A Story of Fire and Ice: Iceland a world threat

[Onhell]

I am surprised nobody has started a topic on this, but at least in the morning news the volcano that is about to go BOOM in Iceland had dominated for the past couple of weeks. So much so that the History Channel had a special just on Iceland last night which I caught while I waited for South Park to start. At any rate, just like any piece of land on this planet Iceland was formed out of volcanic activity, MAJOR volcanic activity and as it turns out the current Volcano is just ONE of several very dangerous, still active volcanos.

Apparently Iceland's glaciers act as a cork on a Champagne bottle keeping the gases in the earth in check and the surface safe from an eruption. Problem is the glaciers are receding and as soon as they are small enough the gases will bubble to the top causing major eruptions. Just the ashes from the current activity have grounded planes all over Europe, clouded the skies and a few airlines have already cried for bailouts from the money lost due to being grounded (I will rant on airlines later this week).

I wonder if this could turn into another Krakatoa.

From http://history1800s.about.com/od/thegil ... akatoa.htm:

The eruption of the volcano at Krakatoa in the Pacific Ocean in 1883 was a major disaster by any measure. The entire island of Krakatoa was simply blown apart, and the resulting tsunami killed tens of thousands of people on other islands in the vicinity.

The volcanic dust thrown into the atmosphere affected the weather around the world, and people as far away as Britain and the United States saw bizarre red sunsets caused by particles in the atmosphere.

The events at Krakatoa were also significant because it was one of the first times that detailed descriptions of a colossal news event traveled around the world quickly, carried by undersea telegraph wires. Readers of daily newspapers in Europe and North America were able to follow current reports of the disaster and its enormous implications.

What's the word from you folks in the EU?

 

[Nigel Tufnel]

Just as long as the vocano does'nt fuck up the upcoming tour in July....I got tickets for the DC show and I am taking my son to his first Maiden show.

And fuck the airlines.....why don't they just add another fee.

 

[Forostar]

Yeah. One angry volcano puts down most of Europe's airplanes. Billions of damage.

What I find interesting are the consequences of one of his brothers, namely Laki.
In 1783/1784 this chap even contributed significantly to a build-up of poverty and famine that may have contributed to the French Revolution in 1789.

Check out Laki on wikipedia for more consequences. E.g., in Britain 23.000 people died from poisoning, and the ashes even reached Prague. In North America, the winter of 1784 was the longest and one of the coldest on record. It was the longest period of below-zero temperatures in New England, the largest accumulation of snow in New Jersey, and the longest freezing over of the Chesapeake Bay. There was ice skating in Charleston Harbor, a huge snowstorm hit the south, the Mississippi River froze at New Orleans, and there was ice in the Gulf of Mexico.

 

[Perun]

Yeah. One angry volcano puts down most of Europe's airplanes. Billions of damage.

Maybe it's the misanthrope in me, but I am actually blissfully happy about that. It's a sign that mankind is still not superior to good old Mother Earth. We think we control nature, but a slight hick-up of a mountain somewhere has us troubled for months.

Everybody talks about the billions of dollars this costs people, but nobody is pointing out the tons of CO² that have not been blown in our atmosphere in those days.

 

[Dr. Eddies Wingman]

The reason why this one on Iceland is spreading so much ash, is because melt-water from the glacier cools down parts of the erupting lava, forming glass particles. Read the wikipedia article on volcanic ash here..

As for whether this could turn into another Krakatoa: Not very likely. But as we've seen, it doesn't take that much to upset a modern society. We are definitely more vulnerable in many ways today, as we've become dependent on more things that are easily upset by mother nature. Airlines are grounded due to volcanic ash, and just think what a major solar storm could do to all the electronic stuff we have placed in orbit ...

The Laki eruption really showed what volcanic winter means, a more recent case (not as severe, but still notable) was the one at Mount Pinatubo in 1991.

By the way, it seems like Eyjafjallajökul is calming down now, and is mainly erupting lava right now rather than ash. Air traffic is normalizing.

For now.

Everybody talks about the billions of dollars this costs people, but nobody is pointing out the tons of CO² that have not been blown in our atmosphere in those days.

Well, I think the volcano compensates for much of it - and I'd rather have just the carbon dioxide from the airliners than carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide and hydrogen fluoride from  the volcano ...

 

[Perun]

Well, I think the volcano compensates for much of it - and I'd rather have just the carbon dioxide from the airliners than carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide and hydrogen fluoride from  the volcano ...

