Tonga Volcano

We at VeryGood.Coffee like to talk about history from time to time. Ok, we admit, a lot of the time. We feel that it is important for our readers to know that history happens every second of the day. It could be an event that happened five seconds ago, or one that happened five-thousand years ago. The key to remember is that each and every event, no matter how large or small, reported or not reported in the media, is still an event in history and, you cannot change history.

In today’s post, I’ll be talking about two extremely violent, destructive volcano’s and not only the impacts they had on our planet, but we are going to get into this climate change hysteria again. I’ve written about it before, (There’s Big Bucks In Smog) but since we are going to discuss events that put an end to humanity as we know it, and not that long ago in terms of planet years, I thought maybe a refresher was in order.

The ongoing volcanic eruption in Tonga began in December of 2021, but it wasn’t until 5:15pm local time on January 15, 2022 that the massive explosion occurred.

The explosion generated an enormous cloud of ash, earthquakes, and tsunamis that reached as far as the distant coastlines of Peru on the other side of the Pacific (6,631 miles – 10,671 km). Basically, the other side of the planet!  The eruption column reached the Earth’s stratosphere, the second layer of the atmosphere up from the ground. The sound of the explosion was heard thousands of miles away in Yukon Territory, Canada. And although below the threshold for human hearing, the pressure waves were detected by barometers in the UK.

The explosion was so massive, it created its own weather.

As for the islands of Tongatapu, ʻEua and Haʻapai, they were wiped-out.

Why would that matter to anyone on the other side of the planet? The simple answer is: if it can happen to them, it can, and chances are, it’s happened to you.

It seems that the eruption also appears to have generated a series of so-called “atmospheric gravity waves,” which were detected by a NASA satellite, radiating outwards from the volcano in concentric circles. Scientists, are now looking to see what impact these waves may be having in space. The purpose of the research is to better understand the top levels of the atmosphere, well above where the International Space Station orbits, and in particular to what extent changes in it are driven by events on Earth (as opposed to the space environment). It could also help better understand how technology such as GPS is affected by volcanic eruptions.

Because the atmosphere is mostly transparent to human eyes, we rarely think of it as a complex and dynamic structure with many distinct layers. The upper tendrils of our atmosphere extend well above the Karman line, the point 63 miles (100km) above sea level where space officially starts.

These atmospheric layers are full of waves traveling in all directions, not unlike waves on the surface of the sea. Such atmospheric gravity waves can be generated by any number of phenomena, including geomagnetic storms caused by outbursts on the Sun, earthquakes, volcanoes, thunderstorms, and even sunrise. You have probably seen some of the effects of these yourself, as these same waves can create undulating clouds.

Such waves do not just travel horizontally, they also propagate upwards to some of the very highest parts of our planet’s atmosphere – the ionosphere. This is a region of the Earth’s atmosphere that extends from about 41 miles (65km) to over 622 miles (1,000km) up (the ISS orbits at about 249 miles (400km). At these altitudes, atmospheric gases are partially “ionized,” forming a so-called plasma, meaning its molecules are split into charged particles – positive atoms called ions and negative electrons.

Ionization in the atmosphere occurs due to exposure of ultraviolet radiation from the Sun, high-energy particles from space, and even meteors burning up. But given that oppositely charged particles exert an attractive force on each other, like a magnet sticking to a fridge door, ions and electrons also tend to recombine, once again producing neutral molecules. So there is a complex and continuous fluctuation in the ionosphere between plasma production and loss of plasma due to recombination.

While these processes are mostly undetectable in visible light, they can affect longer wavelength radio light. The plasma in the ionosphere can reflect radio waves at certain frequencies, scatter them at others, or even block them entirely. Radio fans delight in what is called “skip.”

These properties make the ionosphere useful for several modern technologies including high frequency radio communications, and over-the-horizon radar. But just like at ground level, the ionosphere is subject to weather. This is caused by either the space environment or by events on Earth.

When atmospheric gravity waves generated by a volcanic eruption – or from any source for that matter – reach the ionosphere they can trigger what are called “traveling ionospheric disturbances.” These are compression waves that can enhance the fluctuations in plasma density substantially in a short order of time and can travel for thousands of miles around the globe. These effects can disrupt modern technology, such as interfering with the accuracy of satellite global positioning systems.

Volcanic eruptions in the past have been associated with measurable changes in the ionosphere as detected by GPS receivers on the ground, for example in 2013 and 2015.

To study these disturbances in more detail to determine their effects on GPS, data is used from a facility called the Low Frequency Array. One of the world’s largest radio telescopes, Lofar consists of dozens of radio antennas spread across Europe, designed to observe distant natural radio sources in the early universe, such as radio galaxies.

The appearance of radio sources in space, when viewed through the ionosphere, looks much like how objects look through a glass of water. They become distorted when we stir or shake the water. With careful analysis, one can use these distortions to understand what is happening in the ionosphere itself. Traveling ionospheric disturbances can enhance these distortions, particularly at the radio wavelengths we use with Lofar.

Needless to say, the term “space weather” does in fact exist and has a significant effect on our weather here on earth. Not that the brain dead politicians in Washington DC or other parts of the world would want you to know this as it might skew your opinion or make you think a different way of their tax collection laws and the rest of their brain dead policies they attempt to jam down your throat, or any scientific research you may want to take on.

One of the many fascinating features of earth is its trees. They are not only amazing to look at, they do a number of amazing things for us. Besides a process called photosynthesis where leaves pull in carbon dioxide and water and use the energy of the sun to convert this into chemical compounds such as sugars that feed the tree. But as a by-product of that chemical reaction oxygen is produced and released by the tree, they also can tell and record time.

It’s not uncommon for a researcher or scientist to state “if you want to find out something from the past, go talk to a tree.” In this particular case, we are going to focus on the width of a tree ring when there is long periods of drought.

As you can see from the image above, the rings are much wider than the rest of the rings. This was especially true of the trees that were examined as a result of the the Krakatoa volcanic winter of 536AD.  A series of explosions that left the earth uninhabitable for the next twenty-four years.

You often hear of the term “nuclear winter.”  In this case, nuclear bombs were not invented yet and even if they had been, there wouldn’t have been any comparison to this event, meaning that the explosions of 536AD would have made anything nuclear seem like child’s play.

The volcanic winter of 536AD was the most severe and protracted episode of climatic cooling in the Northern Hemisphere in the last 2,000 years. It should be noted that this was the sixth time that the earth experienced a complete wipe-out of man kind.

Most contemporary accounts of the volcanic winter are from authors in Constantinople, the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire, although the impact of the cooler temperatures extended beyond Europe. Modern scholars have determined that in early 536AD (or possibly late 535AD), an eruption ejected massive amounts of sulfate aerosols into the atmosphere, which reduced the solar radiation reaching the earth’s surface and cooled the atmosphere. In March of 536AD, Constantinople began experiencing darkened skies and cooler temperatures.

Summer temperatures in 536AD fell by as much as  5.5 °F  (2.5 °C) below normal in Europe. The lingering impact of the volcanic winter of 536AD was augmented in 539AD–540AD, when another volcanic eruption caused summer temperatures to decline as much as  5.7 °F  (2.7 °C) below normal in Europe. There is evidence of still another volcanic eruption in 547AD which would have extended the cooler period. The volcanic eruptions, which began in 541AD, caused crop failures, and were accompanied by the Plague of Justinian, famine; millions of deaths and initiated the Late Antique Little Ice Age, which lasted from 536AD to 560AD (24 years).

• The medieval scholar Michael McCormick wrote that 536AD was the worst year in history to be alive: “It was the beginning of one of the worst periods to be alive, if not the worst year.”

• The Roman historian Procopius recorded in 536AD in his report on the wars with the Vandals, “during this year a most dread portent took place. For the sun gave forth its light without brightness… and it seemed exceedingly like the sun in eclipse, for the beams it shed were not clear.”

• In 538AD, the Roman statesman Cassiodorus described the following to one of his subordinates in letter 25:
  • • The sun’s rays were weak, and they appeared a bluish color.
    • At noon, no shadows from people were visible on the ground.
    • The heat from the sun was feeble.
    • The moon, even when full, was “empty of splendor”
    • “A winter without storms, a spring without mildness, and a summer without heat”
    • Prolonged frost and unseasonable drought
    • The seasons “seem to be all jumbled up together”
    • The sky is described as “blended with alien elements” just like cloudy weather, except prolonged. It was “stretched like a hide across the sky” and prevented the “true colors” of the sun and moon from being seen, along with the sun’s warmth.
    • Frosts during harvest, which made apples harden and grapes sour.
      The need to use stored food to last through the situation.
      Subsequent letters (no. 26 and 27) discuss plans to relieve a widespread famine.

• Michael the Syrian, a patriarch of the Syriac Orthodox Church, reported that during 536AD – 537AD the sun shone feebly for a year and a half.

