Tourism, crops, salmon: The other chaos caused by volcanoes

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Indonesia raised its alert level on Monday to four – its highest level – as Bali’s Mount Agung volcano belched huge plumes of smoke and officials warned of an imminent eruption.

Not just the lives of residents living nearby are disrupted however when a volcano starts spewing smoke and ash into the atmosphere.

Here’s a look at the current travel chaos caused by the eruption in Bali, as well as some of the havoc other volcanoes have wreaked in the past.

Tourism drop, cancelled flights

Bali’s Denpasar international airport – a key gateway for tourists looking to holiday on the tropical island – was closed for at least 24 hours Monday as authorities feared volcanic ash from Mount Agung might endanger air traffic.

Passengers wait for flight information following the eruption of Mount Agung volcano at Ngurah Rai Airport in Bali, Indonesia November 25, 2017. /Antara Foto via Reuters

Close to 450 flights have been cancelled, with 59,000 passengers affected, and some even sleeping in the airport terminal. Tourism on Bali has reportedly slumped since Mount Agung, which last erupted in 1963, came back to life in September.

‘Agricultural emergency’

In June 2011, the eruption of Chile’s Puyehue-Cordón Caulle sent up an ash cloud that circled the entire southern hemisphere, hitting Argentina, Uruguay, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand on the way. Flights to and from those countries were cancelled and several airports in neighboring Argentina were shut for weeks.

Several Argentinian provinces also declared an “agricultural emergency,” as ash covered lakes and pastures, leaving livestock with nothing to graze on.

Local media reports said up to one million sheep died as a result in Patagonia, while hot ash and rocks raised water temperatures in the Nilahue River near Puyehue to 45 degrees Celsius, killing some 4.5 million fish.

A farmer ploughs his field as Mount Agung erupts in the background in Culik Village, Karangasem, Bali, Indonesia November 26, 2017. /Antara Foto via Reuters

Experts said the volcano spewed out a total 100 million tons of ash, sand and pumice stone.

Europe at a standstill, Kenyan flowers binned

Perhaps the most disruptive volcanic eruption in recent years was that of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland in April 2010.

Despite being located hundreds of kilometers away, it wreaked havoc across Europe as a massive volcanic ash cloud swept over the UK and Scandinavia, its impact being felt as far as Japan and New Zealand.

About 20 countries closed their airspace, 100,000 flights were cancelled and some 10 million travelers were affected, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

Oxford Economics estimated Eyjafjallajökull’s impact on global GDP was 4.7 billion US dollars in the first week.

With airfreight grounded, Dutch flower distributors and Norwegian salmon farmers were unable to ship their products. New Zealand experienced a windfall as a result, but thousands of Kenyan farm workers were temporarily laid off and 3,000 tons of fresh flowers had to be destroyed, media reports said.

Indonesia's Mount Agung volcano erupts as fishermen pull a boat onto the beach in Amed, Bali, Indonesia, November 26, 2017. /Reuters Photo

Even world leaders had to reroute, extend or delay trips, while US President Barack Obama, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel had to cancel plans to attend the funeral of Polish President Lech Kaczynski.

Climate change

The eruption of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines in June 1991 was one of the biggest of the 20th century to the extent that it impacted global temperatures.

The volcano sent about 17 million tons of sulfur dioxide into the stratosphere, creating an aerosol cloud that quickly traveled around the world. Researchers said this led to a drop in global temperatures of 0.4 degrees in 1992-1993. The hole in the ozone layer also increased to a record size.

Threat to aviation

A relatively minor eruption, Mount Galunggung in Indonesia is credited with bringing the dangers of ash clouds to people’s attention.

In June 1982, a British Airways flight carrying about 240 passengers saw its engines fail after flying through a cloud of ash from the volcano. A Singapore Airlines flight experienced the same thing a month later.

Both planes landed safely after the pilots were able to restart the engines but the incidents are among the reasons airport closures and grounded flights are now routine procedure in cases of volcanic eruptions.

(With input from agencies)

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