During eruptions, misinformation can spread further than ash. How can we spot it?

By Janine Krippner, Honorary Research Associate in Volcanology/Mātai Puia, University of Waikato
Heather Handley, Senior Curator of Geosciences, Museums Victoria Research Institute; Monash University

Erupting or silent, volcanoes have always captured our imagination.

As volcanologists, we have seen how that fascination can collide with rolling news coverage and social media, amplifying false claims, misleading images and long-standing misconceptions about how volcanoes behave. We want to help.

Much more than simply getting the science wrong, misinformation can distort people’s perceptions of hazards and risk and influence how they respond to an eruption.

With this in mind, we sought to better understand which misconceptions about volcanoes are most common…

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