• The Gaelic Irish Annals recorded the following:

• • • “A failure of bread in 536AD” – the Annals of Ulster
    • “A failure of bread from 536AD – 539AD” – the Annals of Inisfallen

• The mid-10th-century Annales Cambriae record for the year 537AD: “The Battle of Camlann, in which Arthur and Medraut fell, and there was great mortality in Britain and Ireland.”

• Further phenomena were reported by independent contemporary sources:

• • • Low temperatures, even snow during the summer (snow reportedly fell in August in China, which caused the harvest there to be delayed)
      Widespread crop failures
    • “A dense, dry fog” in the Middle East, China and Europe
    • Drought in Peru, which affected the Moche culture

The volcano was so massive that not many people alive then or now are able to truly understand the devastation that was about to ensue.

Fun facts about the Krakatoa explosion:

• • • At around 194 dB, sound stops becoming sound, and the leftover energy pushes the sound along, and it becomes more of a shockwave.
  • • The estimated maximum of Krakatoa was 310 dB.
  • • Anyone even somewhat near this event heard the loudest sound possible, while also experiencing a devastating shockwave which would either kill them or (at minimum) completely rupture their eardrums.
  • • Sailors 40 miles away lost hearing. Germany reported hearing a loud gunshot, and both Britain and the US reported a rise in ocean waves caused by the air pulse, something never seen before in reference to a sound.
  • • It was so powerful, that the shockwave circled the entire Earth 3-4 times before completely dissipating.
  • • 100 miles away, it was recorded at 172 dB, louder than a shotgun going off next to an unprotected ear. Hundreds of miles further, it was recorded louder than any concert in history.

Moving on to what is debated, contested, na-sayed and so on, is the ring of fire. Everyone has heard of it and it’s taught – in some schools anyway – in high school.

The Ring of Fire, also known as the Pacific Ring of Fire, the Rim of Fire, the Girdle of Fire or the Circum-Pacific belt is a region around much of the rim of the Pacific Ocean where many volcanic eruptions and earthquakes occur. The Ring of Fire is a horseshoe-shaped belt about 40,000 km (25,000 mi) long and up to about 500 km (310 mi) wide.

The Ring of Fire has existed for more than 35 million years. In some parts of the Ring of Fire, subduction has been occurring for much longer but subduction has existed for much longer in some parts of the Ring of Fire.

The Ring of Fire includes the Pacific coasts of South America, North America, Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula, and some islands in the western Pacific Ocean. Although there is consensus among geologists about most areas included in the Ring of Fire, they disagree about the inclusion of a few areas, for example, the Antarctic Peninsula and western Indonesia.

The Ring of Fire is a direct result of plate tectonics: specifically the movement, collision and destruction of lithospheric plates – The Pacific Plate – under and around the Pacific Ocean. The collisions have created a nearly continuous series of subduction zones, where volcanoes are created and earthquakes occur. Consumption of oceanic lithosphere at these convergent plate boundaries has formed oceanic trenches, volcanic arcs, back-arc basins and volcanic belts.

The Ring of Fire contains approximately 750–915 volcanoes – about two-thirds of the world’s total – that have been active during the Holocene. The four largest volcanic eruptions on Earth in the Holocene epoch all occurred at volcanoes in the Ring of Fire. More than 350 of the Ring of Fire’s volcanoes have been active in historical times.

Beside and among the currently active and dormant volcanoes of the Ring of Fire are belts of older extinct volcanoes, which were formed long ago by subduction in the same way as the currently active and dormant volcanoes; the extinct volcanoes last erupted many thousands or millions of years ago.

Most of Earth’s active volcanoes with summits above sea level are located in the Ring of Fire. Many of these subaerial volcanoes are stratovolcanoes – Mount St Helens – which are formed by explosive eruptions of tephra, alternating with effusive eruptions of lava flows. Lava at the Ring of Fire’s stratovolcanoes are mainly andesite and basaltic andesite but dacite, rhyolite, basalt and some other rarer types also occur. Other types of volcano are also found in the Ring of Fire, such as subaerial shield volcanoes, (Plosky Tolbachik) and submarine seamounts (Monowai).

The world’s highest active volcano is Ojos del Salado (6,893 m or 22,615 ft), which is in the Andes Mountains section of the Ring of Fire. It forms part of the border between Argentina and Chile and it last erupted in 750AD. Another Ring of Fire Andean volcano on the Argentina-Chile border is Llullaillaco (6,739 m or 22,110 ft), which is the world’s highest historically active volcano, last erupting in 1877.

