Eyjafjallajokull (E15 Eruprion) Flashcards
Where is E15 located?
On the south coast of Iceland
What does Iceland sit along?
The mid-Atlantic ridge, where the North American plate (moving west) and Eurasian plate (moving east) move apart at a rate of 2.5 cm a year, it is along the constructive (divergent) plate boundary
What type of volcano is it? Give facts
Stratovolcano (known as a composite volcano), conical shaped volcano built up by layers of hardened lava, tephra and volcanic ash, a huge magma chamber feeds it, 1,651 metres, crater of 3-4 km in diameter, open facing north
What was Iceland’s GDP per capita in 2010?
43,237.07 USD
When did E15 erupt?
From the 14th to 20th of April 2010 (during the Easter school holidays)
Why did it erupt?
Lay along the constructive plate boundary Magma was able to rise up to the surface and erupt, made more violent as it was a sub-glacier eruption, created even more ash
What VEI was the eruption (Volcanic explosivity index)?
4
List the primary effects:
Road closure of Iceland’s Route 1 around the southern coast (huge transport link), 250 million cubic metres of ash and tephra was emitted (bad for environment), 20 farms were destroyed, 30,000 tonnes of CO2 were released into the atmosphere each day
List the secondary effects:
95,000 flights were cancelled during a 6 day closure period, Airline industry lost around £1.1 billion, Kenya’s economy struggled as perishable foods and flowers could not be sold, 50,000 farmers were temporarily unemployed as 1 million cut flower stalks went unsold in the first 2 days, 8 day travel ban, estimated 107,000 flights were cancelled accounting in 48% of total air travel and left roughly 10 million passengers stuck in many foreign countries and many unable to return home, Cost airlines and associated businesses about £130 million a day (according to the IATA) and similarly it is estimated that European airlines lost $2.2 billion, Ash led to water having fluoride in it (livestock could not drink it, Flooding (150 metre ice cap was melted - destroyed parts of road), Tourism fell in Iceland
List the responses of the eruption:
700 people in total were evacuated in Iceland (cared for by 60 Red Cross volunteers) including 500 nearby farmers, Dutch Red Cross set up 1,500 beds in Schiphol airport for trapped passengers, Previous 27 national airspace of the EU to be replaced with 9 functional airspace blocks (FABs) - making it easier to control europe’s airspace, Parts of route 1 were bulldozed to control damage done, Roads and embankments were constructed within weeks, Compensation given to travellers, European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EUASA) looked into the problem of tephra and ash cloud on the effects on aircraft engines
