Longshot Captures the First Tournament Earth

Tournament: Earth 2013 has come to a stunning end. A newcomer to the landscape—a volcano that wasn’t even above the water’s surface at the beginning of 2012—literally came out of nowhere to win our first-ever tournament. The #7 seeded El Hierro submarine eruption from the “events” bracket captured the overall crown.

In a true Cinderella story, the underwater volcano proceeded to knock off four higher seeds before meeting another #7 seed—the crack in the Pine Island Glacier—in the final. The matchup was not even close, as El Hierro romped with 91 percent of the votes.

Perhaps sensing its impending victory, El Hierro began stirring in late March 2013. According to Erik Klemetti’s “Eruptions” volcanology blog, earthquake swarms beneath the island suggested that magma was on the move. Perhaps a volcano will soon be popping some lava champagne to celebrate the win.

Here is a walk through the opponents that El Hierro tossed aside on it’s month-long romp through earthly fame:

ROUND 1: Overnight View of Hurricane Sandy (#2 seed, events bracket)

 

ROUND 2: GOES View of Hurricane Sandy (#3 seed, events bracket)

 

ROUND 3: New Volcanic Island in the Red Sea (#5 seed, events bracket)

 

ROUND 4: Night Lights 2012 – Flat Map (#2 seed, Earth at night bracket)

 

ROUND 5: Flying Through a Crack in the Ice (#7 seed, data bracket)