Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: RT: Eyjafjallajokull

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  • giovanni tiso,

    Given Te Papa's long opening hours, it's not unlikely that when the big time comes there'll be somebody in the earthquake simulator. No doubt they'll think oh baby, this thing ROCKS.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report Reply

  • Christopher Dempsey,

    I was recently speaking to someone in a similar role in Auckland who was frustrated beyond belief that no matter what they did, he was unable to get Aucklanders to fully appreciate the natural hazards the city faces or to prepare their households for a possible emergency.

    What, you mean no milk for the flat whites? I'll lay in some dried milk powder then.

    Parnell / Tamaki-Auckland… • Since Sep 2008 • 659 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    imported Sardinians

    in tins?

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Andre Alessi,

    I think this is the right place to tell you all about Höpöhöpö Böks, which is an Icelandic poem composed using only one vowel, making it a univocal lipogram.

    "This is why you should never listen to poets, they lie to you":

    I've had a couple of nightmares involving volcanic eruptions since I moved to Devonport. There's something about literally living in the shadow of a volcano (even an extinct one) that seems...silly.

    Devonport, New Zealand • Since Nov 2006 • 864 posts Report Reply

  • 3410,

    Given Te Papa's long opening hours, it's not unlikely that when the big time comes there'll be somebody in the earthquake simulator. No doubt they'll think oh baby, this thing ROCKS.

    ... unless the two cancel each other out.

    Auckland • Since Jan 2007 • 2618 posts Report Reply

  • JoJo,

    That was actually quite scary.

    The Pompeii exhibition included a short 3D movie showing the eruption and aftermath. I found that quite terrifying, considering the number of volcanoes in NZ!

    Wellington • Since Jul 2008 • 95 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    Meanwhile, my friend Brian has been stuck in Cannes for days now. I know, I know – poor bugger.

    You might be saying that without sarcasm when he comes home with the expenses claim. I've always been under the impression that Cannes isn't exactly a haven for the budget traveller. :)

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • Rich Lock,

    There's something about literally living in the shadow of a volcano (even an extinct one) that seems...silly.

    Different from all other human behaviour how?

    What fools we mortals be.

    back in the mother countr… • Since Feb 2007 • 2728 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    You might be saying that without sarcasm when he comes home with the expenses claim. I've always been under the impression that Cannes isn't exactly a haven for the budget traveller. :)

    Oh, quite. Just as well he's there with The Boss.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    I've had a couple of nightmares involving volcanic eruptions since I moved to Devonport. There's something about literally living in the shadow of a volcano (even an extinct one) that seems...silly.

    Actually, as I understand it, the Auckland sort of volcano doesn't erupt twice on one site. So the next one to blow will be anywhere but at the location of an existing cone.

    Hope this makes you feel better.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • giovanni tiso,

    in tins?

    Naturally

    There's something about literally living in the shadow of a volcano (even an extinct one) that seems...silly.

    Oh yes. And I say that sitting directly above a major faultline.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report Reply

  • Geoff Lealand,

    What fools we mortals be.

    Precisely what I thought as tidied up the vege garden yesterday, listening to the roar of V8s in downtown Hamilton. Had a dour laugh or two when I saw a HCC sign suggesting that spectators take a 'green' route by walking to the track--so they could watch expensive cars going round and round in circles, burning up finite fossil fuel!

    Screen & Media Studies, U… • Since Oct 2007 • 2562 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    Oh yes. And I say that sitting directly above a major faultline.

    What I said about Auckland volcanoes? Doesn't apply to fault lines. Sorry.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • giovanni tiso,

    What I said about Auckland volcanoes? Doesn't apply to fault lines. Sorry.

    Heh. Fair enough. I take it you will join my campaign to move the capital to Palmerston North?

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    Heh. Fair enough. I take it you will join my campaign to move the capital to Palmerston North?

    That's taking things a bit far, surely.

    Just lug everything over the hill to the Wairarapa.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • recordari,

    Heh. Fair enough. I take it you will join my campaign to move the capital to Palmerston North?

    Nooooooo! We may be faultless, but we at least have undulations in our favour.

