Global warming versus Volcanoes

[Guest]

Anyone who saw the recent BBC programme about the re-emergence of Krakatoa (Anak Krakatoa) in Indonesia must wonder if we should be worrying about global warming. I got the impression that we might have a re-run of the 1883 Krakatoa events later this century & then we will all be freezing to death & starving.

[HistoricalDavid]

Climate change and volcanoes are completely unrelated.

The biggest volcanic explosions spewed out far more material than we could ever hope to even if we consciously tried, even with nuclear weapons.

[gunnut]

Anyone who saw the recent BBC programme about the re-emergence of Krakatoa (Anak Krakatoa) in Indonesia must wonder if we should be worrying about global warming. I got the impression that we might have a re-run of the 1883 Krakatoa events later this century & then we will all be freezing to death & starving.

That's what global warming is for. See, we warm up the earth in anticipation of a global freezing. They balance each other out and we stay cozy. In fact, the threat of another Krakatoa is so great that I urge us to put more greenhouse gas in the atmosphere to prepare for the next ice age.

Either that or let's go find manbearpig.

[dalem]

On one of the global warming threads here I have made some quick comments about vulcanism:

It is generally accepted that Krakatoa ejected approximately 20 cubic KILOMETERS of ash into the atmospheric column.

The explosion of the island of Tambora in 1815 ejected approximately 150 km^3 of ash into the atmosphere.

The climatalogical effects of both events were pronounced but short-lived. more importantly they were eminently survivable.

From what I was able to dig up from some quick Google searches, I saw claims of a 10,000 megaton exchange introducing approximately 27 km^3 of debris into the atmosphere.

Still no picnic, but climatologically it's still a horsefly on a stallion's butt.

So don't make wild claims like "a 1000 megaton on the Gobi Desert, it will spew out so much dust that it could cause cooling for a couple years." because you're just plain wrong and it sounds silly.

And you do know that the Coriolis Effect you're so keen on is caused by orbital rotation of a solid body surrounded by a fluid layer, right? And not "temperature"?

Nature is far more dangerous than Mankind could ever hope to be. Remember that the next time an Indonesian Island spews itself into the Troposphere. You will watch the pictures on the news and wail "O, but for a simple war!" when that happens.

Now, single events like this are nothing when compared to "supervolcanoes" like Yellowstone or Toba, and these periodic hammerblows are, in their turn, nothing when compared to serious long-term vulcanism, such as that evidenced in the upper NW of the North American continent or the Deccan Flats in India.

-dale