Naples on high alert: Supervolcano threat raises concerns

The Naples region in Italy regularly experiences earthquakes. Beneath the surface of the land and sea lies a massive supervolcano covering an area of 77 square miles. Giuseppe Mastrolorenzo, a volcanologist from the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV), warns that the volcano could erupt at any moment, without warning.

Campi Flegrei, known as the Phlegraean Fields, is different from other well-studied volcanoes like Etna. "It can surprise us, even when there's calm, without bradyseismic activity or deformation. We don’t know the scale or the location where the eruption source will open", emphasizes Mastrolorenzo, quoted by "Bild".

The expert adds that currently, the volcano is rising by about 1 inch per month, which has already made the entrance to the port of Pozzuoli too shallow for boats.

Although authorities have prepared a mass evacuation plan, experts assure that an eruption is not imminent. However, Mastrolorenzo has a different opinion. "We cannot predict the eruption of a supervolcano because no one has experienced it before. The system is too complex to be predictable. We can try to forecast if we are close to an eruption, but we must be ready for the worst," said the expert.

He added that recent earthquakes, including a 4.4 magnitude one last week, might be harbingers of an eruption. The evacuation plan involves moving half a million people within 72 hours, which Mastrolorenzo considers a "very optimistic hypothesis."

If an eruption were to occur, the disaster for the region would be enormous. The energy released during the eruption could be ten times greater than what destroyed Pompeii in 79 A.D. The volcano has been emitting more and more carbon dioxide for years, recently 5,500 tons per day. The emission of hydrogen sulfide, among others, in the Solfatara crater, has increased fivefold. "The supereruption is long overdue," concluded Mastrolorenzo.