Eyjafjallajökull (; "glacier of (the mountain) Eyjafjöll"), sometimes referred to by the

numeronym A numeronym is a word, usually an abbreviation, composed partially or wholly of numerals. The term can be used to describe several different number-based constructs, but it most commonly refers to a contraction in which all letters between the fir ...

E15, is one of the 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 of

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 ...

, 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 west of

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 ...

. The ice cap 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 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 oft ...

with a summit elevation of . The volcano has erupted relatively frequently since the Last Glacial Period, most recently in 2010, when, although relatively small for a volcanic eruption, it caused enormous disruption to air travel across northern and western Europe for a week.

Geography

Eyjafjallajökull consists of a volcano completely covered by an ice cap. The retreating ice cap covered an area of in 2019, but was previously more than , with many outlet glaciers. The main outlet glaciers are to the north: Gígjökull, flowing into Lónið, and Steinsholtsjökull, flowing into Steinsholtslón. In 1967, there was a massive landslide on the Steinsholtsjökull glacial tongue. On 16 January 1967 at 13:47:55 there was an explosion on the glacier. It can be timed because the seismometers at Kirkjubæjarklaustur monitored the movement. When about of material hit the glacier a massive amount of air, ice, and water began to move out from under the glacier into the lagoon at the foot of the glacier. The mountain itself, a

stratovolcano A stratovolcano, also known as a composite volcano, is a typically conical volcano built up by many alternating layers (strata) of hardened lava and tephra. Unlike shield volcanoes, stratovolcanoes are characterized by a steep profile with ...

, stands at its highest point, and has a

crater A crater is a landform consisting of a hole or depression (geology), depression on a planetary surface, usually caused either by an object hitting the surface, or by geological activity on the planet. A crater has classically been described ...

in diameter, open to the north. The crater rim has three main peaks (clockwise from the north-east): Guðnasteinn (), ; Hámundur (), ; and Goðasteinn (), . The south face of the mountain was once part of Iceland's

coastline A coast (coastline, shoreline, seashore) is the land next to the sea or the line that forms the boundary between the land and the ocean or a lake. Coasts are influenced by the topography of the surrounding landscape and by aquatic erosion, su ...

, from which, over thousands of years, the sea has retreated some . The former coastline now consists of sheer cliffs with many

waterfall A waterfall is any point in a river or stream where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf. Waterfalls can be formed in seve ...

s, of which the best known is Skógafoss. In strong winds, the water of the smaller falls can even be blown up the mountain. The area between the mountain and the present coast is a relatively flat strand, wide.

Etymology

The name means "

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 ...

of Eyjafjöll" (or more properly here "

"). is the name of the southern side of the volcanic

massif A massif () is a principal mountain mass, such as a compact portion of a mountain range, containing one or more summits (e.g. France's Massif Central). In mountaineering literature, ''massif'' is frequently used to denote the main mass of an ...

together with the small mountains which form the foot of the volcano. The word , meaning glacier or ice cap, is a

cognate In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymological ancestor in a common parent language. Because language change can have radical effects on both the s ...

with the

Middle English Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman Conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English pe ...

word surviving in the ''-icle'' of English ''

icicle An icicle is a spike of ice formed when water falling from an object freezes. Formation and dynamics Icicles can form during bright, sunny, but subfreezing weather, when ice or snow melted by sunlight or some other heat source (such as a poor ...

''. The name is made up of the words (genitive plural of , meaning '' eyot'' or ''

island An island or isle is a piece of land, distinct from a continent, completely surrounded by water. There are continental islands, which were formed by being split from a continent by plate tectonics, and oceanic islands, which have never been ...

''), and the plural word , meaning '' fells'' or ''

mountains A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually higher ...

'', and together literally means: "the mountains of the islands". The name probably refers to the close by archipelago of

Vestmannaeyjar Vestmannaeyjar (, sometimes anglicized as Westman Islands) is a municipality and archipelago off the south coast of Iceland. The largest island, Heimaey, has a population of 4,414, most of whom live in the archipelago's main town, Vestmannaeyja ...

. The word is the genitive plural of , and so is the genitive form of and means: "of the Eyjafjöll". A literal part-by-part translation of would thus be "Islands' Mountains' glacier". Hence the southern slopes of the mountain Eyjafjöll result in the sea side strip of land beyond being called ''Undir Eyjafjöllum''.

