That'll Be the Day (film)
That'll Be the Day is a 1973 British coming of age drama film directed by Claude Whatham, written by Ray Connolly, and starring David Essex, Rosemary Leach and Ringo Starr. Set primarily in the late 1950s and early 1960s, it tells the story of Jim MacLaine (Essex), a British teenager raised by his single mother (Leach). Jim rejects society's conventions and pursues a hedonistic and sexually loose lifestyle, harming others and damaging his close relationships. The cast also featured several prominent musicians who lived through the era portrayed, including Starr, Billy Fury, Keith Moon and John Hawken. The film's success led to a sequel, "Stardust", that followed the life of Jim MacLaine through the 1960s and 1970s.
Plot.
In an urban area in early 1940s England, a young child, Jim MacLaine, lives with his mother Mary and grandfather. His seaman father returns, spends time with him, and works in the family's grocery shop. However, he finds himself unable to settle down and soon leaves again for good, abandoning his wife and son, and Mary continues to run the shop and raise Jim on her own.
In the late 1950s. Jim is now a very bright but bored schoolboy in his final year at the local secondary school. His mother wants him to do well on his final exams, qualify for university, and have many opportunities—but Jim is far less enthusiastic about continuing his education, preferring to draw, write poetry, listen to rock n' roll, and chase girls—unsuccessfully. Instead of going with his friend Terry to take his exams, he runs away to the coast to work as a deckchair attendant, disappointing and upsetting his mother. He moves on to a barman job at a holiday camp, where he befriends the experienced barman Mike, who helps him hook up with willing women for his first sexual experiences. Jim is also drawn to the music and lifestyle of the resident singer, Stormy Tempest, and his drummer, J.D. Clover.
Mike and Jim next get jobs at a funfair, supplementing their meager pay by short-changing customers. Jim quickly becomes a heartless fairground Romeo, having one-nighters with a wide variety of women, including a young schoolgirl whom he rapes. He lies to Mike about the encounter, but Mike sees through it and berates him. Shortly afterwards, Mike short-changes a gang member and is attacked by the whole gang. Jim sees Mike being beaten, but instead of helping him, Jim hurries away, pretending he saw nothing, and has a tryst with another fair worker. The severely injured Mike is hospitalized, and Jim gets a promotion that was supposed to be Mike's.
Jim contacts Terry, who is now at university, but discovers that Terry and the girls there look down on his lifestyle and musical tastes. After two years gone, Jim decides to return home, finding his resentful mother struggling to run the grocery shop and care for her father, who is now an invalid. Jim helps his mother with the shop and starts dating Terry's sister Jeanette over the objections of her mother and Terry. Unlike all his previous dates, Jim does not have sex with Jeanette, even though she is willing to do so out of love for him. Jim and Jeanette marry, with Terry and her mother wrongly assuming she must be pregnant. Jim, angry at Terry and ambivalent about losing his freedom, has sex with Terry's girlfriend Jean the night before his wedding.
Jim and Jeanette live with his mother and grandfather. Jim pretends to be going to night school, but is secretly spending his nights at rock n' roll shows. Jeanette gets pregnant and they have a son. Jean and Terry plan to get engaged, and Jean makes suggestive remarks to Jim in front of Jeanette.
After talking with friends in a band, Jim leaves home, repeating his father's pattern. Jeanette cries, but his mum is unsurprised. The film ends as Jim buys a secondhand guitar.
Cast.
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Production.
Development.
David Puttnam and his producing partner Sandy Lieberson met with Nat Cohen of EMI Films who agreed to provide half the budget. The other half, £100,000, was obtained from Ronco Records on the condition that the film include 40 songs from Ronco's catalog of old hits, which they could then sell on TV as a soundtrack album. According to "Filmink" the film:
Wasn’t an obvious slam dunk – Puttnam had some credits, but they included only a mild success (Melody) and a disaster (The Pied Piper), the story was downbeat, and the lead was not a big name at the time (David Essex). But Cohen could recognise Puttnam’s talent, not to mention the opportunities for a killer soundtrack – always a factor at a company like EMI – and the fact that the script had sex in it, thus it might be another "A Kind of Loving" or "Poor Cow".
Writing.
According to screenwriter Ray Connolly, the film was Puttnam's idea, who had worked in advertising and recently moved into film production. Connolly says Puttnam was inspired by Harry Nilsson's song "1941", in which an early-1940s father deserts his young son, who subsequently joins a circus; Puttnam suggested changing the circus to a fair.
Puttnam hired Connolly, a journalist friend, to write the script. Connolly worked on it in the evenings, and said they would "ransack our own lives as we created the fictional character of Jim Maclaine, and steal moments from our favourite films, a bit from East of Eden here, something from Francois Truffaut’s 'The 400 Blows' there."
Puttnam offered the directing job to Michael Apted, who turned it down. Director Claude Watham was given the job when Puttnam was impressed with period detail of his TV movie "Cider with Rosie". He also liked the fact that Watham was not that interested in rock 'n roll, and thought Watham would provide an objective counterbalance to Puttnam and Connolly.
Casting.
Connolly said that he cast David Essex, then starring in a West End production of "Godspell", in an effort to make the selfish Jim MacLaine character more likeable, because Essex "was so good-looking and likeable an audience would forgive him anything."
Ringo Starr was cast as Mike after Connolly, who had never been to a holiday camp, consulted him and former Beatles road manager Neil Aspinall about their Butlins memories. Aspinall also helped to put together the camp band that appeared in the film. Several roles were played by prominent musicians who had lived through the film's era, including Starr, Billy Fury, Keith Moon of the Who, and John Hawken of the Nashville Teens.
Filming.
Filming began on October 23, 1972, on the Isle of Wight, which still had a late-1950s look in the early 1970s. Essex received a seven-week break from his "Godspell" role to film the picture.
Puttnam clashed with Watham during filming, saying the director did not understand all the script's subtext. When Watham fell ill, Alan Parker directed for two days.
Soundtrack.
The tie-in soundtrack to "That'll Be the Day" was released by Ronco and listed as a 'various artists' album rather than the official soundtrack. It spent seven weeks at the #1 position on the Official Albums Chart Top 50. However, beginning with the week ending 18 August 1973, all compilations listed as 'various artists' were removed from the chart, with only those billed as 'official soundtracks' (to films such as "A Clockwork Orange" and "Cabaret") remaining, causing "That'll Be the Day" to be excluded from the chart countdown.
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Release.
The film was a hit at the box office (by 1985 it had earned an estimated profit of £406,000). Nat Cohen, who invested in the film, said it made more than 50% profit on top of its cost. It was one of the most popular movies of 1973 at the British box office.
Connolly said "At the time, I was astonished by its success. A sixth form drop out, who throws his school books into a river when he should be sitting his A-level history, writes poetry in the rain while hiring out deck chairs, and lets down just about absolutely everyone was hardly an obvious subject. But, on reflection, I can now see that there was nothing else like it at the time. And the music soundtrack was fantastic."
U.S. release.
The film was initially acquired by Continental Releasing, a unit of the Walter Reade Organization, but after disappointing test engagements in Boston, Indianapolis, and Austin, they chose to shelve the film. Based on a well-received screening at Filmex in Los Angeles, programmer Jerry Harvey, partnering with Richard Chase and Kenneth Greenstone, created a small company, Mayfair Film Group, to take over distribution.
