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Between March and June 2010 a series of volcanic events at Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland caused enormous disruption to air travel across Western Europe.

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.

Beginning on 14 April 2010, the eruption entered a second phase and created an ash cloud 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 250 million cubic metres (330,000,000 cu yd) of ejected tephra and an ash plume that rose to a height of around 9 km (30,000 ft), which rates the explosive power of the eruption as a 4 on the Volcanic Explosivity Index. 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 (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.

Dust particles that get suspended in the atmosphere scatter light from the setting sun, generating 'volcanic lavenders' like this one over the flight path of Leeds Bradford Airport in England during the aviation shutdown

Eyjafjallajökull (pronounced [ˈeiːjaˌfjatlaˌjœːkʏtl̥] ) is one of Iceland's smaller ice caps located in the far south of the island. Situated to the north of Skógar and to the west of the larger ice cap Mýrdalsjökull, Eyjafjallajökull covers the caldera of a volcano 1,666 m (5,466 ft) high, which has erupted relatively frequently since the last ice age. 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 [Iceland] have 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 basaltic andesite lava several hundred metres into the air in what is known as an effusive eruption. Ash ejection from this phase of the eruption was small, rising to no more than 4 km (13,000 ft) into the atmosphere.

On 14 April 2010, however, the eruption entered an explosive phase and ejected fine glass-rich ash to over 8 km (26,000 ft) 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 was rated as a 6. This second phase erupted trachyandesite.

This volcanic activity so disruptive to air travel because of a combination of factors:[citation needed ]

1. The volcano is directly under the jet stream.

2. The direction of the jet stream was unusually stable at the time of the eruption's second phase, continuously southeast.

3. The second eruptive phase happened under 200 m (660 ft) of glacial ice. The resulting meltwater flowed back into the erupting volcano, which created two specific phenomena:

1. The rapidly vaporising water significantly increased the eruption's explosive power.

2. The erupting lava cooled very fast, which created a cloud of highly abrasive, glass-rich ash.

4. The volcano's explosive power was enough to inject ash directly into the jet stream.

People observing the first fissure at Fimmvörðuháls

"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 and the Icelandic telecommunications company Míla installed webcams, giving views of the eruption from Valahnúkur, Hvolsvöllur, and Þórólfsfell. The view of the eruption from Þórólfsfel also includes a thermal imaging camera.

The London Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre (VAAC), part of the UK Met Office, 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 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 8 and 12 km (26,000 and 39,000 ft) 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 ), 7 to 10 km (23,000 to 33,000 ft) beneath the volcano.

The radar stations of the Meteorological Institute of Iceland did not detect any appreciable amount of volcanic ashfall 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 (20 to 25 km or 12 to 16 mi northwest of the eruption's location) and Hvolsvöllur town (40 kilometres (25 mi) 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 as far as 4 km (2.5 mi) straight up into the air. 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 7 km (23,000 ft), and was detected on radar from the Meteorological Institute of Iceland. After that, many further vapour explosions occurred.

By 26 February 2010, the global positioning system (GPS) equipment used by the Iceland Meteorological Office at Þorvaldseyri farm in the Eyjafjöll area (around 15 km or 9.3 mi southeast of the location of the recent eruption) 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 geophysicists evidence that magma was flowing from underneath the crust into Eyjafjallajökull's magma chamber 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 3.44×10 kg of emissions per day, while the volcano emitted about 1.5×10 kg of CO ₂ per day.

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.

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 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 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 floods, 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.

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 6 °C (11 °F) 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. 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 50 and 60 °C (122 and 140 °F), indicating that the river was cooling the lava in that canyon.

Second fissure, viewed from the north, on 2 April 2010

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 mountain pass, 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 12 km (7.5 mi) from the eruptive site.[citation needed ]

A fissure opened up about 150 metres (490 ft) in length running in a north-east to south-west direction, with 10 to 12 erupting lava craters ejecting lava at a temperature around 1,000 °C (1,800 °F) up to 150 m (490 ft) into the air. The lava was alkali olivine basalt and was relatively viscous, causing the motion of the lava stream to the west and east of the fissure to be slow. The molten lava flowed more than 4,000 m (13,000 ft) to the north-east of the fissure and into Hrunagil canyon, forming a lava fall more than 200 m (660 ft) long and slowly approaching Þórsmörk, but had not yet reached the flood plains of Krossá.

On 25 March 2010, while studying the eruption, scientists witnessed, for the first time in history, the formation of a pseudocrater during a steam explosion. 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 200 m (700 ft) northwest of the original fissure. Many witnesses were present while the new fissure opened. It was a bit smaller, around 300 m (1,000 ft) 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 seismometers 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 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 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.

Photograph from satellite Aqua showing the ash plume over North Atlantic at 13:30 GMT on 15 April

The estimated ash cloud at 18:00 GMT on 15 April.

