Eruptions, earthquakes, storms, floods: our planet trembles, breathes, and rebalances itself. As the climate warms, these upheavals are becoming more frequent and more intense. Long seen as isolated events, they are now understood as links in a vast system of interactions: a volcano influencing the oceans, a storm shaking the Earth’s crust, melting ice awakening dormant volcanoes. Narrated by Patrick Ridremont, “Cataclysms, the Great Regulators” explores this terrestrial machinery, where cataclysms are the Earth’s extreme responses to its imbalances.
The Mediterranean, dried up
Among the great cataclysms that have shaped the Earth, that of the Mediterranean is one of the most spectacular. It is hard to imagine, looking at its calm shores today, that six million years ago this sea completely dried up. Cut off from the Atlantic, it evaporated, leaving behind a salt desert several kilometers deep. Then, when the passage to the ocean reopened, water surged in with unprecedented force. In just a few months, the basin refilled—perhaps one of the largest floods in Earth’s history.
This upheaval altered the climate and volcanic activity of the entire region. On a human scale, it is a catastrophe; on the planetary scale, merely an adjustment.
Ultimately, the Earth’s response lasts ten times longer than the cause that triggered it.
Atmospheric rivers
Other, more recent cataclysms remind us of the Earth’s regulatory power. In 1991, in the Philippines, Mount Pinatubo—dormant for five centuries—erupted. Within a few days, it spewed millions of tons of ash and aerosols into the atmosphere, killing nearly a thousand people and casting parts of the globe into a dim twilight. The global average temperature dropped by about half a degree for two years.
This cloud also disrupted “atmospheric rivers,” those immense streams of water vapor circulating in the upper atmosphere that regulate rainfall and droughts. The warmer the air becomes, the more moisture it can hold. These rivers then become more intense and more destructive.
Cataclysms: Signs of the Planet’s Vitality
Further south, Antarctica illustrates just how sensitive the Earth’s thermostat is. Its ice is melting today six times faster than it did fifty years ago. Beneath this icy layer, Mount Erebus lies at the center of Ross Island, a reminder that the White Continent is not only ice but also fire. If its ice sheets were to disappear, sea levels would rise by fifty-six meters, threatening 40% of the world’s population living within 100 kilometers of the coast. Ocean currents would shift, the climate would reorganize, and a new planetary balance would emerge.
Cataclysms are violent and dangerous for humans, but they also reveal the vitality of our planet. Volcanoes inspire fear, yet they have shaped life and continue to nourish species capable of adapting. The documentary Cataclysms: The Great Regulators shows that these extreme forces are not only destructive but also testify to the power and resilience of the ecosystem surrounding us.
Source: rtbf