Reception.
The "Los Angeles Times" called it "a very special, strange and fascinating movie."
According to Anne Billson in the "Time Out Film Guide", the film was a "hugely overrated dip into the rock 'n' roll nostalgia bucket, ... " also commenting "Youth culture my eye: they're all at least a decade too old. But good tunes, and worth catching for Billy Fury's gold lamé act."
Awards and nominations.
At the 27th British Academy Film Awards in 1973, the film received two nominations. Rosemary Leach for Best Actress in a Supporting Role and David Essex for Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles.
Sequels.
Essex returned as Jim Maclaine the following year, in the 1974 sequel, "Stardust", which continues the story into the early 1970s.
An independent radio drama recording project, "That'll be the Stardust!", was released in 2008. The story follows the musical journey of Jim Maclaine's son, Jimmy Maclaine Jr.
References.
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Stardust (1974 film)
Stardust is a 1974 British musical drama film directed by Michael Apted and starring David Essex, Adam Faith, and Larry Hagman. It is the sequel to the 1973 film "That'll Be the Day", which introduced the characters of Jim MacLaine and his street-smart friend Mike Menary. It chronicles Jim's rise and fall as an international rock star during the 1960s and early 1970s, with Mike as his personal manager. It features a number of pop/rock performers, including Essex, Faith, Keith Moon, Marty Wilde, Dave Edmunds, Paul Nicholas and Edd Byrnes.
Plot.
On the evening of the Kennedy assassination, Jim MacLaine visits his friend Mike Menary at the funfair where Mike works. Jim tells Mike he's joined a touring rock group called the Stray Cats and invites Mike to come along as their road manager, pointing out that Mike could make millions if the group succeeds. Mike accepts and proves to be a shrewd operator, arranging a better van, accommodations, and a recording session for the group. Privately, Mike tells Jim that arrogant singer/ guitarist Johnny must go in order for the band to be a success. Largely through Mike's efforts, the Stray Cats have their first hit single with a song sung by Jim, even though it was released as the B-side to a song sung by Johnny. Jim becomes the new center of attention for fans and press, causing the jealous Johnny to leave the band.
The Stray Cats embark on a successful tour of the US, where they meet their new manager, Porter Lee Austin, a wealthy Texan who has bought a majority financial interest in Jim and the group. The other Stray Cats, especially drummer J.D., are frustrated at being ignored while Jim, promoted by Porter Lee and Mike, becomes the focus of media attention. Jim, supported by his new girlfriend Danielle, objects to Porter Lee's treatment of him and his music as a commercial commodity.
Jim's mother suddenly dies, and Jim, Danielle and Mike return to England for her funeral. There, Jim sees his wife Jeanette (whom he abandoned, but never bothered to divorce) and his young son. Jeanette wants nothing further to do with Jim and is living with another man, who has stepped into the father role for Jim's son. The funeral is mobbed by Jim's fans and Danielle is upset that Jim never told her he was married.
Back in the USA, J.D. and the other Stray Cats inform Jim they are severing ties with him, leaving him as a solo act with no close friends except Mike and Danielle. Jim embarks on an ambitious project to compose and sing a progressive rock opera glorifying women, in honor of his late mother. When Danielle clashes with Porter Lee and then insinuates Mike is sexually attracted to Jim, Mike arranges for her to catch Jim having sex with another woman, causing her to walk out. Jim's rock opera, broadcast live to a worldwide audience of millions, is a huge success, but Jim, tired of his rock star life, moves to an isolated castle in Spain and becomes a recluse. Mike, who by now is acting as Jim's handler and caretaker, lives with him, but old resentments between the two soon surface.
After two years, Porter Lee pushes Jim to come out of seclusion in order to make money to cover unpaid taxes and avoid being forgotten by his public. A major live television interview is planned, but on the day of the interview, the mentally fragile and drug-addled Jim refuses to come out of his room. Mike, whose friendship with Jim has deteriorated, coldly orders him to come out and do his job. Jim finally emerges and starts to do the interview, but gives rude responses and then starts to laugh uncontrollably. Mike, the only one to realize that Jim has overdosed on drugs, rushes to call an ambulance, but Jim dies on the way to the hospital.
Cast.
Ray Winstone is seen briefly as an uncredited extra in an early club performance scene in his first film appearance.
Production.
Development.
Screenwriter Ray Connolly, who developed both "That'll Be the Day" and "Stardust" with producer David Puttnam, wrote about the making of "Stardust" in 2017.
Connolly said he and Puttnam were thinking about a sequel to "That'll Be the Day" even before the latter film was released, and they went on holiday to Italy to plan it. "This time we knew we were going to make a film about rock," wrote Connolly. "It was the story of young Britain in the Sixties."
Puttnam wanted to set the story in the early sixties while Connolly wanted it to go until the seventies. They compromised and the story encompassed the whole sixties.
The film originally had the title of "Sooner or Later".
"That'll Be the Day" was directed by Claude Whatham but he and Puttnam clashed during filming so it was decided to get a new director. The film was offered to Alan Parker who had worked with Puttnam in advertising but Parker decided to make "The Evacuees" instead. The job went to Michael Apted who had been the first choice to direct "That'll Be the Day" and had recently begun work in features with "Triple Echo".
Apted said "Stardust" is "about the media, success, drugs, isolation, and a lot of other things... We merely put up the idea that pop heroes are often created by other people, not themselves, and the whole awful business is usually deceiving and self destructive."
Finance came from Nat Cohen of EMI Films, who had helped finance the original, and Columbia Pictures.
Casting.
David Essex, Rosalind Ayres, and Keith Moon all reprised their roles from "That'll Be the Day". Karl Howman also appears in both films, though his character name is Johnny in "That'll Be the Day" and 'Stevie' in "Stardust", and it is not made clear if Paul Nicholas's 'Johnny' in "Stardust" is the same character as the one originally played by Howman. After making "That'll Be the Day" Essex had become a pop star himself with the record "Rock On".
Connolly wrote that the role of the band's American manager was originally written as an Italian-American from the Bronx with Tony Curtis in mind, but when Curtis proved too expensive, native Texan Larry Hagman was cast and the part was rewritten as a Texan. Hagman credited his work in "Stardust" with helping him develop his later character of oil baron J.R. Ewing on the TV series "Dallas".
According to Connolly, Adam Faith was cast after Ringo Starr, who had played "Mike" in "That'll Be the Day", declined to appear in the sequel because "having lived through the experience in reality as a member of the Beatles he wasn't keen to revisit it." Michael Brooks wrote that Starr declined because of "an uncomfortable resemblance between a key subplot and the real-life story of Pete Best's departure from the Beatles."
Filming.
Filming began on 18 February 1974. Location filming was done in Britain, Spain (Castillo de La Calahorra), and the United States. Essex had recently become a real-life rock star with his 1973 hit song "Rock On", and was mobbed by a large crowd of his actual fans while filming the funeral scene at St. Bernard's Church in Northolt, London.
Musician Dave Edmunds recorded the new music used in the movie "virtually as a one-man band".
Connolly said "For David Essex, it can't have been easy to play a rock star as his own rock fame was growing by the day. But it wasn't easy for Keith Moon either, who would now be central to our fictional band. With The Who he was used to fan adoration as he played to stadiums, but to us he was just another actor playing a small part – which didn't always sit well with his ego."
