The Stand Still, Stay Silent Fan-Forum
General => General Discussion Board => Topic started by: Jitter on July 29, 2021, 06:26:05 AM
-
I came across an interesting news item, and now I found it in English too.
An overnight train service is now available between Mora Stockholm and Copenhagen, and onwards to Berlin. I am sure nothing will go wrong! Although the image of the train seems to be lacking some important equipment.
https://www.railjournal.com/passenger/main-line/snalltaget-launches-night-train-between-stockholm-copenhagen-and-berlin/
Seriously though this is good news. Europe is small enough for overland travel for many purposes, and I'm glad to see the connections are being built up.
-
Several locomotives are used for the journey; however, the coaches are owned by Snälltåget, which bought them in 2019 and has carried out a complete renovation.
Ah yes, the blessing of European nations having their trolley wires operate at various different voltages ... ;)
-
So, science has taken a look at who would be likely to survive things going Real Bad. It was shown that Iceland would be one of the best places to survive a collapse of the society!
News article in the Guardian, and the scientific paper itself (full text is available for free)
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jul/28/new-zealand-rated-best-place-to-survive-global-societal-collapse
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/15/8161/htm
I think this study will be interesting for many of us. Ok so the research ignored trollification, but still!
-
So, science has taken a look at who would be likely to survive things going Real Bad. It was shown that Iceland would be one of the best places to survive a collapse of the society!
News article in the Guardian, and the scientific paper itself (full text is available for free)
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jul/28/new-zealand-rated-best-place-to-survive-global-societal-collapse
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/15/8161/htm
I think this study will be interesting for many of us. Ok so the research ignored trollification, but still!
Those were really fascinating reads, thanks for linking them!
-
They are! And kind of chilling, the way they speculate about the collapse that is coming (not may be coming). Definitely interesting for anyone interested in apocalypses.
-
Not sure if this thread should be on this noard or General, but nevertheless. News from Iceland in case someone besides me is interested. The volcano that erupted in 2021 and 2022 in the Reykjanes peninsula near Reykjavik has started again today.
My favorite to follow it on is JustIcelandic on YouTube https://m.youtube.com/@JustIcelandic/videos
-
Not sure if this thread should be on this noard or General, but nevertheless. News from Iceland in case someone besides me is interested. The volcano that erupted in 2021 and 2022 in the Reykjanes peninsula near Reykjavik has started again today.
My favorite to follow it on is JustIcelandic on YouTube https://m.youtube.com/@JustIcelandic/videos
So if it's no longer a volcano, is it a lava basket then? Something from the other Nordic comic: https://satwcomic.com/bad-boy
-
Yeah, it’s back to its basket for now. Same timeframe next year, perhaps?
-
I’m not sure f it’s relevant to have a Nordic news thread now that the comic’s over, let me know what you think? Should I just post on thr General Discussion thread?
Anyways things are back ro hectic around the Reykjanes peninsula. There was a short eruption before, preceded by seismic activity that led to the evacuation of the town of Grindavik (population was around 3800). That ine was short and while the experts were saying it’s not over yet, some peoples were already returning to the town. Now last night (January 14th 2024) the 200 or so people spending the night in the town were emergency evacuated again. A new fissure eruption started close to the town, and an even closer one appeared inside of the protection barrier they have been building! So far two houses are under lava, but there is no way to know how long this will go on i.e. how far the lava will flow. Nature is terrifying!
The only casualty so far has been a construction worker who fell into a crack he was working on to stabilize in Grindavik. It turned out there was a much larger cavern under the smaller crack and he disappeared completely into the earth. Now there are no people in the town, but at least dozens of sheep and possibly some pets have been taken back there and are now trapped. During the earlier rescue efforts all animals got out, but at the moment there is no information about how many hqve been taken back and where they are.
The English liveblog of RÜV, and Icelandic news outlet can be viewed here: https://www.ruv.is/english/2024-01-14-an-eruption-has-begun-north-of-grindavik-401887 Some particularly impressive footage of the people getting the construction equipment to safety under heading “More on the saving of vital defense building equipment”. Because all of the machinery used for building of lava defense barriers was right there and they needed to get as many as possible to safety.
-
Yikes!
A good indication of why one should listen to experts saying "it's not over yet." Sometimes, it's true, they're being overcautious -- but when they aren't, the results of ignoring them can be really unpleasant.
-
A good indication of why one should listen to experts saying "it's not over yet." Sometimes, it's true, they're being overcautious -- but when they aren't, the results of ignoring them can be really unpleasant.
FWIW, the volcanologist our TV news saw fit to interview now opined that things could "go on for decades, or even centuries" - I'm pretty sure, though, that he meant volcanic activity near Grindavik in general, not that we'll be seeing the lava flow 24/7 until the end of our lives ...
-
Anyways things are back ro hectic around the Reykjanes peninsula.