    AUCKLAND • Since Dec 2009 • 2607 posts Report Reply

  • James Butler,

    Had a dour laugh or two when I saw a HCC sign suggesting that spectators take a 'green' route by walking to the track--so they could watch expensive cars going round and round in circles, burning up finite fossil fuel!

    Srsly, at your average motorsport event the spectators burn orders of magnitude more fuel than the competitors.

    Auckland • Since Jan 2009 • 856 posts Report Reply

  • giovanni tiso,

    Just lug everything over the hill to the Wairarapa.

    No, I'm pretty sure the Wairarapa is just as unsafe as Wellington, if not more so. In fact I distinctly recall a DomPost article in which they suggested that a Wairarapa earthquake might destress the Wellington faultline and buy the capital more time. The author came perilously close to wishing death and destruction to our brethren over the Rimutakas in fact.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    the spectators burn orders of magnitude more fuel

    and that's just the hotdogs

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Deborah,

    I thought that Auckland museum video was a little misleading, though I could be wrong about that. My understanding was that pyroclastic flows occur when columns of ash and gas collapses. So there's a few hours while the column builds and builds and builds, until you get the devastating collapse. The video implied that it all happens very quickly, so no one has any time to get away. But motorway and highway havoc aside, if an eruption of the sort that generates pyroclastic flows starts in Auckland, there would be a bit of time to flee. Showing it all happening so quickly might encourage people to think that there's nothing they can do anyway, so it's not worth making emergency preparations at all. Wind up radios aside, of course.

    Any volcanolgists about? Or geologists? Or enthusiasts who know a bit about what might happen? (C/f me, whose only knowledge of volcanology comes from reading Pliny and going to assorted museum exhibitions. And crashing one undergraduate geology lecture 26 years ago.)

    New Lynn • Since Nov 2006 • 1447 posts Report Reply

  • Hilary Stace,

    Apparently the Icelandic eruption is a Plinian one - a plume is going 8 or so kilometres up in the air - quite small compared with Pompeii.

    Autistic savant Daniel Tammet learned Icelandic in a week. He's written about how easy it was in his book Embracing the wide sky. He found it a logical language full of patterns.

    Wgtn • Since Jun 2008 • 3229 posts Report Reply

  • craigm,

    I've been lucky enough to visit Eyjafjallajokull in 2008, my personal pronunciation guide is "eh-a-fiatla-jokult" - gottal stop on the last "t".

    The floods that come out of the glaicers -from all the melting ice are call jokulhaups.

    Anyway pyroclastic flows are the result material collapsing out of an ash column - they're also called pyroclastic density currents and they can happen at a range of scales. The whole cloud doesnt have to collapse all at once, but bits can fall out of it as the main cloud continues to rise. Ngauruhoe in the 70's had small ones that only made the foot of the cone - whereas other ones (such as from Taupo) travel hundreds of kilometres - the deposit is then called an ignimbrite and if it's hot enough when it lands it will weld together into a solid rock. What you might be mistaking for a pyroclastic flow in the Auckland video is a base surge which is kind of a low angle PDC that comes straight out of the vent at an angle rather than going up in a cloud and then collapsing. A base surge is the result of interaction of magma and water, so if an Auckland volcano erupted in the harbour, a base surge is what you'd get.

    Taupo • Since Nov 2007 • 16 posts Report Reply

  • Deborah,

    Yes, I was mistaking a base surge for a pyroclastic flow. Now I can tick the "learned something new" box for the day. Thanks, craigm.

    New Lynn • Since Nov 2006 • 1447 posts Report Reply

  • Rich of Observationz,

    Srsly, at your average motorsport event the spectators burn orders of magnitude more fuel than the competitors.

    I saw 5 mins of that car race while I was waiting for a plane (that damn volcano's even delaying Auckland-Wellington flights).

    Seriously, it was a bunch of saloon cars (with poorly appointed interiors) being driven around Hamilton, not all that quickly, on a Sunday afternoon. Do people actually *pay* to watch traffic?

    Back in Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 5550 posts Report Reply

  • Sara Bee,

    Still cackling about Mt Fluffy Bunnies...

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 67 posts Report Reply

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