Volcanic winter. Nuclear, volcanic and meteor winter: causes, consequences and a way to survive

The result of a large-scale nuclear war. It is assumed that as a result of the removal of a large amount of smoke and soot into the stratosphere, caused by extensive fires during the explosion of 40% of the nuclear warheads accumulated in the world, the temperature on the planet will drop everywhere to the Arctic as a result of a significant increase in the amount of reflected sunlight. http://dic.academic.ru/dic.nsf/ruwiki/77075

Volcanic winter -

cooling of the planetary climate due to pollution of the atmosphere with ash in the process of a particularly large volcanic eruption, which entails the occurrence of an anti-greenhouse effect. Ashes and sulfuric gases, from which sulfuric acid aerosols are formed, after being released to the level of the stratosphere, spread like a blanket over the entire planet. Because of this, the radiation of the sun is shielded by the atmosphere to a much greater extent than usual, which causes a cooling of the global climate. http://www.proza.ru/2008/12/26/23

http://www.humanextinction.ru/

Meteor winter -

In terms of its consequences, it is almost the same as a volcanic winter. The reason for it may be the fall to Earth of a significant celestial body. Firstly, such a collision may occur next year in the same way as in a million years, and secondly, the consequences will be comparable only to a global nuclear conflict. In particular, this is why, despite the low probability of a collision, the number of victims from the disaster is so high that on a yearly basis it is comparable to the total number of victims of air crashes, murders, etc.

http://mirznanii.com/a/292362/meteoritnaya-opasnost

The impact of the global catastrophe on civilization.
The regional and global impacts of ash and aerosol cloud fallout on climate, agriculture, health and transport will be a major challenge for modern civilization. The main effect on civilization will be the collapse of agriculture as a result of the loss of one or more fruiting seasons. This will be followed by famine, the spread of infectious diseases, the destruction of infrastructure, social and political unrest and conflict. Predictions for such catastrophes suggest a global cooling of 3-5°C over several years and regional cooling down to 15°C. This could devastate the world's largest agricultural regions. For example, the Asian rice crop will be destroyed one night with frost. In temperate grain-growing regions, a 2-3°C drop in local mean temperature will wipe out wheat production, and a 3-4°C drop will halt all cereal production in Canada. Crops in the American Midwest and Ukraine will be severely damaged by falling temperatures.

Severe weather conditions will make it difficult to transport food and other goods globally. Thus, a catastrophe could damage global agriculture, leading to famines and pandemics. Moreover, large volcanic eruptions can lead to long-term climate change through positive feedback effects such as cooling of the surface of the oceans, formation of sea ice, or increases in land ice, prolonging the recovery from the "volcanic winter". The result can be widespread famine, epidemics, social unrest, financial collapse, and severe damage to the foundations of civilization. One way to mitigate the impact would be to build up the world's food stocks. Given the natural vicissitudes of climate change, when grain stocks fall to less than 15% of consumption, local shortages, worldwide price spikes, and occasional famines become more likely. Thus, a minimum global level of available grain stocks of about 15% of global needs should be maintained as insurance against yearly fluctuations in production due to climatic and socio-economic disruptions. And this is without taking into account social and economic factors that can seriously limit the rapid and complete distribution of food supplies.
There is currently a global supply equivalent to 2 months of consumption, which is approximately equivalent to 15% of annual consumption. In the event of a global catastrophe, food stocks should correspond to several years of consumption. Therefore, large stocks of grain and other types of food must be created and maintained, along with the means of rapid global distribution.

Survival way:

All of the above suggests that the consequences of global cataclysms will not last long, a few years at most. To them will be added time for the restoration of crop production, food production and the creation of a forage base, as well as time for the revival of animal husbandry.

But there is one backup source of power to save humanity from the consequences of a global catastrophe - these are the huge reserves of natural gas accumulated by nature, which can not only heat and provide people with electricity, but also feed them. At the same time, you do not need to eat natural gas - it is harmful and pointless, methane is loved by methanotrophic bacteria, the biomass of which can be a balanced and very healthy food. And for the production of methanotrophic protein, natural gas, air, nutrient salts and growth factors are needed - all this will be available. It is only necessary to prepare in advance: to build plants in places where methane is available, placing them evenly throughout the country for optimal logistics for the delivery of finished products. There is another solution: to manufacture a large number of Mobile Methanotrophy Complexes (MCM) and distribute them more massively and discretely throughout the country.

