Do you think the volcanic cloud will affect America in the next few days?

[kentuck]

I just saw the map of the cloud and it appears to be deep into Russia? How long before it is in Canada or US? It is already beginning to create chaos with air travel in Europe. It seems like there was a lot of earthquake activity before the volcano exploded? Are they somehow connected to the plates underground? Nature is an awesome force.

[elleng]

1. kentuck, I think the effect on America, short-term at least,

will be as a consequence of the chaos caused due disruption in so many plans. Physical effect? later, imo

[Yeahyeah]

2. Cool,wet summer?

[kentuck]

7. There is a lot of info I have not yet seen.

Does it travel by the jetstream? Is that why they are bringing back the shuttle mission in the next day or two? It's a weather phenomena, created by this volcano, that we have yet to see.

[Yeahyeah]

13. Seems huge whatever it is.Hope it just counterbalances global warming.

Woke up this morning about 4 ,radio was on next to bed on a college radio talk show and a caller was telling the host that they were evacuating ALL of Iceland because they think it's about to blow that big.Scared the hell out of me,I was about to jump out of bed and check the volcano news on the computer but the host of the show said he hadn't heard about it and he checked his computer and said they were just evacuating around the immediate area of the volcano.Bastard caller scared the hell out of me,imagination was going wild.

[Mojorabbit]

53. I am wondering too

We get the dust from Africa so in theory it seems we could get some ash in the atmosphere here if the wind is right but I am only guessing. I did a half ass search last night with no results.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

37. We had that last summer...hell we had snow showers on July 4th here...rained all summer too

upstate NY

[Rage Inc.]

51. Blame Canada!

And then, "in defense of hot summer days," invade and seize their oil!

[ElsewheresDaughter]

54. Screw the oil....we're going green. Seize their cumcumber crops!!!

[pitohui]

3. it matters not what i think

it only matters what is

i would check a weather or news source for the answer to your question not "ask DU"

[kentuck]

5. Uh,,,OK...

??

[pitohui]

8. kentuck if you don't know how silly yr question is, i guess we can't explain it to you

just take it on trust, it's pretty silly

ooga booga maybe there's a little devil in the core of the earth blowing out smoke and all the volcanoes will be set off all at once, then we'll really be partying like it's 1999!

[kentuck]

10. If you say so...

I thought it was interesting. :-)

[14thColony]

45. It is an interesting question

and I'm glad you posed it. Ignore the soul-sucking jackasses that try to undermine everyone.

[FredStembottom]

12. Sorry your beautiful mind was stained by kentuck's questions.

This is the rudest thing I have ever read at DU! :argh:

[Cartoonist]

14. Who's silly?

It's a good question. Volcanic ash can be worse than radioactive fallout. Weather will definitely be impacted. Too bad some people haven't the intelligence or curiosity to discuss something that may impact us all because this is a "political" board. Oh wait, global warming is talked about here.

[Cleobulus]

20. OK, who the fuck shit in your Cheerios?

I haven't been here long, but damn near every post of yours is rude, condescending, and in some cases even just plain fucked up. I know you are attempting to sound superior or better informed than most of us, but frankly you sound like an insufferable jackass.

[pnwmom]

23. If you don't know how rude your answer was, I guess we can't explain it to you. n/t

[matt819]

32. Does being nasty give you pleasure?

The comment/question is a legitimate one. What is the likelihood of further volcanic activity in Iceland, and what is the likely impact. I read on one site earlier today that this eruption might very well either cause or be a precursor to further volcanic activity. As for the impact of possible tectonic plate activity, that's a legitimate question. The ash is causing glacier melt in Iceland, and the follow-on impacts are real, and questions about them equally legitimate. Granted, we're not looking at human extinction due to this cloud of volcanic ash, but the concerns are real.

And you can joke all you like about the knock-on effects - essentially the economic impact. My business is likely to be affected since we depend on European imports. I know people working on humanitarian projects in Africa that will be affected, at least in the short term, since most people and aid travel via Europe.