Reception.
Box office.
The film was a hit at the box office and by 1985 had earned an estimated £525,000 in profit.
Critical.
Essex wrote in his memoirs that he did not feel "Stardust" was as "truthful" as "That'll Be the Day" which he felt "had been a very British film whereas I think with "Stardust" the producers had one eye on doing well in America, which may have been partly why we went to film there. It was a good movie, but it ended up being a little bit mid-Atlantic."
Awards and nominations.
BAFTA Writers' Guild of Great Britain for Best Original British Screenplay WINNER: Ray Connolly.
BAFTA Best Supporting Actor NOMINATED: Adam Faith.
Soundtrack.
The "Stardust" soundtrack album was released in October 1974 on Ronco Records to coincide with the opening. Some of the later songs in the film were performed by the artists in the film's fictional Stray Cats themselves.
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Legacy.
The film is the sequel to the 1973 film "That'll Be the Day", in which Essex played the younger Jim MacLaine throughout the 1950s and early 1960s.
An independent radio drama recording project, "That'll be the Stardust!", was released in 2008. The story follows the musical journey of Jim MacLaine's son, Jimmy MacLaine Jr.
References.
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That'll Be the Day (album)
That'll Be The Day is the second and final studio album from Buddy Holly. Decca, Holly's first major record label, after failing to produce a hit single from Holly's early recordings, packaged these 1956 tunes after he had some success with recordings from the Brunswick and Coral labels, especially the previously released single "That'll Be the Day". This is the last album released before his death in a plane crash on February 3, 1959, and is rare among collectors.
Background.
Recordings were done in three different sessions typically running just 3 hours long, January, July and November 1956 at the Bradley Film and Recording Studio at 804 16th Avenue South in Nashville, Tennessee. From these sessions a single was released on April 16, 1956 (D 29854), "Blue Days, Black Nights" / "Love Me". A second single "Modern Don Juan / You Are My One Desire" (D 30166) was released December 24, 1956. Low sales convinced Decca to shelve the remaining tracks.
When Buddy Holly found new fame with his re-recording of "That'll Be the Day" with his band the Crickets, Decca began to issue Holly's recordings from these sessions as singles, which culminated in a full-length LP as well as an accompanying EP.
The Decca 1956 Nashville recordings were repackaged several times. Instruments and background vocals were added with later releases as late as 1984. The mid-1970s British album "The Nashville Sessions" is the best of the vinyl editions according to Allmusic.
The album reached no. 5 on the UK album chart in 1961 in a re-release. The album was re-released in 1967 under the title "The Great Buddy Holly".
References.
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Night and Day (upcoming film)
British comedy film

Night and Day is an upcoming British/German film adaptation of the Virginia Woolf novel of the same name. It has an ensemble cast including Haley Bennett, Timothy Spall, Jennifer Saunders, Jack Whitehall, Sally Phillips, and Lily Allen.
Synopsis.
Set in Britain at the turn of the 20th century, a female astronomer tries to avoid the patriarchal attitudes of the day.
Production.
The Virginia Woolf novel "Night & Day" is adapted for this project by Justine Waddell. The film is directed by Tina Gharavi. It is produced by FilmHedge and producers include Christopher Figg, Meg Thomson and German co-producers GLISK.
An ensemble cast is led by Haley Bennett, Timothy Spall and Lily Allen, and also includes Jennifer Saunders, Jack Whitehall and Sally Phillips.
Principal photography began in Newcastle upon Tyne in late 2024, and was completed in February 2025, ahead of an intended autumn release.
Filming locations included the Literary and Philosophical Society of Newcastle upon Tyne, Common Room of the Great North, Ryhope Engines Museum, Tanfield Railway and Beamish Museum. Additional filming took place in Cologne, Germany.
References.
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That'll Be the Day
1957 single by the Crickets
"That'll Be the Day" is a song written by Buddy Holly and Jerry Allison. It was first recorded by Buddy Holly and the Three Tunes in 1956 and was re-recorded in 1957 by Holly and his new band, the Crickets. The 1957 recording achieved widespread success. Holly's producer, Norman Petty, was credited as a co-writer, although he did not contribute to the composition.
Many other versions have been recorded. It was the first song recorded (as a demonstration disc) by the Quarrymen, a skiffle group from Liverpool that evolved into the Beatles.
The 1957 recording was certified gold (for over a million US sales) by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in 1969. It was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998. It was placed in the National Recording Registry, a list of sound recordings that "are culturally, historically, or aesthetically important, and/or inform or reflect life in the United States", in 2005.
Background.
In June 1956, Holly along with his older brother Larry as well as Allison and Sonny Curtis went to see the film "The Searchers", starring John Wayne, in which Wayne repeatedly used the phrase "that'll be the day". This line of dialogue inspired the young musicians.
Buddy Holly and the Three Tunes' version.
The song was first recorded by Buddy Holly and the Three Tunes for Decca Records at Bradley Studios in Nashville, on July 22, 1956. Decca, displeased with Holly's previous two singles, did not issue recordings from this session. After the song was re-recorded by the Crickets in 1957 and became a hit, Decca released the original recording as a single (Decca D30434) on September 2, 1957, with "Rock Around with Ollie Vee" as the B-side. It was also the title track of the 1958 album "That'll Be the Day". Despite Holly's newfound stardom, the single did not chart.
The Crickets' version.
Holly's contract with Decca prohibited him from re-recording any of the songs recorded in the 1956 Nashville sessions for five years, even if Decca never released them. To evade this restriction, the producer Norman Petty credited the Crickets as the artist on his re-recording of "That'll Be the Day" for Brunswick Records. Brunswick was a subsidiary of Decca. Once the cat was out of the bag, Decca re-signed Holly to another of its subsidiaries, Coral Records, so he ended up with two recording contracts. Recordings with the Crickets were to be issued by Brunswick, and the recordings under Holly's name were to be on Coral, although the Crickets played on several of them.
The second recording of the song was made on February 25, 1957, seven months after the first, at the Norman Petty studios in Clovis, New Mexico, and issued by Brunswick on July 27, 1957. This version is on the debut album by the Crickets, "The "Chirping" Crickets", issued on November 27, 1957. The recording was made with everyone performing and without additional overdubs. The B-side of the record, "I'm Looking for Someone to Love" was recorded at the same session with the same backup singers.
The Brunswick recording of "That'll Be the Day" is considered a classic of rock and roll. It was ranked number 39 on "Rolling Stone"'s list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time".
Chart performance.
The Brunswick single was a number-one hit on "Billboard" magazine's Best Sellers in Stores chart in 1957. It went to number two on "Billboard"'s R&B singles chart. The song peaked at number 1 in the UK Singles Chart in November 1957 and stayed in that position for three weeks.
On December 20, 1969, a reissue of the single by Coral Records was awarded a "gold single" by the RIAA.
On September 20, 1986, the song appeared on the UK Singles Chart at number 85 and left the chart a week later.
Personnel.
July 22, 1956, Bradley Studios, Nashville
February 25, 1957, Norman Petty Recording Studio
Linda Ronstadt version.
Background.
