History and description of the Eyyafyatlayokudl volcano

Table of contents:

History and description of the Eyyafyatlayokudl volcano
History and description of the Eyyafyatlayokudl volcano

Video: History and description of the Eyyafyatlayokudl volcano

Video: History and description of the Eyyafyatlayokudl volcano
Video: 🌋 Iceland Volcano Eruptions | Eyjafjallajökull & Laki Eruption #history #iceland #eruption #volcano 2024, March
Anonim

From time immemorial, volcanoes have been frightening and attracting people. For centuries they can sleep. An example is the recent history of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano. People cultivate fields on the slopes of fiery mountains, conquer their peaks, build houses. But sooner or later, the fire-breathing mountain will wake up, bringing destruction and misfortune.

It is the sixth largest glacier in Iceland, located in the south, 125 km east of Reykjavik. Beneath it and partly under the neighboring Myrdalsjökull glacier, a conical volcano hides.

eyyafjallajokull volcano
eyyafjallajokull volcano

The height of the top of the glacier is 1666 meters, its area is about 100 km². The volcanic crater reaches a diameter of 4 km. Five years ago its slopes were covered with glaciers. The nearest settlement is the village of Skougar, located in the south of the glacier. The Skogau River originates from here, with the famous Skogafoss waterfall.

Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajokull - the origin of the name

The name of the volcano comes from three Icelandic words that mean island, glacier and mountain. That's probably why it's sohard to pronounce and hard to remember. According to linguists, only a small part of the inhabitants of the Earth can pronounce this name correctly - Eyyafyatlayokudl volcano. Translation from Icelandic sounds literally like "island of mountain glaciers".

Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajökull
Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajökull

Volcano with no name

As such, the phrase "volcano Eyjafjallajokull" entered the world lexicon in 2010. This is funny, considering that in fact, a fire-breathing mountain with that name does not exist in nature. Iceland has many glaciers and volcanoes. There are about thirty of the latter on the island. At 125 kilometers from Reykjavik, in the south of Iceland, there is a fairly large glacier. It was he who shared his name with the Eyjafjallajokull volcano.

eyjafjallajökull volcano iceland
eyjafjallajökull volcano iceland

It is under it that there is a volcano, which for many centuries has not come up with a name. He is unnamed. In April 2010, he alarmed the whole of Europe, for some time becoming a world newsmaker. In order not to call it a nameless volcano, the media suggested that it be named after the glacier - Eyyafyatlayokudl. In order not to confuse our readers, we will call it the same.

Description

The Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajokull is a typical stratovolcano. In other words, its cone is formed by numerous layers of hardened mixture of lava, ash, rocks, etc.

Iceland's Eyjafjallajökull volcano has been active for 700,000 years, but since 1823 it has been categorized as dormant. This suggests that since the beginning of the 19th century, its eruptions have notwas fixed. The state of the Eyyafyatlayokudl volcano did not cause particular cause for concern for scientists. They found that it had erupted several times over the past millennium. True, these manifestations of activity could be classified as calm - they did not pose a danger to people. According to documents, the latest eruptions were not distinguished by large emissions of volcanic ash, lava and hot gases.

Irish volcano Eyjafjallajokull - the story of one eruption

As already mentioned, after the eruption in 1823, the volcano was recognized as dormant. At the end of 2009, seismic activity intensified in it. Until March 2010, there were about a thousand tremors with a force of 1-2 points. This excitement occurred at a depth of about 10 km.

eyyafjallajokull volcano eruption
eyyafjallajokull volcano eruption

In February 2010, employees of the Icelandic Meteorological Institute, using GPS measurements, recorded a displacement of the earth's crust by 3 cm to the southeast in the area of the glacier. Activity continued to grow and reached its maximum by March 3-5. At this time, up to three thousand shocks per day were recorded.

Waiting for the eruption

From the danger zone around the volcano, the authorities decided to evacuate 500 local residents, fearing flooding of the area, which could cause intense melting of the glacier covering Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull volcano. Keflavik International Airport has been closed as a precaution.

Since March 19, the tremors have moved to the east of the northern crater. They were tapped at a depth of 4 - 7 km. Gradually activityspread further to the east, and shaking began to occur closer to the surface.

At 23:00 on April 13, Icelandic scientists recorded seismic activity in the central part of the volcano, west of the two cracks. An hour later, a new eruption began in the south of the central caldera. A column of hot ash rose 8 km.

eyyafjallajokull volcano translation
eyyafjallajokull volcano translation

Another crack appeared, more than 2 kilometers long. The glacier began to actively melt, and its waters flowed both north and south into populated areas. 700 people were urgently evacuated. During the day, melt water flooded the highway, the first destruction occurred. Volcanic ash has been recorded in southern Iceland.

