Noor Banihashem Ahmad Outside
Seminar
Earth Science January
2012
Doomsday Volcanoes
I watched a short
film called Doomsday Volcanoes on PBS.
Currently in Iceland, there are four active volcanoes, and they are not located
very far away from one another. The last
eruption was in 2010, and the volcano is called Eyjafjallajökull, or Eyja for
short. This film also talked about three other volcanoes: Katla, Laki, and
Helka. Scientists are concerned that these volcanoes will erupt, and when they
do, the eruptions will be worse than ever recorded. Because these volcanoes are
so close together, it has led scientists to believe that they are connected. Scientists
are now trying to estimate when the volcanoes will explode, and how bad the
eruption will be. Laki is a 17 mile-long volcano, and it had a large eruption
in 1783 that lasted for over eight months. The magma, although deadly, was not
the main cause of the death of 1/5 of the population. This volcano contained
large amounts of sulfur, which produced sulfuric dioxide. When the sulfur
dioxide acted with the water vapor in the air, it produce sulfuric acid. When
this is breathed in, it rips your lungs apart. So many people were killed, and
if this were to happen yet again, the explosion would be even bigger. The acid
could potentially pollute all of Europe and start coming into North America.
The next volcano that was talked about was Hekla. The last time Hekla erupted,
it left much ash behind. If another horrific eruption from Hekla were to happen,
it would create much more ash, and the worse part is, that it could happen at
any time, and without much warning. We would not be prepared for such an
explosion as this. This ash could spread out in the sky, and this is very bad
for the airline industry because planes would not be able to fly. Although
these volcanoes are deadly and horrific, the biggest threat comes from the
volcano that is totally covered by ice, Katia. On average, Katia erupts every
50 years, and the last time it erupted was 100 years ago. This causes some
concern because scientists believe that it is building up to an eruption that would
be very chaotic. Scientists installed a GPS in the volcanoes crater, and they
found that if this volcano were to explode, it could potentially last up to one
year. This eruption would be worse than the eruption in Philippines in 1991.
This
film is very vital for the society as a whole for various reasons. If a volcano
were to erupt right now in Iceland, we would all be in danger. Ash could spread
in the air, and this could potentially put the airline industry out of
business. Ash would be suspended into the air, and it is very hard for pilots,
or anyone to see it that high up in the air. If ash gets caught in the engine,
it would cause terrible fires. There has recently been an invention so that
pilots can see that there is ash 10 or 15 minutes ahead of time. This puts them
in a good position because they are then able to avoid it. The information
presented in the movie was also important because we learned that we were all
in danger. In 1793, Laki exploded, and people were dying because their lungs
were being torn apart by sulfuric acid. If another Laki eruption was to occur,
it could spread throughout our whole hemisphere, and this could be very bad. It
could wipe out a large sum of our population. This film also informed us as a
whole what volcanoes can do, and the matter is not something that one should
joke about. There is a lot of technology these days, so scientists have better
ideas as to when a volcano will explode. Even so, scientists cannot predict
exactly when an eruption will occur because really, it could happen at any
time. It is good to be informed about the disasters and chaos a volcano could
bring about.
I
think that this film was very well presented because of the detail and thought
put into it. I really liked how there were many different scientists involved
in this whole process. They made everything very easy to understand even though
they were addressing a complicated matter. I also really liked seeing all of
the examples that the scientists were able to show us. For example, one
scientist showed how sulfuric acid reacts with human flesh. He got a small
piece of meat and put it in the sulfuric acid. It was very interesting to see
how the meat turned gray and got ripped apart. It was a very good analogy, and
it made things a lot easier to comprehend. I also really liked the fact that
they connected all the volcanoes together, and provided the viewer with
insightful information on each volcano. I feel as though that made it all the
better to watch. I also learned a lot about what happens underneath the
volcanoes, I never knew that the magma was transported from craters. I just
thought it was floating around at the bottom of the volcano waiting to erupt. I
really understood how the magma got carried to the volcano, and it made a lot
more sense after watching the film. Overall, I don’t think these scientists
said anything without supporting it with facts, and overall it was very
compelling to watch. It makes us concerned about what could happen if another
deadly eruption we to occur, and the scariest thing is that we cannot do
anything about it.
