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Between March and June 2010 a series of
volcanic A volcano is commonly defined as a vent or fissure in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often fo ...
events at
Eyjafjallajökull Eyjafjallajökull (; "glacier of (the mountain) Eyjafjöll"), sometimes referred to by the numeronym E15, is one of the smaller ice caps of Iceland, north of Skógar and west of Mýrdalsjökull. The ice cap covers the caldera of a volcano wi ...
in
Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...
caused enormous disruption to air travel across
Western Europe Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's extent varies depending on context. The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the Western half of the ancient Mediterranean ...
. The disruptions started over an initial period of six days in April 2010. Additional localised disruption continued into May 2010, and eruptive activity persisted until June 2010. The eruption was declared officially over in October 2010, after 3 months of inactivity, when snow on the glacier did not melt. From 14 to 20 April, ash from the volcanic eruption covered large areas of Northern Europe. About 20 countries closed their airspace to commercial jet traffic and it affected approximately 10 million travellers. Seismic activity started at the end of 2009 and gradually increased in intensity until on 20 March 2010, a small eruption began, rated as a 1 on the
volcanic explosivity index The volcanic explosivity index (VEI) is a scale used to measure the size of explosive volcanic eruptions. It was devised by Christopher G. Newhall of the United States Geological Survey and Stephen Self in 1982. Volume of products, eruption c ...
. Beginning on 14 April 2010, the eruption entered a second phase and created an
ash cloud Volcanic ash consists of fragments of rock, mineral crystals, and volcanic glass, produced during volcano, volcanic eruptions and measuring less than 2 mm (0.079 inches) in diameter. The term volcanic ash is also often loosely used ...
that led to the closure of most of the European IFR airspace from 15 until 20 April 2010. Consequently, a very high proportion of flights within, to, and from Europe were cancelled, creating the highest level of air travel disruption since the Second World War. The second phase resulted in an estimated of ejected
tephra Tephra is fragmental material produced by a Volcano, volcanic eruption regardless of composition, fragment size, or emplacement mechanism. Volcanologists also refer to airborne fragments as pyroclasts. Once clasts have fallen to the ground, ...
and an ash plume that rose to a height of around , which rates the explosive power of the eruption as a 4 on the Volcanic Explosivity Index.Erica R. Hendry
What We Know From the Icelandic Volcano
," '' Smithsonian'', 22 April 2010. Retrieved April 2010.
By 21 May 2010, the second eruption phase had subsided to the point that no further lava or ash was being produced. By the evening of 6 June 2010, a small, new crater had opened up on the west side of the main crater. Explosive activity from this new crater was observed with emission of small quantities of ash. Seismic data showed that the frequency and intensity of earth tremors still exceeded the levels observed before the eruption, therefore scientists at the Icelandic Meteorological Office (IMO) and the Institute of Earth Sciences,
University of Iceland The University of Iceland ( ) is a public research university in Reykjavík, Iceland, and the country's oldest and largest institution of higher education. Founded in 1911, it has grown steadily from a small civil servants' school to a modern co ...
(IES) continued to monitor the volcano. In October 2010, Ármann Höskuldsson, a scientist at the University of Iceland Institute of Earth Sciences, stated that the eruption was officially over, although the area was still geothermally active and might erupt again.