By April 16, the ash column reached 13 kilometers. This caused alarm among scientists. When the ash rises above 11 kilometers above sea level, it enters the stratosphere and can be carried over long distances. The eastward spread of ash was facilitated by a powerful anticyclone over the North Atlantic.

Last eruption

This happened on March 20, 2010. On this day, the last volcanic eruption in Iceland began. Eyjafjallajokull finally woke up at 23:30 GMT. A fault formed in the east of the glacier, the length of which was about 500 meters.

eyjafjallajökull volcano eruption in iceland
eyjafjallajökull volcano eruption in iceland

No large ash emissions were recorded at this time. On April 14, the eruption intensified. It was then that powerful emissions of gigantic volumes appearedvolcanic ash. In this regard, the airspace over part of Europe was closed until April 20, 2010. Occasionally flights were limited in May 2010. Experts estimated the intensity of the eruption on the VEI scale at 4 points.

Dangerous ash

It should be noted that there was nothing outstanding in the behavior of the Eyyafyatlayokudl volcano. After seismic activity that lasted several months, a rather calm volcanic eruption began in the region of the glacier on the night of March 20-21. It was not even mentioned in the press. Everything changed only on the night of April 13-14, when the eruption began to be accompanied by the release of a gigantic volume of volcanic ash, and its column reached a great height.

What caused the air transport collapse?

It is worth recalling that since March 20, 2010, an air transport collapse has been looming over the Old World. It was associated with a volcanic cloud, which was created by the suddenly awakened Eyyafyatlayokudl volcano. It is not known where this mountain, silent since the 19th century, gained strength, but gradually a huge cloud of ash, which began to form on April 14, covered Europe.

eyyafjallajokull volcano where
eyyafjallajokull volcano where

More than 300 airports across Europe have been paralyzed since airspace was closed. The volcanic ash also caused a lot of anxiety to Russian specialists. Hundreds of flights have been delayed or completely canceled in our country. Thousands of people, including Russians, were waiting for an improvement in the situation at airports around the world.

And the cloud of volcanic ash seemed to play with people, every daychanging the direction of movement and completely "did not listen" to the opinions of experts who reassured desperate people that the eruption would not last long.

Geophysicists from the Icelandic weather service told RIA Novosti on April 18 that they were unable to predict the duration of the eruption. Mankind prepared for a protracted "battle" with the volcano and began to count considerable losses.

Oddly enough, but for Iceland itself, the awakening of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano did not have any serious consequences, except, perhaps, the evacuation of the population and the temporary closure of one airport.

And for continental Europe, a huge column of volcanic ash has become a real disaster, of course, in the transport aspect. This was due to the fact that volcanic ash has such physical properties that are extremely dangerous for aviation. If it hits the aircraft turbine, it is able to stop the engine, which will undoubtedly lead to a terrible disaster.

The risk to aviation is greatly increased due to the large accumulation of volcanic ash in the air, which significantly reduces visibility. This is especially dangerous when landing. Volcanic ash can cause malfunctions of on-board electronics and radio equipment, on which flight safety largely depends.

Losses

The Eyjafjallajokull volcano eruption brought losses to European travel companies. They claim that their losses exceeded 2.3 billion dollars, and the damage that hit the pocket every day was approximately 400 million dollars

Airline losses were officially calculatedin the amount of 1.7 billion dollars. The awakening of the fiery mountain affected 29% of the world's aviation. Every day, more than a million passengers became hostages of the eruption.

The Russian Aeroflot also suffered. During the period of closing air lines over Europe, the company did not perform 362 flights on time. Her losses were in the millions of dollars.

Expert opinions

Experts say that the volcanic cloud really poses a serious danger to aircraft. When an aircraft hits it, the crew notes very poor visibility. On-board electronics are working intermittently.

The formation of glassy "shirts" on the engine rotor blades, clogging of the holes that are used to supply air to the engine and other parts of the aircraft, can cause their failure. Airship captains agree with this.

Katla Volcano

After the activity of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano faded, many scientists predicted an even more powerful eruption of another Icelandic fiery mountain - Katla. It is much bigger and more powerful than Eyjafjallajokull.

The last two millennia, when man watched the eruptions of Eyyafyatlayokudl, Katla exploded after them at intervals of six months.

These volcanoes are located in the south of Iceland, at a distance of eighteen kilometers from each other. They are connected by a common underground system of magma channels. The Katla crater is located under the Myrdalsjokull glacier. Its area is 700 sq. km, thickness - 500 meters. Scientists are sure that during its eruption, ash will fall into the atmosphere ten times more than in 2010. But fortunately, despite the dire forecasts of scientists, Katla has not yet shown signs of life.

Recommended: