Wednesday, November 24, 2010

What can a really big Volcanic eruption do?

If you have been paying attention to the news in the past few years, you have probably noticed that there are more and more volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, and other earth related events being reported.

But these things are not just ‘current happenings’.  Such things, as you know, have happened repeatedly in the past -- at Pompeii and many other places.

You likely have also heard of the famous 1883 eruption of the Krakatoa volcano in Indonesia.

My mother and grandmother mentioned it frequently.

Mother, of course, was not alive at the time, but Grandmother was and both referred frequently to the event.

Why? Because, It was a very big and important event.

Big? Important? Indonesia is far far away and on the other side of the world. 

So, why would a volcanic eruption that far away be of interest to folks in North America?

Well, for many reasons including, of course, the deaths and destruction that occurred locally in Indonesia, but also because big eruptions such as Krakatoa cause weather changes that affect the entire planet.

Mother and Grandmother said that the weather in America and around the world was significantly different (cooler, etc) for several years after the eruption.

I have, therefore, always had an interest in Krakatoa, and recently a friend sent an email mentioning that eruption and several others. 

That jogged my interest so I surfed out to Wikipedia to read about the 1883 eruption of Krakatoa and discovered many interesting things concerning what what a reallllly big volcanic eruption can do.

Mt. St. Helens, which erupted in 1980 in Washington State, was considered to be a big event but it did not hold a candle to the Krakatoa eruption.

Finding the article in Wikipedia very interesting, I thought you would like to read it also. HERE’S THE LINK.