Volcanic threats to global society

Resilience plans for globally impacting cataclysmic eruptions are needed When Mount Tambora in the Lesser Sunda Islands, Indonesia, erupted in 1815, more than 100 km 3 of volcanic pyroclasts and ash were discharged into the stratosphere up to altitudes of over 40 km ( 1 ). The volcanic gases and ash dispersed over the Northern Hemisphere, causing what was called “the year without a summer” in Europe, with severe starvation, famine, mass migrations, and an estimated several tens of thousands of casualties. By comparison, the 2010 Eyjafjallajökull eruption in Iceland discharged only about 0.3 km 3 —300 times less than Tambora—yet caused a week of air traffic shutdown and more than 100,000 flight cancellations over Northern and Central Europe, with an estimated economic loss of 3.3 billion euros ( 2 ). If an eruption of the scale of the Tambora eruption occurred today, its impacts would vastly exceed those of the 2010 Eyjafjallajökull eruption. Yet, global societies are essentially unprepared for such an event.