Scientists fear tremors at the Eyjafjallajokull (ay-yah-FYAH-lah-yer-kuhl) volcano could trigger an even more dangerous eruption at the nearby Katla volcano — creating a worst-case scenario for the airline industry and travelers around the globe.
A Katla eruption would be 10 times stronger and shoot higher and larger plumes of ash into the air than its smaller neighbor, which has already brought European air travel to a standstill for five days and promises severe travel delays for days more.
The two volcanoes are side by side in southern Iceland, about 12 miles (20 kilometers) apart and thought to be connected by a network of magma channels.
It’s not a “worst-case scenario” It’s “dream come true scenario” for the airlines.
They’ve already asked for a bail-out for the current flight cancellations. Imagine the bail-out they’ll need if they shut down for a month. They get free money, without the hassle of dealing with passengers or paying their employees.
If it is really going to be that bad I would be somewhat concerned about the cooling effects it would have globally. As I recall there was an eruption in south asia that gave us some really cold summers. Especially since this sort of thing is real and not a fantasy of Al Gore.
Forget the planes and travelers, what about the land and the people! LOL
Events like this are too big to plan for. When it erupts, and that could be today or 100 years from today, the old rulebook would be thrown out and new rules would have to be improvised.
There are several different geologic events that will happen someday that will put current society on its ear. (for example, Yellowstone caldera eruption)
Lack of air travel is an insignificant problem compared to lack of electricity, lack of shelter, lack of food and water.
Small example. My power was out for 3 days this winter after 2ft of snow. My battery radio was useless since the local stations were powerless and the regional stations Clearchannel preprogrammed. The TV band was useless due to the switch to DTV. So much for planning ahead.
Oh dear! How will this affect global warming? The Earth is out to kill us.
God is clearly pissed off at the Tea Party. Iceland is a lab test of what’s gonna happen in Virginia.
It’s America’s fault.
We fired up the earthquake machine to ground all airplanes so high-speed rail and Amtrak could have a fighting chance.
Well, I’ll say it. The volcanoes aren’t the issue. The issue is:
GLOBAL WARMING.
and how it stall the normal air circulation thereby bringing the smoke and ash over Europe instead of over Sweden and Russia.
Did you know GW causes changes in wind flow? Rain Patterns. Volcanic Ash Flow. Yes indeedy it does.
I think the UK is trying to take over Iceland and is using their volcano machine as a weapon of intimidation.
Bobby J is up to the job.
Those wacky, Eyjafjallajokullafjokellfjulljafajokjallafjellarians.
#9 Don’t lay this one on Mr Gore. This is God angry at the Tea Party and using Iceland as a staging area.
YOU should be worried and prepare your village for the fallout.
Wouldn’t prudent businesses (airlines) have “act of God” insurance coverage? This sure seems like a classic case.
Re: Bobbo, #8… huh?
Simply put… the jet stream, which is carrying the volcanic plume at 20,000-36000 feet, is behaving in it’s normal erratic way.
I can find no documented evidence whatsoever that global warming has anything to do with the current pattern of distribution… unless you care to provide a source?
THATS what some newsguy said on tv. I’m just passing the info along. Most anti-warming info is BS, I think the same kind of balance is warranted.
It’s cold outside here.
Global warming my ass.
Bobbo with lollipop…”Most anti-warming info is BS, I think the same kind of balance is warranted.”
Please don’t go that route. You, of all people, I expect would not lower yourself to the levels of some or those scientifically challenged morans. There is no beneficial balance achieved by further muddying the pool of actual and available facts.
Here’s an interesting tidbit that I found while trying to verify your post though…
This is some history about Laki, another Icelandic volcano. I suspect your “news guy” was playing on the latest alarmist knee-jerk reaction to a high pressure area (weather, not climate!) currently causing a stalling effect on air patterns over Europe. Climate change pundits are claiming that GW is at fault for this supposedly rare occurrence, so I checked it out and found this in Wikipedia (FWIW)
“The summer of 1783 was the hottest on record and a rare high pressure zone over Iceland caused the winds to blow to the south-east. The poisonous cloud drifted to Bergen in Norway, then spread to Prague in the Province of Bohemia by 17 June, Berlin by 18 June, Paris by 20 June, Le Havre by 22 June, and to Great Britain by 23 June.”
So apparently, high pressure over Iceland + volcanic eruption is no so rare after all… 2 in a row, maybe more if there are adequate records around. The pattern of distribution seems normal as well… and why was 1783 the hottest (in Iceland) on record before the volcano AND the industrial revolution? More questions that will go unanswered unless a climate scientist can get funding to show how it all ties to global warming regardless of what appears to be a natural phenomenon.
