Les
asked
Eric Michael Craig:
What kind of disaster would a city-block-sized asteroid create if it were to smack down in the depths of the Pacific Ocean?
Eric Michael Craig
To an extent that is dependent upon where it hits. Regardless it would be devastating to the biosphere for years or longer. It doesn’t take much to kick things way out of balance and the issue is that we are insignificantly small creatures, clinging to an onion-skin thin biosphere in a carefully balanced ecosystem.
Even a degree or two of cooling if it happened at the wrong time of year could wipe out crops across entire continents by shortening growing seasons (Imagine a freeze across the Midwest in June or July). From there we’d get famine ... and then comes death from starvation across a lot of the world that depends on American food production … and then we’d have related diseases in the starving countries because of simply not being able to bury the dead as fast as they were dying.
NONE of those issues cover the economic collapse potential as the world struggles to pay for the relief efforts for those most affected initially and collaterally. A HUGE portion of the world economic powers have MAJOR commerce centers around the pacific coast… one word explains that problem. Tsunami. Crushing Japan. Crushing California (and the US collaterally) Crushing parts of China. Crushing Southeast Asia. Crushing New Zealand. Crushing parts of Australia. Swamping economies in an instant.
We have to accept that the long term danger from a pacific impact is the potential volcanic effects that will also likely happen. While an asteroid impact kicks up Gawdawful tons of ejecta, most of it is larger particulate that only stays aloft for a little while. But volcanoes produce fine aerosols that can stay in the stratosphere for decades. And a volcano that wakes up from an impact like this might well stay grumpy for a long time afterward.
We are so VERY dependent upon the environment being in balance. Sure, eventually the system will restore itself, but the question becomes, can we survive until it does?
Even a degree or two of cooling if it happened at the wrong time of year could wipe out crops across entire continents by shortening growing seasons (Imagine a freeze across the Midwest in June or July). From there we’d get famine ... and then comes death from starvation across a lot of the world that depends on American food production … and then we’d have related diseases in the starving countries because of simply not being able to bury the dead as fast as they were dying.
NONE of those issues cover the economic collapse potential as the world struggles to pay for the relief efforts for those most affected initially and collaterally. A HUGE portion of the world economic powers have MAJOR commerce centers around the pacific coast… one word explains that problem. Tsunami. Crushing Japan. Crushing California (and the US collaterally) Crushing parts of China. Crushing Southeast Asia. Crushing New Zealand. Crushing parts of Australia. Swamping economies in an instant.
We have to accept that the long term danger from a pacific impact is the potential volcanic effects that will also likely happen. While an asteroid impact kicks up Gawdawful tons of ejecta, most of it is larger particulate that only stays aloft for a little while. But volcanoes produce fine aerosols that can stay in the stratosphere for decades. And a volcano that wakes up from an impact like this might well stay grumpy for a long time afterward.
We are so VERY dependent upon the environment being in balance. Sure, eventually the system will restore itself, but the question becomes, can we survive until it does?
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