Text 8179, 79 rader
Skriven 2007-12-15 01:24:18 av Ward Dossche (2:292/854)
     Kommentar till en text av Carol Shenkenberger
Ärende: Re: Global warming
==========================
CS>BA> outside of those specific localities.  The only volcanic eruption I'm
CS>BA> aware of that did  have an effect outside of its area was Krakatoa in
CS>BA> the 1880s, debris from that eruption colored sunrises and sunsets
CS>BA> around the world for some time after the event - but had no reported
CS>BA> effect on weather.
 
CS> Sorry but you'll have to backtrack on that one.  Caused the 'year without
CS> a
CS> summer' across much of europe and mass stavation in many places as crops
CS> didnt grow.  Ward can tell you about it as he was working it into a book.
 
That wasn't the Krakatoa, Carol.
 
The "year without a summer" occured in 1816 as the result of the April 5-20
1815 eruption of the Tambora volcano on the island of Sumbawa in present day
Indonesia.
 
Many books have been written about it and it must have been a terrific ordeal
for people with crops failing, hundreds of thousands dying from hunger in most
of Northern-Europe as well as mainly the eastern part of Canada and the US. The
rice-harvest in China failed resulting in famine, brown and red snow was
observed falling in the summer of 1816.
 
In much of 1815 the skies were partly obscured by volcanic ash in the higher
athmospheres and that caused a lot of rainfal.
 
So it came to be that on June 17 1815 there was very heavy rain on the plains
southwest of Brussels. Napoleon had moved north to try to attack and destroy
the forces of Wellington and Blucher. After having been victorious in the
Battle of Quattre-Bras and Ligny the previous days by virtue of his superior
artillery military strategists believe he should have won the battle which took
place on June 18th 1815 and which changed the face of the world: Waterloo.
 
Because of the heavy rainfall the big guns were not positioned well and the
canonballs risked remaining stuck in the mud instead of ricochetting through
the enemy troops. So Napoleon who was the one needing to start the engagement
waited until the fields were drier.
 
This allowed the armies of Wellington and Blucher to get closer to eachother
and to eventually link-up thereby creating superior numbers.
 
Without rain Napoleon would have started the battle immediately after sun-up
and most likely wiped-out inferior Wellington where-after Blucher would not
have been an obstacle anymore.
 
But it rained ... as the result of a volcanic explosion clear on the other side
of the globe. Napoleon lost the battle and history progressed as we know it
now.
 
Without the volcanic explosion of Tambora April 5-20 1815 Napoleon most likely
would have won and that would have changed the world's history dramatically ...
Britain would not have become the premier sea-faring nation of the world, the
USA would have risen to world-prominence a lot sooner, the Dutch would have
lost most of their colonies and French would have been the leading language of
Europe and probably the world.
 
Krakatoa of 1883 was the loudest bang in recorded history on earth. It had a
VEI (Volcanic Explosivity Index) of 6 (out of a maximum 9). 1980's Mount
St.Hellens was 5. The largest explosion with a VEI of 8 was Toba about 75,000
years ago.
 
As a reference, the atomic blast of Hiroshima was a 4.
 
Ever since the 1920's a new volcano has been forming near previous Krakatoa and
is called Anak Rakata (Son of Krakatoa). It will build-up and explode again in
about 115 years. We know that much. We also know that Mount St.Hellens for
example _will_ explode gain as there are historic traces of 84 eruptions in the
past.
 
Same for Mount Rainier near Seattle and Mount Hood near Portland OR. We know
for a fact that one day they will explode again, we just don't know when
exactly.
 
'nuff?
 
 \%/@rd

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 * Origin: Many Glacier -o=O=o- Preserve - Protect - Conserve (2:292/854)