Brilliant white puffs of fluffy clouds float effortlessly across the sky, captivating our senses and lifting our souls to a heavenly state. On the ground we lay, fascinated upon a blanket, and watch the stark purity move slowly across the soft blue horizon. We stare longingly, wondering what lurks behind the ethereal beauty that we find to be a comfort, and a sweet, coziness of which we have always known. The variety of odd shapes, and the vast sizes of these clouds make us smile, as we search for what may be ‘cloud nine’. Thus, clouds in our minds, leave us with little to fear, apart from the occasional burst of rain, and some darkened thunderstorms. We do not know that somewhere there may be looming about these very niceties, something dark and brooding, and far deadlier than we could ever imagine. These dangers that we hear far too little about are called ‘killer clouds’, and they do indeed kill.
Killer clouds are not the clouds that we see from our airplane window seat. They are dark clouds of toxic gases, and sulfuric acid, much like that of a thick fog. It can be accompanied by a haze, and a darkened sun which barely reaches through the fog to shine upon the earth as we know it. Instead, the air above the earth is changed into something deadly and toxic that has been known to cause asphyxiation. NASA reports that while toxins can actually kill clouds (this is the greenhouse effect), others can cause clouds to travel faster, and will seep quickly into the clouds as they flow. This means that from volcanic eruptions, clouds can be laden with pollutants, aerosols, acids, and ash, which will then travel many miles to wreak havoc on a far away climate.
Has this been known to happen? In more ways than one, has a pollutant caused not only hundreds, but thousands of sudden deaths, and with very little warning. In 1986, gases released into the air from Lake Nyos, killed overnight 1,700 people living in the nearby valley. Clouds of carbon dioxide from a dormant volcano had formed beneath the lake, and bubbled up from it, releasing the killer gas into the air. Tragically, this could very well happen again, and most likely it will not be known when or where.
Additionally, though this was a rare occurrence, it is by no means odd, nor unheard of. Nor was it the first odd cloud forming happening that killed many people. The BBC has reported that over 200 years ago, above Britain, the skies turned gray, and remained so for months. The sun was a ruddy color that was, at the time (1783) unexplainable. For weeks the inhabitants breathed in this toxic cloud laced with sulfuric acid and sulfur dioxide, causing them to cough, grow physically ill, and eventually die. An estimated 23,000 people died that summer from the toxicity that they unwittingly inhaled.
This was so long ago, that it has been overlooked by historic records and books, and had to be individually researched by unlinked scientists. The concluding report was that an erupting volcano, miles away in neighboring Iceland, had emitted such gases into the air, and was soaked into the clouds. Those tampered clouds traveled across the sea, and ended hovering above the unsuspecting British Isle. A third of the Icelandic population also perished as a direct result of the Laki volcanic eruption. In fact, it has been estimated that it will happen once again, though when we can not say.
Killer clouds are dangerous, and they can not be prevented, nor stopped. The pollutants that evaporate into our billowing clouds are increasing day by day, and our environment is responding in a deadly manner. Here’s to hoping, or shall I say expecting scientists to come up with a way to prevent these noxious acids from being inhaled, or at least reduce the risk of death for those that are near the killer clouds.
