Tambora ( Indonesia, 1812 ) |
Eyjafjallajökull ( Iceland, 2010 ) |
Tambora erupted on 10th of April 1815, and was since then known as the largest eruption known on the planet during the past 10,000 years. It’s classified as a VEI 7 event. Tambora erupted more than 50 cubic kilometers of magma, and it blew off its top, leaving a caldera. It caused a giant plinian eruption column, reaching 40-50 km altitude. Large amounts of ash and aerosols were ejected into the stratosphere. It had far-flung consequences, such as earthquakes and tsunamis following the explosion, temperature drops, devastated crops, widespread famine and etc. These effects continued on for several years. ( volcanodiscovery.com, 2013 )
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Eyjafjallajökull began to erupt on 20th of March 2010, providing a warning to the residents. It’s main eruption began on the 14th of April 2010. Plumes of volcanic ash, that was created when the lava came in contact with the ice of the glacier, was ejected several kilometres into the atmosphere by this eruption. The plumes of volcanic ash and gas was spread out and was carried by winds south-eastwards towards the rest of Europe. When the ice interaction with magma decreased, volcano changed from producing ash to mainly producing fire fountains. 750 tonnes of magma were ejected from the volcano every second. Volcanic activity decreased toward the end of April, but increased again in early May. It gradually decreased by 23rd May. ( bgs.ac.uk, 2010 ) ( volcanodiscovery, 2010 )
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Tambora
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Eyjafjallajökull
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Evaluation
Between the Tambora Eruption in Indonesia on 10th of April 1815 and the Eyjafjallajökull eruption in Iceland on 14th April 2010, the volcanoes’ impacts weren’t just contained in their own country. Their eruptions brought damage to other countries as well.
It is clear that there are a lot of environmental issues in common, such as agriculture affected in various ways. contaminated water supply due to the ash and sulfur, and air thick with fine dust and rock particles. However in Tambora’s case, the temperature was highly affected due to absorption of sunlight by the high amount of SO2. The global temperature dropped by at least 3 degree celsius that had such an effect on Europe that named it ‘The year without summer’. The low temperature caused the crops not to ripen, harvest was slow with low quality. While there was freezing temperature in spring in some countries, the Arctic, however, was drastically warmed due to changes in wind circulation and North Atlantic ocean current. It also produced tsunamis with high waves, and multiple earthquakes. ( sciencedaily.com, 2009 ) ( theweathernetwork.com, 2015 ) ( slate.com, 2014 ) Due to Eyjafjallajökull being a glacier, the ice melted from the volcano caused heavy flooding and rivers risen several meters. ( tinyscience.wordpress.com, 2010 ) ( newsweek.com, 2010 )
Both of these eruptions caused a high amount of economic issues, such as their food industries being affected, and affecting other countries’ economic drastically as well as its on. But still, majority of these economic impacts was due to different reasons. This was probably because while both of the economic impacts were caused mainly by the ash, Tambora’s eruption had such a huge impact on crops that there was an food overprice due to shortage of corps. This indirectly triggered the first sustained economic depression in US history, and contributed to the start of the Panic of 1819 as well. The economic costs from this eruption couldn’t even be calculated due to its widespread effect over a span of a few years. It was quite a long term effect. ( Economist.com, 2015 ) ( theconversation.com, 2014 ) On the other hand, Eyjafjallajökull’s eruption brought a short term, but harsh, effect. Due to the high amount of ash, the European airspace was closed from the 15th to the 21st of April. Over the course of this one week, airlines had lost £130 million per day. Because 40 percent of international trade is conducted by air, it was also affected heavily, with a loss of €350 billion a day. Countries that supplies fresh green vegetable and cut flowers to Europe via air, such as Kenya, suffered an economic crash. Those crops were unsold and destroyed, with over 1 million flowers unsold the first two days and over 50,000 farmers temporarily unemployed. Industrial production was affected due to raw materials unable to be flown in. ( coolgeography.co.uk, 2010 ) ( spiegel.de, 2010 ) ( news.bbc.co.uk, 2010 )
Tambora had a huge social impact both directly and indirectly throughout a few years. In Indonesia, entire villages were buried under thick pumice deposits, which was something similar to Pompeii, the population that survived also have to be evacuated. There was a 100,000 people death toll and that was not accounting those who died of the widespread famine. Throughout the world, there was malnutrition due to lack of agriculture production and sanitary issues. There was also an increase of epidemics in Europe and Mediterranean countries. ( slate.com, 2014 ) ( Swansea.ac.uk, 2013 ) Due to Eyjafjallajökull’s location at the rural, south edge of the country, there was no casualties or death toll. However, the roads were destroyed and Icelanders were to stay indoors until the weather conditions get better. The social impact globally was worser than what’s within Iceland because thousand of people were stranded in other countries due to airline problems. With over 95000 flights cancelled, 10 million passengers were affected. ( coolgeography.co.uk, 2010 ) ( bbc.co.uk, ) ( slate.com, 2014 )
The effects by these two volcanoes are widely different due to factors such as the century it happened in, the location it’s in in the country, the prevention system that was present and how our technology had advanced.
