Don't Panic!

[Mr T.]

Geologist sounds alarm at volcanic tidal wave threat
By David Derbyshire, Science Correspondent
(Filed: 10/08/2004)


A collapsing volcano could trigger a vast tidal wave capable of wiping New York, Washington and Miami off the map as well as bringing devastation to southern England, governments were warned yesterday.

Geologists are concerned that an unstable flank of the Cumbre Vieja volcano on the island of La Palma in the Canaries is in danger of sliding into the sea.


If shaken loose by a volcanic eruption, the slab of rock - which is the size of the Isle of Man - would send a tsunami [tidal wave] more than 500ft high racing across the Atlantic at the speed of a jumbo jet.

Within three hours, the wave would swamp the east coast of Africa, within five hours it would reach southern England and within 12 it would hit America's east coast.

New York, Washington, Boston and Miami would be hit by successive waves abound 60ft high. Tens of millions of people could die.

Although the volcano could erupt any day - it has been dormant since 1971 but tends to erupt every 20 to 200 years - funding to British scientists investigating the threat has been stopped.

Prof Bill McGuire, of the Benfield Hazard Research Centre at University College London, said close monitoring might give two weeks warning of the disaster.

But Spanish funding for a monitoring project dried up several years ago.

The two or three seismographs left to pick up signs of movement in the rock were not capable of detecting an approaching eruption weeks in advance. "What we need now is an integrated volcanic monitoring set up to give maximum warning of a coming eruption," said Prof McGuire.

Cumbre Vieja is the most active volcano on the Canaries. Before their funding ended, the British team calculated that it was sliding towards the sea at a rate of one centimetre per year, but that a big eruption could send the entire flank crashing down.

The wave from the landslide would spread out in a crescent, striking the west African coast with a wall of water more than 300ft high in two to three hours.

Its northern side would also brush against Europe. Within three to four hours, a 33ft high wave would smash into the south coast of England, causing immense damage.

After travelling 4,000 miles the wave would be lower and wider by the time it reached America, but still be between 66ft and 164ft high.

• Doomsday asteroids will cease to be a threat within 30 years, according to Dr Benny Peiser, of Liverpool's John Moores University. Scientists were discovering asteroids so quickly that the chances of one hitting the Earth without warning were becoming minute, he said yesterday.

[Helen F H]

Originally Posted by Bren Tierney

A collapsing volcano could trigger a vast tidal wave capable of wiping New York, Washington and Miami off the map as well as bringing devastation to southern England, governments were warned yesterday.

.

Har har har. Good job i live in the north innit?

[abucksdiver]

This topic has rumbled on and off for a long time... I remember seeing a documentory about it a couple of years ago...


Andrew

[Conor]

Originally Posted by Bren Tierney

• Doomsday asteroids will cease to be a threat within 30 years, according to Dr Benny Peiser, of Liverpool's John Moores University. Scientists were discovering asteroids so quickly that the chances of one hitting the Earth without warning were becoming minute, he said yesterday.

So how does knowing about an asteroid stop it being a threat???? Ah yes, it becomes a reality, silly me, I thought they had some way of stopping it from happening

[daveyclayton]

So how does knowing about an asteroid stop it being a threat????

Bruce Willis, spaceship, nuclear missles, it's all been done before...

[Conor]

Phew! I vote that we freeze Bruce Willis to defrost in times of emergency.....erm didn't he die at the end? Doh, we'll have to find someone else then

[John Gulliver]

Well, I suppose humour is one form of defence but I'm not sure a tsunami the size of that predicted in this case is anything to joke about,considering the enormous damage and loss of life caused by much smaller ones in the past.
On a more serious note, would it not be possible to blast the rock into smaller pieces which would cause much smaller, less devastating waves, or would that be too risky? Does anybody know more about this?

[turbanator]

It was spoken about on Radio 4 this morning and that volcano is due for eruption in 20 to 20,000 years, which is quite precise geologically.

The last eruption was 1971 IIRC.

It was typicall of two scientists arguing, one saying we should plan, the other saying it's not really worth bothering about as there's nothing we can do.

I think that the Tsunami would hit the US 6-8 hours after the collapse and would be 20-30m tall, however a 100m one wouldhit Africa sooner.

The most sensible suggestion made was to at least monitor it's slippage, it went some 4m a few years ago, but seems to be going at about 1cm/year now.

As for blowing it up, that may cause equal damage even if done a bit at a time as the lump in question is about the size of the Isle of Mann.

r
Paul

[FOX]

Nothing some duct tape, cable ties, nylon line and a few bungies won't fix!!

[daveyclayton]

Well, I suppose humour is one form of defence but I'm not sure a tsunami the size of that predicted in this case is anything to joke about,considering the enormous damage and loss of life caused by much smaller ones in the past.

Chill out John! I'm not suggesting humour is a form of defence against asteroid impact.