Linda Ronstadt recorded "That'll Be the Day" for her 1976 Grammy Award-winning platinum album "Hasten Down the Wind", produced by Peter Asher and issued by Asylum Records. Her version reached number 11 on both the U.S. "Billboard" Hot 100 and the "Cash Box" Top 100 and number 27 on the "Billboard" Country Singles chart. In Canada, her version peaked at number 2 on the singles chart and was the 35th biggest hit of 1976. It also made the adult contemporary charts in the United States and Canada. This recording is included on the album "Linda Ronstadt's Greatest Hits" (1976) and on the 2011 tribute album "".
Chart performance.
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References.
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Day of Days (film)
Day of Days is a 2016 American drama film directed by Kim Bass and starring Tom Skerritt and Claudia Zevallos. The film is loosely based on Bass's grandfather, Clarence Bass.
Production.
The film was shot in Los Angeles in 12 days from late February to early March 2015. Filming wrapped in April 2015.
Release.
The film premiered on November 4, 2016, at the 11th Women's International Film & Arts Festival in Miami.
Accolades.
Skerritt and Zevallos won best actor awards at the Women's International Film & Arts Festival.
References.
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Long Live Rock
Song by The Who
"Long Live Rock" is a 1979 single by The Who, written by Pete Townshend and recorded in 1972. A different version of the song was performed by Billy Fury's character in the film "That'll Be the Day" (a film which featured Who drummer Keith Moon).
The original Who recording of the song was not released until the 1974 rarities album "Odds & Sods". It was subsequently released as a single in 1979.
Background.
"Long Live Rock" was to have been included in "Rock Is Dead—Long Live Rock!", a 1972 Who album which was also to have had an accompanying television special, before the album was shelved. Pete Townshend said of the song:
<templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" />Well there are dozens of these self conscious hymns to the last fifteen years appearing now and here's another one. This was featured briefly in the film for which Keith made his acting debut, "That'll Be The Day". Billy Fury sang it. This is most definitely the definitive version. I had an idea once for a new album about the history of The Who called "Rock Is Dead—Long Live Rock!". That idea later blossomed into "Quadrophenia".
The lyrics of the song describe a concert at the Rainbow Theatre.
Release.
Following its appearance on "Odds & Sods", the song saw a 1974 single release in Israel, Italy (where it was backed with "Pure and Easy") and Japan (where it was backed with "Put the Money Down"). "Long Live Rock" also was featured during the credits of the seminal 1979 Who documentary, "The Kids Are Alright". Following this appearance, the song was released as a single in Britain, America, and many other countries. The single reached number 48 in Britain, as well as number 54 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 and number 66 on the "Cashbox" charts.
"Record World" said that "All the elements of the patented Who sound are here, and the song is commercial enough to match last year's 'Won't Get Fooled Again.'"
A live version recorded by the Who at the BBC was released on their album "BBC Sessions".
References.
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There Will Come a Day (film)
2013 film directed by Giorgio Diritti
There Will Come a Day () is a 2013 Italian drama film directed by Giorgio Diritti. It premiered at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. For her performance Jasmine Trinca won the Nastro d'Argento for Best Actress.
References.
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Days (2020 film)
2020 film
Days () is a 2020 Taiwanese drama film directed by Tsai Ming-liang. Typical of slow cinema and many Tsai films, "Days" is minimalist, slowly paced, and features little dialogue, without subtitles. Lee Kang-sheng plays Kang, and Non is portrayed by Anong Houngheuangsy, a Laotian immigrant to Thailand in his first film role.
"Days" was selected to compete for the Golden Bear in the main competition section at the 70th Berlin International Film Festival, where it won the Teddy Award.
Plot.
Minimalist long takes of daily life show the middle-aged and middle class Kang (Lee), and the younger Non (Houngheuangsy). Kang lives alone, relaxing in his big house with a view of a goldfish pond in his backyard. Non lives in a spartan apartment. His day begins with religious worship at an altar. He then completes chores, namely the washing of vegetables. Kang travels to the city, seeking treatment for pain in his head and neck. After an acupuncture session, he schedules a massage at the parlor where Non works. Kang pays Non after the full body massage ends, and also gives him a gift, a small music box. Kang watches Non use the box, then shares a meal with him at the fast food restaurant nearby. Kang returns to his home where he tends to his fish and sleeps alone. In the street one night, Non sits on a bench and takes the music box out of his backpack. He plays it again, but it can hardly be heard over the roadway noise.
Production.
Principal photography took place starting in 2014, during and after Tsai Ming-liang, Lee Kang-sheng, Claude Wang, and a cinematographer attended a theatre tour in Europe, followed by medical treatment in Hong Kong for Lee, which was also filmed. The film's opening scene was shot in Tsai's living room in Taiwan. In 2017, Tsai met Houngheuangsy and the two maintained contact via videotelephony, through which Tsai recognized Houngheuangsy's skill in cooking. Some earlier scenes featuring Lee were not used, and Tsai traveled to Bangkok to film on location, including scenes of Houngheuangsy making food. Tsai discussed with his cinematographer about ways to incorporate the captured footage into a film. The film underwent a long-term post-production in Taiwan. In May and June 2019, Tsai secured funding from the Public Television Service to complete post-production. Prior to the release of "Days", Tsai Ming-liang discussed the film without naming it, stating that he was working without a concept for film in mind, adding only that it was to feature Lee Kang-sheng and another actor.
Release.
"Days" was selected to compete for the Golden Bear in the main competition section at the 70th Berlin International Film Festival. It won the jury Teddy Award at the 70th Berlinale.
Its premiere in the United States was scheduled for April 2020, at the Museum of Modern Art. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, that showing was cancelled. The film was shown at the 2020 New York Film Festival.
References.
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Ray Connolly
British writer
Ray Connolly (born 4 December 1940) is a British writer. He is best known for his journalism and for writing the screenplays for the films "That'll Be the Day" and its sequel "Stardust", for which he won a Writers' Guild of Great Britain Best Screenplay award.
Early life.
Connolly was born and brought up in Lancashire. He was educated at West Park Catholic Grammar School (St. Helens), Ormskirk Grammar School, and the London School of Economics (LSE), where he read social anthropology. There, he edited the LSE magazine "Clare Market Review" and was an associate editor of the student film magazine "Motion".
Career.
After entering journalism as a graduate trainee at the "Liverpool Daily Post", Connolly then moved to the "London Evening Standard" where he interviewed, among others, many 1960s and 1970s rock stars and cultural icons, including the Beatles, Muhammad Ali and Elvis Presley. Many of his interviews with the Beatles are collected in "The Ray Connolly Beatles Archive", while other interviews are collected in "Stardust Memories – Talking About My Generation". He was due to interview John Lennon on the day the ex-Beatle was murdered, an event he wrote about in the BBC radio play "Unimaginable". In 2018, he published the biography, "Being John Lennon – A Restless Life".
He has written many articles for the "Daily Mail", as well as "The Sunday Times", "The Times", "The Daily Telegraph" and "The


Lake Nyos disaster
1986 limnic eruption in Cameroon
On 21 August 1986, a limnic eruption at Lake Nyos in northwestern Cameroon killed 1,746 people and 3,500 livestock.
The eruption triggered the sudden release of about 100,000–300,000 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2). The gas cloud initially rose at nearly and then, being heavier than air, descended onto nearby villages, suffocating people and livestock within of the lake.
A degassing system has since been installed at the lake, with the aim of reducing the concentration of CO2 in the waters and therefore the risk of further eruptions. Along with the Lake Monoun disaster two years earlier, it is one of only two recorded limnic eruptions in history.