That's actually not my point. It would be interesting to see this as a reference for how much carbon dioxide is blown out by planes on a regular day. And maybe a catch to think about how much of it is actually needed. For all this chaos, the world didn't come to an end, after all.

 

[Forostar]

Maybe it's the misanthrope in me, but I am actually blissfully happy about that. It's a sign that mankind is still not superior to good old Mother Earth. We think we control nature, but a slight hick-up of a mountain somewhere has us troubled for months.

Everybody talks about the billions of dollars this costs people, but nobody is pointing out the tons of CO² that have not been blown in our atmosphere in those days.

I kind of have the same feeling. What annoyed me more: the dollar signs in the eyes of those airline companies and governments. They wanted to fly, the sooner the better.

Safety, measured by independent institutes, comes first. Then the dollar (or euro) signs.

Eyjafjallajökul

Did you type or copy/paste that? 

 

[Perun]

Yeah, and the best part is the airlines and even some of the passengers looking for someone to blame.

You can't blame anyone. It's nature. Stop crying.

What made our species great was our capability to find unique ways to deal with the things nature does. Apparently, we lost that capability, and now only whine when something is beyond our control.

 

[Forostar]

Lol, I am playing Quest For Fire this very minute. Back to the stone age everybody! 

I haven't seen that many people who were angry, to be honest. But the few I saw were also in disbelief.

*Man in business suit who probably flies 2 times per week*

"I don't believe this is a problem. I think they can fly".

 

[Dr. Eddies Wingman]

That's actually not my point. It would be interesting to see this as a reference for how much carbon dioxide is blown out by planes on a regular day. And maybe a catch to think about how much of it is actually needed. For all this chaos, the world didn't come to an end, after all.

That's a good point.

Did you type or copy/paste that?  

Oh, sorry, it should be a double l at the end - Eyjafjallajökull. Why would I need to copy and paste? Iceland was populated by Norwegians, you know  

Yeah, and the best part is the airlines and even some of the passengers looking for someone to blame.

You can't blame anyone. It's nature. Stop crying.

What made our species great was our capability to find unique ways to deal with the things nature does. Apparently, we lost that capability, and now only whine when something is beyond our control.

Yeah, mankind is rich in crybabies - no doubt about that.

I haven't seen that many people who were angry, to be honest. But the few I saw were also in disbelief.

In Norway, the attitude is not as much "who should take the blame" as "who should take the bill"  I think it would be quite unfair to send it to Iceland ...

 

[Forostar]

Oh, sorry, it should be a double l at the end - Eyjafjallajökull. Why would I need to copy and paste? Iceland was populated by Norwegians, you know  

Hehehe. The Danes are very inactive on this forum (unless I'm forgetting one's nationality).

In Norway, the attitude is not as much "who should take the blame" as "who should take the bill"  I think it would be quite unfair to send it to Iceland ...

They (and we) have enough trouble with Icesave already.

 

[Dr. Eddies Wingman]

Hehehe. The Danes are very inactive on this forum (unless I'm forgetting one's nationality).

Denmark? Well, Iceland belonged to Denmark after the Kiel treaty of 1814, until they got their sovereignty, so there is a connection.

I guess you know the story. Iceland, Greenland, and the Faroe Islands were under the Norwegian crown when Norway, Sweden and Denmark formed the Kalmar Union - which the Swedes left. In the Dano-Norwegian union that remained, more and more power was transferred to Copenhagen, until Norway was effectively a Danish province.

After the Napoleonic wars, in which the Danish king had sided with the French, Sweden asked for Norway as reward for helping the British, Russians and Preussen - but for some reason they didn't care about Iceland and the other overseas islands. Thus, these remained with Denmark, whereas Norway joined a union with Sweden (but thanks to other events of 1814, fortunately with a lot more sovereignty over internal affairs than was the case in the union with Denmark).

So, despite Iceland was ruled from Copenhagen for centuries, Iceland was always more connected with Norway (particularly Western Norway) than Denmark..

 

[Forostar]

Well my point was that there isn't a Dane around to discuss this with. 

But I didn't know that the Norwegian connection is -still- bigger, thanks for explaining.

 

[Onhell]

This is why I love this forum, you bunch of nerds

 

[Forostar]

Instead of heading for Europe, the ashes are hitting Iceland now. So today, for the first time, no flights from/to Reykjavik.

 

[Albie]

For all this chaos, the world didn't come to an end, after all.

That's what I would say. No-one died, they just got a little put out. Yeah, I do feel for the people stuck abroad on their holiday not been able to get back, but it could of been worse. I'd rather be stuck in an airport than sitting on a plane at 35,000 feet - that has just stalled it engines.