PSU researcher looks at how volcanic eruptions might impact climate change disaster management - Oregon Public Broadcasting
PSU researcher looks at how volcanic eruptions might impact climate change disaster management - OPB
Mount Jefferson, left, and Mount Hood, Sept. 5, 2022, both part of the Cascade range. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, both volcanoes show signs of being active, though they haven't erupted in centuries.
Jonathan Levinson / OPB
There’s a lot that researchers still don’t know about volcanoes. But they do expect volcanic eruptions to coincide more often with other natural disasters, like floods and wildfires, as the climate continues to warm. Research from Portland State University shows that the increasing frequency of extreme weather events means they’re more likely to occur at the same time as a volcanic eruption – creating “compound disasters” that will challenge emergency management officials. The study is part of a new collection of scientific essays that assesses how volcano science has evolved over the past 30 years, and where it might go next.
Jonathan Fink is a professor of geology at PSU. He co-edited the collection, and joins us to talk about how volcanic eruptions might factor into future disaster management.
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Related Knowledge Center: Climate science
What began as a theory in the 1890s — that industrial emissions of carbon dioxide could increase global temperatures — had progressed to a scientific fact a century later. Scientists across a range of disciplines are studying the impact of the still-growing concentration of carbon dioxide and other so-called “greenhouse gases” in the atmosphere as they call for industrial and governmental policies to slow, then halt, the warming of the planet.