Eruption and gas release.
What triggered the catastrophic outgassing is not known. Most geologists suspect a landslide, but some believe that a small volcanic eruption may have occurred on the bed of the lake. A third possibility is that cool rainwater falling on one side of the lake triggered the overturn. Others still believe there was a small earthquake, but because witnesses did not report feeling any tremors on the morning of the disaster, this hypothesis is unlikely. The event resulted in the supersaturated deep water rapidly mixing with the upper layers of the lake, where the reduced pressure allowed the stored CO2 to effervesce out of solution.
It is believed that about of gas was released. The normally blue waters of the lake turned a deep red after the outgassing, due to iron-rich water from the deep rising to the surface and being oxidised by the air. The level of the lake dropped by about a metre and trees near the lake were knocked down.
Scientists concluded from evidence that a column of water and foam formed at the surface of the lake, spawning a wave of at least that swept the shore on one side.
Since carbon dioxide is 1.5 times the density of air, the cloud hugged the ground and moved down the valleys, where there were various villages. The mass was about thick, and travelled downward at . For roughly , the gas cloud was concentrated enough to suffocate many people in their sleep in the villages of Nyos, Kam, Cha, and Subum. About 4,000 inhabitants fled the area, and many of these developed respiratory problems, lesions, and paralysis as a result of the gas cloud.
It is a possibility that other volcanic gases were released along with the CO2, as some survivors reported a smell of gunpowder or rotten eggs, which indicates that sulfur dioxide and hydrogen sulfide were present at concentrations above their odour thresholds. However, CO2 was the only gas detected in samples of lake water, suggesting that this was the predominant gas released and as such the main cause of the incident.
Effects on survivors.
Reporters in the area described the scene as "looking like the aftermath of a neutron bomb." One survivor, Joseph Nkwain from Subum, described himself when he awoke after the gases had struck:<templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" />I could not speak. I became unconscious. I could not open my mouth because then I smelled something terrible ... I heard my daughter snoring in a terrible way, very abnormal ... When crossing to my daughter's bed ... I collapsed and fell. I was there till nine o'clock in the morning (of Friday, the next day) ... until a friend of mine came and knocked at my door ... I was surprised to see that my trousers were red, had some stains like honey. I saw some ... starchy mess on my body. My arms had some wounds ... I didn't really know how I got these wounds ... I opened the door ... I wanted to speak, my breath would not come out ... My daughter was already dead ... I went into my daughter's bed, thinking that she was still sleeping. I slept till it was 4.30 in the afternoon ... on Friday (the same day). (Then) I managed to go over to my neighbours' houses. They were all dead ... I decided to leave ... (because) most of my family was in Wum ... I got my motorcycle ... A friend whose father had died left with me (for) Wum ... As I rode ... through Nyos I didn't see any sign of any living thing ... (When I got to Wum), I was unable to walk, even to talk ... my body was completely weak.Following the eruption, many survivors were treated at the main hospital in Yaoundé, the country's capital. It was believed that many of the victims had been poisoned by sulphur-based gases. Poisoning by these gases would lead to burning pains in the eyes and nose, coughing and signs of asphyxiation similar to being strangled.
Interviews with survivors and pathologic studies indicated that victims rapidly lost consciousness and that death was caused by CO2 asphyxiation. At nonlethal levels, CO2 can produce sensory hallucinations, such that many people exposed to CO2 report the odor of sulfuric compounds when none are present. Skin lesions found on survivors represent pressure sores, and in a few cases exposure to a heat source, but there is no evidence of chemical burns or of flash burns from exposure to hot gases.
De-gassing.
The scale of the disaster led to much study on how a recurrence could be prevented. Several researchers proposed the installation of degassing columns from rafts in the middle of the lake. The principle is to slowly vent the CO2 by lifting heavily saturated water from the bottom of the lake through a pipe, initially by using a pump, but only until the release of gas inside the pipe naturally lifts the column of effervescing water, making the process self-sustaining.
Starting from 1995, feasibility studies were successfully conducted, and the first permanent degassing tube was installed at Lake Nyos in 2001. Two additional pipes were installed in 2011. In 2019 it was determined that the degassing had reached an essentially steady state and that a single one of the installed pipes would be able to self-sustain the degassing process into the future, indefinitely maintaining the CO2 at a safe level, without any need for external power.
Similar danger suspected at Lake Kivu.
Following the Lake Nyos disaster, scientists investigated other African lakes to see if a similar phenomenon could happen elsewhere. In 2005, Lake Kivu in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, 2,000 times larger than Lake Nyos, was also found to be supersaturated, and geologists found evidence that outgassing events around the lake happened about every thousand years.
However, a study undertaken in 2018 and released in 2020 found flaws in the 2005 study, including a possible bias in the conversion of concentrations to partial pressures, to an overestimation of concentrations, or to a problem of calibration of sensors at high pressure. The 2020 study found that when these errors were accounted for, the risk of a gas eruption at Lake Kivu did not seem to be increasing over time.
References.
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Lake Nyos
Crater lake in the Northwest Region of Cameroon
Lake Nyos ( ) is a crater lake in the Northwest Region of Cameroon, located about northwest of Yaoundé, the capital. Nyos is a deep lake high on the flank of an inactive volcano in the Oku volcanic plain along the Cameroon line of volcanic activity. A volcanic dam impounds the lake waters.
A pocket of magma lies beneath the lake and leaks carbon dioxide (CO2) into the water, changing it into carbonic acid. Nyos is one of only three lakes known to be saturated with carbon dioxide in this way, and therefore prone to limnic eruptions (the others being Lake Monoun, also in Cameroon, and Lake Kivu in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda).
In 1986, possibly as the result of a landslide, Lake Nyos suddenly emitted a large cloud of CO2, which suffocated 1,746 people and 3,500 livestock in nearby towns and villages, the most notable one being Chah, which was abandoned after the incident. The limnic eruption not only devastated human and livestock populations but also had a profound impact on the diverse aquatic life, including tilapia, crabs, snails, and frogs, leading to a significant loss of biodiversity in and around the lake.
Though not completely unprecedented, it was the first known large-scale asphyxiation caused by a natural event. To prevent a recurrence, a degassing tube that siphons water from the bottom layers to the top, allowing the carbon dioxide to leak in safe quantities, was installed in 2001. Two additional tubes were installed in 2011.
Today, the lake also poses a threat because its natural wall is weakening. A geological tremor could cause this natural levee to give way, allowing water to rush into downstream villages all the way into Nigeria and allowing large amounts of carbon dioxide to escape.
Geography.
Lake Nyos lies within the Oku Volcanic Field, located near the northern boundary of the Cameroon Volcanic Line, a zone of volcanoes and other tectonic activity that extends southwest to the Mt. Cameroon stratovolcano. The field consists of volcanic maars and basaltic scoria cones.
Formation and geologic history.
Lake Nyos is located south of the dirt road from Wum, about to the west, to Nkambé in the east. Villages along the road in the vicinity of the lake include Cha, Nyos, Munji, Djingbe, and Subum. The lake is from the Nigerian border to the north, and lies on the northern slopes of the Massif du Mbam, drained by streams running north, then northwest, to the Katsina-Ala River in Nigeria which is part of the Benue River basin.
