Hardcore crisis

As a helicopter from the Icelandic Coast Guard flew through the sky, Dr. Main and Ryan were staring at the complex data on the screen with serious expressions using the cutting-edge remote sensing equipment mounted on the aircraft.

"Dr. Main, look..."

Looking down at Ryan's finger, Myen suddenly frowned.

Not far below the helicopter, a large area of ​​​​the glacier had a depression. In Dr. Main's eyes, this represented a crack under the glacier.

"Has this happened before?"

"This happened six years ago."

Ryan nodded.

The appearance of cracks under the glacier indicates that thermal energy is gradually dissolving the ice. There is only one possibility in this situation: the volcano is about to erupt.

"Probably very recently."

Dr. Main sighed.

"...Do I need to notify the Meteorological Bureau? Let them issue a warning and evacuate nearby people urgently."

"We are still not sure of the specific time. It may be tomorrow or next week, but the evacuation is imminent, and the sooner the better."

"Wait, what is this sound?"

Suddenly, Ryan's ears perked up.

Mine also heard it immediately, a bit like a dull drumming sound, and a bit like someone covering his ears. Before he had time to think about it, he suddenly saw a crack between two glaciers two miles in front of the helicopter. The valley suddenly formed. In just ten seconds, the rift that tore through the glacier was hundreds of meters long.

"No, let's get out of here quickly."

Dr. Main was shocked and immediately shouted loudly.

The pilot also realized that something was wrong. Hearing the order from Dr. Main, he nodded and was about to deflect and leave.

Unfortunately, this order came a little late.

As soon as Dr. Maien finished speaking, a burst of orange-red magma exploded and shot hundreds of meters into the air. Stones and hot magma poured down like a torrential rain, hitting the surrounding glaciers and snow.

The power of the magma blasted by this jet was equivalent to the explosion of thousands of tons of T·NT. The helicopter was more than a mile away and felt the accompanying shock wave turbulence. The fuselage shook for a while, as if it would explode in the next moment. Lost control and fell.

Fortunately, the pilot's driving skills were very superb. He held on to the rudder tightly, and his bearded face was covered with cold sweat.

"boom!"

Another stream of magma erupted from the ground to the glacier fissure. The magma that exploded was almost more than two hundred meters high. A black mushroom cloud formed rapidly, and soon a mushroom-shaped volcanic ash was formed at an altitude of more than 7,000 meters. Clouds.

The cracks in the ground continued to extend. In the blink of an eye, the cracks extended to as much as two thousand meters.

The magma erupting underground is like champagne bursting out under high pressure. It looks extremely gorgeous, but it reveals countless dangers. How could a helicopter dare to get close to the site of a volcanic explosion? Not to mention the shock wave from the explosion that almost caused the helicopter to lose control. Even the countless tiny volcanic ash floating in the air could cause the engine to malfunction.

After the helicopter flew seven or eight miles away, looking back, you could see the mushroom cloud in the sky. Everyone looked pale and felt that it was the first time in their lives to be so close to the God of Death. It was too exciting. .

Soon, within an hour, after the situation was reported here, the entire Iceland was on alert, especially the people in the volcanic eruption danger zone. Even in their sleep in the early morning, they were awakened by the rapid ringing of the phone. Warn them to evacuate immediately.

Farms, small towns, single-family homes, tens of thousands of people in the danger zone quickly packed up their belongings and evacuated.

Perhaps the volcanic magma will not threaten the people in the periphery. However, the volcano erupting this time erupted 900 tons of volcanic ash per second. The volcanic ash in the danger zone will reach 15 centimeters thick within a few days. Such heavy volcanic ash may even Let the house be crushed, causing great danger. Not to mention that volcanic ash will completely stall airplanes, cars, and motorcycles. Even ordinary walking will feel like walking on concrete, and evacuation will become very slow.

Countless floating volcanic ash is inhaled into the lungs, which can also cause pulmonary edema and other diseases. The fine volcanic ash is actually tiny rocks with sharp edges. It is conceivable what terrible consequences it will cause when inhaled into the lungs.

This volcanic eruption happened too fast, and no one could stop the power of nature. Dr. Maien looked at the evacuated people and sighed.

"Dr. Main, there is nothing we can do."

Ryan said frustrated.

"If accurate predictions can be made early, everyone's losses may be minimized."

Nowadays, many things have to be abandoned for emergency evacuation. For example, so many cattle and sheep will have to be sadly lost.

"Dudu..."

The cell phone rang suddenly. Maien frowned and looked at the caller ID, then answered the call in confusion.

"Who are you……"

"..."

"Okay, I understand, I will come as soon as possible."

"What's the matter, Dr. Main?"

Seeing that Mai En himself looked not quite right, Ryan said worriedly.

"Ryan, I might have to leave tomorrow, so I'll leave it to you to handle this."

"Well, do you have to rush back for something?"

"No, I'm going to Canada."

"Canada?" Ryan looked at the worried Dr. Myne in shock. This was the first time he saw Dr. Myne's expression look so abnormal.

…

Two days later, after a flight change, Main took a local car to Sudbury, Ontario, Canada.

This fifth largest city in Ontario is famous for its nickel mines. The winter here is very long. It snows from November to April of the following year. Even the temperature in summer remains around 25 degrees Celsius, which is very hot. Suitable for summer vacation here.

This is not the first time that Mai En has come here. He also has acquaintances here, but they are acquaintances that he has not contacted for a long time. It is not a good thing to suddenly contact him this time.

Driving along the road, there are lakes one after another. In addition to nickel mines, there are many lakes in Sudbury, giving people the feeling that they are surrounded by lakes. However, the climate is not humid, but very dry.

Mai En drank two bottles of water in a row along the way. In addition to the dry climate, there was also an uneasy feeling in his heart.

When he finally saw the SNO Sudbury Neutrino Observatory from the car window, he was inexplicably relieved.

There is an old acquaintance who has not seen each other for five or six years. Held, who is in his late fifties, is standing at the gate outside the observation station to welcome Maien's arrival.

"It's been a long time since we last met, my old friend."

The two hugged each other as soon as they met.

"You have aged a lot."

Held looked at Mine's face and sighed.

"That's what people who haven't seen each other for a long time say."

Mai En said with a wry smile.

"Oh, I hear you say that, where have you been recently?"

"Iceland, have you read the latest news?"

"Is this when I called you?"

"Yes, it wasn't long after the volcano erupted."

Just after saying this, Myne saw a hint of uneasiness on Helder's face.

"Is it bad?"

Mai En was silent for a moment and asked.

"I don't know what to say, but it's definitely abnormal."

"Please follow me, Myne."

The Sudbury Neutrino Observatory was officially opened in May 1999, but was closed ten years ago in 2006. However, data analysis work is still in progress and it is not really abandoned.

When the two of them walked into the observatory, Held had already introduced Mein to the situation of the observatory. Including him, there were probably seven other people working here.

"About two weeks ago, there were abnormalities in our survey data."

"At the time, I thought there might be an error in the data or a failure of the photomultiplier tube, but after investigation, these possibilities were ruled out..."

The elevator they were riding in slowly sank and landed 2,100 meters deep underground.

"In the past 1,850 days, our survey data had no problems, but starting two weeks ago, the neutrinos we detected were five times more than before..."

"How can this be?"

Mai En changed color slightly.

"Is it caused by solar activity?"

"Well, two weeks ago, the number of sunspots and flares on the sun increased by 5%. This is very abnormal, especially when combined with the detected neutrino anomaly."

(To be continued ~^~)