Video raises concern in southern Italy. It shows how catastrophic a giant Phlegrean Fields volcano can be. This is still a modest scenario.

Pozzuoli/Naples – A volcanic eruption could bring death to southern Italy in a matter of minutes: a huge column of embers would spew out on the western outskirts of Naples and then collapse. Then clouds of gas and ash with temperatures reaching 700 degrees roll over the Bagnoli and Foregrotta areas of Naples. Glowing lava pouring into the sea. There will be no escape for more than 150,000 residents if they are not evacuated.

A video from the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV) is currently being shared on social networks in the Bay of Naples and beyond. It’s a computer simulation of a volcanic eruption at the Phlegrain Fields, the giant volcano west of Naples that has been shaking almost continuously for months. A computer animation shows the spread of lava clouds, clouds of ash and gas, being thrown into the surrounding area during volcanic eruptions.

Italy’s giant volcano: Ash shoots up 45 kilometers in the simulation and then falls to Earth

First they shoot, then they collapse, killing all above-ground life wherever they strike. Volcanic bombs made from lava can also hit the surrounding area. Most people died when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD.

The eruption, which INGV simulated on video in 2011, could last for days. Violent explosions are also possible, whose eruption plumes can reach a distance of up to 45 kilometers into the atmosphere. Lava clouds can shoot across the Gulf at temperatures between 200 and 700 degrees and at speeds in excess of 100 km/h. The outer light red areas in the video show temperatures around 100°C, and the inner red and yellow areas show temperatures around 350°C.

The video is actually quite disturbing, especially since people in Pozzuoli Bay are currently feeling very concerned about an impending eruption due to the ongoing earthquakes. But INGV officially states that the video is not related to a currently imminent scenario: “The 3D simulation of explosions from the INGV profile on YouTube, broadcast by some TV channels and taken out of context, is relevant to the current situation.” “Phlegraean fields have no connection,” explains Giovanni Macedonio, a geophysicist at the INGV Vesuvius Observatory. meteoweb.eu.

Video reconstructs the most violent supervolcano eruption in 4,100 years

INGV reconstructed the eruption of the Agnano volcano on the edge of the Naples region of the same name, which occurred about 4,100 years ago. “This is the most violent eruption documented in the Phlegrain Fields in the past 15,000 years.” “This is not the scenario we expect at the moment, but it is actually the most unlikely scenario given its rarity,” Macedonio continued.

Instead, according to the official opinion of the INGV, scientists assume that the next volcanic eruption in the Phlegren fields could be similar to the eruption of 1538 – the last eruption at the giant volcano to date. The eruption lasted from September 29 to October 6, 1538, and was characterized by lava flows and the production of large amounts of ash and small volcanic bombs.

The recent eruption of a giant volcano in Italy claimed the lives of 26 people

The volcanic cone of Monte Nuovo, the „new mountain” was created west of the coastal town of Pozzuoli, which now stands at 133 metres. A village called Tribergle, the villa of the ancient Roman statesman Cicero, and the ancient baths were buried. There were 26 dead – spectators at the edge of the crater who died in an explosion inside. Residents had fled in time because they had been warned of earthquakes and the sea had receded 370 metres.

Compared to what happened in the phyllgrain fields during the Ice Ages, this was a small eruption: the larger eruption occurred about 39,280 years ago. At that time, the streams of fire wiped out all life within a radius of about 100 kilometers. About 10,000 square kilometers of land (about the Lower Bavaria region) were submerged under a layer of ash up to 100 meters thick.

The largest explosion at the Phlegren fields sent ash from Italy to Russia

The ash from this eruption spread across the Balkans and into the Russian steppes. After the explosion, the crater with a diameter of 16 kilometers collapsed – today’s phyllgrain fields. There is no similar explosion in historical times. The eruption of Mount Pinatubo volcano in the Philippines in 1991, which has never been seen in violence since then, left a crater 2.5 kilometers in diameter and killed 875 people.

The consequences for the Neanderthals living in Europe were clearly fatal: Antonio Costa, of the University of Reading in Great Britain, used computer simulations to discover that the sulfur aerosols emitted were actually enough to cool the climate significantly for several years.

This was more evident out loud scinexx.de In Eastern Europe and Asia, and even in Western Europe. Where most Neanderthals were still living at that time, temperatures dropped by two to four degrees for one to two years.

World: Phlegrein fields are about to explode

Scientists disagree about whether, when, and how the Phlegrean fields will explode, as well as about how much time evacuation will take. INGV currently considers a severe earthquake to be the most likely catastrophic event. However, Professor Christopher Kilburn of University College London (UCL) stated in a study published in June: “Our new research confirms that phyllgrain fields are on the verge of exploding.” But this doesn’t have to happen.

It’s not just the phlegrain fields that are worrying researchers, but the nearby volcano Vesuvius is also overdue for an eruption. The volcano on the island of Stromboli, located between Naples and Sicily, is currently more active than usual.