There was satellite TV on the yacht, and as soon as it was turned on, it was the main news channel of the United Television Network, and the news program that Captain Philip had just seen in the other cabins was not over: huge columns of volcanic eruption smoke rushed to an altitude of more than 10 kilometers, and still rising high.

This is clearly a shot from the air from a distance, and the power of nature is on full display - this is definitely the most intense "Pliny-esque" eruption of a volcanic eruption, and the destructive power is amazing!

In 79 AD, the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, which completely destroyed Pompeii, 13 kilometers from the crater, was a typical Pliny-style eruption, unimaginably powerful!

And the current eruption will not be less powerful than the eruption of Mount Vesuvius before 1912: the Filipinos are lucky, the eruption of Mount Pinatubo is upward in force, not sideways, otherwise the disaster of Pompeii will be repeated in Luzon.

Zhang Nan watched the very exciting shots with relish: volcanic eruptions of this scale are very rare and rare in a hundred years - he knows that this is the second most powerful volcanic eruption in the 20th century, larger than the eruption of Mount St. Helens in the United States in the 80s.

As for the first time, it seems that it was at the beginning of this century, and the location was still in remote Alaska, which should not affect many people.

And this time on the densely populated island of Luzon, not only the Philippines was affected, but also the United States, thousands of miles away: the huge U.S. Navy's Subic Bay foundation is only 32 kilometers from Mount Pinatubo, and another Clark Air Force Base is not far from the volcano.

It's going to have to change the camera on TV...

Good guys, from a distance, Subic Bay and the Clark base have never been out-and-out brothers, they are covered under a huge cloud of volcanic ash, and the distance of filming is very far, fortunately there is a TV station's explanation, otherwise you wouldn't know that it is a military base: you can't see where the military base is on TV, it's all blocked by volcanic ash.

Even more coincidentally, the eruption happened to coincide with the passing of a typhoon, and a huge amount of volcanic ash dispersed clockwise with the typhoon circulation, and half of Luzon Island had to be unlucky in the next few days.

Part of the footage on the TV was taken from the far side of the north side of the volcano, because of the direction of the wind, there is no obstruction in the line of sight, Guan Xingquan has sharp eyes, and he sees something special.

"The mountains seem to be a lot shorter. ”

He speaks English, which everybody can understand.

Zhang Nan and Captain Richard Phillip have both been to Mount Pinatubo and have been in the training base next to the volcano, so they have intuitive memories of this volcano, and they will gasp after seeing the picture in the electric room!

It is a lot shorter, more than 300 meters!

On the first day, a massive eruption cut the height of the mountain by more than 300 meters, which requires a lot of energy!

This is not over, Zhang Nan also knows that the total volume of volcanic debris thrown by this eruption is more than 5 cubic kilometers, which is 60% more than the original eruption of Vesuvius;

At least 20 million tons of sulphur dioxide were ejected into the stratosphere, reducing the amount of sunlight reaching the Earth by 10%, resulting in a two-year volcanic winter that lowered the global average temperature by one degree Celsius!

Thinking back to the two years of winter in my previous life, it was really cold enough, is there a direct connection with this volcano?

But even if the volcano erupts violently, it will have little to do with Zhang Nan - Thomas didn't call him, you must know that the "United Forces" has a training base in the Philippines.

Thanks to the atmospheric circulation and the typhoon, the terrifying ash cloud did not blow in the direction of the training base of the "joint forces".

The camp that was originally at the foot of the volcano had long been abandoned and closed, and as soon as the volcano erupted, it was gone, and the devil gas bombs that had scared Zhang Nan and others were destroyed by the volcano.

As for the fact that the United Television Network has a team of reporters in the Philippines, thanks to the current volcanic monitoring work: the volcano had a steam eruption in early April, and since then the situation has become more and more serious due to the frequent occurrence of small earthquakes and steam eruptions caused by volcanic activity.

By late April, experts from the U.S. Geological Survey had joined the Pinatubo monitoring team.

The experts had the ability to sell bricks: a 20-kilometer radius evacuation zone was soon devoured, some 25,000 Filipino locals were evacuated from a large number of villages closest to the volcano, and 14,500 family members and entourages were removed from both U.S. military bases.

As soon as this news was released, many large Western news organizations sent personnel to Luzon, and today finally encountered a big scene. But none of those agencies can match the United Television Network, because it has the cooperation of "joint forces".

At present, ground transportation in Luzon's 1,000-square-kilometer area centered on Mount Pinatubo is basically paralyzed, and people from other news organizations are not able to run around as easily as the team of reporters from the United Television Network.

Besides, even if people from other agencies can find the plane, how many pilots dare to approach the crater to shoot?

American?

Don't count on it, they are already mud bodhisattvas crossing the river and it is difficult to protect themselves, the planes in the base are shrouded in falling volcanic ash, and the aircraft engines will stop as soon as they start!

And the group of pilots under the command of the "joint forces" dared, and the skilled people were bold, and they dared to fly very close.

The camera on the TV shifted to the latest satellite image: a huge column of volcanic ash and gas smoke entering the atmosphere, causing the intensity of the typhoon to weaken rapidly!

The host appeared and broadcast the latest news: in order to prevent a stronger eruption, the Philippine official increased the evacuation radius to 40 kilometers...... Typhoons and rain have made the volcanic ash wet and heavy, and it is now falling on a large scale in the vast populated areas, the sky is dark in many towns, the visibility is only a few meters, and the typhoon has also exacerbated the volcanic mudflow... The casualty toll is rising...

The news about the Philippines came to an end for the time being, Zhang Nan took his attention off the TV and said: "The Philippines is miserable, and the two bases are also miserable, but fortunately we don't have much to lose." ”

Of course, it's miserable, you have to be forced to move, can it be miserable.

As for the "joint forces", the base close to the volcano has long been abandoned, thanks to the volcano monitoring personnel and Zhang Nan, the boss who opened the plug-in, the company only kept two bases far enough away from the volcano and leaning to the north, and the volcanic eruption basically had no impact there.

Turning down the volume of the TV, he said to Mr. Captain: "Inform the Big Shark, leave the port as soon as possible, and we will go fishing." By the way, the supplies are all done, right?"

When Philip heard this, he nodded and said, "It was done yesterday afternoon, and with the fresh water on the cargo ship, even we can stay at sea for two months." ”