[QUOTE]The Italian name for the volcano — Campi Flegrei, or “burning fields” — is apt. Its caldera, the collapsed top of the ancient volcano that formed when the magma within erupted, is almost 8 miles wide. Though half of the caldera is obscured beneath the crystal blue waters of the Mediterranean, the other half is on land studded with cinder cones and craters from smaller eruptions. The whole area seethes with hydrothermal activity: Sulfuric acid spews from active fumaroles; geysers spout water and steam; the ground froths with boiling mud; and earthquake swarms shudder through the region, 125 miles south of Rome.
And things seem to be heating up. Writing in the journal Nature Communications on Tuesday, scientists report that the caldera is nearing a critical point at which decreased pressure on rising magma triggers a runaway release of gas and fluid, potentially leading to an eruption.
Forecasting volcanic eruptions is a famously dicey endeavor, and right now, it's impossible to say if and when Campi Flegrei might erupt, according to lead author Giovanni Chiodini, a volcanologist at the National Institute of Geophysics in Rome. But now more than ever, the caldera demands attention: An eruption would be devastating to the 500,000 people living in and around it.[/QUOTE]
[url]https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2016/12/21/a-supervolcano-caused-the-largest-eruption-in-european-history-now-its-stirring-again/?utm_term=.21664824f272[/url]
This is just great for the climate, considering the year after Supervolcano Tambora erupted in 1815 it was literally called "The year without a summer."
I do wonder how an eruption would effect our climate and the world beyond the 500,000 people living in and around the caldera. It probably wont be as severe as Tambora, as Tamboras last eruption was a good bit (30%) bigger in ejected materials than Flegreis last eruption.
[QUOTE=Toro;51583065]This is just great for the climate, considering the year after Supervolcano Tambora erupted in 1815 it was literally called "The year without a summer."
I do wonder how an eruption would effect our climate and the world beyond the 500,000 people living in and around the caldera. It probably wont be as severe as Tambora, as Tamboras last eruption was a good bit (30%) bigger in ejected materials than Flegreis last eruption.[/QUOTE]
It can be easily guessed that mass famine world wide would occur. The social and political ramifications of that afterward will be inconceivably bad.
Considering the size of Campi Flegrei, can't imagine there'll be much left of Naples (or indeed much of the neighbouring area) if that entire thing erupts. Used to live fairly close to Solfatara as a child, and that on it's own is a pretty heftily-sized crater.
[QUOTE=Sgt Doom;51583121]Considering the size of Campi Flegrei, can't imagine there'll be much left of Naples (or indeed much of the neighbouring area) if that entire thing erupts. Used to live fairly close to Solfatara as a child, and that on it's own is a pretty heftily-sized crater.[/QUOTE]
The economy of Italy will be severely damaged beyond repair, and in turn will ripple through the rest of Europe.
On the bright side, southern Italy may no longer be a prime destination for illegal immigrants coming from North Africa.
[QUOTE=Emperor Scorpious II;51583129]The economy of Italy will be severely damaged beyond repair, and in turn will ripple through the rest of Europe.
On the bright side, southern Italy may no longer be a prime destination for illegal immigrants coming from North Africa.[/QUOTE]
if we're talking about a brief nuclear winter, shits gonna get really bad for subsistence farmers in africa
2016 has to go out with a literal bang now
You know how we sometimes have bad luck days?
What if we have all just been having a bad luck year and this is the finale, 'cos what a finale that would be.
[QUOTE=_Maverick_;51583205]You know how we sometimes have bad luck days?
What if we have all just been having a bad luck year and this is the finale, 'cos what a finale that would be.[/QUOTE]
You tell me, my university is less than five kilometers away from it.
[editline]26th December 2016[/editline]
I'll be able to live out the true old fashioned Pompei™ experience and become the definitive hipster
Interesting, might think about using erasmus for this :v:
[QUOTE=Annoyed Grunt;51583276]You tell me, my university is less than five kilometers away from it.
