Big volcano science: Challenges for the next decade?

Abstract:

Big science identifies scientific progress which relies on large-scale projects, as compared to usual science developed in the frame of medium-small scale projects, or within small research groups, or as an individual endeavor. The importance of big science derives from the simple observation that in any field of science there are big questions requiring big efforts in order to be addressed. Such big efforts require big funds and big commitments, that can only be guaranteed with major involvement by national governments or groups of governments. That’s the case of the Large Hadron Collider in Geneva, the gravitational antennas in US, Italy and Japan, the Hubble telescope, the Gran Sasso physical labs in Italy, and others. Unfortunately, similar examples of big science endeavors are still absent in volcano science. Such a delay with respect to other communities does not seem to be justified, neither in terms of scientific relevance nor in terms of societal impacts. Here I identify a few big issues and large initiatives that may have the potential to evolve into big volcano science: i) the KMT (Krafla Magma Testbed) initiative to engineer a series of wells open inside and around an active magma chamber, constituting the first and only magma observatory for critical advance in science as well as in geo-energies; ii) the development of AI in volcano science and particularly for early warning systems at high risk volcanoes, and the related development of a unique, international, comprehensive and FAIR volcano database; iii) the development of a reference global volcano model openly accessible on dedicated HPC platforms; and iv) the urgent development of a comprehensive global resilience plan to protect the world from the severe global impacts of a next super-eruption.