It was 1815 when the Tambora volcano in Indonesia decided to make the biggest bang in history: an epic eruption that shot particles into the atmosphere, caused temperatures to plummet, and transformed 1816 into the “year without a summer.”
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The result? Destroyed crops, starvation, cholera, thousands of deaths and even Mary Shelley, who, freezing in Switzerland, invented Frankenstein. More than 200 years have passed, and now the experts are warning us: another volcanic monster is lurking, ready to make us see green mice.
What's next (spoiler: nothing good)
It's not a question of "if", but of "when", says Markus Stoffel, climatologist at the University of Geneva. The odds? One in six that a colossal eruption will hit us this century, according to he told CNN a few months ago. And it’s not 1815: today the world is more crowded, hotter due to climate change and, above all, unprepared. “It's going to be a total climate mess”, warns Stoffel. Translated: zero plans, zero defenses, just a nice global disaster.
The poison of sulfur dioxide
Volcanoes are no joke: they have created continents, shaped the atmosphere, and can change the climate in the blink of an eye. When they erupt, they spew lava, ash, and gases, including carbon dioxide (which warms the planet, but that's nothing compared to the crap we produce with fossil fuels).
The real problem is sulfur dioxide, a gas that does serious damage. Imagine an eruption like the one in Iceland near Grindavik in 2024, but a thousand times worse. Sulfur dioxide shoots into the stratosphere, 11 km above the ground, where it forms aerosols that reflect sunlight and cool the planet.Those particles will go around the world and stay there for a couple of years.”, explains Alan Robock, a climatologist at Rutgers University who has studied volcanoes all his life.
Goodbye rains, hello famines
Not just cold: mega eruptions can disrupt rainfall. Monsoons in Africa and Asia, which depend on the difference in temperature between land and ocean, risk disappearing.A massive eruption could wipe everything out,” says Robock.
No monsoons, no water for the fields. And without fields, prepare to say goodbye to food. An unpredictable disaster If a volcano erupts, the effects are immediate and brutal. About 800 million people live within 100 km of an active volcano: a large eruption could level entire cities.
Think about Phlegraean Fields, near Naples, that are showing signs of life: 1 million people live there. A bang and poof, goodbye city. In the long term, the climate goes crazy: a drop of 1°C seems little, but it is an average. "In some areas it will be a much worse disaster”, warns May Chim, a scientist at the University of Cambridge.
Where and when? A lottery
There are many hot spots: theIndonesia, which is full of volcanoes ready to explode, or Yellowstone, USA, which hasn't erupted for millennia but could wake up. "What's next and when? Impossible to say”, admits Stoffel. We can’t stop an eruption, but we can at least prepare. Serious planning is needed: catastrophic scenarios, stress tests, evacuations, food supplies, and relief efforts. But for now, the world is watching, idle, while the countdown to the next bang has already begun. Get ready, because when it comes, it will be hell.
The article is very interesting but a bit confusing. It talks about volcanoes and their effect on the climate, but it does not clearly state what one should do to prepare. It would be useful to have more information on how to deal with a possible eruption.
It's strange to think about how volcanoes can have such a huge impact on the climate and people's lives. Many people don't realize this, and the article highlights the need to prepare for catastrophic events that could change everything.