SHORT FEATURE NIKHILANAND PANIGRAHY Mt. Tambora Volcano with its caldera after eruption HE Sun is our default light option. But what happens when But the effect was not just limited to Indonesia. The Tit does not shine? destruction was spread far and wide. Even European countries In the year 1815, the repercussion of a very unusual event could not be spared of its evil consequences. The atmosphere in was felt worldwide for a fairly long period. The incident was the West was covered by the volcanic ash of Tambora, as a result a volcanic eruption in Mount Tambora. In Indonesia, there is of which the sun-rays could not reach the surface of the Earth. an island Sumbawa in its peninsula. This is a part of the Sunda Due to reduction of solar warmth, heavy snowfall and fatal frost islands that forms a segment of Sunda Arc. This is recognised as was found even during June to August, 1816. There was intense a string of volcanic islands. cold and the situation turned worse as famine-conditions In Mount Tambora, there exists a stratovolcano. It contains developed in European and North American countries. lava, pumice, volcanic ash, other materials and different gases. Many people from England started to rush to the lake side In many cases, a volcano looks like a cone, as the hot liquid lava of Geneva, Switzerland for warm climatic conditions. Such a emerging from it cannot fl ow to long distances away from the discouraging state of affair and unfair weather continued for vent or opening of the volcano, due to large viscosity. As soon more than one year. People named 1816 as the ‘Year Without as the lava cools, it solidifi es around the caldera of the volcano. Summer’ due to the continuous dimness of daylight; and this It may be mentioned that when two tectonic plates inside continued for almost three years in different degrees. Gillen the earth are slowly approaching each other, one of them may go D’Arcy Wood’s recent book, Tambora: The Eruption that Changed under the other. Then the boundary area between the two plates the World, has described the horrors of the volcano realistically. is known as a subduction zone, which is prone to volcanoes. People were highly despondent in these adverse Before the volcanic eruption Mount Tambora was the circumstances. Artists painted fi ery sunsets. Novelists wrote highest peak in the region. However, as soon as the volcano took about vampires. Under these trying conditions, four young place on 10th April 1815, the height of the peak fell by more than British friends gathered in Geneva. Mary Shelly, her future 1.5 kilometre creating a large caldera (depression) on the throat husband P.B. Shelly, Lord Byron and Dr. Polidori discussed of the volcano due to the forcible ejection of huge amounts of among themselves, in the fl ickering candle lights, about writing magma accumulated under the Earth’s crust. a horror-story. In fact there was a competition between them, The intensity of the volcano was rated as seven in V.E.L. who would write the best piece. (Volcanic Explosive Index). This indicates the severity of the Dr. Polidori wrote The Vampire (1819), the fi rst of its eruption and classifi es the volcano as a rare case. In fact, the kind in English literature. But the biggest contribution was ejection of lava had a volume of 160 cubic kilometres – the that of the eighteen year-old Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein – the highest recorded so far in known history. monster or the human vampire. (Ref: ‘How a volcanic eruption The explosion was so loud that it could be heard up to gave birth to vampire’, William J. Broad, New York News Service, 2000 kilometres. The Tambora eruption killed 11500 people 26.8.2015). with its hot molten rock pieces and ash. Besides, 71000 people So, we can see how the blocking of sunlight to the earth can lost their lives due to shortage of food, destruction of crops and disrupt our life, the way of living and thinking, art, culture and paddy fi elds. The peak of the volcano suddenly appeared like a above all peace and tranquillity of the society at large. cauldron having a deep depression (collapse). However in the Tambora volcano case, the reason behind Science Reporter, JULY 2016 28 SHORT FEATURERE Core Radiative zone Convection Zone Corona Chromosphere Photosphere Anatomy of the Sun Sunspots (marked black) A painting of the Little Ice-Age this mini-collapse is squarely concerned with the earth and the structure and composition of the materials inside the earth. But there can also be a cause equally disturbing. It is not terrestrial and seems to be a cause of concern for the near future. It has more to do with the Sun itself. The inside of the Sun is divided into different layers (of course, not with defi nite boundaries). Among them are the core, the innermost part of the center. Going outwards from the center, there is the radiative zone, followed by a convective zone, next to which is the visible surface of the sun, i.e., Photosphere. Immediately after it comes number of sunspots was remarkably small. But incidentally the chromosphere, the outermost part being the corona. this is the period that covers the middle and coldest part of the The light and heat we receive on Earth from the Sun is above-mentioned Little Ice Age. Their proposition is named as due to energy created by the core through nuclear reaction, Maunder Minimum by astronomers. under very high temperature (about 15 million Kelvin). If we According to recent fi ndings of Professor Valentina concentrate our attention on the photosphere-layer, some spots Zharkova and her team as presented in the National Astronomy are observed that appear dark, in contrast to the very bright Meeting in Llandudno, there will be fewer sunspots in the surrounding photosphere. These sun-spots were fi rst observed solar cycle 26, which will happen from 2030 to 2040, similar by Galileo, Thomas Harriot, Johannes Fabricius and Christoph to the Little Ice Age (1500-1850). Hence the earth is likely to Scheiner independently. Here the use of the word ‘spot’ may be suffer the next Mini Ice Age, coming in the next 15 years (Ref: a misnomer, since the sun-spot in reality is so large that its size Alice Harrold, The Independent, 12.7.2015). Of course such a can be more than several earths combined together. claim needs more rigorous scrutiny and Valentina’s ‘Principal It is observed that the number of sun-spots at a given Component Analysis’ model, based on solar magnetic fi eld, may time may be small. But with the passage of time, the number go wrong. But if at all this happens, the Sun, which makes our increases to reach a maximum and life comfortable, may be really a tormentor. then again falls to zero. This waxing Whether this will be true or not is to be verifi ed in future. and waning is like a cycle, known But another thing is certain. The Sun is estimated to be almost as the solar cycle, which is about 11 fi ve billion years old at present. It has already spent half of its life. years. This mystery was solved in After this period, the Sun will die. Every second it is converting the year 1843. about fi ve billion tonnes of matter to release energy equal to 3 26 Going back to the past, Europe x10 watt, as per Einstein’s famous mass-energy equivalence and North America experienced principle. Because of the continuous use of hydrogen as fuel at a Little-Ice Age between 1500 and its core the burning will be quite visible even in its outer surface 1850. The cold was so intense that at a later stage. As a result, it will look extremely bright and the Thames River, in England, was unfortunately dry the Earth’s oceans. Then the Earth will be frozen for seven weeks. A couple lifeless and convert into a desert. Gradually the size of the Sun Annie Maunder (1868-1947) and E. will increase and it will swallow nearby planets like Mercury Walter Maunder (1851-1928) later and Venus. on investigated the cause behind This future sunshine defi nitely will not be enjoyable, as we it. They found there may be a close know it now. It will annihilate all forms of life on our planet. Our relation with the then sunspot saviour may turn the ultimate killer in the long distant future. activity and the climatic coldness during the little ice age. Dr. Nikhilanand Panigrahy is Director Retd., Text Book Bureau. Address: During 1645 to 1715, the Badakhemundi Bunglow, Utkal Ashram Road, Berhampur–760001; Email: Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein [email protected] 29 Science Reporter, JULY 2016.