The new study calculated the amount of massive energy produced when underwater volcanoes boil out from the bed of oceans.
It marked that the underwater energy produced is so massive that if we find a way to contain it, it could power a whole continent the size of America; unfortunately, there’s a long way to that point.
Volcanoes, as most of us know, are the ones that glow and erupt on the ground. Most of these eruptions take place on a mountain, and the lava flows down, leaving the viewers with a spectacular site and changing the landscape of the place they burst out from. On the other hand, the even crazier phenomenon occurs under the water surface in the most remote parts of our planet.
For many years scientists and researchers kept scratching their heads, working to study the mega plumes and their source, only later to find out that these powerful water movements are sourced by the volcanic eruptions taking place underwater.
Also known as submarine volcanoes, these volcanic eruptions generate a massive pressure that causes “gigantic cyclones of super hot water” that, if streamlined, could fill up to 40 million Olympic-sized swimming pools in just a fraction of time.
The most challenging part of studying the massive plumes and seafloor eruptions is that they occur at the most extreme and remote regions of our planet. Hence, even though they create massive energy, still plugging in a power-containing system into them to back a whole continent is a far-fetched idea for now.
Hence, this research comes with hard to gather primary data left the researchers to rely on data from a 2009 study published in the Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research. The earlier data was taken from a lava flow in Northern Escanaba.
The volcanic rock fragments and particles are known as Tephra are carried to a distance by the mega plumes. The new study found that these Tephra movements could be used to constrain the energy discharge rates associated with volcanic eruptions. Putting it in simple words, the researchers found and devised a way to estimate the energy release of these seafloor explosions. Studying the NESCA plume revealed that it generated the energy equivalent to meet the power demands of whole America.
However, the comparison of generated power only stays in the books with humans not having developed a system to plug in a country to these underwater volcanic power sources.
“Hopefully, future in situ observations of deep-sea eruptions will advance our understanding” of the many outstanding questions about these super-powered events.”