Another Big Volcanic Outburst

A momentary respite from gloom and doom: let's look at the impact of a big volcanic eruption from space!


The Daily Mail of London is on top of this story, so to speak.

A chance recording by astronauts on the International Space Station has captured the moment a volcano explosively erupted, sending massive shockwaves through the atmosphere.

Sarychev Peak, one of the most active volcanoes in the world, had been sitting quietly in the Kuril Island chain near Japan for 20 years, when it suddenly sprang to life on June 12.

Fortuitously, the International Space Station was flying overhead at the time, and managed to capture this spectacular image of the ash-cloud tearing through the atmosphere, sending clouds scattering in its wake in a perfect circle.

Mind you, a volcano spews both greenhouse gases AND ash into the atmosphere. The short term effect is a cooling of the earth. The long-term effect might be warming, but then again, maybe not. At any rate, no one is asking the hundreds of volcanoes on land and below the sea to purchase any carbon offsets.

So I guess it's up to us to subsidize them.

Dang, gloom and doom after all.