"Ashes, ashes, ALL FALL DOWN..."
Urgent Update! A red alert has been issued for the area near Sakurajima volcano in Japan! Geologists and volcano experts say that large amounts of magma is swelling the flanks of the mountain, causing sudden crustal movements. The Japanese government has issued a volcano alert warning for the region, alerting residents of the nearby city of Kagoshima that they may have to be evacuated should the volcano experience a violent eruption. The city has a population of over 600,000 people. The Level 4 alert is the highest ever issued for the volcano. Over 1200 earthquakes were registered at the volcano on Saturday.
States of Emergency: Two different warnings from two different continents this weekend involving volcanoes: The Cotopaxi volcano near Quito, Ecuador roared to life after resting peacefully for more than 70 years. The government issued a state of emergency for the entire nation due to the dangerous volcano, a normally beautiful snow-capped mountain located near the picturesque capital. The beauty of the snow around the peaks of the volcano is where the danger actually comes from, as the heat from the eruptions can cause all of the snow and ice to melt rapidly, forming dangerous lahars that can flow down the slopes at lightning speed, destroying everything in their path.
In Japan, alerts were issued surrounding the Sakurajima volcano, one of the island's most active. Scientists monitoring the volcano believe a larger eruption is forthcoming. The volcano is a mere 50 km from the recently reactivated Sendai nuclear power facility. All of Japan's nuclear power plants were shut down following the catastrophic 2011 9.0 earthquake and subsequent tsunami that devastated large parts of Japan, sending the nearby Fukushima nuclear plant into a full-on meltdown, the worst nuclear plant accident in world history. Scientists believe the 2011 mega-quake has activated Japan's many volcanoes and the island nation is in for decades of geological turbulence. When Mount Ontake erupted unexpectedly last year, it killed over 60 hikers and sightseers near the top of the peak, Japan's worst volcanic catastrophe in over a century. The region near the Sendai plant is actually a super-volcano caldera system, with several dangerous peaks in close proximity to one another. Coupled with the earthquake/tsunami threat, plus the area is being pummeled by near constant typhoons/super typhoons, it obviously makes the perfect spot for a nuclear facility!
I made this crude graphic to illustrate the dangers (plural):
Urgent Update! A red alert has been issued for the area near Sakurajima volcano in Japan! Geologists and volcano experts say that large amounts of magma is swelling the flanks of the mountain, causing sudden crustal movements. The Japanese government has issued a volcano alert warning for the region, alerting residents of the nearby city of Kagoshima that they may have to be evacuated should the volcano experience a violent eruption. The city has a population of over 600,000 people. The Level 4 alert is the highest ever issued for the volcano. Over 1200 earthquakes were registered at the volcano on Saturday.
States of Emergency: Two different warnings from two different continents this weekend involving volcanoes: The Cotopaxi volcano near Quito, Ecuador roared to life after resting peacefully for more than 70 years. The government issued a state of emergency for the entire nation due to the dangerous volcano, a normally beautiful snow-capped mountain located near the picturesque capital. The beauty of the snow around the peaks of the volcano is where the danger actually comes from, as the heat from the eruptions can cause all of the snow and ice to melt rapidly, forming dangerous lahars that can flow down the slopes at lightning speed, destroying everything in their path.
In Japan, alerts were issued surrounding the Sakurajima volcano, one of the island's most active. Scientists monitoring the volcano believe a larger eruption is forthcoming. The volcano is a mere 50 km from the recently reactivated Sendai nuclear power facility. All of Japan's nuclear power plants were shut down following the catastrophic 2011 9.0 earthquake and subsequent tsunami that devastated large parts of Japan, sending the nearby Fukushima nuclear plant into a full-on meltdown, the worst nuclear plant accident in world history. Scientists believe the 2011 mega-quake has activated Japan's many volcanoes and the island nation is in for decades of geological turbulence. When Mount Ontake erupted unexpectedly last year, it killed over 60 hikers and sightseers near the top of the peak, Japan's worst volcanic catastrophe in over a century. The region near the Sendai plant is actually a super-volcano caldera system, with several dangerous peaks in close proximity to one another. Coupled with the earthquake/tsunami threat, plus the area is being pummeled by near constant typhoons/super typhoons, it obviously makes the perfect spot for a nuclear facility!
I made this crude graphic to illustrate the dangers (plural):
Volcanic Winter: The current map of volcanic activity being reported globally should give EVERYONE sincere pause for thought. [See chart at top of post.] I shouldn't have to point out (or perhaps I do) that these eruptions are belching trillions of tons of carbon monoxide, dioxide and other toxic particulates into the atmosphere. It is A WELL KNOWN FACT that ash from a single volcano can affect global weather. What happens when every volcano on earth decides to erupt at the same time? Don't live near a volcano? Guess what, you don't have to, as these particulates are carried across the globe via trade winds. This, coupled with what meteorologists are calling a Super El Nino year, things will get interesting. The Farmer's Almanac is calling for a bitter cold winter in North America, and that's a no-brainer when looking at this graph. Then again, these things don't affect you, do they? UNTIL THEY DO...