So, disagree all you like with someone's ideas. But the personal attacks are just nasty and mean-spirited, and there's no place for it here.

[Mojeoux]

36. when yer mean spirited, you lose respect, dignity

I'm always saying and asking naive things, and God Bless the Sweet wild and gentle hearts of DU.

As a matter of fact, the first thing I thought of when I saw the post was the fact that my daughter can't get back to California from Florida until Monday, because of the ash cloud!
Thank God she's got the mileage to pay for a hotel.


When u lose yer temper u lose the argument...even when yer correct.
Having a temper means you are a passionate human.
Losing that temper means you are not in control.

We need clarity, integrity, and the poise that comes from the confidence of our convictions.

[VOX]

34. Your tone is extremely condescending and disrespectful. AND you type all in lower case to boot!

One of the nicest character traits about Democrats/progressives is their genuine concern about others, and an ability to empathize with another's person's feelings.

None of that's taking place here. Quite the contrary.

[Rex]

38. You are kidding right? He asked if the ash cloud would have some effect on America in the future.

How is that a strange question. Let me go back and read the OP again, I clearly missed something...

[northernlights]

48. my, aren't we special...

In my experience, those who really understand a topic can explain it so a 6 year old can understand.

In other words, if you can't explain it, then maybe *you* are the one who doesn't get it. :eyes:

[elias7]

49. We? I think it's a valid question

And there's plenty of folks here tuned into science and geology from off the beaten trail sources. No need to be rude. Just ignore if you don't like the question.

I, for one, am curious about the first part of his question, as the last time this volcano erupted, it did so for 2 years...

[Orrex]

26. I've said that about your posts dozens of times

Your subject line, at least.


:eyes:

[Occulus]

56. I had to log out to see it. That's the poster to whom I react with

the phonic sounds their username makes.

I think the comics spell it "patooie", but it amounts to the sound one makes when one spits at someone else.

Perfect username for that one. Sums it all up.

[Control-Z]

42. No bio.

I checked because there was a member I used to talk to with a similar screen name - who was kind. I was worried it was you and that your life had taken a bad turn that had caused you to become, well, the way you are now - not nice.

i hope things improve for you in your life and that you are able to lose some of your anger.

[BlooInBloo]

4. Clearly we're all doomed.

[kentuck]

6. Only you will be prepared, Bloo...

:-)

[Yeahyeah]

9. Invest in flashlight stocks.

[kentuck]

11. Or flashlight batteries..?

Anyway, you'll make a killing when the darkness comes. But surely we are all wise enough not to mock Mother Nature?

[Yeahyeah]

16. Freeze-dried food futures?

Somebody unrecomended.They don't want to know?
Personally I'd like to have a clue what to expect.


How about brooms?Does the broom of the modern housewife of the new ice age have adequate fine-ash-clearing capability?

[KT2000]

15. Chernobyl

releases hit the US and hovered around the 49th parallel, as I recall.
In the NW we lived with periodic releases from Mt. St. Helens for some time.
I bet we will get the ash but not in quantities that are worse than a dusting of ash on cars etc.

[KG]

17. i've already duct-taped the tinfoil to my roof.

:P

[depakid]

18. If you need anything from Europe that has to go by airfreight

You're already affected.

[tekisui]

19. Southern California will see some brilliant sunsets.

Southern California viewers will likely get to see these fantastic twilight colors in the coming weeks.


http://www.examiner.com/x-33051-LA-Weather-Examiner~y2010m4d17-Iceland-volcano-sparks-internal-thunderstorms-gas-to-create-stunning-twilight-colors-worldwide

[onestepforward]

39. Here is a sunset picture over Edinburgh last night:

More pictures here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/gallery/2010/apr/16/natural-disasters-iceland

[w8liftinglady]

21. I asked the same question-don't feel bad

I am just worried about my mom's breathing,etc.I'll let you know if I find anything interesting...

