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Volcanic Eruption In Japan Disrupts Flights

Posted by Soulskill on from the underground-affecting-the-skies dept.

An anonymous reader writes: A volcano in southern Japan erupted today, sending out chunks of magma and a kilometer-high plume of ash. Flights to and from the nearby city of Kumamoto were canceled, and a Japan Airlines spokesman said more could be disrupted if the eruption continues. "Mount Aso, whose huge caldera dominates the southwestern main island of Kyushu, rumbled into life on Tuesday. Meteorologists warned volcanic stones and ash could fall in a one-kilometer radius of the volcano. The eruption is Aso's first in 19 years and comes two months after Mount Ontake in central Nagano killed more than 60 hikers when it erupted without warning."

24 comments

  1. White Hot Lava by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Chef's Lava

  2. Aso ash flash dash, cash trashed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Plume bloom gloom

  3. the sky is spauling.... little chickens fleeing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    follow the deer https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=wmd+weather

  4. All the smart herpetologists by Ukab+the+Great · · Score: 1

    Know a really big lizard is behind all of this.

  5. travel nightmare by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    This is going to make Thanksgiving travel around there even worse than usual!

    1. Re:travel nightmare by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      Good job they don't do Thanksgiving (like most of the rest of the world).

    2. Re: travel nightmare by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Great! My Japanese Thanksgiving holiday ruined by some aso volcano. Thanks Obama.

  6. Wake-up call by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    We can only hope that, despite the recent election results, this finally forces people to wake up, consider the havoc that climate change is already wreaking upon our poor and wounded planet, and finally commit to the use of renewable energy and a sustainable lifestyle.

    1. Re:Wake-up call by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, fellow AC, I believe that you are right.

      This will be the defining event of our lives that "forces people to wake up" - even as I type, millions are "considering the havoc ...".

      HAHAHA I can't keep this shit up any more ...

    2. Re:Wake-up call by MachineShedFred · · Score: 1

      I really hope you are trying to be funny.

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      Slashdot still doesnâ(TM)t support Unicode after it was added to the HTML standard in 1997.
    3. Re:Wake-up call by ScrewMaster · · Score: 1

      I really hope you are trying to be funny.

      One can always hope, but it seems we've managed to go from "climate change isn't real" to "it causes everything bad that happens."

      Of course, a big enough eruption would actually trigger a global cooling trend for a while. Think Krakatoa and Mount Pinatubo.

      --
      The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
    4. Re:Wake-up call by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Or just think Yellowstone super-caldera. Where's the kaboom? Oh, there's the earth-shattering kaboom!

  7. Vocanic Winter by retroworks · · Score: 0

    There's actually a fairly cool and intelligent discussion that could be had about volcanic activity's role in the history of world climate, and how forecasting of volcanic activity can play a role in climate modelling. Too bad I can't anticipate actually having that discussion without an eruption of troll commentary. Merely discussing it amounts to flamebait due to the polarizing of opinions on the issue. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V...

    --
    Gently reply
    1. Re:Vocanic Winter by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well you've come to the wrong place. If it's cool and intelligent discussion that you're after, start your own damned website and leave us to our feces hurling. Thank you.

    2. Re:Vocanic Winter by CaptainLard · · Score: 1

      an eruption of troll commentary.

      I see what you did there.

      Its certainly interesting how historical events can be tied to volcanic eruptions. But most in recent (geological) history seem to have only affected the climate for a few years. It goes back to normal because volcanic activity is part of a balanced system. And given that we're not great (AFAIK) at predicting (and believing predictions of...and arresting Italian scientists if they are wrong) specific eruptions more than a week or so in advance and the effects last only a few years, is it even worth trying to add them or is just throwing in the historical averages good enough?

    3. Re:Vocanic Winter by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Human CO emission is much more predictable than volcanoes and earthquakes. The most recent volcanic eruptions have had measurable if temporary cooling effects (as Scientific American article explains, data entered from the eruptions explained most of the missed projections from climate modelling that did not account for or predict them http://www.scientificamerican.... ). Climate scientists know the effects of human carbon production very well, know the effect of rain forest / carbon sink destruction (especially burning) less well, ocean sinks not well, and can predict the solar flares and volcanic activity least well. Since what we are most certain about - human carbon pollution - is proven to be harmful, it's understandable that researchers would be wary of speaking out about our inability to predict or control other variables, like volcanoes. We have no idea if volcanic activity is in 10 year, 100 year, 1000 year, or 10000 year, or 1000000 year cycles. Betting that volcanoes will somehow offset known climate warming activity we are aware of and can plan for seems like a foolish bet which too many humans would gladly make rather than do the hard work to fix the problems we know too well.

  8. Only a kilometer high? by tompaulco · · Score: 1

    The ash cloud is only a kilometer high? Why don't they just fly over it?

    --
    If you are not allowed to question your government then the government has answered your question.
    1. Re:Only a kilometer high? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Because nobody has invented a long-haul passenger jet with a 30,000 fpm climb rate yet.

    2. Re:Only a kilometer high? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm thinking we could strap some SRBs to that puppy.

    3. Re:Only a kilometer high? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      spoken like a true Kerbal... more struts, and more boosters!

    4. Re:Only a kilometer high? by Zebai · · Score: 1

      It's not the cloud that's a danger, as that's easily seen and avoided but what the cloud represents.. Tons of earth thrown into the air at high speed in random directions. The cloud is where it is most dense but there are likely rocks being thrown around in smaller quantities every which way that could easily hit a plane and destroy it.

  9. Global warming by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Nope, not a lizard. It must be anthropomorphic global warming.

  10. Mount Aso is more dangerous than many think. by MtViewGuy · · Score: 1

    I think people forget that the Mount Aso volcanic caldera is NOT small, and there is the constant threat of a major eruption there. There is a chance--though small--that Mount Aso could erupt with the force and volcanic ash output of Mount Pinatubo in 1991--a scale of eruption that could seriously affect the Japanese economy and could even substantially cool the Earth like what Pinatubo's huge ash output did.