The unlikely, but frightening, threat of super vulcanos

In a recent news article from the national, Norwegian broadcaster NRK, they write about three unlikely, but possible crises. Njord's Olivier Galland was interviewed about one of this scenarios - an outbreak of a supervulcano.

An illustration of volcano showing gray volcano with eyes and mouth expressing angry face, ejecting out orange lava. The background is half blue (top) and yellow (bottom) with 'supervulkaner' written on the left side of the volcano.

Illustration: Alexander Slotten

In light of the pandemic and the overwhelming effect it has had on our lives, NRK is looking at three other threats we could be facing. Threats that are highly unlikely, but that could be far more dangerous to us than the pandemic. You can read the full artivle here (only in Norwegian). 

One of this threats are super vulcanos. Oliver describes them  as the ultimate geological threat to us as they would have an inmediate and huge effect on our social infrastructure. The ash and smoke from the Vulcano could contribute to lowering the temperatur on Earth with mindblowing ten (!) degrees, Luckily this super vulcanos usually erupts just every other 100 000 years, so we do not need to be concerned. There are smaller vulcanos, like on the Norwegian island Jan Mayen and on Iceland, that if erupted would have a small, but highly significant impact on us, and we are not prepared for this according to Olivier.

To see the short video by the journalist, take a look at it here. (Only in Norwegian.)

Published June 30, 2020 1:21 PM - Last modified Apr. 23, 2021 2:49 PM