WE SURVIVE!

What consequences for mankind can have a supervolcano eruption.

The Yellowstone Volcano has erupted three times in history. It first happened about 2 million years ago. Then, as a result of the eruption, the mountain ranges disintegrated, and volcanic ash covered a quarter of the territory of North America.

Emissions of magma rose to a height of 50 kilometers. The second eruption happened more than a million years ago, and 640 thousand years have passed since the third. It was much weaker than the first, but as a result of it, the top of the volcano collapsed and the well-known caldera of the Yellowstone volcano was formed.

yellowstone national park
One of the geysers in Yellowstone Park

Given the frequency of previous eruptions, which happened on average once every 600 thousand years, many talk about the possibility that the next one may happen in the near future.

If this actually happens, the consequences can be unpredictable. Depending on the intensity of the eruption, they can be either not very serious or catastrophic, which can lead to the death of thousands of people and the onset of a volcanic winter. The latter can happen if ash and sulfur gases spread across the globe and prevent the sun's rays from reaching the surface of the planet. As a result, humanity will not be able to grow plants on Earth, so there will be little food for the population of the planet.

However, how real the threat is, it is now difficult to say for sure. It is known that during 2018 the activity of geysers, which is directly related to the processes in the magma, increased significantly in the region. For example, the world's highest geyser, Steamboat, erupted 32 times in 2018 and broke its own record. Prior to this, the maximum number of eruptions in one year was 29.

However, in general, the functioning of geysers is influenced by three factors, among which, in addition to the processes in the volcano, also the amount of water that enters them, and the structure of the mountain channels through which it moves.

According to Michael Poland, head of the Yellowstone Volcanic Observatory, there have been no significant geological changes inside the volcano in recent times. However, the previous few years have been unusually snowy, so the reason for the anomalous activity of geysers is most likely an increase in the amount of water flowing to them.

However, it is quite difficult to say with certainty exactly what processes take place inside the volcano. And although many scientists consider the possibility of a volcanic eruption unlikely, NASA scientists have already created a strategy on how to prevent a catastrophe.

How NASA seeks to cope with the volcano

A volcano the size of Yellowstone is a huge heat generator, the power of which can be compared to six industrial power plants. The more the temperature inside the volcano rises, the more gases it produces. As a result, the magma melts intensively, and the area above the magmatic storeroom begins to rise. When the temperature reaches a certain point, an explosion becomes inevitable.

The NASA space agency in 2017 created a strategy that can help humanity avoid a possible catastrophe. It is to cool the volcano before it becomes a real danger. This is planned to be done with water.

yellowstone national park
Yellowstone Volcanic Caldera

However, to implement this in practice is quite difficult and expensive. In addition, according to Brian Wilcox of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, using so much water just to cool a volcano is a rather controversial decision, because there are regions in the world where it is sorely lacking.

The most effective way to solve the problem is to drill two holes on both sides of the volcano and pour water under strong pressure into it. This will gradually reduce the temperature of the magma. It is noteworthy that if you create a hole on top of the magma reservoir, this, on the contrary, can provoke an eruption.

There is also no guarantee that these actions will have a long-term effect. However, NASA scientists hope the plan will encourage other practitioners to look for new ways to prevent the danger.

Other dangerous volcanoes

Yellowstone volcano is not the only one whose eruption could have catastrophic consequences. In total, there are about 20 supervolcanoes on Earth. The eruption of one of them happens on average once every 100 thousand years.

One of them is located in the Long Valley, USA. Its caldera is 32 kilometers long and 17 kilometers wide. Under its surface, it has so much magma that its eruption can be equivalent to the one that happened 767 thousand years ago - then 584 cubic kilometers of matter entered the atmosphere. By comparison, during the 1980 St. Geles eruption, which was one of the largest of the 20th century, this number was only 1.2 kilometers.

tsn.ua

Among the most dangerous supervolcanoes is also Indonesian, located under Lake Toba. It last erupted 74,000 years ago. Then this led to a significant cooling, which lasted as long as 10 years. Areas in Indonesia and India were covered with a layer of ash, and the population of both people and animals was significantly reduced.

Another powerful volcano is also located in New Zealand under Lake Taupo. It first began erupting 300,000 years ago. On account of Taupo, the last volcanic eruption, which happened about 26.5 thousand years ago, threw about 1200 cubic kilometers of pumice and ash into the atmosphere. Since then, there have been 28 smaller eruptions.

