Shiloh
Editor, Senior Moderator
Source: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20220427-how-taiwan-discovered-an-active-volcano-on-its-doorstep
How Taipei discovered an active volcano on its doorstep
By Dinah Gardner
2nd May 2022
When Taiwan's capital discovered an active volcano on its doorstep, it found itself hastily setting up a system to monitor it for dangerous signs.
Steam billows from cracks in rocks stained a sickly yellow-green. Pools of cloudy water bubble like a pan on the boil. The sharp stench of sulphur laces the air.
This smouldering moonscape is Xiaoyoukeng, an impressive collection of steam vents in Yangmingshan National Park, an 11,000-hectare (42 sq-mile) expanse of hiking trails lying within Taipei's city limits.
Xiaoyoukeng is the best place to get up close to the park's geothermal activity – it is pitted with fumaroles (natural vents in the Earth's surface that allow gases to escape like steam from a kettle's spout) and hot springs, some just a metre (39in) or so from the paths.
For decades, most residents of the Taiwanese capital simply thought they were lucky to have such a striking national park on their doorstep. Geologists knew about the Datun (sometimes spelt Tatun) Volcano Group, a body of around 20 peaks, in the park, but they largely thought that the fumaroles and hot springs were simply remnants of its fiery past. With no historical records of an eruption, the accepted view was that the group was extinct and no longer posed a risk.
But in February 2017, the media reported on a recent paper by Lin Cheng-Horng, director of the Taiwan Volcano Observatory, that argued there was a magma chamber beneath Datun – the hallmark of an active volcano. Downtown Taipei, with its skyscrapers, bars and restaurants, is just 15km (9 miles) away. Five million people in Taipei and New Taipei cities are well within reach of the impacts of an eruption. In a worst-case eruption scenario, hot lava could engulf residential settlements at the foot of the park, while the cities could be covered in swirling clouds of volcanic ash.
Behind the scenes, Taiwan's government swung into action. First, it ordered scientists to find out as much as they could about the volcanoes and the risks. Then, in May 2018, it tasked the Central Weather Bureau (CWB), its meteorological and forecasting agency, to work with scientists, government agencies and officials to hammer out procedures for an early warning system. It was unveiled to the public little more than two years later, in September 2020...
How Taipei discovered an active volcano on its doorstep
By Dinah Gardner
2nd May 2022
When Taiwan's capital discovered an active volcano on its doorstep, it found itself hastily setting up a system to monitor it for dangerous signs.
Steam billows from cracks in rocks stained a sickly yellow-green. Pools of cloudy water bubble like a pan on the boil. The sharp stench of sulphur laces the air.
This smouldering moonscape is Xiaoyoukeng, an impressive collection of steam vents in Yangmingshan National Park, an 11,000-hectare (42 sq-mile) expanse of hiking trails lying within Taipei's city limits.
Xiaoyoukeng is the best place to get up close to the park's geothermal activity – it is pitted with fumaroles (natural vents in the Earth's surface that allow gases to escape like steam from a kettle's spout) and hot springs, some just a metre (39in) or so from the paths.
For decades, most residents of the Taiwanese capital simply thought they were lucky to have such a striking national park on their doorstep. Geologists knew about the Datun (sometimes spelt Tatun) Volcano Group, a body of around 20 peaks, in the park, but they largely thought that the fumaroles and hot springs were simply remnants of its fiery past. With no historical records of an eruption, the accepted view was that the group was extinct and no longer posed a risk.
But in February 2017, the media reported on a recent paper by Lin Cheng-Horng, director of the Taiwan Volcano Observatory, that argued there was a magma chamber beneath Datun – the hallmark of an active volcano. Downtown Taipei, with its skyscrapers, bars and restaurants, is just 15km (9 miles) away. Five million people in Taipei and New Taipei cities are well within reach of the impacts of an eruption. In a worst-case eruption scenario, hot lava could engulf residential settlements at the foot of the park, while the cities could be covered in swirling clouds of volcanic ash.
Behind the scenes, Taiwan's government swung into action. First, it ordered scientists to find out as much as they could about the volcanoes and the risks. Then, in May 2018, it tasked the Central Weather Bureau (CWB), its meteorological and forecasting agency, to work with scientists, government agencies and officials to hammer out procedures for an early warning system. It was unveiled to the public little more than two years later, in September 2020...