Lake Nyos fills a roughly circular maar in the Oku Volcanic Field, an explosion crater caused when a lava flow interacted violently with groundwater. The maar is believed to have formed in an eruption a maximum of 12,000 years ago, and is 1,800 m (5,900 ft) across and 208 m (682 ft) deep. The area has been volcanically active for millions of years—after South America and Africa were split apart by plate tectonics about 110 million years ago, West Africa also experienced rifting, although to a lesser degree. The rift is known as the Mbéré Rift Valley, and crustal extension has allowed magma to reach the surface along a line extending through Cameroon. Mount Cameroon also lies on this fault line. Lake Nyos is surrounded by old lava flows and pyroclastic deposits.
Although Nyos is situated within an extinct volcano, magma still exists beneath it. Approximately directly below the lake resides a pool of magma, which releases carbon dioxide and other gases; the gases then travel upward through the earth. The fumes then dissolve in the natural springs encircling the lake, ultimately rising to the surface of the water and leaching into the lake. But with advanced in technology now there are machinery placed at the bottom of the lake to remove the gases, so as to make the inhabitants of the area free from danger.
The lake waters are held in place by a natural dam composed of volcanic rock. At its narrowest point, the wall measures high and wide.
Gas saturation.
Lake Nyos is one of only three lakes in the world known to be saturated with carbon dioxide—the others are Lake Monoun, also in Cameroon, and Lake Kivu on the border between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda. A magma chamber beneath the region is an abundant source of carbon dioxide, which seeps up through the lake bed, charging the waters of Lake Nyos with an estimated 90 million tonnes of CO2.
Lake Nyos is thermally stratified, with layers of warm, less dense water near the surface floating on the colder, denser water layers near the lake's bottom. Over long periods, carbon dioxide gas seeping into the cold water at the lake's bottom is dissolved in great amounts.
Most of the time, the lake is stable and the CO2 remains in solution in the lower layers. However, over time, the water becomes supersaturated, and if an event such as an earthquake or landslide occurs, large amounts of CO2 may suddenly come out of solution.
1986 disaster.
Although a sudden outgassing of CO2 had occurred at Lake Monoun in 1984, a similar threat from Lake Nyos was not anticipated. However, on August 21, 1986, a limnic eruption occurred at Lake Nyos, triggering the sudden release of about 100,000–300,000 tons (some sources state as much as 1.6 million tonnes) of CO2. This gas cloud rose at nearly and spilled over the northern lip of the lake into a valley running roughly east–west from Cha to Subum. It then rushed down two valleys branching off to the north, displacing all of the air and suffocating 1,746 people within of the lake, mostly rural villagers, as well as 3,500 livestock. The villages most affected were Cha, Nyos, and Subum.
Scientists concluded from evidence that a fountain of water and foam formed at the surface of the lake. The huge amount of water rising suddenly caused much turbulence in the water, spawning a wave of at least that would scour the shore of one side.
It is not known what triggered the catastrophic outgassing. Most geologists suspect a landslide, but some believe that a small volcanic eruption may have occurred on the bed of the lake. A third possibility is that cool rainwater falling on one side of the lake triggered the overturn. Others still believe there was a small earthquake, but as witnesses did not report feeling any tremors on the morning of the disaster, this hypothesis is unlikely. Whatever the cause, the event resulted in the rapid mixing of the supersaturated deep water with the upper layers of the lake, where the reduced pressure allowed the stored CO2 to effervesce out of solution.
It is believed that about of gas was released. The normally blue waters of the lake turned a deep red after the outgassing, due to iron-rich water from the deep rising to the surface and being oxidised by the air. The level of the lake dropped by about a metre and trees near the lake were knocked down.
Degassing.
The scale of the 1986 disaster led to much study on how a recurrence could be prevented. Estimates of the rate of carbon dioxide entering the lake suggested that outgassings could occur every 10–30 years, though a recent study shows that release of water from the lake, caused by erosion of the natural barrier that keeps in the lake's water, could in turn reduce pressure on the lake's carbon dioxide and cause a gas escape much sooner.
Several researchers independently proposed the installation of degassing columns from rafts in the lake. These use a pump to initially lift water from the bottom of the lake, heavily saturated with CO2, until the loss of pressure begins releasing the gas from the diphasic fluid, at which point the process becomes self-powered. In 1992 at Monoun, and in 1995 at Nyos, a French team directed by Michel Halbwachs demonstrated the feasibility of this approach. In 2001, the U.S. Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance funded a permanent installation at Nyos.
In 2011, two additional pipes were installed by Michel Halbwachs and his French-Cameroonian team to assure the complete degassing of Lake Nyos.
Following the disaster, scientists investigated other African lakes to see if a similar phenomenon could happen elsewhere. Lake Kivu, 2,000 times larger than Lake Nyos, was also found to be supersaturated, and geologists found evidence for outgassing events around the lake about every thousand years. The eruption of nearby Mount Nyiragongo in 2002 sent lava flowing into the lake, raising fears that a gas eruption could be triggered, but it was not, as the flow of lava stopped well before it got near the bottom layers of the lake, where the gas is maintained in solution by the water pressure.
Weakening dam.
In 2005, Isaac Njilah, a geologist at the University of Yaoundé, suggested that the natural dam of volcanic rock that keeps in the lake's waters could collapse in the near future. Erosion has worn the dam away, causing holes and pockets to develop in the dam's upper layer, and water already passes through the lower section. Meanwhile, landslides have reduced dam strength on the outside. Seismic activity caused by the lake's volcanic foundation could thus cause the lake wall to give way, resulting in up to 50 million m3 (1.8 billion ft3) of water flooding downhill into areas of the Northwest Province and the Nigerian states of Taraba and Benue.
The Cameroonian government, speaking through Gregory Tanyi-Leke of the Institute of Mining and Geological Research, acknowledges the weakening wall, but denies that it presents any immediate threat. A United Nations team led by Olaf Van Duin and Nisa Nurmohamed of the Netherlands' Ministry of Transport and Public Works inspected the dam over three days in September 2005, and confirmed that the natural lip had weakened. Van Duin believed that the dam would breach within the next 10 to 20 years.
One possible means of averting such a catastrophe would be to strengthen the lake wall, though this would take much time and money. Engineers could also introduce a channel to allow excess water to drain; if the water level were lowered by about , the pressure on the wall would be reduced significantly.
Return of population.
Despite the risks from carbon dioxide and collapse of the lake's retaining wall, the area is being resettled. Settlers cite the wish to return to ancestral lands (although some are newcomers) and the great fertility of the land as reasons for their return.
In popular culture.
"" [Nyos: The ceremony of innocence] (2016), a novel by Basileios Drolias focusing on the lake Nyos disaster.
"Stikvallei" [Choke Valley] (2013), a non-fiction account of the lake Nyos disaster by Frank Westerman.
References.
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Limnic eruption
Type of natural disaster
A limnic eruption, also known as a lake overturn, is a very rare type of natural hazard in which dissolved carbon dioxide (CO2) suddenly erupts from deep lake waters, forming a gas cloud capable of asphyxiating wildlife, livestock, and humans. Scientists believe earthquakes, volcanic activity, and other explosive events can serve as triggers for limnic eruptions as the rising CO2 displaces water. Lakes in which such activity occurs are referred to as limnically active lakes or exploding lakes. Some features of limnically active lakes include:
Investigations of the Lake Monoun and Lake Nyos casualties led scientists to classify limnic eruptions as a distinct type of hazard event, even though they can be indirectly linked to volcanic eruptions.
