Hazards Case Study 2: The Iceland 2010 Eruption Flashcards
Why is Iceland so vulnerable to volcanic events?
It was created by and is situated on the Mid Atlantic Ridge, a divergent plate boundary, which has volcanoes spread all across it. It is also located on a natural hot spot.
When was the last time this volcano erupted prior to 2010?
Between 1821 and 1823.
What were the signs forecasting this eruption?
Increased seismic activity in December 2009, followed by ground deformation in February 2010, and continued earthquake activity, before the first eruption on March 20th.
Why did the volcano erupt many times over the coming months?
This volcano is a effusive volcano, and tends to erupts many times over a longer period of time due to lower relative pressures in the magma chamber.
What kind of eruption was this, and why?
It was a phratomagmatic eruption, sending ash 9km into the sky, as a result of built up snow and ice on top of the cap increasing pressure and the melting of it creating more tiny glass like shards of ash.
What was the VEI rating of this eruption?
VEI 4
How long did the eruption last?
7 months, from May to October 2010.
What were some direct impacts on Iceland from the eruption?
Flooding, due to the melting of large amounts of ice. This affected local roads and resulted in the evacuation of 800 people. Small gaps had to be opened up to prevent some bridges from collapsing under the surge of floodwater.
Disruption of farming, due to grass and water locally being poisoned by fluorine tainted ash. Farmers had to keep their animals indoors, and new pastures suffered, with ash-fall of up to 10cm. However lighter ash falls simply washed away from the rain and there was little damage to local vegetation. (Also some possible long term benefits of nutrients being released from the ash)
Reykjavik airport closed for several days on two separate occasions, in April and in mid May. Passengers of flights here had to be bussed to the airport on the northern coast of the island, which was a long journey.
Schools in southern Iceland were forced to close on the 7-8th of May due to heavy ash falls, and people living in areas subject to heavy ash fall were advised to stay indoors. Some people experienced minor health problems, but these were short lived.
Lahars raised river channel beds, increasing flood risk.
Tourism impacts were mixed, with the initial spike in tourism from the eruption, which tourist organisations quickly exploited, with helicopter, bus and jeep tours of the eruption. This resulted in 10,000 tourists by the end of March. However, after the main eruption on the 14th April, the main ring road was closed, which adversely affected attractions, however day tours from Reykjavik to see the eruption continued. However the closure of European air space prevented European tourists from coming to see it with an estimated 11% loss in tourism over the following year due to loss of tourist confidence.
Why did European air space close, and for how long?
The phratomagmatic nature of the eruption sent ash 9km into the air, and the anti-cyclonic winds that happened to occur at the time carried the ash south east towards mainland Europe, which is one of the busiest air spaces in the world.
How long was European air space closed for and why?
European air space was closed for 5 days, due to concerns over highly abrasive volcanic ash potentially damaging aircraft engines. It opened after these 5 days due to more favourable winds and intense lobbying from aircraft companies.
How many planes pass through Europe per day?
21,660 per day.
What were some impacts of the European air space closure?
Loss of productivity, with about 7 million passengers stranded worldwide. These people were unable to return to work after their holidays, and one estimate put the loss of productivity to companies at $400 million per day. In Britain, it coincided with the end of the Easter holiday, leaving teachers and pupils unable to return to school at a time when public examinations were rapidly approaching.
Goods such as pharmaceuticals, just-in-time deliveries of electronic devices, flowers and some exotic foodstuffs suffered, for example, Hot-house flowers destined for European airspace worth an estimated $1.3 million rotted in Kenyan warehouses.
Tourism suffered, with an estimated $1.2 billion worldwide lost over the six days, according to the Internation Air Transport Association. Airlines got no revenue from passengers and had to pay the cost of rerouting flights and taking care of stranded customers. Alternative routes of transport such as rail companies, e.g. Eurostar benefited from this. Car rental firms and taxis also saw an increase.
Tourist destinations such as Florida, who had stranded European customers benefited from prolonged spending on accomodation and meals.
UK Travel agents lost an estimated $6 million per day in business. This continued into the summer as potential travellers delayed booking holidays.
Sporting fixtures were cancelled due to players being unable to attend.
The flight ban resulted in significantly less air and noise pollution over those 5 days, and whilst some CO2 was emitted from the eruption, much was prevented from the flight ban, resulting in a deper blue sky as the water vapour released as contrails from planes being absent.
Initially there were concerns for people with respiratory conditions, however few cases were reported as the ash was too high to cause ill health.
In context of past seismic activity from both this and other volcanoes in Iceland, how significant was the 2010 eruption?
To Iceland directly, it was extremely tame compared to past devastating events Iceland has experinced, however globally, it was much more significant than any past event in Iceland.
How has Iceland and the wider world learned from this event?
Iceland is continuing to monitor volcanoes, with an eruption at Katla being overdue, and past patterns showing the 2010 volcano and Katla to be symbiotic, with one tending to follow the other in erupting.
The Iceland Volcanic Observatory also decided that those in southern coastal towns should depart due to being near the eventual eruption site, with 700 doing so.
More globally, the eruption has encouraged research into engine design, the level of ash concentrations in the sky safe to fly in, and meteorological forecasting of ash movements during eruptions.
Insurance companies have also reviewed their policies regarding obligations to customers should a similar event occur again.
The EU has funded a project called ‘FutureVolc’ which involves improving sensors for eruptions and increased integration of swapping information between meteorological and geological organisations in Europe, aiming to allow a more accurate assessment of which air spaces need banning if such an event should happen again, rather than a blanket ban.