There are also supervolcanoes in Japan and Russia. However, the only one that threatens Europe is the Phlegraean Fields. Its caldera is located near Naples. It has an area of about 100 square kilometers. It includes 24 craters and volcanic hills, among which the Solfatara volcano.

Since 2005, scientists have noticed that subsurface pressure in the Phlegraean Fields region has begun to increase. In 2012, they raised the threat level from green to yellow and began to monitor the area more closely. The last time the volcano erupted was in 1538. Then it happened for eight days. As a result of the eruption, the volcanic cone of Monte Nuovo was formed.

Summer is a period of holidays, midday heat, fruit abundance, ice cream and soft drinks. Time for T-shirts, shorts, miniskirts and beach bikinis. Only in the middle of the second decade of the 19th century there was no summer.
Severe winters gave way to snow-covered springs and turned into snow-cold "summer" months. Three years without summer, three years without harvest, three years without hope

Irish families try to escape the flood

It all started in 1812 - two volcanoes “turned on”, La Soufrière (St. Vincent Island, Leeward Islands) and Avu (Sangir Island, Indonesia). The volcanic relay was continued in 1813 by Suwanosejima (Tokara island, Japan) and, in 1814, by Mayon (Luzon island, Philippines).

According to scientists, the activity of four volcanoes reduced the average annual temperature on the planet by 0.5-0.7 ° C and caused serious, albeit local (in the region of their location) damage to the population. However, the ultimate cause of the mini version of the 1816-1818 Ice Age was the Indonesian Tambora.

Volcano Tambora eruption

1815 April 10, 1815 on the island of Sumbawa (Indonesia) Tambora volcano began to erupt - in a few hours the island with an area of 15,448 km2 was completely covered with a layer of volcanic ash one and a half meters thick. At least 100 km3 of ash was ejected into the Earth's atmosphere by the volcano.

The activity of Tambor (7 points out of the maximum 8 according to the volcanic explosive index) led to a decrease in the average annual temperature by another 1-1.5 ° C - the ash rose into the upper layer of the atmosphere and began to reflect the sun's rays, acting like a thick gray curtain on a window on a sunny day .

Modern scientists call the eruption of the Indonesian stratovolcano Tambor the largest in the last 2000 years. However, high volcanic activity is not all. "Oil to the fire" added our star - the Sun. The years of intensive saturation of the Earth's atmosphere with volcanic ash coincided with the period of minimum solar activity (Dalton minimum), which began around 1796 and ended in 1820.

At the beginning of the 19th century, our planet received less solar energy than before or after. The lack of solar heat has reduced the average annual temperature on the Earth's surface by another 1-1.5°C.

Average annual temperatures in 1816-1818 (based on materials from the site cru.uea.ac.uk)

Due to the small amount of thermal energy of the Sun, the waters of the seas and oceans cooled down by about 2°C, which completely changed the usual water cycle in nature and the wind rose on the continents of the Northern Hemisphere. Also, according to the testimonies of English captains, a lot of ice hummocks appeared off the east coast of Greenland, which had never happened before.

The conclusion suggests itself - in 1816 (perhaps even earlier - in the middle of 1815) there was a deviation of the warm ocean current of the Gulf Stream, which warms Europe. Active volcanoes, a weakly active Sun, as well as cooling of ocean and sea waters lowered the temperature of each month, each day in 1816 by 2.5-3oC.

It would seem - nonsense, some three degrees. But in an industrially undeveloped human society, these three "cold" degrees caused a terrifying catastrophe on a global scale.

Flooding in the suburbs

Paris Europe. In 1816 and the two following years, European countries, still reeling from the Napoleonic Wars, became the worst place on Earth - they were hit by cold, famine, epidemics and an acute shortage of fuel. There was no harvest at all for two years. In England, Germany and France, who were feverishly buying grain all over the world (mainly from the Russian Empire), one food riot after another took place.

Crowds of French, Germans and British broke into warehouses with grain and carried out all the supplies. Grain prices soared tenfold. Against the backdrop of constant riots, massive arson and looting, the Swiss authorities have introduced a state of emergency and a curfew in the country. The summer months instead of heat brought hurricanes, endless rains and snowstorms.

The large rivers of Austria and Germany overflowed their banks and flooded large areas. A typhoid epidemic broke out. Over 100,000 people died in Ireland alone in three years without a summer. The desire to survive is the only thing that drove the population of Western Europe in 1816-1818. Tens of thousands of citizens of England, Ireland, Scotland, France and Holland sold their property for next to nothing, threw everything that was not sold and fled across the ocean to the American continent.