Historical occurrences.
Due to the largely invisible nature of the underlying cause (CO2 gas) behind limnic eruptions, it is difficult to determine to what extent, and when, eruptions have occurred in the past. The Roman historian Plutarch reports that in 406BC, Lake Albano surged over the surrounding hills, despite there being no rain nor tributaries flowing into the lake to account for the rise in water level. The ensuing flood destroyed fields and vineyards before eventually pouring into the sea. This event is thought to have been caused by volcanic gases, trapped in sediment at the bottom of the lake and gradually building up until suddenly releasing, causing the water to overflow.
In recent history, this phenomenon has been observed twice. The first recorded limnic eruption occurred in Cameroon at Lake Monoun in 1984, causing asphyxiation and death of 37 people living nearby. A second, deadlier eruption happened at neighboring Lake Nyos in 1986, releasing over 80 million m3 of CO2, killing around 1,700 people and 3,000 livestock, again by asphyxiation.
A third lake, the much larger Lake Kivu, rests on the border between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda, and contains massive amounts of dissolved CO2. Sediment samples taken from the lake showed an event caused living creatures in the lake to go extinct around every 1,000 years, and caused nearby vegetation to be swept back into the lake. Limnic eruptions can be detected and quantified on a CO2 concentration scale by taking air samples of the affected region.The Messel pit fossil deposits of Messel, Germany, show evidence of a limnic eruption there in the early Eocene. Among the victims are perfectly preserved insects, frogs, turtles, crocodiles, birds, anteaters, insectivores, early primates, and paleotheres.
Causes.
For a lake to undergo a limnic eruption, the water must be nearly saturated with gas. CO2 was the primary component in the two observed cases, Lake Nyos and Lake Monoun. In Lake Kivu's case, scientists, including lake physicist Alfred Johny Wüest, were also concerned about the concentrations of methane. CO2 may originate from volcanic gas emitted from under the lake, or from decomposition of organic material.
Before a lake becomes saturated, it behaves like an unopened carbonated soft drink: the CO2 is dissolved in the water. In both lakes and soft drinks, CO2 dissolves much more readily at higher pressure due to Henry's law. When the pressure is released, the CO2 comes out of solution as bubbles of gas, which rise to the surface. CO2 also dissolves more readily in cooler water, so very deep lakes can dissolve very large amounts of CO2 since pressure increases, and temperature decreases, with depth. A small increase in water temperature can lead to the release of a large amount of CO2.
Once a lake is saturated, it is very unstable and it gives off a smell of rotten eggs and gunpowder, but a trigger is needed to set off an eruption. In the case of the 1986 Lake Nyos eruption, landslides were the suspected triggers, but a volcanic eruption, an earthquake, or even wind and rain storms can be potential triggers. Limnic eruptions can also be caused by gradual gas saturation at specific depths triggering spontaneous gas development. Regardless of cause, the trigger pushes gas-saturated water higher in the lake, where the reduced pressure is insufficient to keep gas in solution. The buoyancy from the resulting bubbles lifts the water even higher, releasing yet more bubbles. This process forms a column of gas, at which point the water at the bottom is pulled up by suction, and it too loses CO2 in a runaway process. This eruption discharges the gas into the air and can displace enough water to form a tsunami.
Limnic eruptions are exceptionally rare for several reasons. First, a CO2 source must exist; regions with volcanic activity are most at risk. Second, the vast majority of lakes are holomictic (their layers mix regularly), preventing a buildup of dissolved gases. Only meromictic lakes are stratified, allowing CO2 to remain dissolved. It is estimated only one meromictic lake exists for every 1,000 holomictic lakes. Finally, a lake must be very deep in order to have sufficiently pressurized water that can dissolve large amounts of CO2.
Consequences.
Once an eruption occurs, a large CO2 cloud forms above the lake and expands to the surrounding region. Because CO2 is denser than air, it has a tendency to sink to the ground, simultaneously displacing breathable air, resulting in asphyxia. CO2 can make human bodily fluids highly acidic and potentially cause CO2 poisoning. As victims gasp for air, they actually accelerate asphyxia by inhaling CO2.
At Lake Nyos, the gas cloud descended into a nearby village where it settled, killing nearly everyone; casualties as far as were reported. A change in skin color on some bodies led scientists to hypothesize the gas cloud may have contained dissolved acid such as hydrogen chloride, though this hypothesis is disputed. Many victims were found with blisters on their skin, thought to have been caused by pressure ulcers, which were likely caused by low blood oxygen levels in those asphyxiated by carbon dioxide. Nearby vegetation was largely unaffected, except any growing immediately adjacent to the lake. There, vegetation was damaged or destroyed by a high tsunami caused by the violent eruption.
Degassing.
Efforts are underway to develop a solution for removing the gas from these lakes and to prevent a build-up which could lead to another disaster. A team led by French scientist Michel Halbwachs began experimenting at Lake Monoun and Lake Nyos in 1990 using siphons to degas the waters of these lakes in a controlled manner. The team positioned a pipe vertically in the lake with its upper end above the water surface. Water saturated with CO2 enters the bottom of the pipe and rises to the top. The lower pressure at the surface allows the gas to come out of solution. Only a small amount of water must be mechanically pumped initially through the pipe to start the flow. As saturated water rises, the CO2 comes out of solution and forms bubbles. The natural buoyancy of the bubbles draws the water up the pipe at high velocity resulting in a fountain at the surface. The degassifying water acts like a pump, drawing more water into the bottom of the pipe, and creating a self-sustaining flow. This is the same process which leads to a natural eruption, but in this case it is controlled by the size of the pipe.
Each pipe has a limited pumping capacity and several would be required for both Lake Monoun and Lake Nyos to degas a significant fraction of the deep lake water and render the lakes safe. The deep lake waters are slightly acidic due to the dissolved CO2 which causes corrosion to the pipes and electronics, necessitating ongoing maintenance. There is some concern that CO2 from the pipes could settle on the surface of the lake forming a thin layer of unbreathable air and thus potentially causing problems for wildlife.
In January 2001, a single pipe was installed by the French-Cameroonian team on Lake Nyos, and two more pipes were installed in 2011 with funding support from the United Nations Development Programme. A pipe was installed at Lake Monoun in 2003 and two more were added in 2006. These three pipes are thought to be sufficient to prevent an increase in CO2 levels, removing approximately the same amount of gas that naturally enters at the lake bed. In January 2003, an 18-month project was approved to fully degas Lake Monoun, and the lake has since been rendered safe.
There is some evidence that Lake Michigan in the United States spontaneously degasses on a much smaller scale each fall.
Lake Kivu risks.
Lake Kivu is not only about 1,700 times larger than Lake Nyos, but is also located in a far more densely populated area, with over two million people living along its shores. The part within the Democratic Republic of the Congo is a site of active armed conflict and low state capacity for the DRC government, which impedes both studies and any subsequent mitigating actions. Lake Kivu has not reached a high level of CO2 saturation yet; if the water were to become heavily saturated, a limnic eruption would pose a great risk to human and animal life, potentially killing millions.