Geology

The

, whose vents follow an east–west trend, is composed of

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 ...

andesite Andesite () is a volcanic rock of intermediate composition. In a general sense, it is the intermediate type between silica-poor basalt and silica-rich rhyolite. It is fine-grained (aphanitic) to porphyritic in texture, and is composed predomina ...

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 ...

s. Most of its historical eruptions have been

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 ...

. However,

fissure vent A fissure vent, also known as a volcanic fissure, eruption fissure or simply a fissure, is a linear volcanic vent through which lava erupts, usually without any explosive activity. The vent is often a few metres wide and may be many kilo ...

s occur on both (mainly the west) sides of the volcano. The volcano is 800,000 years old. The volcano is fed by a

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 ...

under the mountain, which in turn derives from the

tectonic Tectonics ( via Latin ) are the processes that result in the structure and properties of the Earth's crust and its evolution through time. The field of ''planetary tectonics'' extends the concept to other planets and moons. These processes ...

divergence In vector calculus, divergence is a vector operator that operates on a vector field, producing a scalar field giving the rate that the vector field alters the volume in an infinitesimal neighborhood of each point. (In 2D this "volume" refers to ...

of the

Mid-Atlantic Ridge The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is a mid-ocean ridge (a Divergent boundary, divergent or constructive Plate tectonics, plate boundary) located along the floor of the Atlantic Ocean, and part of the List of longest mountain chains on Earth, longest mountai ...

. It is part of a chain of volcanoes stretching across Iceland. Its nearest active neighbours are Katla, to the northeast, and

Eldfell Eldfell is a volcanic cone just over high on the Icelandic island of Heimaey in the Westman Islands. It formed in a volcanic eruption that began without warning on the eastern side of Heimaey on 23 January 1973. The name means ''Hill of Fire ...

, on Heimaey, to the southwest. The volcano is thought to be related to Katla geologically, in that eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull have generally been followed by eruptions of Katla. Eyjafjallajökull erupted in the years 920, 1612, 1821, and 2010. The Skerin Ridge eruption in 920 was a VEI 3 radial fissure eruption while the subsequent 1612 and 1821 eruptions were VEI 2 small summit eruptions. In the case of the 1821 eruption, a short explosive phase in December 1821 was followed by a year of intermittent explosive to effusive activity.

1821 to 1823 eruptions

Some damage was caused by a minor eruption in 1821. Notably, the ash released from the eruption contained a large fraction of

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 ...

, which in high doses may damage the bone structure of cattle, horses, sheep and humans. The eruption also caused some small and medium

glacier run A glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) is a type of outburst flood caused by the failure of a Proglacial lake, dam containing a glacial lake. An event similar to a GLOF, where a body of water contained by a glacier melts or overflows the glacier, ...

s ( jökulhlaups) and flooding in nearby rivers Markarfljót and . The eruptive phase started on 19 and 20 December 1821 by a series of explosive eruptions and continued over the next several days. The sources describe heavy

ash fall 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 re ...

in the area around the volcano, especially to the south and west. After that event the sequence of eruptions continued on a more subdued level until June 1822. From the end of June until the beginning of August 1822, another sequence of explosive eruptions followed. The eruption columns were shot to considerable heights, with ashfall in both the far north of the country, in

Eyjafjörður Eyjafjörður (, ''Island Fjord'') is one of the longest fjords in Iceland. It is located in the central north of the country. Situated by the fjord is the country's fourth most populous municipality, Akureyri. Physical geography The fjord is ...

, and in the southwest, on the peninsula of Seltjarnarnes near

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 ...

. The period from August to December 1822 seemed quieter, but farmers attributed the death of cattle and sheep in the Eyjafjörður area to poisoning from this eruption, which modern analysis identifies as fluoride poisoning. Some small glacier runs occurred in the river Hólsá. A bigger one flooded the plains near the river Markarfljót. (The sources do not indicate the exact date.). In 1823, some men went hiking up on Eyjafjallajökull to inspect the craters. They discovered a

near the summit

a bit to the west of ''Guðnasteinn''. In early 1823, the nearby volcano Katla under the

ice cap erupted and at the same time steam columns were seen on the summit of Eyjafjallajökull. The ash of Eyjafjallajökull's 1821 eruptions is to be found all over the south of Iceland. It is dark grey in colour, small-grained and dacitic intermediate rock containing about 28–40%

silicon dioxide Silicon dioxide, also known as silica, is an oxide of silicon with the chemical formula , commonly found in nature as quartz. In many parts of the world, silica is the major constituent of sand. Silica is one of the most complex and abundan ...

