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[Wellington]

My boss was talking about this shit this afternoon. Kinda scary if you ask me.

http://www.nydailynews.com/08-29-2004/news/wn_report/story/226884p-194881c.html

A tsunami triggered by a volcanic eruption on an island off the coast of Africa could result in mountainous waves up to 75 feet high crashing into New York and other East Coast cities, scientists are warning.

A 12-mile-wide chunk of the Cumbre Vieja volcano on the Canary Islands rattled loose during a previous eruption and is at risk of smashing into the Atlantic Ocean, triggering what could be one of the largest tidal waves in recorded history, researchers told Britain's Royal Institution earlier this month.

A similar catastrophe was responsible for the death of more than 2,000 people in Papua New Guinea on July 17, 1998, when a magnitude 7 earthquake triggered a landslide that in turn touched off a 50-foot-tall tsunami.

"The waves would be hitting all along the East Coast of North America," McGuire said. For every 300 feet of shoreline, the waves would dump "the same amount of energy as generated by the collapse of the World Trade Center.

"We need to get advanced warning because in the Eastern U.S. and the Caribbean, we have to get an enormous number of people away from the coastline," he said.

That's pretty crazy. We're doomed.

 

[Tenguman]

Isn't the Daily News the newspaper w/ "Bat Boy"?

*edit: NM, I'm thinking of the "Weekly World News"

 

[yoshifumi]

whoa i think i've seen this in a movie

 

[Willco]

That would be so awesome.

 

[Meier]

That's Weekly World News. That's funny as shit that The Day After Tomorrow was referenced though.

 

[andthebeatgoeson]

nm

 

[Malakhov]

That's a scenario, it hasn't happened.

 

[Smiles and Cries]

That would be so awesome.

Amen

 

[Pochacco]

I saw this on the Discovery Channel a while back.
They don't really know when it will happen; could be next year or hundreds of years from now...but it's pretty much inevitable.

 

[Mama Smurf]

And, as I understand it, if some terrorist asshole (erm...as opposed to the nice terrorists) sets off a large enough bomb in yellowstone, a supervolcano will erupt and take out the rest of the US.

Or it could just erupt on its own I suppose.

 

[Triumph]

Go go mother nature! Hmm... right about now would be perfect timing for a giant killer tidal wave to hit NYC, too!

 

[Smiles and Cries]

I would take that over a Hurricane anytime

 

[Willco]

It's a shame this won't happen soon enough. Someone should take some explosives over there and speed this whole thing up.

 

[Pochacco]

"We gotta take out these terrorist volcanoes."

 

[SKluck]

what if I could fart sarin gas. WHAT IF WHAT IF.

 

[Phoenix]

Atlanta finally becomes beachfront property!

 

[teepo]

well... atleast i wouldn't die alone.

 

[Triumph]

Atlanta finally becomes beachfront property!

Word!

Wait, shit. My rent would go through the roof.

 

[AstroLad]

What if this and "The Big One" happen on the same day?

Out of my post-law school employment choices, LA, NYC, and Phoenix; I think I'll pick Phoenix. ;P

 

[Phoenix]

What if this and "The Big One" happen on the same day?

Out of my post-law school employment choices, LA, NYC, and Phoenix; I think I'll pick Phoenix. ;P

Wahoo! I've been picked up in the first round of the draft!

 

[Grey Fox]

Woop,I live in Maryland so i'll surely die a waterclogged death.

 

[AstroLad]

Wahoo! I've been picked up in the first round of the draft!

Me am stupid. What this mean?

 

[OmniGamer]

Me am stupid. What this mean?

"Pssst...his screenname is Phoenix"

 

[AstroLad]

"Pssst...his screenname is Phoenix"

Thank you, puny human.

 

[Poody]

damn and i was hoping for dodger vs yankee world series...ohwell

 

[MoxManiac]

Cool, nothing would break up the monotomy of life like a coast-destroying, people-killing tidal wave.

 

[Matlock]

Cool, nothing would break up the monotomy of life like a coast-destroying, people-killing tidal wave.

What about a slice of key lime pie?

 

[Otaking]

Would this reach near the middle of Pennsylvania...like Bedford county (think near Altoona for those that sorta know what i'm talking about)? I would like to avoid certain death if at all possible if this scenario would happen. I bet if something like this was announced, juding by the whole 8 hour window till the tidal wave hits, it would be possible to get far enough away to survive...but you'd have to avoid the other million people with the exact same plan. So either way it's to the John Titor underground bomb shelter for me.....

 

[Dice]

I heard of this on the discovery channel or something as well. I also heard of something else that is ready to come loose (part of an island?) and hit the west coast. I live in illinois though so no problem for me... cept the fault line near st louis that could cause the biggest earthquake ever.

 

[sc0la]

8-10 hours? shiiit you could be well on your way from the coast by then.

Remember on deep impact?

 

[Templar Wizard]

for actual information read this:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/horizon/2000/mega_tsunami_transcript.shtml

and for some real scientific knowledge browse all the transcripts of the Horizon epsiodes.
they are good pointers about where to go for real info.

forget tabloid news stories.

 

[RiZ III]

I saw something about this on Discovery channel a while back.

 

[Lambtron]

Um, holy fuck.

I guess that I should hurry up my plans to move westward.

 

[Miguel]

Are you sure it was a book? Are you sure it wasn't...nothing?

 

[sc0la]

Um, holy fuck.

I guess that I should hurry up my plans to move westward.

You should begin stabbing in that direction immediately.

 

[Miguel]

I cannot save you. I can't even save myself.

 

[Discreet]

would this wave hit canada like toronto specifically???

 

[Socreges]

Yes. The tidal wave will cross the entire state of New York, and even Lake Ontario, and crash into Toronto. It's just that big.

 

[Dice]

Ah yes that BBC link mentions what I was talking about, Hawaii could give way anytime as well. I remember watching the show, a dude was observing this big crack in the island that keeps growing bit by bit. Once it gets big enough a giant chunk of the island will slip into the pacific, they say it's happened before.

 

[DrM]

If the Cumbre Vieja were to collapse as one single block it would create a giant mega-tsunami with an initial wave height of 650 metres and a wavelength of 30-40 kilometres travelling westwards across the Atlantic with speeds up to 720 kilometres an hour towards America.

holy shit

 

[Hitman]

There's no way this will happen within 50 years.. THink about it. The world likes to show us crazy shit every one and awhile.. But in like 50 year increments. Nucleaer bomb.. then WTC... the next would be tsunami!

 

[Lambtron]

You should begin stabbing in that direction immediately.

WHAT DO I HAVE TO DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO???

 

[DCX]

That would be so awesome.

Hope you're drunk or tired...maybe both...

DCX

 

[B'z-chan]

I wanna ride the wave I wanna ride the wave

Cowabunga to east coast destruction. I'm waiting for the big one over here in Cali.

 

[Blackace]

"We gotta take out these terrorist volcanoes."

By invading a country with oil!!!!


Holy Shit that would be nuts if that happened!!!!! (the whole Tsunami thing..not invading a country with oil)

 

[Dice]

There's no way this will happen within 50 years.. THink about it. The world likes to show us crazy shit every one and awhile.. But in like 50 year increments. Nucleaer bomb.. then WTC... the next would be tsunami!

Meh, 70 years old is a good time to die, after you have lived plenty of life but before you get so old you can't do anything. And what a cool way to go that would be, the inevitable fate of being crushed by a massive wave that wipes out everything. The only thing is you'll be old so you might be taking a nap, but hopefully you'll be awake to go see it coming.

 

[DJ Demon J]

I cannot save you. I can't even save myself.

Woo, great song.

 

[Willco]

Whatever, it would be so cool. I mean, I know living outside of Washington DC I'd probably be hit, but how awesome would a giant mega-tsunami be? Pretty freakin' awesome! Eight hours is a lot of time to move out of the way and I think a lot of us around the Beltway could make our way to some Virginia mountains in that time. Manhattan? Probably fucked.

Point is, scientists are always saying shit like this. I remember back in 1992 we'd watching videos with scientists promising that Global Warming would kills us by now. Every few years scientists and Hollywood try to make some new asteroid/meteor movie to scare us about that. Volcanoes too. Who cares.

 

[Willco]

Yeah, I call bullshit and I win!

SIMON DAY: We have no idea when the next eruption will occur on the summit of the Cumbre Vieja. In recorded history there have been eruptions in 1949, in 1712, in 1646 so it looks as though there is an eruption up there once every 2 centuries or so, on average. The last eruption was 50 years ago so it is likely that sometime during the next century there’ll be another eruption up there.

NARRATOR: Tourists in America and the Canaries shouldn’t cancel their holidays. The next summit eruption is unlikely to happen for decades and it may take many more eruptions before the flank of the volcano is pushed into the Atlantic. The problem is scientists cannot tell.

BILL McGUIRE: There could be 5 more summit eruptions of the Cumbre Vieja before the western flank collapses, there could be 10, there could be 20. On the other hand, the west flank could collapse during the next eruption. We simply don’t know, but put it this way, if I was living in Miami or New York and I heard that the Cumbre Vieja was erupting I’d be keeping a very close eye on the news.

Whatever. Earth will be dead and we'll all be living on Mars or New Earth or whatever by the time this thing collapses. Too cool to be true, dammit.

 

[MrPing1000]

I remember reading about this years ago.

Pretty scary..... if u live on the east coast, or sourthern england/ireland.


I fill neither catagory


I'm going surfing