A farmer in a field with dead corn in the U.S. state of Vermont, North America.

In March 1816, winter did not end, snow was falling and frosts were standing. In April-May, America was covered with endless rains with hail, and in June-July - frosts. The corn crop in the northern states of the United States was hopelessly lost, and attempts to grow at least some grain in Canada were fruitless. Newspapers vying with each other promised famine, farmers massively slaughtered livestock.

Canadian authorities have voluntarily opened grain warehouses to the public. Thousands of inhabitants of the American northern lands were drawn to the south - for example, the state of Vermont was practically depopulated. China. The provinces of the country, especially Yunnan, Heilongjiang, Anhui and Jiangxi, were affected by a powerful cyclone. Endless rains fell for several weeks in a row, and on summer nights frost fettered the rice fields.

For three years in a row, every summer in China was not summer at all - rains and frosts, snow and hail. In the northern provinces, buffaloes died from hunger and cold. The country, unable to grow rice due to the sudden harsh climate and floods in the Yangtze River valley, was gripped by famine.

Famine in the provinces of the Chinese Qing Empire

India (at the beginning of the 19th century - a colony of Great Britain (East India Company)). The territory of the country, for which monsoons (winds blowing from the ocean) and heavy rains are common in summer, was under the influence of a severe drought - there were no monsoons. For three years in a row, the drought at the end of the summer gave way to many weeks of downpours.

A sharp change in climate contributed to the mutation of cholera vibrio - a severe cholera epidemic began in Bengal, engulfing half of India and quickly moving north. Russia (Russian Empire).

Three devastating and difficult years for the countries of Europe, North America and Asia on the territory of Russia passed surprisingly smoothly - neither the authorities nor the population of the country simply noticed anything. On the contrary, all three years - 1816, 1817 and 1818 - the summer in Russia passed much better than in other years.

Warm, moderately dry weather contributed to good grain harvests, vied with each other purchased by the distressed states of Europe and North America. The cooling of the European seas, along with a possible change in the direction of the Gulf Stream, only improved the climatic conditions in Russia.

Emperor Nicholas I stops the cholera riot in Moscow

Expeditionary troops returned to Russia, having participated in the Asian wars with the Persians and Turks for several years. Together with them came cholera, from which (official data) 197,069 citizens of the Russian Empire died in two years, and a total of 466,457 people fell ill. Three years without a summer and the events that developed during this period have influenced many generations of earthlings, including you, readers of the svagor.com blog. See for yourself.

Dracula and Frankenstein. Holidays on Lake Geneva (Switzerland) in May-June 1816 with friends, among whom were George Gordon, Lord Byron and Mary Shelley, were completely spoiled by gloomy weather and constant rain. Due to bad weather, friends were forced to spend their evenings in the fireplace room of the Villa Diodati, rented for a vacation by Lord Byron.

Film adaptation of Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein"

They amused themselves by reading ghost stories aloud (the book was called Phantasmagorina or Stories of Ghosts, Phantoms, Spirits, etc.). Also discussed were the experiments of the poet Erasmus Darwin, who in the 18th century was rumored to have investigated the effect of a weak electric current on the organs of a dead human body. Byron invited everyone to write a short story on a supernatural topic - there was nothing to do anyway.

It was then that Mary Shelley came up with the idea of a novel about Dr. Frankenstein - she later admitted that she dreamed of the plot after one of the evenings at Villa Diodati. Lord Byron told a short "supernatural" story about Augustus Darvell feeding on the blood of the women he loved. Dr. John Polidori, hired by the Baron to take care of his health, carefully memorized the plot of the vampire story.

Later, when Byron fired Polidori, he wrote a short story about Lord Ruthven called "The Vampire". Polidori deceived English publishers - he said that the vampire story was written by Byron and the lord himself asked him to bring the manuscript to England for publication. The release of the story in 1819 became the subject of a lawsuit between Byron, who denied the authorship of The Vampire, and Polidori, who claimed the opposite. One way or another, it was the winter summer of 1816 that became the cause of all subsequent literary stories about vampires.

John Smith Jr.

Mormons. In 1816, John Smith Jr. was 11 years old. Due to summer frosts and the threat of famine, his family was forced to leave the farm in Vermont in 1817 and settled in the town of Palmyra, located in western New York State. Since this region was extremely popular with all kinds of preachers (mild climate, abundance of flocks and donations), young John Smith completely immersed himself in the study of religion and para-religious rites.

