Reporter
Getty PicturesI am in one of many world’s volcanic hotspots, northeast Iceland, close to the Krafla volcano.
A brief distance away I can see the rim of the volcano’s crater lake, whereas to the south steam vents and dust swimming pools bubble away.
Krafla has erupted round 30 instances within the final 1,000 years, and most just lately within the mid-Nineteen Eighties.
Bjorn Guðmundsson leads me to a grassy hillside. He’s working a group of worldwide scientists who plan to drill into Krafla’s magma.
“We’re standing on the spot the place we’re going to drill,” he says.
The Krafla Magma Testbed (KMT) intends to advance the understanding of how magma, or molten rock, behaves underground.
That data might assist scientists forecast the danger of eruptions and push geothermal vitality to new frontiers, by tapping into an especially sizzling and doubtlessly limitless supply of volcano energy.
Beginning in 2027 the KMT group will start drilling the primary of two boreholes to create a novel underground magma observatory, round 2.1km (1.3 miles) underneath the bottom.
“It is like our moonshot. It will remodel lots of issues,” says Yan Lavallée, a professor of magmatic petrology and volcanology on the Ludwigs-Maximillian College in Munich, and who heads KMT’s science committee.
Volcanic exercise is normally monitored by instruments like seismometers. However not like lava on the floor, we don’t know very a lot in regards to the magma under floor, explains Prof Lavallée.
“We might wish to instrument the magma so we will actually hearken to the heartbeat of the earth,” he provides.
Strain and temperature sensors shall be positioned into the molten rock. “These are the 2 key parameters we have to probe, to have the ability to inform forward of time what’s occurring to the magma,” he says.
World wide an estimated 800 million individuals reside inside 100km of hazardous lively volcanoes. The researchers hope their work can assist save lives and cash.
Iceland has 33 lively volcano techniques, and sits on the rift the place the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates pull aside.
Most just lately, a wave of eight eruptions in the Reykanes peninsula has broken infrastructure and upended lives in the neighborhood of Grindavik.
Mr Guðmundsson additionally factors to Eyjafjallajökull, which caused havoc in 2010 when an ash cloud precipitated over 100,000 flight cancellations, costing £3bn ($3.95bn).
“If we’d been higher capable of predict that eruption, it might have saved some huge cash,” he says.
KMT’s second borehole will develop a test-bed for a brand new technology of geothermal energy stations, which exploit magma’s excessive temperature.
“Magma are extraordinarily energetic. They’re the warmth supply that energy the hydrothermal techniques that results in geothermal vitality. Why not go to the supply?” asks Prof Lavallée.
Some 25% of Iceland’s electrical energy and 85% of family heating, comes from geothermal sources, which faucet sizzling fluids deep underground, making steam to drive generators and generate electrical energy.
Within the valley under, the Krafla energy plant provides sizzling water and electrical energy to about 30,000 houses.
“The plan is to drill simply wanting the magma itself, presumably poke it somewhat bit,” says Bjarni Pálsson with a wry smile.
“The geothermal useful resource is positioned simply above the magma physique, and we consider that’s round 500-600C,” says Mr Pálsson, the chief director of geothermal growth at nationwide energy supplier, Landsvirkjun.
Magma may be very exhausting to find underground, however in 2009 Icelandic engineers made an opportunity discovery.
They’d deliberate to make a 4.5km deep borehole and extract extraordinarily sizzling fluids, however the drill abruptly stopped because it intercepted surprisingly shallow magma.
“We have been completely not anticipating to hit magma at solely 2.1km depth,” says Mr Pálsson.
Encountering magma is uncommon and has solely occurred right here, Kenya and Hawaii.
Superheated steam measuring a recording-breaking 452°C shot up, whereas the chamber was an estimated 900°C.
Dramatic video reveals billowing smoke and steam. Acute warmth and corrosion finally destroyed the nicely.
“This nicely produced about 10 instances extra [energy] than the common nicely on this location,” says Mr Pálsson.
Simply two of those might provide the identical vitality as the ability plant’s 22 wells, he notes. “There’s an apparent sport changer.”
Greater than 600 geothermal energy crops are discovered worldwide, and a whole bunch extra are deliberate, amid rising demand for round the clock low carbon vitality. These wells are usually round 2.5km deep, and deal with temperatures under 350°C.
Personal firms and analysis groups in a number of nations are additionally working in the direction of extra superior and ultra-deep geothermal, referred to as super-hot rock, the place temperatures exceed 400°C at depths of 5 to 15km.
Reaching deeper and far hotter, warmth reserves is the “Holy Grail”, says Rosalind Archer, the dean of Griffith College, and former director of the Geothermal Institute in New Zealand.
It’s the upper vitality density that’s so promising, she explains, as every borehole can produce 5 to 10 instances extra energy than normal geothermal wells.
“You have received New Zealand, Japan and Mexico all wanting, however KMT is the closest one to getting drill bit within the floor,” she says. “It is not straightforward and it isn’t essentially low cost to get began.”
Drilling into this excessive atmosphere shall be technically difficult, and requires particular supplies.
Prof Lavallée is assured it’s potential. Excessive temperatures are additionally present in jet engines, metallurgy and the nuclear business, he says.
“We’ve got to discover new supplies and extra corrosion resistant alloys,” says Sigrun Nanna Karlsdottir, a professor of commercial and mechanical engineering on the College of Iceland.
Inside a lab, her group of researchers are testing supplies to resist excessive warmth, stress and corrosive gases. Geothermal wells are normally constructed with carbon metal, she explains, however that rapidly loses energy when temperatures exceed 200°C.
“We’re specializing in excessive grade nickel alloys and in addition titanium alloys,” she says.
Drilling into volcanic magma sounds doubtlessly dangerous, however Mr Guðmundsson thinks in any other case.
“We don’t consider that sticking a needle into an enormous magma chamber goes to create an explosive impact,” he asserts.
“This occurred in 2009, they usually discovered that they’d most likely performed this earlier than with out even figuring out it. We consider it’s protected.”
Different dangers additionally must be thought-about when drilling into the earth like poisonous gases and inflicting earthquakes, says Prof Archer. “However the geological atmosphere in Iceland makes that most unlikely.”
The work will take years, however might carry superior forecasting and supercharged volcano energy.
“I feel the entire geothermal world are watching the KMT venture,” says Prof Archer. “It’s doubtlessly fairly transformative.”
