The 'Most Dangerous' Volcano Can Be a Tricky Thing to Pin Down

Eruption of Tungurahua volcano, an active stratovolcano located in the Cordillera Oriental of Ecuador.Getty Images I know you've all seen lists like this before: what is the "world's most dangerous volcano?" Most of the time, that discuss devolves quickly into something about "supervolcanoes," which is very exciting and all because they can generate massive eruptions. However, they are far from being the "most dangerous" volcano. But wait, what does "most dangerous" even mean for volcanoes? Are you talking about a volcano that is most active? That would be Kilauea in Hawaii and that's far from "most dangerous". What about the biggest volcano? That's hard to quantify, but maybe it would be Yellowstone ... and you'll see why it is definitely not the "most dangerous." What about largest eruption? Even that isn't the best measure of "most dangerous" because some very large eruptions have been in the middle of nowhere. So, ...