Gotta Watch: When volcanoes erupt
Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull volcano blackened the sky for days back in 2010.
May 18th, 2011
12:53 PM ET

Gotta Watch: When volcanoes erupt

In today's Gotta Watch, we're looking at the awesome power of some of the planet's most active volcanoes. From the easy-to-pronounce Mount St. Helens to another whose name you best not try to utter unless you're sitting down.

Mount St. Helens – On May 18, 1980, Mount St. Helens erupted, becoming the most destructive volcano in United States history. An earthquake and subsequent landslide triggered a series of eruptions and a massive ash cloud. The blast was reportedly so powerful it was felt as far away as Canada. The eruption claimed the lives of 57 people and injured many more.

[cnn-video url="http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2011/05/18/vault.mount.st.helen.eruption.usgs"%5D

Eyjafjallajokull – Often refered to simply as "the Icelandic volcano" due to its tongue twister of a name, Eyjafjallajokull wreaked havoc for international travelers for the better part of a week back in 2010. At its peak, the crisis affected 1.2 million passengers a day and 29 percent of all global aviation, according to the International Air Transport Association, becoming the worst disruption of air traffic since the September 11 terrorist attacks back in 2001.

[cnn-video url="http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2010/04/20/ac.tuchman.raining.ash.cnn"%5D

Merapi – The Merapi volcano's most recent eruption began on October 26, 2010. It killed hundreds of people and displaced more than 200,000. The Indonesian volcano's recent eruptions released about 140 million cubic meters of magma, the National Agency for Disaster Management said.

[cnn-video url="http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2010/11/03/coren.indonesia.volcanoes.cnn"%5D

Mount Vesuvius – Just short of 2,000 years ago, the city of Pompeii was wiped off the map by a historic eruption that buried an entire city in ash. Pompeii is now a major tourist attraction and is considered one of Italy's most important archaeological sites. 

[cnn-video url="http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2011/05/18/vault.vinci.pompeii.volcano.cnn"%5D
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Filed under: Earth • Environment • Gotta Watch • History • Iceland • Indonesia • Italy • Natural Disasters • U.S. • Uncategorized • Volcano • Volcanoes
soundoff (17 Responses)
  1. popeye

    Love to see that massive eruption Mama! Cc;u r ss

    May 18, 2011 at 1:07 pm | Report abuse |
  2. stonrdude

    Really good stuff!

    May 18, 2011 at 1:33 pm | Report abuse |
  3. Gotta Watch

    You think this is good, wait 'til you see the Must See.

    May 18, 2011 at 2:07 pm | Report abuse |
  4. mwb

    was in Spokane when the ash cloud hit, don't want to go through that again.

    May 18, 2011 at 3:19 pm | Report abuse |
    • che-3

      Ash on your body is good for you. It makes you a whole lonely new human race in itself yet to be classified as; inferior or otherwise. Civil Rights Laws will be inapplicable to you. Sadly, you will be on your own and lonely. Think about it, you might scare the neighborhood dogs and kids. Hah, scarily isn’t it. You might need Dr. MLK to organize and picket for you. He died a long time ago.

      May 18, 2011 at 5:15 pm | Report abuse |
  5. The Rock

    IF YA SMELLLALALALAOW!! What The ROCK ... is ... COOKIN' ...

    May 18, 2011 at 3:35 pm | Report abuse |
  6. DC2003

    Yet no mention of Kilauea on the Big Island! The longest continuos errupting volcano in the world!
    Amazing place to hike!

    May 18, 2011 at 3:42 pm | Report abuse |
  7. che-3

    I love Volcanic eruptions.
    That's the few times we realized we're defenseless and powerless against nature reshaping or remapping the earth we greedily claims to be ours according to her own will. Regardless of how we as people have allowed some pigs or some faith to deceitfully divide us as one race; we used to be ONE human race.
    FACTS UNDISPUTED: Just look at the map of the World and how with no education at all you fit or piece them together like a puzzle. Not that the color of your skin is dependent of you geographic location to mother earth.

    May 18, 2011 at 5:02 pm | Report abuse |
    • Hamza

      Well at least the silver linnig of tonight is that Lawler got to have, what I imagine, was an amazing orgasm.Lest us not forget that an hour and forty minutes of that Raw was terrific, which is pretty amazing by current standards.You are all wonderful, a +Rhodes to every one of you.

      April 24, 2012 at 12:46 am | Report abuse |
  8. IceT

    Article on Volcanic eruptions just before Doomsday on the 21st! Coincidence? I think not!

    May 18, 2011 at 5:55 pm | Report abuse |
  9. neighbor

    Pi ss off

    May 18, 2011 at 6:19 pm | Report abuse |
  10. banasy

    Yes, IceT, it is a coincidence. Back to SVU with you!

    May 18, 2011 at 7:02 pm | Report abuse |
  11. Kai

    Volcanoes are so cool... never been gladder to be a Geology major!

    May 18, 2011 at 8:51 pm | Report abuse |
  12. stewie

    We used to be a glob of goo too, so what. If you like ash so much then stick around for when the super volcano at yellowstone blows and you'll get plenty of ash.

    May 18, 2011 at 11:50 pm | Report abuse |
  13. neighbor

    popeye
    Love to see that massive eruption Mama! Cc;u r ss
    May 18, 2011 at 1:07 pm

    So you like to see a person get angry and then you throw up a CNN page about "erupting volcanoes" and the first comment is what you said to me "see, see. you are sick, sick." Who sits around and thinks up the best untraceable harassment, masking it online? You do things that are beyond average human understanding so that any description of it is complicated and sounds like paranoia. How are you going to achieve respect for your purposes if you disrespect people?

    che-3
    Ash on your body is good for you. It makes you a whole lonely new human race in itself yet to be classified as; inferior or otherwise. Civil Rights Laws will be inapplicable to you. Sadly, you will be on your own and lonely. Think about it, you might scare the neighborhood dogs and kids. Hah, scarily isn’t it. You might need Dr. MLK to organize and picket for you. He died a long time ago.

    May 18, 2011 at 5:15 pm

    You ask the questions and give the responses as well. I won't point out where your name comes from because maybe some lonely, scary, inferior person will forecast that many "coincidences" in a row are just manipulation.

    IceT
    Article on Volcanic eruptions just before Doomsday on the 21st! Coincidence? I think not!
    May 18, 2011 at 5:55 pm |

    neighbor
    Pi ss off
    May 18, 2011 at 6:19 pm |

    banasy
    Yes, IceT, it is a coincidence. Back to SVU with you!
    May 18, 2011 at 7:02 pm

    Where's SVU? You're close to revealing who "Ice" T is, but you're the cold one. I did not bother about things like surveillance until it was at my door, and in my newspapers and all over my computer. If you're really a "good guy", be good.
    What mattered, matters.

    May 20, 2011 at 5:28 am | Report abuse |
  14. Brandy

    And now there is Vulcan eruption in Iceland again. Another tongue twister. It looks like it's at Grímsvötn

    May 21, 2011 at 4:18 pm | Report abuse |
    • Javed

      eizinge Funktion der Anwendung: Artikel via Twitter weiterverbreiten. Jetzt tut sich aber auch dort einiges und man wird ebenfalls Kommentare anbieten, und da die Philosophie von TweetMeme vorsieht, dass

      February 11, 2012 at 2:30 pm | Report abuse |
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