Years later, at the age of 24, Smith published the Book of Mormon, later founding the Mormon religious sect in Illinois. Superphosphate fertilizer. The Darmstadt son of an apothecary, Justus von Liebig, survived three hungry years without a summer when he was 13-16 years old. In his youth, he was interested in firecrackers and actively experimented with "explosive" mercury (mercury fulminate), and since 1831, remembering the harsh years of the "volcanic winter", he engaged in deep research in organic chemistry.

Von Liebig developed superphosphate fertilizers that significantly increased grain yields. By the way, when Indian cholera came to Europe, it happened in the 50s of the XIX century, it was Justus von Liebig who developed the first effective cure for this disease (the name of the drug is Fleischinfusum).

English fleet attacks Chinese warships

Opium Wars. Three years without a summer has hit Chinese traditional rice farmers in the country's southern provinces hard. Threatened by famine, farmers in southern China decided to grow the opium poppy because it was easy to maintain and guaranteed to generate income. Although the emperors of the Qing Dynasty categorically forbade the cultivation of opium poppy, farmers ignored this ban (bribed officials).

By 1820, the number of opium addicts in China had increased from the previous two million to seven million, and the Daoguang Emperor banned the import of opium into China, smuggled in exchange for silver from the colonies of Great Britain and the United States. In response, England, France and the United States launched a war in China, the purpose of which was the unlimited import of opium into the Qing Empire.

Railcar bicycle by Carl von Drez

A bike. Observing the difficult situation with oats for horses that developed in 1816, the German inventor Carl von Dres decided to build a new mode of transport. In 1817, he created the first prototype of modern bicycles and motorcycles - two wheels, a frame with a seat and a T-handle. True, von Drez's bicycle did not have pedals - the rider was asked to push off the ground and slow down on turns with his feet. Carl von Dres is best known as the inventor of the railcar, which is named after him.

Boldinskaya autumn A.S. Pushkin. Three autumn months of 1830, Alexander Sergeevich spent in the village of Boldino not of his own free will - because of the cholera quarantine established in Moscow by the authorities. It was the cholera vibrio, which mutated during an unusual drought that abruptly gave way to continuous autumn rains and caused the Ganges to overflow, and 14 years later brought to the Russian Empire, the descendants "owe" the appearance of Pushkin's brightest works - "Eugene Onegin", "The Tale of the Priest and His worker Balda”, etc.

Such is the story of three years without a summer that occurred at the beginning of the 19th century and was caused by a number of factors, including the eruption of the stratovolcano Tambora. It remains to remind you that the seven-point Tambora is far from the most significant volcanic problem of earthlings. There are, unfortunately, much more dangerous volcanic objects on Earth - supervolcanoes.

The eruption of an ordinary volcano on a planetary scale is nothing more than a terrible sight. What is shown in the Hollywood films "Dante's Peak" and "Volcano" is nonsense compared to what happens when a super-volcano erupts. In a matter of hours, tens or even hundreds of cubic kilometers of ash and lava will be thrown out. And it will not work to defeat the elements with the help of dynamite - humanity can only watch and wait.

A typical volcano, as we imagine it, is a cone-shaped hill with a crater from which lava, ash and gases erupt. It is formed as follows: in the bowels there is a volcanic chamber with magma, the contents of which find their way (channel) through cracks, faults and other "defects" of the earth's crust. As it rises, the magma releases gases, turning into volcanic lava, and pours out through the upper part of the channel, usually called the vent. Breaking off around the vent, the products of the eruption build up the cone of the volcano.

Super-volcanoes, on the other hand, have their own peculiarity, because of which, until recently, no one even suspected of their existence. The fact is that they do not have the cone-shaped “cap” that we are used to. And it would hardly be possible to increase it - and not only because such a mountain would reach several tens of kilometers at the base and 15 - 20 in height, and would simply fall into tartarara under its weight. Actually, this is exactly what happened.

Their volcanic chamber is located much closer to the earth's surface and is a huge magma reservoir of a large area. According to one version, the eruption of a supervolcano began with the fact that magma melts and breaks the layer of the earth's crust above it, sticking out a huge hump on the earth's surface (several hundred meters high and 15-20 kilometers or more in diameter).

