Hodge Podge Blog
Today’s blog is a mixture of weather related news in the world.
We’ll begin with the latest news and weather story coming out of Bardarbunga, Iceland.
About ten days ago the seismic tremors of an earthquake began to roll across the Bardarbunga volcano in Iceland. Since that time, the strength and frequency of those tremors has increased prompting scientists at the Icelandic Meteorological Office to issue warnings on Saturday of an imminent eruption.
On Tuesday morning (August 26th), an earthquake measuring 5.7 on the Richter scale raised fears that the volcano could blow at any moment. With the volcano sitting deep beneath the Vatnajokull Glacier, an eruption could be even more devastating than if it sat atop the glacier according to Icelandic volcanologist, Melissa Pfeffer.
“The thicker the ice, the more water there is the more explosive it will be and the more ash-rich the eruption will be.” claims Pfeffer.
The greatest danger an eruption there poses is the amount of volcanic ash thrown into the air from the explosion. The volcano sits in a major flight path from the U. K. and North America and a large explosion could be devastating to air traffic.
In 2010, a volcano erupted in Iceland that sent so much ash into the atmosphere that thousands of flights were disrupted and nearly ten million travelers were stranded around the world.
The threat that ash poses to airplanes is not in the visibility according to time.com, but the chemicals contained in the ash that wreak havoc on the plane’s sensitive engines. In addition to the chemicals, the ash clogs the ventilation ports which causes the engines to stop running.
Pilots are encouraged to avoid these massive clouds of ash.
You may recall the passenger jet flying over Alaska a few years ago that flew through the ash of a volcanic explosion there. The plane’s engines stalled and it fell 10,000 feet before the pilot was able to restart the engines. Horrifying to be sure.
Someone asked me once if I was afraid of flying to which I replied, “No, I am not afraid of flying…it’s crashing that scares me.”
Even though they say statistically, flying is safer than driving, I say perhaps…but no one has ever fallen 30,000 feet out of a Buick. I prefer ground travel.
As of today however, the threat of an imminent volcanic explosion in Iceland has been reduced to let’s wait & see what happens but with over a thousand tremors rippling under the ice in just the past week, they are not out of the woods yet.
From the cold of Iceland to the searing heat of Mexico, let’s see what’s happening there in the desert.
Now let’s go to Mexico.
In Northwest Mexico, scientists are trying to discover the source of a half-mile long crack that suddenly appeared in the parched desert soil along highway 36 north. Measuring sixteen feet across in some spots, the wedge is a concern for local residents and an enigma to scientists.
Some believe it might have been caused by an earthquake along the San Andreas Fault Line but authorities are discounting that theory saying it is unlikely because an earthquake usually raises one side or the other of a split in the earth and this is level on both sides.
One early theory is that at one time an underground stream flowed through that area that eventually dried up due to the devastating drought leaving a shallow underground tunnel that finally collapsed.
One scientist on scene was heard to have remarked, “That’s one theory, but then again, we may never know what actually caused it.”
Well, that’s the news from around the world for today. Look for a tasty Tyent recipe tomorrow.
Have a great day and night!
Volcano/Mexico Info
Image Credit
123rf.com
