Scientists have warned one of the world's supervolcanoes is awakening as seismic activity around the volcano has skyrocketed – more than 3,000 earthquakes have been recorded near the volcano in the past 6 months.

This May the Phlegraean Fields, an area near the supervolcano was rattled by a magnitude 4.4 earthquake – the strongest quake record in the area in 40 years. The supervolcano scientists are concerned about is the Campi Flegrei caldera created by a series of eruptions 10s of thousands of years ago – located near Naples, Italy.

Around 40,000 years ago, Campi Flegrei erupted causing one of the worst volcanic disasters in Earth's history. The devastating eruption went on to trigger massive changes in the global climate – if a similar eruption was to happen today its impact would reach far beyond Italy.

If an eruption happened today volcanic ash clouds would cover most of Europe causing flights to be grounded. Sunlight could be blocked by the ash cloud causing global temperatures to cool and unpredictable weather which could threaten food supplies.

Campi Flegrei's last eruption was in 1539 and while scientists say it is impossible to predict exactly when the volcano will blow, recent volcanic activity could mean the volcano could erupt sooner rather than later.