The pressure is increasing, the magma is looking for a way out. Numerous vents and cracks appear along the perimeter of the supervolcano - and then its entire central part collapses down into the fiery underworld. At the same time, collapsed rocks, like a piston, abruptly release huge volumes of magma and gases from the depths - which are thrown into the sky by giant lava fountains and cyclopean clouds of ash.

Such a phenomenon has never been seen not only by volcanologists, but also by homo sapiens in general - all open supervolcanoes erupted for the last time long before its appearance. The question remains intriguing: are they a rare geological phenomenon, or are they the last of their kind - and were once widespread on the body of a younger Earth? Is their occurrence connected with the periods of the so-called. "increased volcanic activity" of the planet? It seems that the answers to them will soon be received.

When the eruption of the supervolcano ended, a huge caldera remained from it, inside which a huge valley formed - representing a kind of "lid" covering the magma chamber. Part of such a "lid", its crack, just can be Phlegrean Fields. Thus, if a classic volcano can be compared to a “pimple”, then a supervolcano is more like a serious hematoma or abscess.

His further fate may be different. It can sleep peacefully, turning into a reservoir for the lake, it can become a hot valley of thermal springs, and sometimes it can fool around with small eruptions, covered with volcanic cones. But it can erupt again - shaking the earth's crust. It all depends on the processes taking place in its bowels.

To date, several objects fall under the definition of "supervolcano". Firstly, these are the aforementioned Phlegrean Fields. Secondly, this toba volcano(the island of Sumatra), which last erupted about 74,000 years ago. Now its giant caldera with an area of 1775 square kilometers is filled with water and is a very picturesque lake.

An ancient and very large supervolcano was recently discovered in Kamchatka. While exploring the area bath springs, employees of the Institute of Volcanology and Seismology of the Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences discovered the remains of an ancient caldera there. With a more thorough study, its dimensions (25 by 15 kilometers) and the approximate age were established - about one and a half million years. Thus, it is several times older than most Kamchatka volcanoes. To the version that the caldera is an ancient supervolcano, scientists were led by the study of a dome-shaped uplift in its center - caused by the presence of a powerful magma chamber under it.

But the most famous supervolcano is Yellowstone National Park, located in the Rocky Mountains in northwestern Wyoming (USA). The most extensively studied, it also became the protagonist of the documentary "Supervolcano" (produced by the Air Force) and the fictional thriller of the same name - representing its possible eruption as the beginning of a grandiose cataclysm.

Detailed studies of Yellowstone Park, famous primarily for its geysers, began in the middle of the 20th century. Even then, scientists came to the conclusion that its giant caldera (70 by 30 kilometers) is clearly of volcanic origin. Of course, the mind refused to believe in the existence of volcanoes of this size - therefore, it took many more years of research and theoretical development before the supervolcano model was developed.

In the course of them, it became known that the last three eruptions of the Yellowstone supervolcano occurred 2 million years ago, 1.3 million years ago and 630 thousand years ago. Thus, the conclusion was that their periodicity is about 650 (plus or minus) thousand years. And this meant that in this case, it remains to wait a little until the next eruption - of course, according to the geological clock. However, not everyone heard this clarification, and a sensation swept across the United States, picked up in other countries and then embodied on the screen: the Yellowstone supervolcano will explode soon, save whoever can!

Predicting the consequences of global cataclysms is not only interesting, but also a highly demanded business. These forecasts are very popular among millions of ordinary people who read and stare at the scenario of the coming "end of the world." Therefore, as soon as forecasts appeared regarding the date of the eruption of supervolcanoes, forecasts of their consequences did not slow down.

So, in the first minutes after the collapse into the sky, to a height of up to 50 kilometers, columns of hot gases and ash rise up. At the same time, pyroclastic flows rush along the surface of the earth, burning everything within a radius of several tens of kilometers. And if the Yellowstone area is relatively sparsely populated, then such an explosion of the Phlegraean Fields will incinerate an area inhabited by millions of people.

In a few hours, most of the ejected ash will begin to settle, covering thousands of square kilometers. Cities located hundreds of kilometers from Yellowstone, of course, will not suffer the fate of Pompeii, but traffic will be very difficult - if at all possible. In addition, volcanic ash is not snow, it will not melt in the spring, and during precipitation it clogs into the respiratory tract, mechanisms. It will not be easy to breathe because of volcanic gases - which include sulfur compounds.

