Nova: Doomsday Volcanoes

Iceland's volcanoes
This is a 60 minute DVD that really is the story of the impending danger of the volcanoes in Iceland. It has English subtitles and scene selection.
The purpose of this very scary film is to show how threatening the eruption of Iceland's volcanoes would be. It does go into some history of `doomsday' eruptions and has a most interesting look into past eruptions. It shows how scientists looked into the rise of deaths in the summer of 1783 (when most deaths occur in the winter), crops shriveled and there was a constant dry fog all across England and Central Europe. They concluded that the sulphur emitted from the explosions mix in the atmosphere to become mists of sulfuric acid.

The researchers do a thorough and thought-provoking job of explaining past eruptions, including the 2010 eruption of Eyjafjallaj"kull, and their effects on the world. Reenactments in the background add interest, rather than just having a talking head.
The scary fact is that an Icelandic...

Fun house Earth
This is the kind of stuff that might turn you into "fun house material". Welcome to Iceland, the land of nice tourist guides, inviting hot springs and...ahem...doomsday volcanoes.

These goddesses of death - with bizarre names like Laki, Hekla, Katla and Eyjafjallajökull - are ready to explode sky high at any time. When they do, a hundred thousand people in Europe might die of poisonous sulphuric smog. The fate of North America won't be much better if the winds turn in *that* particular direction. At the very least, we'll get a new economic recession with stock exchanges plummeting around the Western world.

I watched this documentary after consuming a really spicy dish and an energy drink. Almost scared me stiff. But seriously...it seems we just got one more thing to worry about. OK, how do you get off this planet? And please cancel that real estate deal at Reykjavik, will you. :-O

Interesting -
This Nova DVD gives us something new to worry about - Iceland. Unfortunately, its not something that can be solved by aid or military threat - it's their volcanoes, specifically a group of four volcanoes - one of which was responsible for numerous flight delays in 2010.

Turns out Iceland is sitting on the spot where two shifting tectonic plates meet, periodically leading to major volcanic eruptions. An eruption in 1783 was catastrophic, killing over 20% of Iceland's people, and thousands more in Europe - largely from sulphur dioxide emissions. Experts believe another one is overdue for eruption.

So add this concerns to your already long list - terrorism, collapsing economy, new flu viruses, etc. Actually, it's an interesting and credible presentation.

Click to Editorial Reviews