What Happens When You Send Robots Into An Erupting Volcano Full Of Sharks? [VIDEO]

kavachi-explosion — An eruption at the Kavachi underwater volcano sends matter bursting into the air. National Geographic

Hollywood gave us Sharknado, but real-life scientists have given us “Sharkcano” — a highly active underwater volcano that is infested with sharks. And recently, those scientists presented us with another gift: They sent in a bunch of robots to get blown up in the eruptions.

The robots, which were just some PVC pipes stacked with electronics, were necessary to take measurements of the Kavachi volcano in the South Pacific Ocean because it’s too dangerous for humans to visit in the flesh, according to National Geographic. The scientific team was looking for things like temperature, carbon dioxide levels and acidity. After one enormous eruption, the researchers got even more than that when the robot caught pieces of ash that had just erupted as lava out of the Earth.

They don’t yet know why and how sharks can live in the crater of this volcano near the Solomon Islands, but it is “really wild because it’s one of the most active submarine volcanoes in the world,” ocean engineer Brennan Phillips said.

Read: These Penguins Have Survived a Lot of Volcanic Eruptions, According to Historic Poop

“In the vicinity of the vent we found a huge drop in the surface pH levels, water temperatures 10 degrees higher than normal, and we learned Kavachi is a strong greenhouse gas emitter,” Matthew Dunbabin, of Queensland University of Technology, told National Geographic.