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Sunday, June 9, 2013

VOLCANO ISSUES -

THE LAKI VOLCANO ERUPTION OF 1783

 

It was a year with no summer


It was not a spectacular eruption such as that of Tambora or Krakatau, but the Laki volcano eruption had such a significant impact on global climate that it was felt for many years afterwards.
 
Today marks the 230th anniversary of the famed Laki (or Skaftár Fires) eruption in Iceland - one of the largest volcanic eruptions in recorded history.
 
The Laki eruption wasn’t really a single event, but rather 8 months’ worth of lava flows and explosions that ejected an astounding ~14.7 km3 of basaltic lava. That's enough to pave the entire city of Boston (~232 km2) in ~63 meters deep of basalt.
 
While the Laki eruptions were occurring, nearby Grímvötn was also erupting, possibly as many as 8 times during that period.
 
Some of the explosive components of the eruption produced plumes that reached 15 km (~50,000 feet) while lava fountains were 800-1400 meters tall.
 
The Laki eruptions had a staggering effect on Iceland itself, in large part due to the volcanic gases released in the eruption and not the lava flows themselves.
 
Sulfur dioxide released by the lava flows stayed close to the ground creating acid rains strong enough to burn holes in leaves, kill trees and shrubs and irritate skin.
 
Fluorine settled out and was incorporated into grasses, causing fluorinosis on grazing livestock and killing sixty percent of htem. The “Haze Famine” as it is called in Iceland killed over 10,000 people (~22% of the population) from famine and disease.
 
When sulfur dioxide entered the jet stream it was circulated around the entire northern hemisphere. This affected climate. Tree rings suggest that the summer of 1783 in Alaska was very cold. Northern hemisphere temperatures were 1.3ºC below normal for 2-3 years after the eruption.
 
The sulfuric acid was even damaging to crops in Europe, where noxious dews and frosts formed. Ash from the eruption was noted as far away as Venice, Italy and many places in between.
 
Imagining what the impact would be if such an eruption happened today is hard, but we would expect a few years of colder weather and potentially a dramatic impact on air travel throughout the northern hemisphere, not to mention potential crop failures due to acid rains in Europe and Russia.
 
The impact of the eruption on trees in Alaska shows just how global the impact is for these colossal eruptions that release hundreds of millions of tons of volcanic aerosols. Modern volcano monitoring techniques can give us some warnings — maybe months — before such an event begins, but even then it would be hard to escape the consequences of such an eruption.

Read more: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2013/06/local-and-global-impacts-1793-laki-eruption-iceland/

Severe Impact of future Iceland eruptions for Europe - http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/09/laki-volcano-iceland-eruption-model/

RELATEDhttp://ottersandsciencenews.blogspot.ca/search/label/Volcanoes

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