Monday, February 3

The famous Greek island of Santorini has been put on high alert after a series of moderate earthquakes hit the area, sparking fears that a larger earthquake could be on the way.

The earthquakes hit across the weekend, with over 200 small quakes shaking the island since Friday. Several were over a magnitude of 4, and dozens of others have reached a strength of magnitude 3-- the strongest quake hit on Sunday afternoon with a magnitude of around 4.6.

Santorini is one of the largest cogs in Greece's tourism industry, attracting over 3 million visitors per year. The island is part of a massive supervolcano lying beneath the water, which once produced one of the largest eruptions ever recorded.

In 1600 BC, the islands that currently form a disjointed ring around the caldera of the volcano were connected, making a circle around the caldera with only one point of entry into the center. Santorini was a thriving Minoan hub, with the major port city of Akrotiri on the south side of the island. However, around that time, the volcano exploded in a massive eruption, wiping out all signs of Minoan civilization on the island. The eruption threw around 6.7-9.8 cubic miles of dense-rock equivalent (DRE) into the atmosphere, giving it a Volcanic Explosivity Index (VEI) of 7-- the second-strongest level on the scale.

The resulting underwater pyroclastic flows caused the caldera of the volcano to collapse in on itself, devastating the islands around it. The explosion caused most of the inward-facing slopes on the surrounding islands to collapse as well, leaving the sheer cliffs that Santorini has today. Ash blanketed the entire region, preserving the city of Akrotiri similar to how Pompeii was preserved by Mount Vesuvius' eruption in 79 AD. The eruption also sparked large tsunamis of around 29 feet in the surrounding area, meaning that it devastated not just Santorini, but most of the Greek islands, including Crete.

Now, as seismic activity increased, fears of another explosion began rising, but scientists have cooled those fears with evidence that the earthquakes were not caused by the volcano. Santorini lies on a fault line between the Aegean Microplate and the African plate, which is what created the volcano in the first place.

Despite that, they are urging residents of Santorini to take extreme caution over the next few days, as a larger earthquake could be on the way. Due to the precarious position of many of Santorini's settlements, as they are perched on steep cliffs, an earthquake of magnitude 6.0 or more would devastate the island.

Schools have been closed across Santorini, as well as the nearby islands of Amorgos, Anafi, and Ios, and authorities have instructed hotels and homeowners to drain their pools-- the weight of a large volume of water could weaken the foundation of the building in the event of a large quake. Residents are also being advised to take caution in outdoor areas, as rockslides could occur on some of the steeper cliffs.

Upcoming Events:

• International Day of Human Fraternity (Tuesday, February 4)

• Alpine World Skiing Championships Begin (Tuesday, February 4)

• Invictus Games Begin (Saturday, February 8)

• Super Bowl (Sunday, February 9)

Fact of the Day (Reader's Digest): The title of the smallest egg in the world fluctuates between two different types of hummingbirds: the bee hummingbird and the Vervain hummingbird. The smallest egg on record, though, was 0.39 inches long (10 mm), weighed only 0.01 ounces (0.365 grams), and came from a Vervain hummingbird.

Quote of the Day (Gracious Quotes): Staying in a hopeless and miserable situation doesn’t make you loyal, it just makes you miserable. (The Weeknd)

Word of the Day (Merriam-Webster): Presage (verb, PRESS-ij) - To presage something is to give or be a sign that it will happen in the future. Presage is a formal synonym of foreshadow, foretell, and predict.

In a Sentence: The sudden gloom and ominous dark clouds clearly presaged a nasty storm.