Extreme Volcanoes

"Learn more about the destructive force of volcanoes through powerful images and stories. Clear text emphasizes scientific efforts to better understand how to prepare for volcanic eruptions, while appropriately high-impact visuals keep readers engaged"--Provided by publisher.

The molten rock just under Earth's solid crust sometimes erupts suddenly and violently, causing streams of red-hot lava and scorching high-speed avalanches called pyroclastic flows. Volcanoes can bury entire cities in ash, poison the air with suffocating gases, trigger earthquakes and tsunamis, and drastically alter our climate. Witness the world's most extreme volcanic disasters throughout history, from the Yellowstone supervolcano to Vesuvius and Krakatoa, and find out what could happen if they erupt again. Learn how volcanoes form, what causes them to erupt, and why the benefits may outweigh the dangers for the people who live near them. Discover the science and technology that could help volcanologists save lives by predicting future devastating explosions.

The monograph covers the fundamentals and the consequences of extreme geophysical phenomena like asteroid impacts, climatic change, earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes, landslides, volcanic eruptions, flooding, and space weather. This monograph also addresses their associated, local and worldwide socio-economic impacts. The understanding and modeling of these phenomena is critical to the development of timely worldwide strategies for the prediction of natural and anthropogenic extreme events, in order to mitigate their adverse consequences. This monograph is unique in as much as it is dedicated to recent theoretical, numerical and empirical developments that aim to improve: (i) the understanding, modeling and prediction of extreme events in the geosciences, and, (ii) the quantitative evaluation of their economic consequences. The emphasis is on coupled, integrative assessment of the physical phenomena and their socio-economic impacts. With its overarching theme, Extreme Events: Observations, Modeling and Economics will be relevant to and become an important tool for researchers and practitioners in the fields of hazard and risk analysis in general, as well as to those with a special interest in climate change, atmospheric and oceanic sciences, seismo-tectonics, hydrology, and space weather.

Discusses the cause and impact of hurricanes and tornados.

Earthquakes can destroy entire cities in mere minutes and send shock waves rippling around the world. These devastating quakes become even more deadly when followed by monster waves. Tsunamis may travel faster than a jet across thousands of miles of ocean. Once they reach the coast, these huge walls of water can wash away everything in their path in one fatal whoosh. No place on Earth is entirely safe from earthquakes. But the technology to detect these hidden terrors is constantly improving. Discover the most fearsome earthquakes and tsunamis throughout history, as well as the science behind how and where these disasters strike.

In just a few seconds, a spark can turn a forest into a rapidly spreading inferno of intense heat and suffocating smoke. Firefighters try to control the wildfire—a battle that might last for months. Water can be used to fight wildfires, but too much water can cause deadly floods. Floods reduce land to swamp and sweep away houses and bridges. In their wake, they leave food shortages, contaminated drinking water, and diseases like cholera and typhus. Follow the scorched trail of the worst wildfires ever, learn what causes flash floods, and discover the technology that helps predict these devastating disasters.

An exhilarating, time-traveling journey to the solar system’s strangest and most awe-inspiring volcanoes. Volcanoes are capable of acts of pyrotechnical prowess verging on magic: they spout black magma more fluid than water, create shimmering cities of glass at the bottom of the ocean and frozen lakes of lava on the moon, and can even tip entire planets over. Between lava that melts and re-forms the landscape, and noxious volcanic gases that poison the atmosphere, volcanoes have threatened life on Earth countless times in our planet’s history. Yet despite their reputation for destruction, volcanoes are inseparable from the creation of our planet. A lively and utterly fascinating guide to these geologic wonders, Super Volcanoes revels in the incomparable power of volcanic eruptions past and present, Earthbound and otherwise—and recounts the daring and sometimes death-defying careers of the scientists who study them. Science journalist and volcanologist Robin George Andrews explores how these eruptions reveal secrets about the worlds to which they belong, describing the stunning ways in which volcanoes can sculpt the sea, land, and sky, and even influence the machinery that makes or breaks the existence of life. Walking us through the mechanics of some of the most infamous eruptions on Earth, Andrews outlines what we know about how volcanoes form, erupt, and evolve, as well as what scientists are still trying to puzzle out. How can we better predict when a deadly eruption will occur—and protect communities in the danger zone? Is Earth’s system of plate tectonics, unique in the solar system, the best way to forge a planet that supports life? And if life can survive and even thrive in Earth’s extreme volcanic environments—superhot, superacidic, and supersaline surroundings previously thought to be completely inhospitable—where else in the universe might we find it? Traveling from Hawai‘i, Yellowstone, Tanzania, and the ocean floor to the moon, Venus, and Mars, Andrews illuminates the cutting-edge discoveries and lingering scientific mysteries surrounding these phenomenal forces of nature.

Assisting readers in experiencing this geological phenomena, the authors draw upon actual encounters with volcanoes, often through firsthand accounts of those who have witnessed eruptions and miraculously survived the terrifying aftermath. 46 line illustrations. 85 halftones.