2010 eruptions

On 26 February 2010, unusual seismic activity along with rapid expansion of the Earth's crust was registered by the Icelandic Meteorological Office. This 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 pouring from underneath the crust into the

of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano and that pressure stemming from the process caused the huge crustal displacement at Þorvaldseyri farm. In March 2010, almost three thousand small

earthquake 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 ...

s were detected near the volcano, all having a depth of . The seismic activity continued to increase and from 3–5 March, over a thousand earthquakes were measured at the epicenter of the volcano. The eruption begun on 20 March 2010, about east of the top crater of the volcano, on

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 ...

, the high neck between Eyjafjallajökull and the neighbouring icecap, Mýrdalsjökull. This first eruption, in the form of a 300-meter-long radial

, did not occur under the glacier and was smaller in scale than had been expected by some geologists. The eruption consisted of 15 lava fountains reaching heights of up to . The fissure opened on the north side of Fimmvörðuháls, directly across the popular hiking trail between Skógar, south of the pass, and Þórsmörk, immediately to the north. Fimmvorduhals 2010 03 27 dawn

On 14 April 2010 Eyjafjallajökull resumed erupting after a brief pause, this time from the top crater in the centre of the glacier, causing '' jökulhlaup'' (

meltwater Meltwater (or melt water) is water released by the melting of snow or ice, including glaciers, glacial ice, tabular icebergs and ice shelf, ice shelves over oceans. Meltwater is often found during early spring (season), spring when snow packs a ...

floods) to rush down the nearby rivers, and requiring 800 people to be evacuated. This eruption was explosive, due to meltwater getting into the volcanic vent. It was estimated to be ten to twenty times larger than the previous one in

. Pulsating explosive activity on 17 April 2010 was later understood to be due to periodic clogging/plugging of the conduit associated with the rise and degassing of more magma. This second eruption threw volcanic ash several kilometres up in the atmosphere, which led to air travel disruption in northwest Europe for six days from 15 to 21 April 2010. This disruption affected over 20 countries and as many as 10 million air travelers. The volcano erupted again in May 2010, causing the closure of airspace over many parts of Europe. The eruptions also created electrical storms. The London Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre declared the eruption to have stopped on the 23rd of May 2010, but stated that they were continuing to monitor the volcano. As a direct result of this disruption being viewed by some as excessive, new standards for the closure of airspace as a result of air contamination by dust/ash were agreed internationally. The volcano continued to have several earthquakes daily, with

volcanologist A volcanologist, or volcano scientist, is a geologist who focuses on understanding the formation and eruptive activity of volcanoes. Volcanologists frequently visit volcanoes, sometimes active ones, to observe and monitor volcanic eruptions, col ...

s watching the volcano closely. As of August 2010, Eyjafjallajökull was considered dormant.

Infrasound Infrasound, sometimes referred to as low frequency sound or incorrectly subsonic (subsonic being a descriptor for "less than the speed of sound"), describes sound waves with a Audio frequency, frequency below the lower limit of human audibility ...

sensors have been installed around Eyjafjallajökull to monitor for future eruptions. In total, the 2010 eruptions generated about 0.27 cubic km (270,000,000 cubic metres) of tephra, causing ash fallout over central southern Iceland and parts of continental Europe. Nearby areas saw an ash layer of up to several centimeters, and surrounding glaciers saw a significant albedo reduction due to the ash.