Background

Eyjafjallajökull () is one of Iceland's smaller
ice cap In glaciology, an ice cap is a mass of ice that covers less than of land area (usually covering a highland area). Larger ice masses covering more than are termed ice sheets. Description By definition, ice caps are not constrained by topogra ...
s located in the far south of the island. Situated to the north of
Skógar Skógar (pronounced ), literally "forests", is a small Icelandic village with a population of roughly 25 located at the south of the Eyjafjallajökull glacier, in the municipality of Rangárþing eystra. The area is known for its waterfall, Skóg ...
and to the west of the larger ice cap
Mýrdalsjökull Mýrdalsjökull (pronounced , Icelandic for "(the) mire dale glacier" or "(the) mire valley glacier") is an ice cap on the top of the Katla volcano in the south of Iceland. It is to the north of the town of Vík í Mýrdal and to the east of ...
, Eyjafjallajökull covers the
caldera A caldera ( ) is a large cauldron-like hollow that forms shortly after the emptying of a magma chamber in a volcanic eruption. An eruption that ejects large volumes of magma over a short period of time can cause significant detriment to the str ...
of a volcano high, which has erupted relatively frequently since the last
ice age An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages, and g ...
. The most recent major eruptions occurred in 920, 1612, and from 1821 to 1823. Previous eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull have been followed by eruptions at its larger neighbour, Katla. On 20 April 2010 Icelandic President Ólafur Grímsson said, "the time for Katla to erupt is coming close ... we celandhave prepared ... it is high time for European governments and airline authorities all over the world to start planning for the eventual Katla eruption." The volcanic events starting in March 2010 were considered to be a single eruption divided into phases. The first eruption phase ejected
olivine The mineral olivine () is a magnesium iron Silicate minerals, silicate with the chemical formula . It is a type of Nesosilicates, nesosilicate or orthosilicate. The primary component of the Earth's upper mantle (Earth), upper mantle, it is a com ...
basaltic andesite lava several hundred metres into the air in what is known as an
effusive eruption An effusive eruption is a type of volcanic eruption in which lava steadily flows out of a volcano onto the ground. Overview There are two major groupings of eruptions: effusive and explosive. Effusive eruption differs from explosive eruption ...
. Ash ejection from this phase of the eruption was small, rising to no more than into the atmosphere. On 14 April 2010, however, the eruption entered an
explosive An explosive (or explosive material) is a reactive substance that contains a great amount of potential energy that can produce an explosion if released suddenly, usually accompanied by the production of light, heat, sound, and pressure. An ex ...
phase and ejected fine glass-rich ash to over into the atmosphere. The second phase was estimated to be a VEI 4 eruption, which was large, but not nearly the most powerful eruption possible by volcanic standards. By way of comparison, the Mount St. Helens eruption of 1980 was rated as 5 on the VEI, and the 1991 eruption of
Mount Pinatubo Mount Pinatubo is an active stratovolcano in the Zambales Mountains in Luzon in the Philippines. Located on the tripoint of Zambales, Tarlac and Pampanga provinces, most people were unaware of its eruptive history before the pre-eruption volc ...
was rated as a 6. This second phase erupted trachyandesite. This volcanic activity was highly disruptive to air travel because of a combination of factors: # The volcano is directly under the
jet stream Jet streams are fast flowing, narrow thermal wind, air currents in the Earth's Atmosphere of Earth, atmosphere. The main jet streams are located near the altitude of the tropopause and are westerly winds, flowing west to east around the gl ...
. # The direction of the jet stream was unusually stable at the time of the eruption's second phase, continuously southeast. # The second eruptive phase happened under of glacial ice. The resulting meltwater flowed back into the erupting volcano, which created two specific phenomena: ## The rapidly vaporising water significantly increased the eruption's explosive power. ## The erupting lava cooled very fast, which created a cloud of highly abrasive, glass-rich ash. # The volcano's explosive power was enough to inject ash directly into the jet stream.


Public observations

"Volcano tourism" quickly sprang up in the wake of the eruption, with local tour companies offering day trips to see the volcano. The Civil Protection Department of the Icelandic Police produced regular reports about access to the area, including a map of the restricted area around Eyjafjallajokull, from which the public was forbidden. Teams from the Icelandic Association for Search and Rescue were stationed at the eruption site as part of standard safety measures and to assist in enforcing access restrictions.
Vodafone Vodafone Group Public Limited Company () is a British Multinational company, multinational telecommunications company. Its registered office and global headquarters are in Newbury, Berkshire, England. It predominantly operates Service (economic ...
and the Icelandic telecommunications company Míla installed
webcams A webcam is a video camera which is designed to record or stream to a computer or computer network. They are primarily used in Videotelephony, video telephony, live streaming and social media, and Closed-circuit television, security. Webcams can b ...
, giving views of the eruption from Valahnúkur, Hvolsvöllur, and Þórólfsfell. The view of the eruption from Þórólfsfel also includes a thermal imaging camera.


