Popular Science reports that a Nicaraguan volcano is being connected to the Internet:
Currently, a team of people are in Nicaragua, installing over 80 sensors along the side of the volcano. “The main sensors we are connecting will be gas sensors and also atmospheric sensors,†says Guillermo Caravantes, a volcanologist on the project. The gas sensors will be looking at hydrogen sulfide and carbon dioxide being emitted from the volcano, which can tell geologists more about the composition of the lava. Other sensors will measure atmospheric pressure, humidity, and temperature, and the movement of the magma inside the volcano. Seismometers that measure movement and gravity data will be enclosed in an airtight box the size of a lunchbox.
“This is very uncommon for volcanos. It happens in a few. In a few you have lots of sensors, where you have lots of money. All of them [the sensors] are very expensive in general, and most countries do not have the resources to keep and monitor them really well,” Caravantes says. “This project goes well beyond that and it tries to democratize this idea of having early warning systems from every volcano.â€[…]
Eventually, Cossman says, there will be an online portal that will let people around the world check in on the volcano, seeing it’s status. But many people aren’t volcanologists. It will still be up to local officials and the government of Nicaragua to issue warnings and interpret the data that comes in, in the event that an eruption is imminent. Of course, being able to predict eruptions definitively is still a goal that remains out of reach for volcanologists.
