When will the next super-volcano erupt?

Is the world sitting on a ticking time bomb? CrowdScience listener Christel recently watched a documentary about a volcanic eruption in 536 AD that left her native Sweden under a cloud of ash for three years. It got her thinking, do we know when this could happen again?

Presenter Anand Jagatia travels to the Philippines, which has more than 300 volcanoes – 24 of them listed as currently active. It’s a country where trying to predict eruptions has huge real-world consequences.

He meets the scientists at PHIVOLCS in Manila, to find out how they try to predict volcanic activity in the country and help make sure communities are evacuated out of harm’s way.

And he travels with the team to Taal volcano, which experienced violent eruptions in 2020 and has been active again this year, to visit the observatory monitoring for signs of future activity.

He also explores what makes a volcano a super-volcano, and explores the all-important question of whether we know when this will happen again.