LaMEVE erupts onto the scene

LaMEVE is no ordinary database. It's a spatially enabled relational database.

LaMEVE stands for ‘Large Magnitude Explosive Volcanic Eruptions’ and contains data on all eruptions worldwide of magnitude 4 and greater, reaching back to the beginning of the Quaternary (almost 2.6 million years). The database is searchable via a spatial tool and/or a series of attributes, the results of which can be downloaded into a spreadsheet format. The database is accessible to all and it is hoped that the data contained within will be beneficial both to volcanologists and to disaster managers, as eruptions of the magnitudes concerned can have local, and in some cases, global catastrophic consequences. 

Montserrat. Vegetation damage and crack
on crater rim. (Date: 01/11/1996)
The creators hope that the volcanological community will contribute updates to the database so that it's a continually evolving and sustainable resource. It's because of this that the team behind LaMEVE welcome comments and/or additions to the database content. If you can collaborate then please contact Database Co-ordinator: Dr Sian Crosweller, sian.crosweller@bristol.ac.uk from VOGRIPA (the parent group of LaMEVE). For more information about version updates please visit the LaMEVE website.


The VOGRIPA project is an international collaboration led by the University of Bristol with partners including the BGS, the Smithsonian Institution and the Geological Survey of Japan, that aims to develop accessible, searchable global volcanic hazards databases.VOGRIPA in turn is an integral part of the ‘Global Volcano Model’ network, an international partnership currently led by BGS and the University of Bristol which will create a sustainable, accessible information platform on volcanic hazard and risk.


Montserrat. Vulcanian explosion. View from
near Bugby Hole. (Date: 06/08/1997)
The international effort to collate the data for LaMEVE, and the creation of the spatially enabled relational database and web system, is described in an accompanying paper by Crosweller et al. (2012) published in the open-access Journal of Applied Volcanology.

Data contributions have come from the Smithsonian Institution’s Global Volcanism Program (both their online Holocene database and an unpublished Quaternary dataset), the Geological Survey of Japan ( Quaternary and Active Volcanoes of Japan databases), as well as from the published literature. A large number of people have been involved in compiling the data over a number of years, mostly at the University of Bristol, UK: Natalia Deligne, Natalie Ortiz, Laura Hobbs, Hayley Dunning, Sian Crosweller, Sarah Brown, Koji Kiyosugi (University of South Florida), Michael Hodge, Emily Bowyer, Lucy Harper, Jenny Pooley, Sam Mitchell and Alex Clarke. The database was designed by Martin Nayembil and Baneet Arora (British Geological Survey) and Sian Crosweller (University of Bristol), with the web design and development carried out by Jonathan Lowndes, Karen Kilpatrick, Diego Diaz Doce and Baneet Arora (British Geological Survey).

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