April 15, 2010
In Iceland today, hundreds of people have been evacuated as floodwaters rise from the eruption of the volcano under the Eyjafjallajokull glacier. This is the second time it has erupted in less than a month. As water gushed down the mountainside, rivers had risen up to 10 feet by Wednesday night.
The volcano’s smoke and ash poses a threat to aircraft because it can affect visibility, and microscopic debris can get sucked into airplane engines and can cause them to shut down. Airports are closed across Western Europe, including London’s Heathrow, where up to 180,000 people fly in a typical day.
Iceland is a volcanic island, so this type of event is not unexpected. I included some spectacular photographs of explosions of Icelandic volcanoes in my Collins/Smithsonian book, VOLCANOES.
In 1963, an area of the Atlantic Ocean near Iceland began to boil and churn. An undersea volcano was exploding and a new island was being formed. The island was named Surtsey, after the ancient Norse god of fire.
Ten years after the explosion that formed Surtsey, another volcano erupted on a island off the south coast of Iceland. More than 5,000 people were evacuated as the eruptions and lava flow continued for more than two months. Hundreds of buildings burned, and dozens more were buried by lava. After a year’s time, the people returned to their island home, which was now sporting a new, 700-foot high volcano!
Simon, Seymour. VOLCANOES. New York: Collins/Smithsonian, 1988. Page 16
Photo: Solarfilma
Icelanders are accustomed to volcanic activity, and know how to react when an eruption is imminent. The good news about today’s headlines is that although many people are being inconvenienced as they try to travel by air across Europe, everyone is safe in Iceland.
Posted by: Seymour Simon
