Some of the world’s most dangerous volcanoes have been ‘switched on’ simultaneously, says one geophysicist who fears it could signal the start of a devastating four-year surge in eruptions.
Geophysicist Stefan Burns believes he has cracked the code of when new and potentially deadly eruptions are most likely to take place.
He revealed that Earth’s volcanic activity has already started increasing and may lead to more eruptions in the US, Europe and Asia over the next four years.
On his YouTube channel, which examines recent natural disasters, Burns highlighted roughly a dozen major volcanoes and volcanic systems in heavily populated areas such as the US West Coast, Hawaii, Italy and Russia, which he claimed were showing heightened activity.
In the US, he pointed to the ongoing eruptions at Hawaii’s Kīlauea and the possibility of new eruptions along the Cascade Range, including Mount Rainier, Mount St Helens and Mount Hood in Oregon and Washington.
Burns believes the apparent unrest is connected to the sun’s natural energy cycle, with eruptions becoming more likely as solar activity falls from its peak.
He expressed particular concerns about the planet going from ‘solar maximum’ – the most active peak in the sun’s cycle which showers Earth with energy and radiation – to ‘solar minimum’ – when the sun’s activity is at the lowest point in its 11-year cycle.
In an August 15 livestream, Burns said: ‘There is a clear pattern here that, to me, is a little troubling.’
In 1980, a major volcanic eruption occurred at Mount St Helens (Pictured), a volcano located in state of Washington
He continued: ‘When you take into context the fact that as you go from solar maximum to solar minimum, there is a statistically significant increase in global volcanism.’
He claimed peak solar energy charges Earth’s upper atmosphere, generates electrical currents deep underground and interacts with changes in the planet’s magnetic field, potentially fueling volcanic unrest, earthquakes and even major hurricanes.
Burns tied this potentially world-changing threat to the sun’s ongoing change in its current solar cycle, moving from a period of releasing tremendous energy toward Earth to one where this process nearly stops for several years.
This quieter low point in the sun’s 11-year cycle is called solar minimum, which NASA has noted the sun has been heading toward since October 2024. The next peak solar minimum phase is expected around 2030.
Burns said that after the strong energy ‘loading’ of a solar maximum, volcanic and earthquake activity has historically spiked in the following years, meaning the shift between 2026 and 2030 could put millions in volcanic danger zones.
‘It’s not like volcanism increases 10x or something, but the records that we do have of large volcanic eruptions show that with the solar cycle, you have more activity during that solar minimum, which is after you had that big loading phase,’ he emphasized.
Burns, a popular commentator who focuses on earthquake science online, has broken with many mainstream geologists by tying space weather to quakes, storms and volcanic eruptions here on Earth.
He says events like solar storms, flares, sunspots and even eclipses frequently take place at the same time or just days before major seismic activity is recorded underground.
Scientists are warning that three Washington towns could be devastated within minutes if a massive volcanic mudflow suddenly roars down Mount Rainier during an eruption
Geophysicist Stefan Burns has said the Pacific Ring of Fire will eventually need to balance itself by releasing more energy along the US West Coast and South America
‘When I put all the pieces together, it becomes fairly compelling,’ the geophysicist added.
Burns has made several correct predictions this year, accurately forecasting the major seismic events in Colombia, Peru and Indonesia days before they struck.
In the case of the deadly magnitude 7.4 earthquake in San Jose Del Palmar, Colombia, Burns warned of the impending disaster two months before it struck, using his unorthodox approach of examining solar activity, seismic wave trends and shifts in Earth’s magnetic field.
Burns noted how synchronicity, meaningful coincidences that seem to align without a direct physical connection, is an often overlooked factor by other scientists examining the seeming alleged randomness of earthquakes and eruptions.
He explained that the recent string of major earthquakes worldwide has been taking place near some of the deadliest volcanoes on the planet, including the Toba supervolcano in Indonesia and the Campi Flegrei supervolcano in Italy.
Other volcanic hotspots Burns claimed have been ‘activated’ include the Gakkel supervolcano in the Arctic Ocean near Iceland, Italy’s Mount Etna and the underwater volcano Kamaʻehuakanaloa just 20 miles from Hawaii.
‘This is one of the largest hotspots and volcanoes on the planet. So, what happens here is very much a glimpse into the deep earth,’ Burns said of Kamaʻehuakanaloa.
He noted the rare formation of Hurricane Lala right near Hawaii’s Big Island in mid-August and a record-setting earthquake underneath Kamaʻehuakanaloa taking place at the same time as a solar eclipse as more signs of Earth’s interconnected nature.
The lava from Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano (pictured) shot up to 500 feet in the air during the September 2 eruption
The Pacific Ring of Fire has seen more than a dozen major earthquakes along its western side since July 2025, when a megaquake in Russia was detected near Kamchatka
Two other volcanic hotspots Burns noted were Russia’s Cresenico and Shivaluch volcanoes, which have been actively erupting since a magnitude 8.8 megaquake on July 29, 2025.
That massive earthquake, Burns has claimed, triggered a seismic chain reaction across the entire Pacific Ring of Fire.
The Ring of Fire is a 25,000-mile arc encircling the Pacific Ocean, from South America to the US West Coast to Asia, and is home to 75 percent of the world’s active volcanoes.
The scientist believes huge amounts of built-up stress rippled across the Earth like the waves on a pond, setting off many other nearby faults, causing multiple magnitude 7 earthquakes, dozens of magnitude 6 quakes and hundreds of smaller ones on that side of the Pacific Plate.
In August 2026, more than 180 significant earthquakes stronger than magnitude 4.5 have struck locations all around the Ring of Fire, including Indonesia, Japan, South America, Mexico and Alaska.
Burns singled out the massive magnitude 6.9 earthquake that struck near Lake Toba in Indonesia on August 15 as another red flag that major volcanoes are showing signs of waking up.
‘I’m not saying that this 6.9 is going to trigger the Toba supervolcano, but it’s another geo event that struck close to a volcano, and it’s significant.’
The last major eruption of the Toba supervolcano occurred about 74,000 years ago. It is considered one of the largest volcanic eruptions on Earth in the past two million years that scientists believe led to a sharp drop in the early human population.
In the Pacific Northwest, Burns tied the passing of a giant fireball over the Cascadia volcanoes on August 14. The object, believed to be a meteor, triggered low-frequency blast waves that were picked up by monitoring sensors on the US volcanoes.
Burns is not alone in his theory that these supposed coincidences may actually produce some level of energy that triggers natural disasters on Earth.
In 1989, NASA scientist RB Stothers found statistically noticeable cycles of about 11 years and 80 years that line up with the sun’s activity cycles, with slightly more eruptions happening around the quieter periods of solar minimum.
In 2017, researcher Takeshi Nishimura from Tohoku University in Japan discovered that when a very large earthquake stronger than magnitude 7.5 occurs within 125 miles of a volcano, the chance of that volcano starting a new eruption increases by roughly 50 percent over the next five years.
