Veronica And The Volcano

“Daddy, look!” Veronica said excitedly, staring out the living room window. The blue skies and yellow sun had turned black. Birds of every color flew in one direction, away from the volcano. Fiery lava gushed out in giant arcs from the volcano’s peak, as ghostly steam rings stretched for miles into the wild, ash-flaked sky. Veronica grabbed the family iPad from an end table. Two years ago, for the third-grade science fair, she had set up sensors all around her yard to measure earthquakes. Her father monitored the sensors on an iPad app that showed something like an X-ray of the volcano, how much lava might pour out, and even the temperature of the lava and the ground. The app was also connected to sensors placed by other hobby scientists on other volcanoes, including the largest active volcano of all, Mount Mystery. Her screen told her this lava was hot—more than 1,500 degrees—hotter than an oven. The app showed a web of different-colored lava tubes deep underground, carrying molten lava all around the vol