About 76% of the Earth’s seismic energy is released as earthquakes in the Ring of Fire. About 90% of the Earth’s earthquakes and about 81% of the world’s largest earthquakes occur along the Ring of Fire.

From Ancient Greek and Roman times until the late 18th century, volcanoes were associated with fire, based on the ancient belief that volcanoes were caused by fires burning within the Earth. This historical link between volcanoes and fire is preserved in the name of the Ring of Fire.

The existence of a belt of volcanic activity around the Pacific Ocean was known in the early 19th century; for example, in 1825 the pioneering volcanologist G.P. Scrope described the chains of volcanoes around the Pacific Ocean’s rim in his book “Considerations on Volcanos.” Three decades later, a book about the Perry Expedition to Japan commented on the Ring of Fire volcanoes as follows: “They, the Japanese Islands are in the line of that immense circle of volcanic development which surrounds the shores of the Pacific from Tierra del Fuego around to the Moluccas.”

An article appeared in Scientific American in 1878 with the title “The Ring of Fire, and the Volcanic Peaks of the West Coast of the United States,” which outlined the phenomenon of volcanic activity around the boundaries of the Pacific.

Early explicit references to volcanoes forming a “ring of fire” around the Pacific Ocean include Alexander P. Livingstone’s book “Complete Story of San Francisco’s Terrible Calamity of Earthquake and Fire,” published in 1906, in which he describes: “the great ring of fire which circles round the whole surface of the Pacific Ocean.”

In 1912, geologist Patrick Marshall introduced the term “Andesite Line” to mark a boundary between islands in the southwest Pacific, which differ in volcano structure and lava types. The concept was later extended to other parts of the Pacific Ocean. The Andesite Line and the Ring of Fire closely match in terms of location.

The development of the theory of plate tectonics since the early 1960s has provided the current understanding and explanation of the global distribution of volcanoes and earthquakes, including those in the Ring of Fire.

The current configuration of the Pacific Ring of Fire has been created by the development of the present-day subduction zones, initially 115 million years ago in South America, North America and Asia. As plate configurations gradually changed, the current subduction zones of Indonesia and New Guinea were created about 70 million years ago, followed finally by the New Zealand subduction zone of 35 million years ago.

The four largest volcanic eruptions on Earth in the Holocene Epoch – the last 11,700 years – occurred at volcanoes in the Ring of Fire. They are the eruptions at Fisher Caldera, Alaska, 8700BC, Kuril Lake, Kamchatka, 6450BC, Kikai Caldera, Japan, 5480BC and Mount Mazama, Oregon, 5677BC.

So what does all this mean?  It means, the earth is going to do whatever it wants. As with all planets, there are set compositions that cannot be changed, no matter what you think, do, say and no matter what kind of made up agenda you might have. Physics and chemistry dictate that these are absolutes that cannot be changed.

Moving right along – the future of mankind…

The amount of fossil fuel remaining is expected to decrease sharply after 2020. It is believed that fossil fuel will be depleted by 2100. With shale, it’s estimated to be extended by 100 years.

However. The world’s population is expected to decrease to 5 billion by 2100 after peaking to 10 billion in 2050. Less people, less consumption, or some other virus that the world’s governments are playing gets out to wreck havoc.

So what does this mean in terms of what the future of earth will be.

Simply put, the earth is fragile, just like every planet in our solar system.

In 1 billion years, there will be a cessation of plate tectonics.

Sea water has been decreasing for the past 600 million years as it has been transported into the mantle, a form of hydrous minerals. Finally, mid-oceanic ridges will form summits above the sea water, increasing overall land mass.

The is the fate of a cooling planet. Volcanic activity along the subduction zone will stop. Upheaval of the mountains stop. The earth suffers severe environmental change due to erosion.

Subducted cold plates do not go down to the bottom of the mantel. The outer core of earth is not cooled down anymore, and he geomagnetic field disappears.

As a result of this, the earths atmosphere is removed by solar wind. At this point, large multicellular animals living on the surface environment, will go extinct

In 1.5 billion years, the oceans will be no more. It is at this time that all life will cease to exist and the planet will transform into a very large hot rock that is not inhabitable anymore. The earths temperature will increase to 932F degrees (500C). The earth is now like Venus.

Skipping forward, it’s not hard to imagine will be happening in the not so distant future. Hint. The sun will dissolve the planet we call earth.

So much for the squawking climate scientists.