Professional volcanologists will tell you that they are at much greater risk of death and injury from associated activities like flying in helicopters than they are from the direct effects of a volcanic eruption. However, among the direct hazards by far the most dangerous is pyroclastic flow.
Take a look at this and you’ll understand why.
Pyroclastic flow is rather like an avalanche, with two important differences:
- You can’t see it hanging there waiting to happen. It oozes out of the crater, then spills down the slope. For a long time, small flows may run down gullies, but a sudden increase in flow is like a bursting dam but an order of magnitude faster – the flow spreads outwards without warning.
- You don’t have to be in it to get killed. It is hot. The Mount St Helens flow was a relatively cool 350°C – only just enough to melt lead – but the Mount Pelee flow reached 1075°C – less than 10 degrees below the melting point of copper. You can’t stand very close without getting fried.
The French are noted for volcanologists. Haroun Tezieff combined volcanology with a small but significant amount of caving, and died in Paris in 1998. The daring husband and wife team of Muarice and Katia Krafft weren’t so lucky. Take a look at this account of Japan’s worst volcanic disaster.
