Earth has ‘no plan’ for large volcanic eruption it may face this century, specialists warn
Scientists believe that the world isn’t ready apocalyptic volcanic eruption in the next 100 years, which is thought to be made worse by society’s reliance on fossil fuels
The world is woefully unprepared for an apocalyptic volcanic eruption this century, with scientists warning that “humanity has no plan to address it.”
One climate professor, Dr. Markus Stoffel, believes it could lead to “climate chaos” akin to the deadly eruption of Indonesia’s Mount Tambora back in 1815. The incident spewed 24 cubic miles of gases, dust and rock into the atmosphere, causing temperatures to dangerously drop.
As a result, thousands of people died, crops failed to thrive and disease spread like wildfire. However, if something like that was to happen again, experts think it would be even worse – given’s society’s unhealthy reliance on fossil fuels.
Dr Michael Rampino, a geological scientist, said: “The effects could be even worse than in 1815. The world is more unstable now.” Research from volcano experts suggest that a warmer atmosphere would spread sulfur dioxide gas and sulfate aerosols faster, making the cooling effect worse.
Another expert, Cambridge atmospheric scientist Dr Anja Schmidt, said: “There is a sweet spot in terms of the size of these tiny and shiny particles.” She added that there is a “just right” size range that makes them perfect at scattering back sunlight.
When it comes to older volcanoes, there are troubling uncertainties. Dr Stoffel said that scientists are “just at the beginning of getting an idea of what could happen.” This is because of poor data, making it harder to reconstruct a model of their impact.
Instead, experts have put together atmospheric data frozen in time within ice cores and embedded in old tree rings. These measurements suggest that several volcanic eruptions in the past several thousand years temporarily cooled the planet by about 1 to 1.5 degrees Celsius, the Daily Mail reported.
For instance, another destructive eruption in Indonesia back in 1257, the huge Samalas event, is thought to have triggered a ‘Little Ice Age,’ hundreds of years long. More recently, the 1991 explosion of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines has cooled Earth down for a few years by 0.5 degrees, based on data recording how much sulfur dioxide was released.
For the latest breaking news and stories from across the globe from the Daily Star, sign up for our newsletters.
