Word: krakatoa
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Thera, which erupted in 1500 B.C., blew the top off the Greek isle of that name and destroyed a civilization. Vesuvius, which came to life in A.D. 79, buried the town of Pompeii and its inhabitants under tons of lava and ash in hours. When Indonesia's Krakatoa exploded in 1883, it killed 35,000 people and released with a single blast the energy equivalent of 20,000 Hiroshima bombs...
...Krakatoa's Activity. Even a single major volcanic outburst adds so much dust to the atmosphere that it reduces the amount of sunlight reaching the earth's surface; the result can be a brief but noticeable cooling of global climate. After the eruption of Krakatoa in 1883, for instance, unusually cool weather was reported in many parts of the world for several years. The evidence is still preserved in the annual growth rings of old trees. Only recently, scientists at the University of Arizona's tree-ring laboratory discovered disturbed rings in California trees, dating back...
Greenspan first won worldwide attention during the Depression (TIME, July 22, 1935) when he accurately forecast earthquakes in Chile, Peru, Japan and India, as well as a savage volcanic eruption in Krakatoa. He was more or less dismissed by the scientific community as a lucky crackpot. But he resurfaced within the past couple of years in Laguna Beach, and astounded Californians by predicting the time and date (Feb. 9, 1971 at 6 a.m.) of the San Fernando earthquake that killed 64 people and wrought more than $500 million worth of damage. Greenspan has missed the mark before; he has thrice...
...much so as the miracle of the volcanic eruption on Krakatoa, or the miracle of Hurricane Agnes, or the miracles of the many other disasters that have devastated numerous areas of the world at various times throughout history...
This is no idle speculation. Various experts feel that major volcanic eruptions in the past have thrust enough particles into the air to affect global climate. When Krakatoa exploded in 1883, the temperature at the surface of the earth was reduced for several years. The new worry, though, is that such particles will not shower to the ground in rain or snow. The supersonic transport will fly at 60,000 ft., where there is no atmospheric turbulence or weather to bring pollutants down to earth. Even assuming that the plane has a fumeless engine, the water vapor in its exhaust...