The Terror Awaiting the United States
We’ve had a basketful of large volcanic explosions and earthquakes in recent years. These thoughts were also brought about by my reading bits of Simon Winchester‘s excellent book on Krakatoa, whilst visiting my friend in hospital.
If we look at volcanic eruptions and earthquakes in modern times, we can see that they are by no means uncommon, but as we get more densely packed on Spaceship Earth, they cause more damage and loss of life. Especially as many of the most active areas are highly populated.
The Year Without a Summer, 1816, is a classic example of what can happen when a large volcano erupts. In this case it was Mount Tambora in modern-day Indonesia. In the post on Mount Tambora there is a list of the big volcanic explosions and it would seem that we get one every twenty years or so. The last big one was in 1991 and that was Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines. It had a significant effect.
The effects of the eruption were felt worldwide. It ejected roughly 10 billion metric tonnes (10 cubic kilometres) of magma, and 20 million tons of SO2, bringing vast quantities of minerals and metals to the surface environment. It injected large amounts of aerosols into the stratosphere—more than any eruption since that of Krakatoa in 1883. Over the following months, the aerosols formed a global layer of sulfuric acid haze. Global temperatures dropped by about 0.5 °C (0.9 °F), and ozone depletion temporarily increased substantially.
This just shows how what we can do to the planet are pinpricks compared to nature. Luckily, nature doesn’t vent its spleen too often.
But one threat from a volcano seriously threatens the United States. That is the volcano of Cumbre Vieja on the Canary Islands. If it fractures how Day and Ward predict, then there will a mega-tsunami that will wreak havoc in Florida and the Caribbean.
Living 30 metres up in Suffolk and at least 70 kilometres from the coast has its compensations.
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The Anonymous Widower 
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