3 ms·
To put this in context, the Krakatoa eruption released energy roughly equivalent to a 200 megaton bomb, which is roughly four times larger than the "Tsar Bomba"
by beloch 12y ago
To put this in context, the Krakatoa eruption released energy roughly equivalent to a 200 megaton bomb, which is roughly four times larger than the "Tsar Bomba", an H-Bomb which is the largest nuclear weapon detonated to date. The globe's average temperature fell 1.2 C after the eruption due to SO2 increasing the Earth's albedo. The Volcanic Explosivity Index (VEI) of the Krakatoa eruption was 6, and it's estimated to be a roughly once in a century eruption.
When you think about it, we're living on a extremely thin crust that's formed on the surface of a molten, roiling ball of rock and metal. People are strangely obsessed with the threat of asteroid impacts when what's beneath our feet presents a perhaps even greater danger, one which we know next to nothing about!
- Balgair 12y agoMy wife is a geo-chemist. She says that plastic is a better term to get an idea on the mantel. Yeah, it is a liquid, but the pressures and temperatures are just so crazy to us that calling it 'roiling' is a little bit of a misnomer. Also, because of these pressures and temperatures, it's hard to ever know anything about the interior of the planet. Turns out, dense things that are very deep and hot are very hard to study.
- pavel_lishin 12y ago> People are strangely obsessed with the threat of asteroid impacts when what's beneath our feet presents a perhaps even greater danger, one which we know next to nothing about! I'd wager we're much closer, technologically, to do something about asteroids, though. Not quite so much about eruptions.
- D-Coder 12y agoEruptions are limited in size by the (lack of) strength and weight of the material keeping it suppressed. Asteroids have no size limit. Disclaimer: I am a software engineer, not any kind of geologist.