It started out quiet, lasted awhile, calmed down, then explosive eruptions, that are now calming again. While it would be helpful to see a study of seismographic measurements in the area, not a lot of this kind of information is available. If seismic activity increases or stays the same, obviously it’s not over. If the Katla is fed by the same magma flows, it stands to reason that magmatic pressure would be relieved at Eyjafjallajokull (damn, why don’t they just call it ‘fred’ or something). I’m gonna have to search for more seismic data.
However, Imagine that the recent increase in geological activity is part of something larger, some cyclic and catastrophic pattern, unseen in recorded human history. Then this eruption could just be the first of many. Are you ready for the apocalypse?
Correction: It is an act of Odin since it is Iceland.
An article about global warming and hazardous geological events.
http://tinyurl.com/y6avg3s
You people are extrapolating from a data point of one. Iceland does have a history of volcanic explosions, but the recent eruption may have actually relieved pressure in the magma chamber below Iceland. Or…the pressure might not have been relieved enough.
A Vulcanologist may have some ideas, but there’s a lot of uncertainty as to what will happen next (see the history of Mt St Helens to get an idea of the uncertainty).
Incidentally, this eruption has no connection with global warming, though it might cool the European climate for the short term. How much? I really don’t know.
#18–Skeptic==just like a volcano, every once in a while, you gotta blow some steam. It is true that humor does not come across the webitubes too well and (/joke) could have been used. OTOH–aren’t many entries about GW meant for humor?
Still of interest, given your nom de flame, why so much interest in GW? A while back this blog has 4-5 well supported threads with lots of linked articles and opinions by folks who had done some reading. We have been in a lull stage since before you exhibited a tremor.
It is actually a good case study for anyone with a strong opinion one way or the other to evaluate themselves for how they form opinions. I formed one, reversed it, then became agnostic, now have moved back towards but not all the way to my original opinion(s).
Its good to be flexible without becoming wishy-washy.
Floyd–everything is connected. Causation abounds. Proximity is remote.
#23: Bobbo, You’re right, but the point really is that we have little or no idea what will happen in Iceland. It’s a crapshoot.
Well Floyd–ten minutes have passed, so I say Few things are connected, causation is linear and proximate, and our ignorance makes it all a crapshoot.
I think we are all agreed then!
The links provided just above though to try to make a link to GW. Succeeds or fails depending on how you view it, and we are evaluating in retrospect, not trying to predict, two different things. It surely falls within the general rule that when one thing changes, another one will as well?
I do think GW is sufficiently grounded to explain what has happened even if it is not precise enough to predict what will happen tomorrow. (/sarcasm)
A worst case scenario would be Katla erupts, creating the earth’s mantle between the two volcanos to collapse and cause a 12 miles wide gap in the earth and the earth starts collapsing onto it.
I’d say worst case is that there is a massive Katla eruption like a global jet engine, and the earth pushes off into space, to boldly go where no planet has gone before.
@bac,
Iceland became a Christian country around 1000 AD according to the Sagas – http://tinyurl.com/27c9zvh
I’ve actually been through the exhibit at the Perlan in Reykjavik.
Bobbo, #25 re:”…why so much interest in GW? A while back this blog has 4-5 well supported threads with lots of linked articles and opinions by folks who had done some reading. We have been in a lull stage since before you exhibited a tremor.”
Actually, I’ve been on DU for several years. In January I decided to change my alias from JimR to Skeptic… and posted the change back then, a few times, just in case anyone cared… although why anyone would care is beyond me.
Why so much interest in AGW? … I love science. I love discovery. I read science magazines for pleasure. Climate science has prostituted itself and it annoys me a lot. I’m totally flexible, but I’ll be a skeptic concerning the biased ‘science’ and sordid behavior behind AGW until I have reasons to change my opinion… and my alias.
# 21 Floyd said, “Incidentally, this eruption has no connection with global warming, though it might cool the European climate for the short term.”
Floyd – My how you contradict yourself before you even end the sentence. If this causes any change in the climate it has, then, by definition, affected global climate.
But, that aside. Iceland is totally bankrupt. The twelve people who live there can easily be absorbed into the population of, say, Haiti. I say it’s time to see if we can release all that pent up energy with a few nukes! I think we can teach nature a thing or two…
Just their luck. Damn mountain is too big to fail.