[bikebloke]

22. When Mount Saint Helen's exploded

On the east coast, we had extra dust on our cars. Depending how long the spume continues, that will determine weather effects. Krakatoa, west of Java (unless you're talking about the movie - then it's east of Java) caused a year without a summer.

We just hear about more earthquakes and volcanoes because the world is so connected. Plus, with population growth, there are more people will who will likely be affected somewhere.

Right now, the big mess is economic due to air commerce being grounded.


kentuck, what you need to worry about is the big spider crawling down the wall towards your head... :P

[pnwmom]

24. The Mt. Saint Helen's explosion was linked to earthquake activity in the area.

And since then, whenever we have an increase in earthquake activity, there is an awareness that Mt. St. Helen's may be about to blow again.

[kentuck]

25. You are psychic!

How did you know that?! I just slapped a spider silly that was crawling down my arm. That is impressive! :-)

[Demeter]

27. Nature's Response to Global Warming

[Contrary1]

28. kentuck, I was searching around to find what we might expect here due to the volcano, and found this...

Interesting read. BTW, I didn't find your question silly at all.

New Jersey's ‘Year Without a Summer'

"The huge cloud of ash that is drifting across half of Europe after being thrown into the sky by an Icelandic volcano and causing the greatest disruption of airline service since the terror attacks of Sept. 11 is quite amazing but the same phenomenon caused the world – and New Jersey – greater problems nearly 200 years ago.

The year was 1816 or the "Year Without a Summer."

The previous year, the eruption of the 13,000-foot Mount Tambora volcano in Indonesia hurled an estimated 37 to 100 cubic miles of fine dust, cinders and ashes more than 15 miles into the atmosphere. The blast was heard 970 miles away and is estimated to have killed up to 10,000 people.

The eruption was, meteorologists believe, the greatest amount of volcanic dust ejected into the atmosphere in 3,000 years. The dust lingered in the stratosphere, partially shielding Earth from the sun's rays and enabled heat to escape from the planet, lowering the temperature..."


http://www.newjerseynewsroom.com/science-updates/it-was-a-volcanic-eruption-that-caused-new-jerseys-year-without-a-summer-in-1816

[kentuck]

30. Thanks. That was interesting.

I had not read that.

[Rex]

40. Just heard on the news that the volcano is actually getting more active.

[tavalon]

41. I've been wondering what short term and long term effects on global warming this will have

Not a stupid question at all. Very interesting, in fact.

[eShirl]

33. a.k.a. "Eighteen Hundred and Froze-To-Death."

[starroute]

52. And then it led to the invention of the bicycle (not kidding)

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg18524841.900-brimstone-and-bicycles.html

ON 5 April 1815, Mount Tambora in Indonesia began to grumble. A week later the volcano blew its top in a spectacular eruption that went on until July. It was the biggest eruption in recorded history, killing around 92,000 people and ejecting so much ash into the atmosphere that average global temperatures dipped by 3 °C. In the northern hemisphere 1816 became known as the year without a summer. New England had blizzards in July and crops failed. Europe was hit just as badly.

On holiday by Lake Geneva the 18-year-old Mary Shelley and her husband Percy were trapped in Lord Byron's house by constant rain. To divert his guests Byron suggested a competition to write a ghost story. The result was Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Across the border in the German state of Baden the soaring price of oats prompted the 32-year-old Karl Drais to invent a replacement for the horse - the first bicycle.

ON THURSDAY 12 June 1817, Karl Drais set out to demonstrate his new velocipede, the direct ancestor of the modern bicycle. He left his house in the centre of Mannheim and headed out along Baden's best road towards Schwetzingen. After 7.5 kilometres, he turned and headed home. The round trip took little more than an hour.