Two significant changes in Lake Kivu's physical state have brought attention to a possible limnic eruption: the high rates of methane dissociation and a rising surface temperature. Research investigating historical and present-day temperatures show Lake Kivu's surface temperature is increasing by about 0.12 °C per decade. Lake Kivu is in close proximity to potential triggers: Mount Nyiragongo (an active volcano which erupted in January 2002 and May 2021), an active earthquake zone, and other active volcanoes.
While the lake could be degassed in a manner similar to Lake Monoun and Lake Nyos, due to the size of Lake Kivu and the volume of gas it contains, such an operation would be expensive, running into the millions of dollars. A scheme initiated in 2010 to use methane trapped in the lake as a fuel source to generate electricity in Rwanda has led to a degree of CO2 degassing. During the procedure for extracting the flammable methane gas used to fuel power stations on the shore, some CO2 is removed in a process known as catalyst scrubbing. It is unclear whether enough gas will be removed to eliminate the danger of a limnic eruption at Lake Kivu.
References.
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Lake Monoun
Lake in West Province, Cameroon
Lake Monoun is a crater lake (maar) in West Province, Cameroon, that lies in the Oku Volcanic Field. On August 15, 1984, a limnic eruption occurred at the lake, which resulted in the release of a large amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) that killed 37 people. At first, the deaths remained unexplained, and causes such as terrorism were suspected. Further investigation and a similar event two years later at Lake Nyos led to the currently accepted explanation.
Disaster.
Several people reported hearing a loud noise on August 15, 1984, around 22:30. A gas cloud reportedly emanated from a crater in the eastern part of the lake. The resulting deaths of 37 residents in a low-lying area are believed to have occurred between 03:00 and dawn. The victims were said to have skin burns, which reports later clarified as "skin damage" such as discoloration. Survivors reported that the whitish, smoke-like cloud smelled bitter and acidic. Vegetation was flattened around the eastern part of the lake, probably by a large wave of up to height.
Although Lake Monoun is near the center of a volcanic field that includes at least 34 recent craters, the subsequent investigation found that the event was not caused by an eruption or sudden ejection of volcanic gas from the lake. Rather, emission of carbon dioxide in a limnic eruption is thought to be to blame. The cloud's smell and skin damage to victims were not fully explained. Some theories attribute the skin problems to a combination of preexisting conditions and routine postmortem effects like livor mortis, another medical interpretation says the body's metabolic rate was reduced inducing a severely restricted circulation in capillary vessels of the skin, resulting in necrosis, although there is no clear consensus.
Among the victims were some of the riders in a truck carrying twelve people. The truck's engine stopped working as it became starved of oxygen, and the people inside the truck got out and were killed. Two people sitting on top of the truck survived, because their elevated position allowed them to breathe – carbon dioxide is heavier than air (oxygen and nitrogen) which causes it to stay close to the ground.
Two years later, on 21 August 1986, a similar and much more deadly event occurred at Lake Nyos, about north-northwest, killing 1,746 people and more than 3,000 livestock. Along with Lake Nyos and Lake Kivu, Lake Monoun is one of three lakes in the world known to have high concentrations of gas dissolved deep below the surface and which have the right conditions for a limnic eruption.
Degassing.
In March and April 1992 preliminary test were conducted at Lake Monoun using the gas lift method as known in the petroleum industry. Initially a pump (or preferably a compressed gas injection) is needed to pull water from the bottom, but as carbon dioxide begins to come out of solution it creates buoyancy in the water in the pipes, allowing a self-sustaining process without the need for external energy supply.
Due to the very limited funds for the project and construction basically by hand, the solution was the use of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) pipes. The material has a specific gravity of 0.96 kg/L which means an almost neutral buoyancy in water. The HDPE plastic is flexible, not brittle, and resistive to chemical and weathering alteration as proven material for natural gas distribution networks.
The pipe could be easily soldered electrically in the field from standard segments, and deployed with just the help of a few rubber boats plus floats. With some ballast, the pipe hangs freely from an anchored raft like a pendulum.
Unfortunately, the CO2-rich, oxygen-depleted water from the depth is a challenge for steel fittings: Corrosion occurred and formed siderite which removed iron from the steel.
In February 2003, a venting pipe was inserted into the lake, in an effort to prevent the disaster from recurring. In the initial degassing phase, an fountain developed from the water tapped at depth.(p9) However, a study found in 2005 that gas was not being removed from the lake quickly enough to ensure that the disaster could never happen again. It was recommended to lower the inlet of the existing pipe down to and the addition of a second pipe in order to release more carbon dioxide. On the other hand, the deep lake water is rich in iron(II) ions, which after a while transforms into limonite. As the lake is a fishing ground for local villagers, the effect of a higher iron intake rate in the upper water layer on fishlife needed consideration before scaling up the degassing rate.(p283)
In December 2013, the degassing pipe was upgraded with a small solar-power driven rotary pump, since it had lost its self-lift capability due to the bubbling effect in the riser as a significant amount of CO2 had been removed from the bottom layers. The new system is able to lift c. 100 m³ of bottom water to the surface per day. That degassing capability is unfortunately less than the natural inflow of CO2-rich water, therefore two more of these solar pumps are needed to avoid a long-term build up of higher and dangerous levels of CO2 in the stratified water levels.(p31)
References.
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Oku Volcanic Field
The Oku Volcanic Field or Oku Massif is a group of volcanoes based on a swell in the Cameroon Volcanic Line, located in the Oku region of the Western High Plateau of Cameroon.
The Mount Oku stratovolcano rises to 3,011 m above sea level.
The massif has a diameter of almost 100 km and contains four major stratovolcanoes: Mount Oku, Mount Babanki 15 km SW of Oku, Nyos and Nkambe.
Rocks in the massif have ages from 24.9 to 22.1 million years ago, but more recent activity has occurred.
The massif is composed of rhyolitic and trachytic rock, and contains many maars and basaltic cinder cones.
The Oku Volcanic Field includes two crater lakes, Lake Nyos to the north and Lake Monoun to the south.
On 15 August 1984, an earthquake and landslide triggered a major release of carbon dioxide from Lake Monoun, killing several people.
Lake Nyos is inside a maar formed by an explosion about 400 years ago, and is about 1,800 m wide and 208 m deep. There is a low-temperature reservoir of free carbon dioxide below the lake bottom, which seeps into the lake through a volcanic pipe.
On 21 August 1986, Lake Nyos released a massive amount of carbon dioxide which killed at least 1,700 people by suffocation, possibly triggered by a force 5 earthquake along the Foumban Shear Zone, which runs under the massif.
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Chah, Cameroon
Village in Cameroon
Chah, or Cha, is a village in the Northwest Province of Cameroon that was largely abandoned after the Lake Nyos disaster of 1986, when an eruption of carbon dioxide from nearby Lake Nyos killed many of its inhabitants. The village's population in 2005 was 593, 147 of which were men, and 446 were women.
The village's infrastructure consists of at least seven kilometers of road, two bridges, and seven culverts.
There are concerns about the stability of the natural rock wall that holds back the lake water. Regardless, the area was resettled after the disaster and reportedly has highly fertile soil.
References.
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Donner Party
19th-century group of American emigrants who became trapped
The Donner Party, sometimes called the Donner–Reed Party, was a group of American pioneers who migrated to California in a wagon train from the Midwest. Delayed by a multitude of mishaps, they spent the winter of 1846–1847 snowbound in the Sierra Nevada. Some of the migrants resorted to cann