The last few days have witnessed a major increase in volcanic eruptions across the planet. The Costa Rican and the Indonesian volcanoes are the most recent additions to this growing list of volcanic explosions.
Among these two, the Turrialba volcano in Costa Rica was the most unexpected one, as is evident from the layer of grime and ash smeared across the vehicles and buildings as far away as San Jose, 30 miles from the site of eruption. The smoke and ash rose a frightening 3000 meter high above the volcano, and hundreds of people are now admitted to the hospitals with skin and breathing complaints.
The eruption in Costa Rica was preceded by the countless small earthquakes in the region. However, the scientists discarded the threat of an imminent eruption and reassured the people that their safety was not in question.
Similarly, Indonesia was hit by a sudden eruption of Mount Sinabung. The spewing volcano resulted in the loss of six lives while another three remain critically injured. The authorities fear that other may be entrapped beneath the hot ash. One of the most active volcanoes of the Sumatra island belched a large amount of hot ash and dust in a recent series of volcanic eruptions. It is worthwhile to mention here that the Mount Sinabung has come to life after more than 400 years of dormancy.
In fact, dormant volcanoes all over the world are increasingly becoming active. The Baroabunga volcano in Iceland is showing high activity; an eruption from this volcano will have serious effects on Europe.
Apart from the increased volcanic activity, the frequency of the earthquakes and tremors has also increased significantly. Ecuador was hit by an earthquake of magnitude 6.7 just a few weeks ago, followed by an earthquake of magnitude 6.8.
Only during the last month, more than 3000 earthquakes of magnitude 1.5 and above were recorded worldwide which depicts an unprecedented increase in the seismic activity across the globe.
The eruption of the volcano in Costa Rica was preceded by earthquake swarms in the surrounding areas of the volcano. The same phenomenon is being recorded in the vicinity of the three major volcanoes in the US. The Pacific Northwest Seismic Network has released images detailing the pattern of the seismic activity in these areas.
The first image has captured the recent earthquake activity in the locality of the Mt. St. Helens. The past month witnessed this area being hit by more than 95 earthquakes. The focus of most of the earthquakes was the core of the Mt. St. Helen volcano.
The second image shows Mt. Rainier that has been hit by 36 volcanoes in the past month. As was seen in the case of Mt. St. Helen, the earthquakes in the region surrounding the Mt. Rainer have also been centered on the core of the volcano.
The third image depicts, Mount Hood where an astonishing 126 earthquakes were reported along its southern face. Notably, the south side of the Mt. St. Helens erupted violently in 1980.
The west coast of the US lies along the Ring of Fire, and all the areas in the Ring of Fire are coming alive which indicates that the west coast will be hit by fierce earthquakes leading to horrific volcanic eruptions in near future.
The experts have already expressed the inevitability of these threats, and while the threat is looming over our heads, all we can do is to prepare ourselves before the storm hits.