Iceland Strato-Volcano looks set to blow. Last year's "tiny" by comparison!

For those of you who don't know what a strato-volcano is, here is info on it from Wikipedia

A stratovolcano, also known as a composite volcano,[1] is a tall, conical volcano built up by many layers (strata) of hardened lava, tephra, pumice, and volcanic ash. Unlike shield volcanoes, stratovolcanoes are characterized by a steep profile and periodic, explosive eruptions. The lava that flows from stratovolcanoes typically cools and hardens before spreading far due to high viscosity. The magma forming this lava is often felsic, having high-to-intermediate levels of silica (as in rhyolite, dacite, or andesite), with lesser amounts of less-viscous mafic magma. Extensive felsic lava flows are uncommon, but have travelled as far as 15 km (9.3 mi).[2]

And here are the hazards of a strato-volcano also from Wikipedia.

In recorded history, explosive eruptions at subduction zone (convergent-boundary) volcanoes have posed the greatest hazard to civilizations.[3] Subduction-zone stratovolcanoes, like Mount St. Helens and Mount Pinatubo, typically erupt with explosive force: the magma is too stiff to allow easy escape of volcanic gases. As a consequence the tremendous internal pressures of the trapped volcanic gases remain in the pasty magma. Following the breaching of the magma chamber, the magma degasses explosively. Such an explosive process can be likened to shaking a bottle of carbonated water vigorously, and then quickly removing the cap. The shaking action nucleates the dissolution of CO2 from the liquid as bubbles, increasing the internal volume. The gases and water gush out with speed and force.[3]

And lastly, here are the effects on climate when one of these things blows...

As per the above examples, while the Unzen eruptions have caused deaths and considerable local damage in the historic past, the impact of the June 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo was global. Slightly cooler-than-usual temperatures were recorded worldwide and brilliant sunsets and sunrises were attributed to the particulates this eruption lofted high into the stratosphere. The aerosol that formed from the sulfur dioxide (SO2) and other gasses dispersed around the world. The SO2 mass in this cloud—about 22 million tons—combined with water (both of volcanic and stratospheric origin) formed droplets of sulfuric acid, blocking a portion of the sunlight from reaching the troposphere and ground. The cooling in some regions is thought to have been as much as 0.5 °C.[3] An eruption the size of Mount Pinatubo tends to affect the weather for a few years; the material injected into the stratosphere gradually drops into the troposphere where it is washed away by rain and cloud precipitation.

This sucker could be nasty!

And now a volcano has gone off in Southern England

boom!

people are getting kinda jumpy!

Seriously though, it seems that more and more media outlets are picking up on this, and the Scandinavian press is starting to worry about the immediate impact on tourism

link

This is certainly one to keep an eye on

Originally posted by casinoed
And now a volcano has gone off in Southern England

boom!

people are getting kinda jumpy!

They say in the article that it was a faulty electrical box underground that caused the explosion. Still would have scared the ghost out of me

Originally posted by casinoed
Seriously though, it seems that more and more media outlets are picking up on this, and the Scandinavian press is starting to worry about the immediate impact on tourism

link

This is certainly one to keep an eye on

as I recall, the eruption of Mt. Unspellable last year severely disrupted air travel between N America and Europe.
no reason this would'nt do the same.
we have no volcanoes where I live. just hurricanes. we need to figure a way to have a hurricane path over an active volcano. wouldn't that be a sight!

If this one is so much larger than mount unspellable, it could actually cause us one of those years without a summer!

I am still trying to find a webcam of this one, I wanna watch it go boom!

reply to post by YourPopRock


I read in the Volcano Thread i think, that there is not yet a webcam for this volcano. But like somebody said..."im sure there will be one once it blows"

reply to post by YourPopRock


Björk is my favorite singer!!! By the way, I live in Iceland, they talked briefly about some activity the other day, but nothing in the news so far today about it. Check mbl.is I´think the other news places are hyping this...not sure though. It will go sometime, but when?? Icelanders aren't too worried.

reply to post by rubyeyes


I hope it isn't that big if it does go.

The only concern that I have is that it is the volcano that had the biggest lava output in the last 10,000 years! When they are talking about the eruption dwarfing last years, that is a little freaky.

I have always wanted to visit iceland, but I don't know anyone there. Still seems like an awesome country to me!