A month later he performed an even more impressive feat. To publicise his new invention he announced that he would ride the 51 kilometres from Karlsruhe to Kehl in just four hours. He set off at noon. "The local police commander confirmed that he arrived at 16.00," says Hans-Erhard Lessing, a historian at the University of Ulm who has pieced together Drais's story.

[nealmhughes]

29. It is just now crossing the Urals and entering Asia. We have a good week to wait.

People do realize that the southern hemisphere is not effected yet, don't they? I wonder why they keep on saying "global" when one could fly from Lima to Melbourne right now and not even know there was grit in the air?

[Orrex]

31. It's a warning that you'd better start liking The Sugarcubes

Or Bjork is going to kick your ash!

[tekisui]

35. Here is a good article on the ash cloud's forecast.

The jet stream is the mover:

http://www.accuweather.com/blogs/news/story/28933/jet-stream-sending-ash-plume-o.asp

[Mudoria]

43. Here is another article about the subject

It's from March 23rd but I would guess the scenario remains the same. Two things caught my eye:

"A general expectation is that because of the Eyjafjallajokull eruption, the fissure would widen and in that sense, there's a greater risk of extending into or underneath the glaciers and prompting an eruption at Katla," said Andy Russell with Newcastle University's Earth Surface Processes Research Group, who went with a team to Iceland before the eruption. "From records, we know that every time Eyjafjallajokull erupts, Katla has also erupted."

The last time there was an eruption near the 100-square-mile (160 square-kilometer) Eyjafjallajokull glacier was in 1821, and that was a "lazy" eruption that lasted slowly and continuously for two years.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35988484/

[old mark]

44. Prevailing winds across Europe are west to east - it has to cross Europe, Asia

and the Pacific ocean before it impacts on the US, and it would hit Alaska first, and I am sure Sarah Palin would return home to save the state.
I don't see any big problem with it when it finally stops.

mark

[14thColony]

46. As for the part about connection to tectonic plates

If it's Iceland, then the answer is often 'yes' since what we call Iceland is just the largest part of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge that's managed to grow above sea level. The Azores are another above-water part. The Mid-Atlantic Ridge divides two massive tectonic plates, and is the point from which the Atlantic seafloor is expanding east and west, pushing Eurasia and North America apart.

But at the same time I seem to recall that Iceland may owe its particularly rapid growth (the island's not that old) to coincidentally also being on top of a deep-mantle magma plume, the same kind thought to be the engine behind the Yellowstone super-volcano. So in this case, tectonic activity vs. mantle plume...I suppose it could be either or both or one might compliment the other. I would think the chemical composition of the magma might tell them. IIRC deep-mantle magma is chemically different from stuff originating in the upper mantle.

[northernlights]

47. the cloud is spreading very slowly due to current weather patterns

by the time it reaches the US it likely will have spread out considerably and its effect be diminished. Also sooner or later some good rainfalls will start bringing the ash down.

Earthquake and volcanic activity alike are a result of tectonic plates underground.

This volcano's activity is expected to continue off and on for a couple years, based on it's track record.

Furthermore, scientists are watching its connected neighboring volcano, Katla, which is about 5 times its size. Katla is starting to respond to the ongoing earthquakes that started the eruptions. It's probably just a matter of time before Katla also erupts. In that event, we can expect a couple years of temporary global cooling, as the amount of ash in the air will reach a point where it prevents as much sunlight from getting through. However, once the ash is settled and the sunlight gets through more fully again, we can expect warming to go right back up to where it is or even higher, since a few years of cooling will mean a few years of more extensive heating oil burning.

No way off this merry go round except to stop burning fossil fuels and plant a lot of trees...now. Even at that, it may already be too late. :shrug:

[elias7]

50. It might. Last time this volcano erupted, it was for 2 years.

that was 200 yrs ago. I think this could be a big problem...

[Zoeisright]

55. Well, radiation from Chernobyl affected America.

It came down in rain - wasn't a huge deal, but apparently made some worms radioactive. The world isn't as big as we think it is.