Scientific observations

The London Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre (VAAC), part of the UK
Met Office The Met Office, until November 2000 officially the Meteorological Office, is the United Kingdom's national weather and climate service. It is an executive agency and trading fund of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and ...
, was responsible for forecasting the presence of volcanic ash in the north-east Atlantic. All ash dispersion models for this geographic region were produced by the VAAC in London. A study by the Icelandic Meteorological Office published in December 2009 indicated an increase in
seismic activity An earthquakealso called a quake, tremor, or tembloris the shaking of the Earth's surface resulting from a sudden release of energy in the lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from those so weak they ...
around the Eyjafjallajökull area during the years 2006–2009. The study reported increased activity that occurred between June and August 2009 (200 events), compared to a total of about 250 earthquakes recorded between September 2006 and August 2009. It further indicated that the locations of most of the earthquakes in 2009 occurred between depth east of the volcano's top crater. At the end of December 2009, seismic activity began around the Eyjafjallajökull volcano area, with thousands of small earthquakes (mostly of magnitude 1–2  Mw), beneath the volcano. The radar stations of the Meteorological Institute of Iceland did not detect any appreciable amount of
volcanic ash Volcanic ash consists of fragments of rock, mineral crystals, and volcanic glass, produced during volcanic eruptions and measuring less than 2 mm (0.079 inches) in diameter. The term volcanic ash is also often loosely used to r ...
fall during the first 24 hours of the eruption. However, during the night of 22 March, they reported some volcanic ash fall reaching the Fljótshlíð area ( northwest of the eruption's location) and Hvolsvöllur town ( northwest of the eruption location) leaving vehicles with a fine, grey layer of volcanic ash. At around 07:00 on 22 March, an explosion launched eruption columns which reached altitudes of . This was the highest plume since the eruption started. On 23 March, a small vapour explosion took place, when hot magma came into contact with nearby snowdrifts, emitting a vapour plume which reached an altitude of , and was detected on radar from the Meteorological Institute of Iceland. After that, many further vapour explosions occurred. By 26 March 2010, the
global positioning system The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a satellite-based hyperbolic navigation system owned by the United States Space Force and operated by Mission Delta 31. It is one of the global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) that provide ge ...
(GPS) equipment used by the Iceland Meteorological Office at Þorvaldseyri farm in the Eyjafjöll area (around southeast of the location of the recent eruption)Measurements made by using maps and measurement tools from Fasteignaskrá Íslandskort had shown 3 cm of displacement of the local crust in a southward direction, of which a 1-cm displacement had taken place within four days. This unusual seismic activity, along with the rapid movement of the Earth's crust in the area, gave
geophysicist Geophysics () is a subject of natural science concerned with the physical processes and properties of Earth and its surrounding space environment, and the use of quantitative methods for their analysis. Geophysicists conduct investigations acros ...
s evidence that magma was flowing from underneath the crust into Eyjafjallajökull's
magma chamber A magma chamber is a large pool of liquid rock beneath the surface of the Earth. The molten rock, or magma, in such a chamber is less dense than the surrounding country rock, which produces buoyant forces on the magma that tend to drive it u ...
and that pressure stemming from the process caused the crustal displacement at Þorvaldseyri farm. The seismic activity continued to increase, and from 3 to 5 March, close to 3,000 earthquakes were measured having their epicentre at the volcano. Most of these were too small (magnitude 2) to be interpreted as precursors to an eruption, but some could be detected in nearby towns. The grounding of European flights avoided about 3.44 kg of CO2 emissions per day, while the volcano emitted about 1.5 kg of CO2 per day.


Phase 1: Effusive eruption

The first phase of the eruption lasted from 20 March to 12 April 2010 and was characterised by olivine basaltic andesite lava flowing from various eruptive vents on the flanks of the mountain.


