Iceland’s Eyjafjallajokull volcano spews ash in 2010, a relatively small eruption that nevertheless led to the cancellation of hundreds of flights worldwide DE MALGLAIVE ETIENNEAn analysis of Britain’s weather over nearly seven centuries has found that many extreme summers and devastating winters were not random events but linked to the eruptions of distant supervolcanoes. Scientists say such supervolcanoes could be among the greatest threats to Britain’s climate — even though they flare up thousands of miles away. Researchers trawled local history and other archives to create a database of more than 15,000 droughts, floods, storms and freezing winters, enabling them to look for underlying causes such as climate change. It was, however, volcanoes that emerged as the prime suspect for freak weather. “Our records show that some of the worst weather Britain experienced over the last few centuries was associated with eruptions such as the Laki fissures event in…

Source: The Times August 26, 2017 23:02 UTC