The mile-wide crater of Costa Rica’s Poás Volcano hosts a steaming lake that occasionally explodes, with debris from past eruptions covering an area of 150 square miles around it. This impressive natural wonder is a huge tourist attraction and one of the world’s few drive-in volcanoes. Just an hour from the capital city of San José, surrounded by scenic mountain roads, the volcano is nestled amid a cloud forest. Visitors can easily access the center of the volcano from a futuristic-looking national park service visitor center. A short walk from there takes you to a viewing platform overlooking the yawning, mile-wide crater. Below, a strangely colored lake bubbles with sulfurous liquid and poisonous gases, creating a surreal sight that resembles a selfie in hell.
Despite its allure, Poás is also a significant threat. The volcano has erupted approximately 40 times in the last 200 years, and its 9,000-foot-high edifice has grown through layers of lava flows, ash deposits, and mudslides over hundreds of thousands of years. If Poás were to erupt on a larger scale, the surrounding region could face catastrophic consequences. Roughly 800 million people worldwide live within striking range of active volcanoes, highlighting the vital importance of monitoring and forecasting volcanic activity.
In an effort to improve volcano monitoring techniques, scientists from Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory are working to enhance forecasting methods and extend access to monitoring tools for active volcanoes, like Poás. The goal is to develop a consistent set of instruments that can be easily deployed and remotely monitored in real time using satellite communications. By increasing monitoring capabilities, scientists hope to improve their understanding of how to interpret warning signs for potential volcanic eruptions.
In 2021, the team installed instruments on two highly active volcanoes in Alaska’s Aleutian Islands as a test case. Now, their focus has shifted to Poás in Costa Rica. Working alongside scientists and technicians from OVSICORI (Costa Rica’s volcanological and seismological observatory), the researchers supplemented the country’s existing instrument network with new equipment. The expedition took them from the volcano’s verdant flanks to the dangerous inner rim of the crater, where they aimed to enhance monitoring capabilities for potential volcanic activity.