Evacuations

About 500 farmers and their families had to escape from the areas of Fljótshlíð, Eyjafjöll, and Landeyjar were evacuated overnight (including a group of 30 schoolchildren and their three teachers from Caistor Grammar School in England), and flights to and from
Reykjavík Reykjavík is the Capital city, capital and largest city in Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland on the southern shore of Faxaflói, the Faxaflói Bay. With a latitude of 64°08′ N, the city is List of northernmost items, the worl ...
and Keflavík International Airport were postponed, but on the evening of 21 March, domestic and international air traffic was allowed again. Inhabitants of the risk zone of Fljótshlíð, Eyjafjöll, and Landeyjar area were allowed to return to their farms and homes after an evening meeting with the Civil Protection Department on 22 March and the evacuation plan was temporarily dismissed. Instead, the police closed the road to Þórsmörk and the four-wheel-drive trail from
Skógar Skógar (pronounced ), literally "forests", is a small Icelandic village with a population of roughly 25 located at the south of the Eyjafjallajökull glacier, in the municipality of Rangárþing eystra. The area is known for its waterfall, Skóg ...
village to the Fimmvörðuháls mountain pass, but these roads and trails were reopened on 29 March, though only for suitable four-wheel drive vehicles. When the second fissure appeared, the road was closed again because of the danger of
flash flood A flash flood is a rapid flooding of low-lying areas: washes, rivers, dry lakes and depressions. It may be caused by heavy rain associated with a severe thunderstorm, hurricane, or tropical storm, or by meltwater from ice and snow. Flash f ...
s, which could have developed if the fissure had opened near big ice caps or other snow reservoirs, but the road was again opened at around noon on 1 April.


Effects on the river

On 22 March, a flow meter device in the Krossá glacial river (which drains Eyjafjallajökull and Mýrdalsjökull glaciers) in the Þórsmörk area (a few kilometres north-west of the erupting location) started to record a sudden rise in water level and water temperature – the total water temperature rose by over a two-hour period, which had never happened so quickly in the Krossá river since measurements began. Shortly afterward, the water level returned to normal and water temperature decreased. This rise in water temperature was thought to be related to the eruption nearby and was affecting part of the Krossá
drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land in which all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...
. The temperature of Hruná river, which flows through the narrow Hrunárgil canyon, into which part of the lava stream was flowing, was recently recorded by geologists to be between , indicating that the river was cooling the lava in that canyon.


Fissure

The first phase of the 2010 eruption began late on the evening of 20 March at the Eyjafjallajökull. The initial visual report of the eruption was at 23:52 GMT, when a red cloud was seen at the north slopes of
Fimmvörðuháls Fimmvörðuháls (; "five cairns pass") is the area between the glaciers Eyjafjallajökull and Mýrdalsjökull in southern Iceland. The route between Skógar and Thórsmörk goes through this pass and is one of the most popular walking routes in ...
mountain pass A mountain pass is a navigable route through a mountain range or over a ridge. Since mountain ranges can present formidable barriers to travel, passes have played a key role in trade, war, and both Human migration, human and animal migration t ...
, lighting up the sky above the eruptive site. The eruption was preceded by intense seismicity and high rates of deformation in the weeks before the eruption, in association with magma recharging of the volcano. Immediately before the eruption, the depth of the seismicity had become shallow, but was not significantly enhanced from what it had been in the previous weeks. Deformation was occurring at rates up to a centimetre a day since 4 March at various GPS sites installed within from the eruptive site. A
fissure A fissure is a long, narrow crack opening along the surface of Earth. The term is derived from the Latin word , which means 'cleft' or 'crack'. Fissures emerge in Earth's crust, on ice sheets and glaciers, and on volcanoes. Ground fissure A ...
opened up about in length running in a north-east to south-west direction, with 10 to 12 erupting
lava Lava is molten or partially molten rock (magma) that has been expelled from the interior of a terrestrial planet (such as Earth) or a Natural satellite, moon onto its surface. Lava may be erupted at a volcano or through a Fissure vent, fractu ...
craters ejecting lava at a temperature around up to into the air. The lava was alkali olivine
basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...
and was relatively
viscous Viscosity is a measure of a fluid's rate-dependent resistance to a change in shape or to movement of its neighboring portions relative to one another. For liquids, it corresponds to the informal concept of ''thickness''; for example, syrup h ...
, causing the motion of the lava stream to the west and east of the fissure to be slow. The molten lava flowed more than to the north-east of the fissure and into Hrunagil canyon, forming a lava fall more than long and slowly approaching Þórsmörk, but had not reached the
flood plain A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river. Floodplains stretch from the banks of a river channel to the base of the enclosing valley, and experience flooding during periods of high Discharge (hydrolog ...
s of Krossá. On 25 March 2010, while studying the eruption,
scientists A scientist is a person who researches to advance knowledge in an area of the natural sciences. In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, philosophers engaged in the philosophical study of nature ...
witnessed, for the first time in history, the formation of a
pseudocrater A rootless cone, also formerly called a pseudocrater, is a volcanic landform which resembles a true volcanic crater, but differs in that it is not an actual vent from which lava has erupted. They are characterised by the absence of any magma condu ...
during a
steam explosion A steam explosion is an explosion caused by violent boiling or flashing of water or ice into steam, occurring when water or ice is either superheated, rapidly heated by fine hot debris produced within it, or heated by the interaction of molten ...
. Crustal expansion continued at Þorvaldseyri for two days after the eruption began, but was slowly decreasing whilst the volcanic activity was increasing. This indicates that the rate at which magma was flowing into the magma chamber roughly equaled the rate at which it was being lost due to the eruption, giving evidence that this phase of volcanic activity reached equilibrium. A new fissure opened on 31 March, around northwest of the original fissure. Many witnesses were present while the new fissure opened. It was a bit smaller, around long according to witnesses, and lava coming from it started to flow into Hvannárgil canyon. These two erupting fissures shared the same magma chamber, according to geophysicists. No unusual seismic activity was detected at the time the new fissure appeared, nor any crustal expansion according to many
seismometer A seismometer is an instrument that responds to ground displacement and shaking such as caused by quakes, volcanic eruptions, and explosions. They are usually combined with a timing device and a recording device to form a seismograph. The out ...
s and GPS recorders situated in nearby areas. Geophysicist Magnús Tumi Einarsson said (at a press meeting in Hvolsvöllur on 21 March) that this eruption was small compared to, for example, the eruption of
Hekla Hekla (), or Hecla, is an active stratovolcano in the south of Iceland with a height of . Hekla is one of Iceland's most active volcanoes; over 20 eruptions have occurred in and around the volcano since the year 1210. During the Middle Ages, th ...
in 2000. The eruption, rather than taking place under the ice cap of the glacier, occurred in the mountain pass between the Eyjafjallajökull and
Mýrdalsjökull Mýrdalsjökull (pronounced , Icelandic for "(the) mire dale glacier" or "(the) mire valley glacier") is an ice cap on the top of the Katla volcano in the south of Iceland. It is to the north of the town of Vík í Mýrdal and to the east of ...
glaciers. As long as the fissure was not near the glacier, the risk of flooding was minimal; however, the fissure could extend into the ice cap, thereby greatly increasing the risk of flooding.


