Uppsala University Secures Significant ERC Grant to Advance Troll’s Groundbreaking Volcanic Research

Despite scientific progress, unexpected and violent volcanic eruptions still occur − events that can have catastrophic consequences for people and cause great damage to society and infrastructure.

– In our research, we have previously been able to show that volcanoes can become dangerous due to a hydrothermal process where the chemical and physical state of the rocks inside the volcano changes, which creates a soft and unstable interior, a ‘rotten’ interior, says Valentin Troll professor in Petrology at the Department of Earth Sciences.

In the ROTT’N’ROCK project, he, together with three other researchers in Europe, will study the hydrothermal change processes more closely to investigate whether it is possible to predict volcanic eruptions. The project is awarded a total of SEK 115 million by the European Research Council (ERC) via a so-called ERC Synergy Grant. SEK 30.5 million of the grant will go to Uppsala University.

– The financing makes it possible for us to test whether we can remotely investigate hydrothermal change processes in active volcanoes via drones and satellite monitoring and thus be able to predict volcanic risks that so far have not been possible to predict, says Valentin Troll and continues:

– If it succeeds, we can hopefully warn people living in risk areas if there are barely noticeable changes inside the volcanoes that can make them unstable and lead to unexpected eruptions. This project has the chance to change the game when it comes to how we understand volcanoes and their long-term activity.