Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis is set to visit Santorini on Tuesday morning, accompanied by renowned disaster scientist Kostas Synolakis, as seismic activity intensifies across the Cyclades, sparking concerns among residents and experts.
Speaking to ERT News, Mr. Synolakis, an academic and professor at the University of Southern California, emphasized the urgency of the visit, highlighting plans to bolster monitoring capabilities in the region.
"Beyond assessing the Civil Protection response, a key objective is to determine suitable locations for installing tide gauges," he stated.
"We've realized that this critical instrument—used to measure sea level changes—was missing from the area."
Currently, there are only ten tide gauges across the Aegean, but Mr. Synolakis stressed that at least four are needed in the Santorini region to detect potential sea-level shifts in case of a tsunami.
"Together with Nikos Kalogeris from the National Observatory, we have been working tirelessly to secure these instruments. We’ve been promised that one will be ready by Friday, with another expected next week," he added.
Regarding the ongoing seismic activity, Mr. Synolakis proposed a striking hypothesis: "I believe there is an upward flow of liquid materials from deep beneath the surface, moving towards the uninhabited islet of Anydro.
If this proves true, we could be witnessing, for the first time globally, the birth of a new volcano."
While he clarified that this does not necessarily indicate an impending eruption, Mr. Synolakis noted that volcanologists consider this a plausible scenario.
"This could mean that the Santorini volcanic complex is expanding, much like when Kolumbo and other craters formed alongside Santorini itself."
The visit underscores growing scientific interest in Santorini’s seismic shifts, as experts strive to determine whether the island’s volcanic system is evolving into something far more significant.