The iconic white roofs of the Greek isles of Santorini may not
stay that way forever. Those buildings are perched, after all,
on the rim of a massive underwater volcano blamed for destroying
the Minoan civilization of Crete. And it’s restless. About 3600
years ago, at the height of Minoan civilization, Santorini let
loose with one of the largest volcanic eruptions in history. The
explosion blanketed nearby islands with piles of ash hundreds of
feet thick and sent out a gigantic tsunami that devastated
Crete, about 68 miles to the south. Smaller eruptions across the
ensuing millennia ended abruptly in 1950. Then, after 60 years
of calm, the caldera reawakened early last year with an
escalating swarm of earthquakes. When geologists took a closer
look, they could see the ground was swelling as well, as though
the sleeping giant were yawning. The earthquakes and ground
deformation scientists observed between 2011 and early 2012 are
unprecedented since the 1950 eruption. But just because a
volcano is sucking in br