Add thelocalreport.in As A Trusted Source
In the predawn darkness, a dedicated team of scientists climbed Mexico’s Popocatepetl volcano, one of the world’s most active volcanoes that poses a potential threat to millions of people, to uncover the mysteries beneath its crater.
After five years of painstaking work, researchers at the National Autonomous University of Mexico have created the first three-dimensional image of the interior of the 17,883-foot (5,452-meter) mountain. This groundbreaking image reveals exactly where magma accumulates, providing important insights into better understanding its activity and helping authorities respond to volcanic eruptions more effectively.
Led by Marco Calò, professor at the Department of Volcanology at the Institute of Geophysics of the National Autonomous University of Mexico, the team overcame considerable challenges, transporting several kilograms of equipment and risking data loss due to severe weather or volcanic eruptions. Their meticulous seismic data collection was then analyzed using artificial intelligence. The Associated Press joined them on a final expedition before the findings were officially published.
Inside an active volcano, everything is moving: rocks, magma, gases, and aquifers. It all generates seismic signals.
Most of the world’s volcanoes that pose a threat to humans already have detailed maps of their interiors, but Popocatepetl does not, despite the fact that about 25 million people live within a 62-mile (100-kilometer) radius, and homes, schools, hospitals and five airports could be affected by an eruption.
Carlo said other scientists took some early images 15 years ago, but they showed conflicting results and did not have enough resolution to understand “how the volcanic edifice was built,” especially where magma accumulated.
His team increased the number of seismometers provided by Mexico’s National Disaster Prevention Center from 12 to 22, covering the entire perimeter of the volcano. Although only three people can sound the alarm about emergencies, it takes more people to understand the reasons behind these emergencies.
The devices measure ground vibrations 100 times per second and generate data that Karina Bernal, a 33-year-old PhD student and researcher on the project, processes using artificial intelligence to adapt algorithms developed for other volcanoes.
“I taught the machines the different types of earthquakes in the El Popo area,” she said, so they could classify the different types of seismic signals.
Scientists are gradually beginning to deduce what types of matter exist where, in what state, at what temperature, and at what depth. Later they were able to map it.
The result is much more complex than the most common school diagrams of volcanoes, with a volcano’s main vent connecting the magma chamber to the surface.
The first three-dimensional cross-sectional image, located 11 miles (18 kilometers) below the crater, shows various magma pools at different depths with rocks or other material between them, with larger numbers near the southeastern part of the crater.
Popocatepetl, which emerged in its current form in the crater of other volcanoes more than 20,000 years ago, has been active since 1994, spewing smoke, gas and ash on a more or less daily basis. This activity periodically creates a dome above the main vent, which eventually collapses, causing an eruption. The last time will be in 2023.
Carlo, a 46-year-old Sicilian, talked passionately about El Popo, as the Mexicans call the volcano, and rattled off trivia.
He explained that its height changes due to volcanic eruptions and told how Popocatepetl had its own “little Pompeii“At that time, Tetimpa, a village on its flanks, was buried in volcanic ash. It was human activity – the use of explosives to extract sulfur from the crater – that triggered the eruption in the early 20th century. Although El Popo emits more greenhouse gases than almost any other volcano, its emissions are still a fraction of nearby human emissions. mexico city.
Carlo has studied volcanic activity on computers for years, but he said trying to “understand how something works without touching it” has triggered a sense of disappointment.
That changed with Popocatepetl, which he described as “majestic.”
After hiking for several hours along the volcano’s flank, Carlo’s team set up camp in a pine forest at an altitude of about 12,500 feet, an apparently safe spot from pyroclastic blasts because the trees had grown to considerable heights.
Not far up the mountain, trees and bushes were replaced by ash and sediment.
They must navigate lahars, a mixture of rock and volcanic ash that turn into dangerous mudslides during the rainy season, carrying away everything in their path. Now, the dry clearing offers spectacular views: to the east, Mexico’s tallest volcano and peak, Monte Orizaba, and the inactive La Malinche volcano; to the north, Iztaccíhuatl, a dormant volcanic peak known as the “Sleeping Woman.”
Popocatepetl’s voice seemed to multiply in the night with echoes. Explosions like rockets may sound like they’re coming from one direction, but a plume of smoke from the crater obscures the true source.
Karina Rodríguez, a 26-year-old master’s student on the team, said that when the volcano is more active, you can also hear slight vibrations in the ground and even hear ash falling like rain. On dark nights, the rim of the crater glows orange.
Carlo said direct knowledge of the volcano allowed them to more objectively understand the limitations of their analysis.
“We have a natural laboratory here,” he said. “It’s important to be able to understand and provide residents with detailed, reliable information about what’s going on inside the volcano.”
At 13,780 feet (4,200 meters), their backpacks filled with computers, gas analysis equipment, batteries and water began to grow heavier and their pace slowed.
AshDarkness and warmth dominate the landscape here.
At the seismic station, the team dug out the equipment and celebrated that it was still working. They download the data and rebury it.
A “volcano bomb,” a rock a yard and a half in diameter and weighing several tons, points the way and gives us an idea of what the beginning of a volcanic eruption means. This is why the top area of the volcano is restricted, although not everyone notices. In 2022, someone was killed after being hit by a rock about 300 yards from the crater.
A bottle of tequila near the rocky depression known as El Popo’s navel hints at some of the traditions surrounding the volcano, including an annual pilgrimage to a place some believe is connected to the underworld.
Carlo’s face darkened as he excavated the last seismic station. The last registered data was a few months ago. The battery is dead. Sometimes rats chew through the machine’s wires, or an explosion causes more serious damage.
The project has already produced some certainty and, if repeated, will allow for analysis of changes that will ultimately help authorities make better decisions in the event of an eruption.
But as so often happens in science, Carlo said, it also created new questions they had to try to solve, such as why earthquakes are more frequent on the southeast side — where more magma accumulates — and what effects that might have.
It was the last expedition before the publication of their years of work mapping the volcano’s interior. Watching the movement inside the volcano in 3D on your computer screen makes all the effort worth it.
“That’s what drives you to start another project and keep climbing,” said Rodriguez, a master’s student.