Phase 2: Explosive eruption

After a short hiatus in eruptive activity, and a large increase in seismic activity 23:00 on 13 April and 1:00 on 14 April, a new set of craters opened early in the morning of 14 April 2010 under the volcano's ice-covered central summit caldera. The earthquake swarm was followed by the onset of a seismic eruption tremor. Meltwater started to emanate from the ice cap around 07:00 on 14 April and an eruption plume was observed in the early morning. Visual observations were greatly restricted due to cloud cover over the volcano, but an aeroplane of the Icelandic Coast Guard imaged eruptive craters with radar instruments. A series of vents along a two-kilometre-long north–south-oriented fissure was active, with meltwater flowing mostly down the northern slopes of the volcano, but also to the south. An ash-loaded eruption plume rose to more than , deflected to the east by westerly winds.


Ash analysis

Samples of volcanic ash collected near the eruption showed a silica concentration of 58%—much higher than in the lava flows. The concentration of water-soluble
fluoride Fluoride (). According to this source, is a possible pronunciation in British English. is an Inorganic chemistry, inorganic, Monatomic ion, monatomic Ion#Anions and cations, anion of fluorine, with the chemical formula (also written ), whose ...
was one-third of the concentration typical in Hekla eruptions, with a
mean value A mean is a quantity representing the "center" of a collection of numbers and is intermediate to the extreme values of the set of numbers. There are several kinds of means (or "measures of central tendency") in mathematics, especially in statist ...
of 104 mg of fluoride per kg of ash. Agriculture is important in this region of Iceland, and farmers near the volcano have been warned not to let their livestock drink from contaminated streams and water sources, as high concentrations of fluoride can have deadly
renal In humans, the kidneys are two reddish-brown bean-shaped blood-filtering organs that are a multilobar, multipapillary form of mammalian kidneys, usually without signs of external lobulation. They are located on the left and right in the retrop ...
and
hepatic The liver is a major metabolic organ (anatomy), organ exclusively found in vertebrates, which performs many essential biological Function (biology), functions such as detoxification of the organism, and the Protein biosynthesis, synthesis of var ...
effects, particularly in sheep.