[editline]26th December 2016[/editline]
I'll be able to live out the true old fashioned Pompei™ experience and become the definitive hipster[/QUOTE]
I'll be sure to look for your ash fossilised remains next time I go visit family.
Remember to pull a funny pose as the pyroclastic cloud hits you.
So, this is how 2016 is going to end. Super Volcano goes boom, and we enter a mini-iceage considering the sun is starting to enter a solar minimum.
[QUOTE=JoeSkylynx;51583388]So, this is how 2016 is going to end. Super Volcano goes boom, and we enter a mini-iceage considering the sun is starting to enter a solar minimum.[/QUOTE]
or how 2017 is going to start :worried:
[QUOTE=Fox Powers;51583427]or how 2017 is going to start :worried:[/QUOTE]
Optimistic x1
To the geologists here, how feasible would it be to drill into a stable/safe part of the caldera and literally relieve pressure?
[QUOTE=Fox Powers;51583427]or how 2017 is going to start :worried:[/QUOTE]
You mean 2016 S.
For some reason I can hear now those words by northern italiots:
Vesuvio lavali col fuoco.
What would this mean for the US, anyways?
Especially NY
[QUOTE=J!NX;51583704]What would this mean for the US, anyways?
Especially NY[/QUOTE]
In case of massive eruption/explosion, ejection of ash and etc. could cause global dimming, creating drop in temperature and reducing incoming sunlight - which can lead to very severe crop failures, itself leading it to widespread famines.
Mind, it doesn't necessarily go this way, but it is a possibility I suppose. A worst case scenario.
[QUOTE=LoneWolf_Recon;51583550]To the geologists here, how feasible would it be to drill into a stable/safe part of the caldera and literally relieve pressure?[/QUOTE]
I'm sure one of my lecturers the other week in volcanology said they were actually drilling here to see what would happen, I think they bailed on it as they had no idea what would happen. Might be somewhere else tho
[QUOTE=Sasupoika;51583732]In case of massive eruption/explosion, ejection of ash and etc. could cause global dimming, creating drop in temperature and reducing incoming sunlight - which can lead to very severe crop failures, itself leading it to widespread famines.
Mind, it doesn't necessarily go this way, but it is a possibility I suppose. A worst case scenario.[/QUOTE]
Time to stock up on ramen.
[QUOTE=Sasupoika;51583732]In case of massive eruption/explosion, ejection of ash and etc. could cause global dimming, creating drop in temperature and reducing incoming sunlight - which can lead to very severe crop failures, itself leading it to widespread famines.
Mind, it doesn't necessarily go this way, but it is a possibility I suppose. A worst case scenario.[/QUOTE]
at least it'd reverse global warming!
[QUOTE=Judas;51584028]at least it'd reverse global warming![/QUOTE]
It would rapidly cool the entire planet by a few degrees, throwing off harvests and distupting weather patterns worldwide. This cooling could last a few years, but afterward the global average temperature will continue to increase. Considering the devastation that the eruption itself will cause, anyone that would be optimistic about it happening is outright delusional.
The worst part is that it would give climate change deniers the needed fuel to say "See! It was just a phase!" so that they can continue trying to unleash dirty industries for a quick buck. That is, of course, if there are enough people left to warrant industrial expansion, which there very well might not be depending on when in the year an eruption took place.
[QUOTE=LoneWolf_Recon;51583550]To the geologists here, how feasible would it be to drill into a stable/safe part of the caldera and literally relieve pressure?[/QUOTE]
IIRC that can result in a premature eruption that could have never happened to begin with.
[QUOTE=LoneWolf_Recon;51583550]To the geologists here, how feasible would it be to drill into a stable/safe part of the caldera and literally relieve pressure?[/QUOTE]
Probably about as safe as drilling a hole in a pressurized gas cylinder.
Sorry, you need to Log In to post a reply to this thread.