I came here to say "... which apparently prompts discussions whether vulcanologists' current stance of 'don't try to intervene' should change (https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20231221-volcano-geoengineering-eruption-lava-iceland-reykjanes)", but as it turns out, that article actually goes back to the time of the first eruption even. As do the statements of "it might go on for centuries (https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20231220-iceland-volcano-what-its-like-to-live-with-the-fires-of-reykjanes)" that I wrote about in my previous post.
Oh well. At least the news of the naval invasion of Australia (https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-68002401) are properly breaking ones ... :P
-
Yeah, the eruption started and stopped again but based on the ground movement particularly at the Svartsengi power plant and the Blue Lagoon, this is a pause rather than the end. It appears to be at least a rifting event, the previous one (elsewhere in Iceland) lasted for nine years and provided nine eruptions. Two eruptions during the same year, as happened in 2023, is very rare even for Iceland, and it’s now looking very likely to repeat this year.
But, geological evidence from previous volcanic events on the Reykjanes peninsula (where all these eruptions, now 5 since 2021) have occurred, indicates that the several volcanic systems of the peninsula are closely interlinked and when one goes, they are all likely to go. Last time this happened it went on for centuries. Not 800 years of continuous lava flow of course, but frequent bigger and smaller eruptions the traces of which are the current landscape of the peninsula. At least one of the systems reaches all the way north to Reykjavik area, some of the newer housing districts are built on fairly fresh lava. Good idea? Apparently geologists are not buying property there.
Even if it never reaches Reykjavik, the current activity is at the power plant which is very important to a large area, and Blue Lagoon which is the most important single tourist attraction in the country. Plus westward lava flows might intercept the highway between Keflavik and Reykjavik, although at this moment this is not a major risk. But if the unrest spreads from current areas to the systems west, this will quickly become a concern. And these western systems are part of the Reykjanes peninsula system group and presumably connected.
To top it off, Grimsvötn under the Vatnajökul glacier is having a fever. This is quite common and often, but not always, leads to an eruption. There is much less infrastructure around there so even though the potential eruption would be bigger it has good chance to be less problematic. Eruption under ice or water produces ash clouds which affects air traffic like many of us recall but usually only for a limited time and area. The glacial flooding caused by the volcano heating up and melting the ice is currently ongoing, this may result in an eruption.
So the Grimsvötn main caldera hasn’t been a huge problem in historical times. However the late 1700’s eruption in the Laligigar, part of the Grimsvötn fissure system, was a huge event. Half of the livestock and consequently 20 % of human population in Iceland died. But beyond this, the effects had major global scale impacts. So much sulfur dioxide billowed to Europe that there was elevated mortality in the British Islands and to a lesser extent in mainland Europe too. Weather impacts were gloabal, and further deaths from the resulting famines have been attributed to this eruption or series of eruptions. A volcanic winter can be said to have occurred, and this eruption was among the underlying reasons that led to the famine which in turn led to the uprisings which became the French Revolution! Pretty major, huh? See here, it’s terrifying and fascinating: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laki
I have read thet “May you live in interesting times” is a Chinese curse. Maybe Icelandic too? Globally appropriate as a curse, it seems (again).
-
Oh well. At least the news of the naval invasion of Australia (https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-68002401) are properly breaking ones ... :P
Vile creatures!!
Jitter...Unfortunately these are Interesting times...
-
Yeah, fire ants can be a deadly problem. Our native jackjumper ants are bad enough.i’ve been bitten by those and it is horrible. Fire ants are worse.
-
Thanks for the update, Jitter!
When my daughter was small, I took her to the exhibit in the local museum on volcanism. Auckland is built on top of over 50 volcanoes, some officially extinct, most officially dormant, and includes one which popped up in the harbour only about 600-700 years ago. Anyway, small wavelet saw the video of lava flows and trees igniting before being subsumed under under lava, and the graphic about where Auckland's volcanoes are, and became distraught, demanding to move to Pluto right that evening. (Because there are no volcanoes on Pluto, you see.)
I had the live stream of the Reykjanes eruptions going, and while she was okay with seeing a vent spitting lava somewhere, but no way would she view the video of the drone flight over Grindavik surveying the damage to the houses. She reminded me that volcanoes still kind of freak her out, and moving to Pluto was still a thing.
She was only half-joking.
-
Oh Wave, I absolutely empathize with wavelet! I wasn’t exactly small but quite young, perhaps about 12, when in a book I read there was an earthquake and the main character’ family and tribe was swallowed into the ground. I’m still highly uneasy about earthquake risk, although I have been able to visit California and would probably be happy to go to Japan if I had the opportunity. I know now that while earthquakes can be extremely destructive, this sort of swallowing things is not the usual way it happens. I also know earthquakes are a major risk in other areas than California and Japan, and are in fact a lot more dangerous in many other places. But in my mind Japan and California are strongly linked with earthquakes while other places such as Auckland are places where there could be one, yes, but it’s not an immediate concern in my head.
The point of all this is that fears or concerns formed when young can stick strongly! Even when the real information and rational thought tell me the realistic risk, the underlying feeling about it remains. Give my greetings to wavelet!
I wouldn’t recommend Pluto though. Not even a planet!