Relationship to Katla

Eyjafjallajökull lies west of another subglacial volcano, Katla, under the

ice cap, which is much more active and known for its powerful subglacial eruptions and its large magma chamber. Each of the eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull in 920, 1612, and 1821–1823 has preceded an eruption of Katla. Katla did not display any unusual activity (such as expansion of the crust or seismic activity) during the 2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull, though geologists have been concerned about the general instability of Katla since 1999. Some geophysicists in Iceland believe that the Eyjafjallajökull eruption may trigger an eruption of Katla, which would cause major flooding due to melting of glacial ice and send up massive plumes of ash. 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". Volcanologists continue to monitor Katla, aware that any eruption from Katla following an eruption from Eyjafjallajökull has historically occurred within months of an Eyjafjallajökull eruption. The Icelandic Meteorological Office updates its website with reports of quakes at both Eyjafjallajökull and Katla. On 8 July 2011 there was a jökulhlaup that destroyed a bridge on the

Ring Road A ring road (also known as circular road, beltline, beltway, circumferential (high)way, loop or orbital) is a road or a series of connected roads encircling a town, city or country. The most common purpose of a ring road is to assist in reducin ...

and caused cracks to appear on Katla's glacier.

Postage stamp

Icelandic Post issued three special stamps in 2010 for the eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano. All stamps contain real

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 ...

which fell on 17 April 2010.

Popular culture

The volcano was featured in the 2013 movie '' The Secret Life of Walter Mitty'', where Walter had to flee from an eruption after pursuing photographer Sean O'Connell to Iceland. Eyjafjallajökull was used in Season 5 Episode 6 of '' Madam Secretary'' which aired on 11 November 2018. It was used as the basis of the airport being closed in

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

trapping Secretary of State Elizabeth McCord and her delegation and the Turkish foreign minister and his delegation. It is mentioned in the JJ DOOM song, "Guv'nor".

Valencian Valencian can refer to: * Something related to the Valencian Community ( Valencian Country) in Spain * Something related to the city of Valencia * Something related to the province of Valencia in Spain * Something related to the old Kingdom of ...

singer-songwriter Pau Alabajos released a song called "Eyjafjallajökull" on his 2011 album "Una Amable, una Trista, una Petita Pàtria," drawing imagery from the travel disruptions following the 2010 eruption.

Emo Emo () is a genre of rock music characterized by emotional, often confessional lyrics. It emerged as a style of hardcore punk and from the Washington, D.C., hardcore scene, where it was known as emotional hardcore or emocore. The bands ...

band The World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die released a song on their 2010 EP ''Formlessness'' called "Eyjafjallajokull Dance." An Operator in the mobile game '' Arknights'' is named after it. In the season 1 episode 8 of '' Sense8'', Will wants to see "the volcano no one can pronounce the name of", and Riley responds with it. If the corresponding DLC is owned, the volcano is a possible natural wonder that can spawn in Sid Meier's ''

Civilization VI ''Sid Meier's Civilization VI'' is a 2016 4X turn-based strategy video game developed by Firaxis Games and published by 2K (company), 2K. The mobile and Nintendo Switch ports were published by Aspyr Media. It is the sequel to ''Civilization V'' ...

''. On

Steam Steam is water vapor, often mixed with air or an aerosol of liquid water droplets. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization. Saturated or superheated steam is inv ...

, the game has a related achievement that references the ensuing aviation shutdown due to the 2010 eruptions.

References

External links

Eyjafjallajökull
in the Catalogue of Icelandic Volcanoes

Photos

Satellite image of 2010 eruption by NASA

A collection of satellite images from the CIMSS Satellite Blog

Best of Photo Collection
*

Videos and webcams

* Webcams of the eruption
A short time-lapse from April 17, 2010. About 30 minutes played in 18 second.

Video of the first 2010 eruption

Video of the first 2010 eruption by Raw Iceland

Video of the aftermath of Eyjafjallajokull eruption. Shot on July 28, 2010

A film crew lands on Eyjafjallajokull during the 2010 eruption

Geological articles

*
Magma pathways and earthquakes at Eyjafjallajökull, Icelandic Meteorological Institute (PDF)

SI / USGS Weekly Volcanic Activity Report for Eyjafjallajökull

Aviation ash forecasts

Maps

Contour map
{{DEFAULTSORT:Eyjafjallajokull Active volcanoes Bodies of ice of Iceland Ice caps East Volcanic Zone of Iceland Southern Region (Iceland) Stratovolcanoes of Iceland VEI-4 volcanoes Subglacial volcanoes of Iceland Volcanic systems of Iceland Calderas of Iceland Central volcanoes of Iceland Jökulhlaups