But much more dangerous will be the ash left in the atmosphere: by blocking the sun's rays, it can create the effect of a "volcanic winter." It is now considered that Volcano Tambora eruption(1815), which ejected several cubic kilometers of volcanic material into the atmosphere, caused a cooling on a planetary scale - leading to a "year without summer" in Europe. But these are just flowers. Recent studies have shown that the eruption of the supervolcano Toba led to a decrease in the average temperature by 11 degrees, and the resulting glaciation had the most catastrophic consequences.

As you might guess, such a disaster is akin to or. However, humanity can avoid war - if it is guided by reason, not emotions. An uninvited space "aliens" can be tried to bring down or deflect with the help of already existing technologies. But methods to prevent the eruption of not only "super", but also ordinary volcanoes do not yet exist - that's why these forecasts cause, to put it mildly, concern.

Severe winters gave way to snow-covered springs and turned into snow-cold "summer" months. Three years without summer, three years without harvest, three years without hope... Three years that changed humanity forever.

Irish families try to escape the flood

Volcano Tambora eruption

Average annual temperatures in 1816-1818 (based on materials from the site cru.uea.ac.uk)

It would seem - nonsense, some three degrees. But in an industrially undeveloped human society, these three "cold" degrees caused a terrifying catastrophe on a global scale.

Flooding in the suburbs

Paris Europe. In 1816 and the two following years, European countries, still reeling from the Napoleonic Wars, became the worst place on Earth - they were hit by cold, famine, epidemics and an acute shortage of fuel. There was no harvest at all for two years. In England, Germany and France, who were feverishly buying grain all over the world (mainly from the Russian Empire), one food riot after another took place.

A farmer in a field with dead corn in the U.S. state of Vermont, North America.

Famine in the provinces of the Chinese Qing Empire

India(at the beginning of the 19th century - a colony of Great Britain (East India Company)). The territory of the country, for which monsoons (winds blowing from the ocean) and heavy rains are common in summer, was under the influence of a severe drought - there were no monsoons. For three years in a row, the drought at the end of the summer gave way to many weeks of downpours.

A sharp change in climate contributed to the mutation of cholera vibrio - a severe cholera epidemic began in Bengal, engulfing half of India and quickly moving north. Russia (Russian Empire).

Emperor Nicholas I stops the cholera riot in Moscow

Dracula and Frankenstein. Holidays on Lake Geneva (Switzerland) in May-June 1816 with friends, among whom were George Gordon, Lord Byron and Mary Shelley, were completely spoiled by gloomy weather and constant rain. Due to bad weather, friends were forced to spend their evenings in the fireplace room of the Villa Diodati, rented for a vacation by Lord Byron.

Film adaptation of Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein"

John Smith Jr.

Mormons. In 1816, John Smith Jr. was 11 years old. Due to summer frosts and the threat of famine, his family was forced to leave the farm in Vermont in 1817 and settled in the town of Palmyra, located in western New York State. Since this region was extremely popular with all kinds of preachers (mild climate, abundance of flocks and donations), young John Smith completely immersed himself in the study of religion and para-religious rites.

English fleet attacks Chinese warships

Opium Wars. Three years without a summer has hit Chinese traditional rice farmers in the country's southern provinces hard. Threatened by famine, farmers in southern China decided to grow the opium poppy because it was easy to maintain and guaranteed to generate income. Although the emperors of the Qing Dynasty categorically forbade the cultivation of opium poppy, farmers ignored this ban (bribed officials).

Railcar bicycle by Carl von Drez

A bike. Observing the difficult situation with oats for horses that developed in 1816, the German inventor Carl von Dres decided to build a new mode of transport. In 1817, he created the first prototype of modern bicycles and motorcycles - two wheels, a frame with a seat and a T-handle. True, von Drez's bicycle did not have pedals - the rider was asked to push off the ground and slow down on turns with his feet. Carl von Dres is best known as the inventor of the railcar, which is named after him.

Boldinskaya autumn A.S. Pushkin. Three autumn months of 1830, Alexander Sergeevich spent in the village of Boldino not of his own free will - because of the cholera quarantine established in Moscow by the authorities. It was the cholera vibrio, which mutated during an unusual drought that abruptly gave way to continuous autumn rains and caused the Ganges to overflow, and 14 years later brought to the Russian Empire, the descendants "owe" the appearance of Pushkin's brightest works - "Eugene Onegin", "The Tale of the Priest and His worker Balda”, etc.

Portal for the student. Self-training

RELATED ARTICLES