of geothermal energy. Krafla is already the site of a geothermal energy plant that makes use of the heat beneath the surface to boil water that then drives turbines to generate electricity.

Forthcoming drilling projects will make use of new equipment that can handle the harsh conditions that will be encountered in the magma chamber. The goal is to tap directly into the magma to produce superheated steam that could produce ten times more power than conventional geothermal systems. Conventional systems access temperatures around 200 to 300 degrees; the magma is at 1,800 degrees.

It will take a few years to complete the project, but if it is successful, it could have implications well beyond Iceland. There are many active volcanoes all over the world.

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Drilling into magma: Risky plan takes geothermal to supercritical extremes

Photo courtesy of Landsvirkjun.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Why Was the Summer So Hot? | Earth Wise

September 4, 2023 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Many places around the world have experienced extraordinary heat waves this summer. The 31 days of high temperatures 110 degrees or more in Phoenix is a prime example but many other places suffered from extreme and relentless heat. Why did this happen?

The overarching reason is climate change, which has warmed the Earth by 2.2 degrees Fahrenheit since the preindustrial era. This change on a global level is enough to make heatwaves far more likely. For example, the concurrent heatwaves in Europe and North America were 1000 times more likely to have occurred because of climate change.

But there hasn’t been a sudden increase in global temperature that would make this summer so much hotter. Instead, what really has happened is three other factors all came into play at the same time.

The first is the 2022 eruption of Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha-apai, which is an underwater volcano in the South Pacific. That eruption did not produce much in the way of planet-cooling aerosols in the atmosphere. Instead, it vaporized huge amounts of seawater, sending water vapor into the atmosphere, which helps trap heat.

The second is a change in the amount of energy radiating from the sun. That actually rises and falls a small amount every 11 years. Currently, it is in the upswing and will reach its next peak in 2025.

Finally, there is the arrival of the El Niño in the Pacific, whose balmy ocean waters radiate heat into the air.

The combination of all these factors when added to the already warming climate is a recipe for temperatures to soar to uncharted highs. We can expect more heat waves, forest fires, flash floods, and other sorts of extreme weather.

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It’s Not Just Climate Change: Three Other Factors Driving This Summer’s Extreme Heat

Photo, posted February 27, 2017, courtesy of Giuseppe Milo via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Keeping The Keeling Curve Going | Earth Wise

March 21, 2023 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

The world’s longest-running record of direct readings of carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere is the Keeling Curve, measurements taken at the summit of Mauna Loa in Hawaii. The readings have been going on with almost no interruption since Charles Keeling began taking them in the 1950s. But the eruption of Mauna Loa last November toppled power lines at the mountaintop observatory and buried a mile of the main road up the mountain in lava.

Scientists have been scrambling to resume measurements and the near-term solution has been to take them, for the first time, on Mauna Kea, the neighboring large volcano about 25 miles away. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration flew in and installed instruments at the Mauna Kea observatory so that only about a week went by without measurements. It happened so quickly because months earlier, NOAA had already started looking into installing a backup site on Mauna Kea where there is an observatory run by the University of Hawaii.

NOAA used helicopters to install solar panels and batteries on Mauna Loa to restore power in the short term since it will be months before a new road can be built on the still-cooling lava. The plan is to collect parallel measurements for a year to see if Mauna Kea, which hasn’t erupted for thousands of years, might become a long-term backup for Mauna Loa.

The Hawaiian volcanoes are uniquely suited for the measurements because they are surrounded by thousands of miles of empty ocean and are very high up, away from towns, cars, and forests. Scientists are now monitoring measurements from the two sites to see how they compare.

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Battling Lava and Snowstorms, 2.5 Miles Above the Pacific

Photo, posted November 2, 2015, courtesy of Neal Simpson via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Mauna Loa Eruption And Climate Tracking | Earth Wise

January 9, 2023 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Mauna Loa, the largest active volcano in the world, erupted for the first time in nearly 40 years in late November. A 124-foot aluminum tower at the top of the volcano has been the site of carbon dioxide measurements for over 60 years but the eruption cut off power to the site, stopping the monitoring.

Carbon dioxide measurements on Mauna Loa began in 1958. The project was started by geochemist Charles Keeling and eventually taken over by his son Ralph Keeling upon his father’s death in 2005. It is the longest continuous record of the rising levels of carbon dioxide in the world.

Mauna Loa is an ideal location for carbon dioxide monitoring because it is a remote location away from both carbon dioxide sources like dense population centers and roads, and carbon sinks like areas of heavy vegetation.

There are hundreds of carbon dioxide monitoring stations around the world, including more than 70 operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, so the interruption will not stop global recordkeeping. But Mauna Loa holds significant symbolism as the first and most frequently sited source of carbon dioxide data.

There have been other interruptions in the measurements. Federal budget cuts in 1964 paused them for about 3 months. A 1984 eruption also cut off power to the facility and shut it down for about a month.

When the facility first started operating, the average carbon dioxide concentration was measured at 313 parts per million. Most recently, levels have peaked at around 421 parts per million, the greatest concentration in at least 4 million years.

Power will be restored to the Mauna Loa facility and its measurements will resume.

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Mauna Loa Eruption Threatens a Famous Climate Record

Photo, posted November 29, 2022, courtesy of L. Gallant / USGS via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

How Quickly Can The Planet Recover? | Earth Wise

December 6, 2021 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Climate change refers to long-term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns. Historically, these shifts were natural. But since the Industrial Revolution, scientists have found that the main driver of climate change has been human activities, primarily by adding significant amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere through the burning of fossil fuels.

Today, climate change is destabilizing Earth’s temperature equilibrium and is having a widespread impact on humans, animals, and the environment. Some of the consequences of anthropogenic climate change include warmer air and ocean temperatures, shrinking glaciers, increasing spread of pests and pathogens, declining biodiversity, and more intense and frequent extreme weather events.

But how quickly can the climate recover from the warming caused by an increase in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere?

Researchers from Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz in Germany looked into this question by investigating the significant rise in global temperatures that took place 56 million years ago. Likely triggered by a volcanic eruption, the increase of between 5 and 8 degrees Celsius was the fastest natural period of global warming that has impacted the climate.

Because higher temperatures cause rocks to weather faster, the research team decided to analyze the weathering processes that occurred during the warming event 56 million years ago. Their findings, which were recently published in the Journal Science Advances, indicate that the climate took between 20,000 and 50,000 years to stabilize following the rise in global temperatures.

Climate change is not some distant problem. It is happening now and it poses a serious threat to all forms of life. We need to address the problem with more urgency.

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How quickly does the climate recover?

Photo, posted August 27, 2017, courtesy of Lt. Zachary West (100th MPAD) / Texas Military Department via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.