-
Earthquakes and volcanoes are fascinating because they're so.... outside of our control. I've been through a few very mild earthquakes when about 6 years ago there was a weird bout of seismic activity in Western Australia (the "huh i just got woken up from sleep. why is my bed vibrating" kind of earthquake), but big earthquakes and volcanic eruptions are quite scary, and there's not really much we can do to stop them. In some ways it's humbling to be reminded that we still live on a dynamic and seismically active ball of rock and magma in space.
As far as I know, the people who are worst hit by earthquakes are people in less developed countries or isolated places where the infrastructure won't stand up to earthquakes and the government isn't willing and/or able to provide enough relief after it happens (see what happened with the earthquake in some of the mountainous regions of Morocco last year). With the proper infrastructure and funding, there's a lot that can be done to mitigate the effects of earthquakes, but not everyone has access to this (Natural disasters don't discriminate, but there are many inequalities in how countries can prepare for them or deal with the aftermath).
I'm also being reminded of the website I made when I was 11 in a school extension program about volcanoes. It's actually still up on the internet, you can look at it here if you want (https://volcanotastic.weebly.com/ (https://volcanotastic.weebly.com/)). Truly my web design skills knew no bounds.
-
Fascinating! What an excellent project. I hope your teacher of the time appreciated all the hard work.
-
(Because there are no volcanoes on Pluto, you see.)
Erm (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geology_of_Pluto#Possible_cryovolcanism) ...
... may I suggest the Moon? Much easier to reach, in the Goldilocks zone, and since it's already in gravitational lock (and Earth not heavy enough), volcanoes are currently absent and virtually guaranteed not to pop up later.
(Not sure whether it would be possible that a volcano on Earth sends ejecta all the way there, but if so, you might have a different, more pressing problem.)
Just don't ask for meteorite protection, though ...
-
I think this counts as Nordic news:
https://wapo.st/47H0KQw
Should be a gift link, so it shouldn't be paywalled.
MUDDUSJÄRVI, Finland — Pauliina Feodoroff walks through one of the world’s last ancient forests, with lingonberries, wild mushrooms and reindeer droppings crunching gently beneath her dirt-caked boots. But her stride falters as she enters a clearing littered with tree stumps, limbs and branches. Chainsaws mowed down this section last winter, and now it’s off-limits for the hundreds of reindeer who once helped it blossom. Feodoroff — a member of the Sámi Indigenous group, a community that revolves around the reindeer and their habitats — wants to buy this land back, and summon the reindeer to return.
It’s part of a grand experiment to rewild the Arctic by regenerating the biodiverse latticework of reindeer habitats, which help regulate the planet’s temperatures.
-
Thorny, it works, and thanks! The relationship between the reindeer and the ecology is complicated in Finland, as we have reindeer herders who are not Sami (unlike in Sweden and Norway where only the Sami can get reindeer rights) and the total number of reindeer in Finnish Lapland s over carrying capacity. So, it’s not a straightforward reindeer = good, but then nothing is. The Sami ways of herding have traditionally been in harmony with the land, but not all herding is sustainable. I can’t go very deep into this and as an outsider I shouldn’t, but the struggle is ongoing.
And the point that the Finnish state is overlogging is definitely true! In the north, where the forest grows back so so slowly, and also in the south where there is much less old-growth forest left. Various NGOs and volunteers do surveys to identify the most valuable areas, but it’s always a fight to get even the best ones i to conservation.
@dmeck7755 read Thorny’s article, you’ll love it!
-
Thank you @Jitter and @thorny . I need to look at this!!
-
@Jitter, thanks for further info!
-
It’s back, the volcano. In Iceland of course.
Eruption no 2 of 2024 started on Thursday morning and may actually be sputtering out already. This time the problem is that it ran over the hot water pipeline that supples the entire peninsula with heating. And it’s winter, so the civil defense department has issued several requests for people to not use hot water for showers and bathing, turn heat low in the houses and also NOT turn out many electric heaters because the electricity grid would not be able to bear such a load. So far they seem to be coping. This energy problem affects several towns and around 30 000 people, which again is a huge number considering how small the population is. Interesting times.
-
This time the problem is that it ran over the hot water pipeline that supples the entire peninsula with heating.
"We froze to death because of the lava around us" would be a heck of an obit ... :-X
-
JoB, wouldn’t it just! They have ampn emergency pipeline under construction, has been for a while already so they are hoping to get it connected by noon tomorrow. Problem is that if the heating pipes (with water that used to be hot inside) freeze solid, the pipes will burst. Hopefully it won’t come to that.
-
They have an emergency pipeline under construction, has been for a while already so they are hoping to get it connected by noon tomorrow. Problem is that if the heating pipes (with water that used to be hot inside) freeze solid, the pipes will burst. Hopefully it won’t come to that.
I say, wouldn't it be about time to deal with that flaming liver (https://sites.pitt.edu/~dash/britishdragons.html#dennison) in a more immediate way? :sigrun:
-
It's baaaa-aaack (https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-68589594) ...
-
That looks downright scary, though I would like to see it.