Volcanoes

Facts
Awakes in 1991 after four centuries of sleep Pinatubo in the Philippines. This means the most violent volcanic eruption of the twentieth century, nearly a thousand deaths, one million displaced and a huge loss.
The European continent has about 100 volcanoes, of which 30 in the territory of the European Union lie in the last 10,000 years have been active. In Greece and Italy since the sixteenth century eruptions occurred 140. What happens if these volcanoes suddenly awakened from their sleep, as happened in the Philippines?
Of all natural volcanic eruptions are perhaps the most impressive, because they happen suddenly and cause a chain reaction: debris is hurled out of the crater, lava flows, toxic gases released, earthquakes etc.

What is being done
A violent eruption in Europe would be very serious consequences for the population and the environment. It is of course impossible to prevent such a disaster. We can, however, an eruption more accurately predict, so we can take all necessary measures to save human lives and material damage as much as possible.
The main challenge for researchers is to improve understanding of volcanic processes and the signs of an eruption in time to signal. It is an advantage as a number of scientific approaches are combined. Also, standard measurement techniques are designed to compare different types of volcanoes to facilitate.
The European approach in this area provides a significant additional boost. Various research projects supported, focusing on regions where the risks are greatest.
 The Piton de la Fournaise on Reunion Island
This volcano dominates the French island of Reunion is one of the most active in the world. European research to understand the mechanisms of the recent eruptions of this volcano is vital for the safety of the inhabitants of the island and offers an excellent opportunity to volcanologists their knowledge.

The Teide in the Canary Islands
This volcano is still active and with its top of 3718 meters the highest in Europe. Can the island of Tenerife a disaster? Research is done to measure the risks associated with a magma chamber within the volcano.

The Vatnajökull in Iceland
The Commission also supports research beyond the borders of the Union: Vatnajökull volcano hidden under the largest glacier in Europe. The researchers calculated the effects of an eruption for the melting of the ice and climate variability in the Atlantic Ocean. Ironically, the launch of this project in October 1996 with a major volcanic eruption, the scientists a unique opportunity for a firsthand assessment.

Mount Etna in Sicily
Etna is the most impressive and most active volcano in the European Union and is therefore an ideal laboratory for advanced research. There are no fewer than four projects funded by the European Commission. In addition, the various seismic events around the volcano analyzed, the magma studied are computer designed to assess the risks and the observation instruments in various improvements.

The Greek island of Santorini
The volcano of Santorini is located in a chain of islands in the south of the Aegean Sea in Greece. Since 1950 “asleep” the volcano, but experts can not rule out another one comes magma eruption. This would threaten the safety of the 10,000 residents and tourists in the summer to stay on Santorini. With the financial support of researchers across Europe to set up reliable surveillance systems.