Small variations drive big changes. Professor Hans-Joachim Schellnhuber, the director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impacts Research, was in no doubt when giving evidence to the Australian Senate inquiry into climate change earlier this year. The effects will be irreversible. Several quakes have been so strong that national broadcaster NHK has thrown out normal programming and switched to emergency warning mode. Moreover, three volcanoes have belched large eruptions in the past four months.
Few nations are as savaged by earthquakes as Japan.
The archipelago sits at a dangerous crossroads where four continent-size slabs of Earth collide. About 1,000 quakes strong enough to be felt rattle the islands every day. Japan's jitters heightened as a volcano on an island off Tokyo erupted in August, sending black ash into the sky and forcing the evacuation of its residents. The eruption of Mount Oyama was its biggest since 1990. Scientists believe the volcanic activity will continue, but admit they are having trouble predicting what will happen.