Impact on farming

The Icelandic Food and Veterinary Authority released an announcement on 18 April 2010, asking that all horse owners who keep their herds outside be on the alert for ash fall. Where ash fall was significant, all horses had to be sheltered indoors. The thick layer of ash that had fallen on some Icelandic pastures and farms at Raufarfell had become wet and compact, making it very difficult to continue farming,
harvest Harvesting is the process of collecting plants, animals, or fish (as well as fungi) as food, especially the process of gathering mature crops, and "the harvest" also refers to the collected crops. Reaping is the cutting of grain or pulses fo ...
ing, or grazing livestock.


Timeline of the second eruption phase

Unlike the earlier eruption phase, the second phase occurred beneath glacial ice. Cold water from melted ice quickly chilled the lava, causing it to fragment into highly abrasive glass particles that were then carried into the eruption plume. This, together with the magnitude of the eruption (estimated to be VEI 4) and being 10 to 20 times larger than the eruption of
Fimmvörðuháls Fimmvörðuháls (; "five cairns pass") is the area between the glaciers Eyjafjallajökull and Mýrdalsjökull in southern Iceland. The route between Skógar and Thórsmörk goes through this pass and is one of the most popular walking routes in ...
on 20 March, injected a glass-rich ash plume into the jet stream. Pulsating explosive activity on 17 April 2010, able to be observed because of the fine weather, was later understood to be due to periodic clogging/plugging of the conduit associated with the rise and degassing of more magma. In addition to volcanic ash being very hazardous to aircraft, the location of this eruption directly under the jet stream ensured that the ash was carried into the heavily used airspace over northern and central Europe.


Phase 3: Return to dormancy

By the morning of 24 May 2010, the view from the web camera installed on Þórólfsfell showed only a plume of water vapour surrounded by a bluish haze caused by emission of sulphurous gases. Due to the large quantities of dry volcanic ash lying on the ground, surface winds frequently lifted up an "ash mist" that significantly reduced visibility and made web camera observation of the volcano impossible. On 21 June 2010, data from seismic recorders in the area indicated that the frequency and strength of earth tremors had diminished, but were continuing. In October 2010, Ármann Höskuldsson, a scientist at the University of Iceland Institute of Earth Sciences, stated that the eruption was officially over, although the area was still geothermally active and might erupt again. During the eruption, the
BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
television news announcers did not try to pronounce the name "Eyjafjallajökull," but called it "the Iceland volcano."


Volume of erupted material and magma discharge

The Institute of Earth Sciences made a preliminary estimate of erupted material in the first three days of the eruption on 14 April 2010 at Eyjafjallajökull. The erupted products were fragmented material, the majority fine-grained airborne
tephra Tephra is fragmental material produced by a Volcano, volcanic eruption regardless of composition, fragment size, or emplacement mechanism. Volcanologists also refer to airborne fragments as pyroclasts. Once clasts have fallen to the ground, ...
. Eruptive products can be split into three categories along with preliminary estimated erupted volumes: # Material (tephra) in the ice cauldrons around the volcanic vents: # Tephra filling the glacial lagoon of Gígjökulslón, carried by floods down the outlet
glacier A glacier (; or ) is a persistent body of dense ice, a form of rock, that is constantly moving downhill under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires ...
Gígjökull: # Airborne tephra that was carried to the east and south of the volcano, uncompacted tephra fallout from eruption plume: Total: which corresponds to some of
magma Magma () is the molten or semi-molten natural material from which all igneous rocks are formed. Magma (sometimes colloquially but incorrectly referred to as ''lava'') is found beneath the surface of the Earth, and evidence of magmatism has also ...
. The magma discharge rate was about or 750 t/s. This was 10–20 times the average discharge rate in the preceding flank eruption at Fimmvörðuháls. (First eruption on 20 March 2010). The IES updated the eruption flow rate on 21 April 2010 to an estimation less than of magma, or 75 t/s, with a large uncertainty. IES also noted that the eruption continue with less explosive activity.


