March 20th, 2010. A day remembered because of its lingering effects on travel to and from Europe, but is the problem coming to America? Fox News as well as their sources think so, in the article Iceland Volcano Ash Coming to America. On March 20th the Icelandic volcano, Eyjafjallajokull, erupted sending tons of ash into the air, only to get picked up by one of our global jet streams. FOX News has heard from the U.K.’s Met Office that the ash from the eruption may be already as far as Newfoundland.
Now, we’re no stranger to volcanic eruptions but this is the first time I’ve ever heard of it really affecting our lives beyond the normal damage that comes with volcanoes. Thankfully, the Met Office doesn’t believe we will be affected by the ash but their data is also based on models. Models are not always reliable. Could we really feel the effects of an eruption that happened off U.S. territory? In a way we already have. Flights to Europe have been cancelled or postponed
due to the ash. In fact, President Obama was prevented from going to Europe because of the issues that the eruption had caused.
How are we to respond if something like this were to happen to the U.S.? Does anyone besides government officials know? We have one of the potentially most dangerous volcanic hotspots in the middle of our backyards but what would we do if it were to go south on us. There’s always a risk when there’s a volcano that we’re at the mercy to. No wonder there are so many movies about volcanoes and the aftermath of their eruptions.
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Interesting that the story had to be 'made interesting' by making it sound like America was being physically affected by the eruption...... I know two people who had loved ones unable to get home because of this eruption, and in two of my classes, we discussed the economic impact of the cloud--planes cannot fly into volcanic ash clouds because their engines will suck it in, get coated with melted rock (volcanic ash is actually tiny fragments of rock), and stop.
ReplyDeleteCompared with these real and major effects, I find it a bit insulting that the news story has to become a scare about trace amounts of ash that may or may not physically land on the contiguous US. I am not so self-centered that I need to be physically threatened by an event to care!
The volcanic explosion made me think too. We hear about more common natural disasters such as hurricanes and tornadoes but we don't really hear about volcanoes. In fact, I did not know there were active volcanoes on American territory. I know now that even when the volcano is not within our country's boundaries an eruption can still effect us. This explosion can serve as a warning to Americans and teach us that we need to be more prepared to handle a disaster like this should it ever happen in our country.
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