Vulcanologists have a ranking for volcanos that is similar to our ranking of all other natural disasters from tornadoes to earthquakes. The thing I love about the Volcanic Explosivity Index are the descriptions of each level:
0 non-explosive [most backyards]
1 gentle [the gentle volcanos are sooooo cute... and make great pets!]
2 explosive [think three beef-bean burritos with extra hot sauce]
3 severe [may require medication]
4 cataclysmic [half-way through the list and we're already at "cataclysmic" cool.]
5 paroxysmal [causing paroxysms?]
6 colossal [awesomely huge]
7 super-colossal [they ran out of words for "BIG"]
8 mega-colossal [they stole this word from a comic book]
[if the USGS had gone to a 9th category we might have seen the word godzillic --which, by the way, I now own.]
You gotta love a scientist who uses "mega-colossal" as a scientific term.
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