YIBADA

Scientists Warn UK Has Highest Risk of Asteroid Impact Causing Tsunamis

| Jul 01, 2015 02:43 AM EDT

UK has the highest risk of asteroid impact due to tsunamis.

Scientists have apparently developed a unique software that can predict the impact of "corridors" of asteroids where it can also calculate the risk involved when it strikes the planet.

The U.K. is not actually directly under the path of an asteroid but it faces significant risks since impacts that can occur in the Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea can generate deadly tsunamis. Scientists believe that there is already a one in 10,000 chances that a wayward space rock can come crashing down off the coastal area of Norfolk in a span of 85 years. 

Researchers from the University of Southampton such as Clemens Rumpf developed this early warning software system called Armor that can help organizations such as the United Nations to make a decision whether to conduct an evacuation among potentially vulnerable communities or send a spacecraft with technology to intercept or destroy these space objects.

He adds that there are apparently 13,000 asteroids that are potentially dangerous where 500 of them can potentially hurtle towards the planet. This new software can then provide calculations whether these impacts can cause any deadly damages in order to carry out immediate evacuation plans.

Since Britain is an island, an unforeseen asteroid strike can produce one of the biggest calamities which is the tsunami that can affect and risk Britain's coastlines where they are densely populated.

The new maps reveal a wider asteroid risk zone that spans across Europe which will be directly overhead Germany, France, Spain to Scandinavia. Scientists believe the U.S. can be largely unaffected but states such as Florida and Louisiana can be hit by an asteroid. Southern Australia also poses a large risk.

The calculations reveal that the probability distribution from the asteroid impact that is combined with densely populated areas around the globe can generate global asteroid impact risk distribution data that shows that south eastern Britain is one of the areas with the highest asteroid impact risk in the world.

Most Popular

EDITOR'S PICK