It is clear that there are a lot of environmental issues in common, such as agriculture affected in various ways. contaminated water supply due to the ash and sulfur, and air thick with fine dust and rock particles. However in Tambora’s case, the temperature was highly affected due to absorption of sunlight by the high amount of SO2. The global temperature dropped by at least 3 degree celsius that had such an effect on Europe that named it ‘The year without summer’. The low temperature caused the crops not to ripen, harvest was slow with low quality. While there was freezing temperature in spring in some countries, the Arctic, however, was drastically warmed due to changes in wind circulation and North Atlantic ocean current. It also produced tsunamis with high waves, and multiple earthquakes. ( sciencedaily.com, 2009 ) ( theweathernetwork.com, 2015 ) ( slate.com, 2014 ) Due to Eyjafjallajökull being a glacier, the ice melted from the volcano caused heavy flooding and rivers risen several meters. ( tinyscience.wordpress.com, 2010 ) ( newsweek.com, 2010 )
Both of these eruptions caused a high amount of economic issues, such as their food industries being affected, and affecting other countries’ economic drastically as well as its on. But still, majority of these economic impacts was due to different reasons. This was probably because while both of the economic impacts were caused mainly by the ash, Tambora’s eruption had such a huge impact on crops that there was an food overprice due to shortage of corps. This indirectly triggered the first sustained economic depression in US history, and contributed to the start of the Panic of 1819 as well. The economic costs from this eruption couldn’t even be calculated due to its widespread effect over a span of a few years. It was quite a long term effect. ( Economist.com, 2015 ) ( theconversation.com, 2014 ) On the other hand, Eyjafjallajökull’s eruption brought a short term, but harsh, effect. Due to the high amount of ash, the European airspace was closed from the 15th to the 21st of April. Over the course of this one week, airlines had lost £130 million per day. Because 40 percent of international trade is conducted by air, it was also affected heavily, with a loss of €350 billion a day. Countries that supplies fresh green vegetable and cut flowers to Europe via air, such as Kenya, suffered an economic crash. Those crops were unsold and destroyed, with over 1 million flowers unsold the first two days and over 50,000 farmers temporarily unemployed. Industrial production was affected due to raw materials unable to be flown in. ( coolgeography.co.uk, 2010 ) ( spiegel.de, 2010 ) ( news.bbc.co.uk, 2010 )
Tambora had a huge social impact both directly and indirectly throughout a few years. In Indonesia, entire villages were buried under thick pumice deposits, which was something similar to Pompeii, the population that survived also have to be evacuated. There was a 100,000 people death toll and that was not accounting those who died of the widespread famine. Throughout the world, there was malnutrition due to lack of agriculture production and sanitary issues. There was also an increase of epidemics in Europe and Mediterranean countries. ( slate.com, 2014 ) ( Swansea.ac.uk, 2013 ) Due to Eyjafjallajökull’s location at the rural, south edge of the country, there was no casualties or death toll. However, the roads were destroyed and Icelanders were to stay indoors until the weather conditions get better. The social impact globally was worser than what’s within Iceland because thousand of people were stranded in other countries due to airline problems. With over 95000 flights cancelled, 10 million passengers were affected. ( coolgeography.co.uk, 2010 ) ( bbc.co.uk, ) ( slate.com, 2014 )
The effects by these two volcanoes are widely different due to factors such as the century it happened in, the location it’s in in the country, the prevention system that was present and how our technology had advanced.