Scientist issues 'megatsunami' warning to US after monitoring unstable volcano in the ocean
A 'megatsunami' could be heading straight to the US as scientists monitor a life-threateningly unstable volcano located on an island.
Whenever you think about natural disasters in America, your minds tend to jump straight to hurricanes brewed in the Atlantic or earthquakes that rattle the West Coast.
While they are terrifying enough as they are, experts have actually been closely monitoring an entirely different type of impending catastrophe.
Thousands of miles away across the Atlantic Ocean, researchers have been keeping a very close eye on the geological activity currently happening around an island located off the coast of Spain.
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Volcanologist Professor Bill McGuire has spent years studying Cumbre Vieja, an active volcano located on the island of La Palma in the Canary Islands, and has now issued a warning that it could collapse into the ocean.
According to his research, If this did happen it would trigger a megatsunami that would head toward the East Coast of the US.
Writing in BBC Science Focus, McGuire explained: “Based on extensive studies, I expect this part of the flank will eventually crash into the North Atlantic, launching a megatsunami in the process.
“There has been huge debate and discussion, sometimes quite heated, about the level of expected destruction, and - in particular - whether devastating waves will reach the coast of North America."
One predictive model suggests that a worst-case scenario collapse would generate an initial dome of water almost a kilometer high, eventually sending destructive waves crashing directly into Florida.
Those huge waves could reach the Eastern Seaboard just nine hours after the initial collapse, leaving residents and emergency services with little time for a mass evacuation.
To support the theory that ocean, McGuire added: "Huge boulders dumped on shore in the Bahamas are believed to have been carried there by ancient tsunamis sourced in the Canary Islands, suggesting that a Cumbre Vieja tsunami would have the potential to be hugely destructive even after crossing the Atlantic, but this is disputed by some.
"However, when it comes to disaster management, betting on the smallest outcome is rarely a good idea."
However, while this apocalyptic scenario sounds incredibly terrifying for anyone living near the beach, other experts have long disputed the severity of this specific threat.
The Tsunami Society previously issued a paper to directly address what they called unfounded reports regarding a future Atlantic catastrophe stemming from the Canary Islands.
"We would like to halt the scaremongering from these unfounded reports," the committee said in its report.
"While the active volcano of Cumbre Vieja on Las Palma is expected to erupt again, it will not send a large part of the island into the ocean, though small landslides may occur," they continued.
Disputed the various worst-case scenario simulations, they added: "No such event - a mega tsunami - has occurred in either the Atlantic or Pacific oceans in recorded history. NONE."
Despite this, McGuire believes it is only a matter of time until a megatsunami does occur.
“I have no doubt this will be a cataclysmic event, but have no idea when it will happen - it could easily be centuries or even millennia down the line,” McGuire added.
Topics: Climate Change, Environment
Joe Yates
