Could there really be a volcano season?

Hawaii's Puʻu ʻŌʻō eruption. And you thought Iceland got all the good volcano names.

USGS

The Earth seems to have been smoking a lot recently. Volcanoes are currently erupting in Iceland, Hawaii, Indonesia, and Mexico. Others, in the Philippines and Papua New Guinea, erupted recently but seem to have calmed down. And then there was the fatal eruption in Japan. Many of these have threatened homes and forced evacuations. But among their less-endangered spectators, these eruptions may have raised a question: Is there such a thing as a season for volcanic eruptions?

Surprisingly, this may be a possibility. While volcano “seasons” aren't anything like the four we're familiar with, scientists have started to discern intriguing patterns in their activity.

Eruptions caused by a shortened day

The four seasons are caused by the Earth’s axis of rotation tilting towards and away from the Sun. But our planet undergoes another, less well-known change, one that affects it in a more subtle way—perhaps even volcanically.