Health effects

No human fatalities were reported from the 2010 eruption of Eyjafjallajökull. Those who lived near the volcano had high levels of irritation symptoms, though their lung function was not lower than expected. Six months later, the population living in the area had more respiratory symptoms than a control group from North Iceland, with no ashfall. In Scotland, the number of phone calls to health services for respiratory and eye irritation did not rise significantly.


Effects of the ash plume on air travel

Volcanic ash is a major hazard to aircraft.C. M. Riley,
Tephra
''
Michigan Technological University Michigan Technological University (Michigan Tech, MTU, or simply Tech) is a public research university in Houghton, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1885 as the Michigan Mining School, the first post-secondary institution in the Uppe ...
Geological & Mining, Engineering & Sciences'', Retrieved on 23 January 2008.
Smoke and ash from eruptions reduce visibility for visual navigation, and microscopic debris in the ash can sandblast windscreens and melt in the heat of aircraft turbine engines, damaging engines and making them shut down. Many flights within, to, and from Europe were cancelled following 14 April 2010 eruption, and although no commercial aircraft were damaged, the engines of some military aircraft were harmed. The presence and location of the plume depends upon the state of the eruption and the winds. While some ash fell on uninhabited areas in Iceland, most had been carried by westerly winds, resulting in the shutdown of airspace over much of Europe. The shutdown had a knock on impact on the economy and cultural events across Europe. The Icelandic flag carrier airline,
Icelandair Icelandair is the flag carrier of Iceland. Linked from here It is part of the Icelandair Group and operates to destinations on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean from its main airline hub, hub at Keflavík International Airport. Its smaller dom ...
, seemed at first especially vulnerable, but managed to deal effectively with the eruption, and subsequently published a detailed report about its actions and conclusions.


Short- and long-term weather and environmental effects

At the mouth of the crater, the gases, ejecta, and volcanic plume created a rare weather phenomenon known as
volcanic lightning Volcanic lightning is an electrical discharge caused by a volcanic eruption rather than from an ordinary thunderstorm. Volcanic lightning arises from colliding, fragmenting particles of volcanic ash (and sometimes ice), which generate static elec ...
(or a " dirty thunderstorm"). When rocks and other ejecta collide with one another, they create static electricity. This, with the abundant water-ice at the summit, aids in making
lightning Lightning is a natural phenomenon consisting of electrostatic discharges occurring through the atmosphere between two electrically charged regions. One or both regions are within the atmosphere, with the second region sometimes occurring on ...
. High-fluoride
Hekla Hekla (), or Hecla, is an active stratovolcano in the south of Iceland with a height of . Hekla is one of Iceland's most active volcanoes; over 20 eruptions have occurred in and around the volcano since the year 1210. During the Middle Ages, th ...
eruptions pose a threat to foraging livestock, especially sheep. Fluoride poisoning can start in sheep at a diet with fluorine content of 25 ppm. At 250 ppm, death can occur within a few days. In 1783, 79% of the
Icelandic sheep The Icelandic is the Icelandic breed of domestic sheep. It belongs to the Northern European Short-tailed group of sheep, and is larger than most breeds in that group. It is thought to have been introduced to Iceland by Vikings in the late nint ...
stock were killed, probably as a result of fluorosis caused by the eruption of Laki. The effect also spread beyond Iceland.Tom de Castella (16 April 2010)
The eruption that changed Iceland forever
"
BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...
. Retrieved 18 April 2010.
Ash from the current Eyjafjallajökull eruption contains one-third the concentration typical in Hekla eruptions, with a
mean value A mean is a quantity representing the "center" of a collection of numbers and is intermediate to the extreme values of the set of numbers. There are several kinds of means (or "measures of central tendency") in mathematics, especially in statist ...
of 104 mg of fluoride per kg of ash. Large-scale release of sulphur dioxide into the troposphere also poses a potential health risk, especially to people with pre-existing breathing disorders. As of 15 April, the eruption was not large enough to have an effect on global temperatures like that of
Mount Pinatubo Mount Pinatubo is an active stratovolcano in the Zambales Mountains in Luzon in the Philippines. Located on the tripoint of Zambales, Tarlac and Pampanga provinces, most people were unaware of its eruptive history before the pre-eruption volc ...
and other major past volcanic eruptions. One previous related sequence of eruptions of this volcano, beginning in 1821 is recorded as having lasted for over two years, but no single set of major eruptions is known to have lasted more than 'several days'.


