The Volcano Under Eyjafjallajokull Glacier Eruption Again
Posted on 06. May, 2010 by thanate in News, Volcanic Eruptions
An Icelandic glaciologist Thursday predicted that the ongoing volcanic eruption under Iceland’s Eyjafjallajokull glacier could become more drastic, according to reports from Reykjavik. Several monitoring results show that the seismic activities in Eyjafjallajokull may indicate a more severe eruption is on the way, said a report from Iceland’s national Broadcasting RUV.
Photo: usposttoday.com
Sigrunn Hreinsdottir, a glaciologist with Reykjavik University, said the new lava is flowing up to five to six kilometers underground. Monitoring results show that there has been more lava flow out of the crater and eruption activities are increasing. In the past three days, there have been about 30 earthquakes at the eruption site and the lava flow is similar to the situation when the eruption began last month, Hreinsdottir also said.
“This is really a bad news for Iceland. If the same scale of eruption occurs, it will produce large amount of ash which will melt the glacier and cause floods again,” Hreinsdottir said. Volcano experts can’t calculate when a huge eruption will occur. But the Icelandic Civil Protection Department is holding an emergency meeting to discuss the situation.
The eruption under the Eyjafjallajokull glacier began April 14, causing floods that damaged roads and bridges near the volcano. The ash cloud caused by the eruption not only affected local farmers but also caused severe disruptions of air traffic in Europe.
Eyjafjallajökull is one of the smaller ice caps of Iceland, situated to the north of Skógar and to the west of Mýrdalsjökull. The ice cap covers the caldera of the volcano with a summit elevation of 1,666 metres. The volcano has erupted relatively frequently since the last glacial period, most recently from 1821 to 1823 and again in 2010. The ice cap covers an area of about 100 square kilometres, feeding many outlet glaciers.
Photo: mirror.co.uk
The south end of the mountain was once part of the island’s Atlantic coastline, but over thousands of years the sea retreated some 5 kilometres, with the former coastline now consisting of sheer cliffs with many waterfalls, of which the best known is Skógafoss. In strong winds, the water of the smaller falls can even be blown up the mountain. The volcano, which has a crater 3-4 kilometres in diameter, erupted in 920, 1612 and again from 1821 to 1823 when it caused a glacial lake outburst flood or jökulhlaup.
It has erupted in 2010 on 20 March, in April/May until yesterday. The March event forced a brief evacuation of around 500 local people, but the 14 April eruption was ten to twenty times more powerful and caused substantial disruption to air traffic across Europe, and is ongoing.
Sources: news.xinhuanet.com, wikipedia.org
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