International research team installs underwater seismographs in Santorini to study Kolumbo volcano

Four state-of-the-art portable underwater seismographs that will study the underwater volcano of Kolumbo in Santorini are being installed inside the caldera of Kolumbo on Tuesday and next to the submarine fault of Anydros, by an international team of researchers that includes scientists from the GEOMAR Helmholtz Center for Ocean Research in Kiel and the University of Potsdam, as well as the professor of Geological Oceanography of the Department of Geology and Geoenvironment of National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA) Evi Nomikou.

The international research team is in Santorini participating in the oceanographic mission MSM132, which aims to explore the submarine volcanic centres of Santorini and understand the geological processes occurring in them.The underwater seismographs that will be installed are equipped with special sensors to measure the microseismicity of the area, ground movements, and also the physicochemical parameters of the water. It was preceded by the installation last December of three more underwater seismographs inside the Kolumbo crater and five in the sea area of Kolumbo and Anydros basin.

The selection of the area to carry out the mission had already been made in the context of the research project, as it is an area with a history of numerous volcanic eruptions and seismic events in the past. However, the current juncture will help scientists have more scientific data at their disposal.

“The research mission was scheduled to take place, however the scientists who work in the area are present and constantly analyse the data resulting from the seismic activity in order to inform the authorities and the residents”, Evi Nomikou explained to the Athens – Macedonian News Agency. These seismographs will remain in the subsea space for four days and then be retrieved to analyse the data. The survey will be repeated as long as seismic activity continues.

“Our goal with these measurements is to collect in a short period of time data on the microseismicity of the area, which will be combined with the terrestrial seismographs, so that we can have better results in the analysis of earthquakes”, emphasised Nomikou. From January 27 onwards, the earthquakes noted are located in the sea area northeast of Santorini, in an area adjacent to the underwater volcano of Kolumbo. As highlighted by Nomikou, “during the crisis of 2011-2012, the seismic activity we had inside the caldera of Santorini for 14 months did not lead to a volcanic eruption. Intense seismic activity next to an undersea volcano can weaken without leading to an undersea eruption. However, the need to monitor the underwater volcano by installing special instruments that measure the changes in the chemical composition of the gases and liquids released from the hydrothermal vents at a depth of 500 meters is imperative.”

The survey results will be combined with measurements from the SANTORY underwater observatory, which has been collecting data since December 2022, and analysed to find differences in the volcano’s behaviour. SANTORY’s digital platform provides the scientific community and the public with valuable information about the Kolumbo undersea volcano. Nomikou underlined to the ANA-MPA the importance of continuing to monitor the underwater volcano of Kolumbo by SANTORY. It is noted that the specific research programme, which is led by NKUA, was completed in November 2024 and, as Nomikou clarified, its funding had been requested from the municipality of Thera (Santorini), a request that remained pending. Nomikou has once again requested that the State continue financing SANTORY.

Source: pagenews.gr