Comparison to past eruptions

The eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull and the largest ash plume associated with the second eruption phase were not unparalleled in either volume or abundance; however, the location was the critical factor because it affected air travel across Europe. Neither phase of the eruption was unusually powerful. Other notable volcanic eruptions include the eruption of Mount Pinatubo of 1991 of VEI 6. This eruption lasted eight days, from 7–15 June of that year, with an ash cloud that would have required additional days to dissipate, and resulted in worldwide abnormal weather and decrease in global temperature over the next few years. However, the second phase of Eyjafjallajökull's eruption lasted longer than that of Mount Pinatubo.


In popular culture

*The eruptions were a key plot point of the 2013 French comedy ''
Eyjafjallajökull Eyjafjallajökull (; "glacier of (the mountain) Eyjafjöll"), sometimes referred to by the numeronym E15, is one of the smaller ice caps of Iceland, north of Skógar and west of Mýrdalsjökull. The ice cap covers the caldera of a volcano wi ...
''. *British-American rapper MF Doom references the eruptions in the opening lines of his song "Guv'nor", on his 2012 album '' Key to the Kuffs'', with the line "Catch a throatful from the fire vocal, with ash and molten glass like Eyjafjallajökull". *Writing for ''
Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...
'', Serbian
performance art Performance art is an artwork or art exhibition created through actions executed by the artist or other participants. It may be witnessed live or through documentation, spontaneously developed or written, and is traditionally presented to a pu ...
ist
Marina Abramović Marina Abramović ( sr-Cyrl, Марина Абрамовић, ; born November 30, 1946) is a Serbian conceptual and performance artist. Her work explores body art, endurance art, the relationship between the performer and audience, the limit ...
used Icelandic musician
Björk Björk Guðmundsdóttir ( , ; born 21 November 1965), known mononymously as Björk, is an Icelandic singer, songwriter, composer, record producer, and actress. Noted for her distinct voice, three-octave vocal range, and eccentric public per ...
's reverential reaction to the eruptions to praise her uniqueness as an artist.


See also

* 2010 eruptions of Mount Merapi * 2014–2015 eruption of Bárðarbunga * Air travel disruption after the 2010 Eyjafjallajökull eruption * British Airways Flight 9 * Effects of the April 2010 Eyjafjallajökull eruption * KLM Flight 867 *
Laki Laki () or Lakagígar (, ''Craters of Laki'') is a volcanic fissure in the western part of Vatnajökull National Park, Iceland, not far from the volcanic fissure of Eldgjá and the small village of Kirkjubæjarklaustur. The fissure is proper ...
* List of volcanoes in Iceland * North Atlantic oscillation * Timeline of volcanism on Earth *
Tuya A tuya is a flat-topped, steep-sided volcano formed when lava erupts through a thick glacier or ice sheet. They are rare worldwide, being confined to regions which were covered by glaciers and had active volcanism during the same period. As lava ...


References


External links


Frequently Asked Questions on the Eruption in Iceland – from the Icelandic Met Office

BBC webpage with film of the volcano, taken from 500m from the crater's edge, by Chris Weber on 13 May 2010

Volcanic Ash and Aviation Safety
nbsp;– SKYbrary guidance to pilots and controllers concerning the effects of volcanic ash.
Collection of Scientific Earth Observations and Models

NASA Earth Observatory satellite imagery

Satellite evidence of hot lava flows from an Icelandic volcano (CIMSS Satellite Blog)
(March 2010)
Description of beginning of current eruption, (March 2010), Icelandic Met Office


Photography


A short time-lapse from 17 April 2010. About 30 minutes played in 18 seconds.

Icelandic Coast Guard
radar images of the volcano


Audio



{{DEFAULTSORT:Eyjafjallajokull, 2010 eruptions 2010 in aviation 2010 in Iceland 2010 natural disasters 2010s disasters in Iceland 21st-century volcanic events March 2010 in Europe April 2010 in Europe May 2010 in Europe June 2010 in Europe VEI-4 eruptions Strombolian eruptions Vulcanian eruptions Air traffic control in Europe East Volcanic Zone of Iceland Volcanic eruptions in Iceland History of air traffic control Eyjafjallajökull