Bird’s-Eye: So much news on the volcano; “What kind of world is it when Eyjafjallajokull is a household word?” We start with Big Picture’s latest shots of the facts on the ground, and in the air. Then we follow with a few quick predictions about the effects, short and medium term, of the volcano, deepen with Monbiot looking at the serious side, and end with a lighthearted closing pair.
* More from Eyjafjallajokull The Big Picture
* Iceland Waits For Volcanic Shoe To Drop New Scientist
Volcanologists have warned that previous Eyjafjallajökull eruptions have triggered eruptions of neighbouring Katla, one of the largest volcanoes in Iceland. …The three eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull in the last 1100 years – in 920, 1612 and 1821 – have all triggered larger Katla eruptions.
* So Far, Icelandic Volcano Isn’t Likely To Cause A Cooler Summer – Boing Boing
It may have succeeded at stranding Cory in the U.S., stranding Lisa in London and producing some beautiful sunsets (not to mention forcing John Cleese to pay for the world’s most expensive taxi ride), but Mt. Eyjafjallajokull (say it 10x fast) isn’t shaping up to drastically alter temperatures this year. At least, not so far, according to Alan Robock, professor of environmental sciences at Rutgers. Robock told Climate Central’s Andrew Freedman on Thursday that the output of Mt. Eyjafjallajokull hasn’t put enough sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere to create the sort of “Two-thousand-and-froze-to-death” conditions some have feared.
* Iceland volcano causes fall in carbon emissions as eruption grounds aircraft Guardian
* What Links The Banking Crisis And The Volcano? George Monbiot Znet
We rely globally on over-complex, over-strained systems. Act now, or wait for the much more brutal corrective of nature. Man proposes; nature disposes. We are seldom more vulnerable than when we feel insulated. The miracle of modern flight protected us from gravity, atmosphere, culture, geography. It made everywhere feel local, interchangeable. Nature interjects, and we encounter – tragically for many – the reality of thousands of miles of separation. We discover that we have not escaped from the physical world after all.
* How to Name a Volcano The Oatmeal
* Magic Volcano Card
