Studying Santorini's Kolumbo submarine volcano

Evi Nomikou got up before dawn for the early shift. The ship was completely quiet. She spent a few minutes looking at the tranquil sea, amazed at what an unexpected gift the fine weather was for late October. Her tough mission could only be carried out in such clement conditions.

At the time of our interview, the Athens University assistant professor of physical geography and geological oceanography had spent 10 days at sea northeast of Santorini on the oceanographic research vessel Poseidon on a mission that ended on October 28.

The rest of the crew consisted of scientists from the Helmholtz Center for Ocean Research Kiel (GEOMAR) and the universities of Hamburg and Bologna. As part of the THESEUS research program, headed by Dr Jens Karstens (GEOMAR), they were studying how underwater volcanic eruptions cause tsunamis and recording seismic activity at the submarine...