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 8 km (26,000 ft), deflected to the east by westerly winds.[citation needed ]

Upper: Ash covers the Thórsmörk valley in early June 2010, immediately after the eruption Lower: The same area, in September 2011

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 was one-third of the concentration typical in Hekla eruptions, with a mean value 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 and hepatic effects, particularly in sheep.

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, harvesting, or grazing livestock.

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 on 20 March, injected a glass-rich ash plume into the jet stream.

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.

A necklace made from the ash of the 2010 eruption: Jewellery and similar memorabilia of the eruption are now sold in Iceland.

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 television news announcers did not try to pronounce the name "Eyjafjallajökull," but called it "the Iceland volcano."[citation needed ]

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. Eruptive products can be split into three categories along with preliminary estimated erupted volumes:

1. Material (tephra) in the ice cauldrons around the volcanic vents: 30 million cubic metres (39,000,000 cu yd)

2. Tephra filling the glacial lagoon of Gígjökulslón, carried by floods down the outlet glacier Gígjökull: 10 million cubic metres (13,000,000 cu yd)

3. Airborne tephra that was carried to the east and south of the volcano, uncompacted tephra fallout from eruption plume: 100 million cubic metres (130,000,000 cu yd)

Total: 140 million cubic metres (180,000,000 cu yd) which corresponds to some 70-80 million cubic metres (92,000,000-105,000,000 cu yd) of magma. The magma discharge rate was about 300 cubic metres per second (11,000 cu ft/s) 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 30 cubic metres per second (1,100 cu ft/s) of magma, or 75 t/s, with a large uncertainty. IES also noted that the eruption continue with less explosive activity.

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.

Volcanic ash is a major hazard to aircraft. 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, seemed at first especially vulnerable, but managed to deal effectively with the eruption, and subsequently published a detailed report about its actions and conclusions.

Possible ash fallout from Eyjafjallajökull on a car, Manchester, England, 21 April 2010

At the mouth of the crater, the gases, ejecta, and volcanic plume have created a rare weather phenomenon known as volcanic lightning (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.

High-fluoride Hekla 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 stock were killed, probably as a result of fluorosis caused by the eruption of Laki. The effect also spread beyond Iceland. Ash from the current Eyjafjallajökull eruption contains one-third the concentration typical in Hekla eruptions, with a mean value 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 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'.

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.

The eruptions were a key plot point of the 2013 French comedy Eyjafjallajökull.

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 , Serbian performance artist Marina Abramović used Icelandic musician Björk's reverential reaction to the eruptions to praise her uniqueness as an artist.

1. ^ "Eyjafjallajökull". Global Volcanism Program. Smithsonian Institution.

2. ^ Erica R. Hendry "What We Know From the Icelandic Volcano Archived 26 April 2010 at the Wayback Machine," Smithsonian, 22 April 2010. Retrieved April 2010.

3. ^ Magnússon, E; Gudmundsson, M. T; Roberts, M. J; Sigurðsson, G; Höskuldsson, F; Oddsson, B (2012). "earthice.hi.is". Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth. 117 (B7): n/a. Bibcode:2012JGRB..117.7405M. doi:10.1029/2012JB009250.

4. ^ Amos, Jonathan (18 November 2010). "Scientists picture Icelandic volcano's 'plumbing'". BBC News.

5. ^ "Seismic Signs of Magma Pathways through the Crust in the Eyjafjallajökull volcano, South Iceland" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 31 March 2010.

6. ^

7. ^ UNEP Year Book2011, An Overview of Our Changing Environment, United Nations Environment Programme 2011 page 2. Accessed 30 June 2013. Archived 5 July 2013.

8. ^ "Gos hafið í Eyjafjallajökli - Vísir". www.visir.is. 21 March 2010. Archived from the original on 24 March 2010.

9. ^ Volcanic eruption in Eyjafjallaglacier - flights to Iceland are on hold. Icelandair. Retrieved 21 March 2010.

10. Kvöldfréttir Stöðvar Tvö "Viðtal við Ármann Höskuldsson eldfjallafræðing" ^ Fréttastofa Stöðvar Tvö

11. A report in Icelandic: ^ Landbúnaður skiptir máli (transl. "Agriculture matters") says that 28% of the total workforce in agriculture are scattered throughout southern Iceland.

12. Kessabi, M.; Hamliri, A.; Braun, J. P.; Rico, A. G. (1985). "Experimental Acute Sodium Fluoride Poisoning in Sheep: Renal, Hepatic, and Metabolic Effects". M. KESSABI, A. HAMLIRI, J. P. BRAUN and A. G. RICO: Département de Toxicologie, Pharmacie et Biochimie, Institut Agronomique et Vétérinaire Hassan II B.P. 6202, Rabat-Agdal, Maroc {dagger}Département de Biochimie et Biophysique, Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire 23, chemin des Capelles, 31076 Toulouse, France. 5 (6part1): 1025-1033. doi:10.1093/toxsci/5.6part1.1025. PMID 2868958.

13. ^ "Ash from Iceland Volcano Endangers Horses". Iceland Review. 20 April 2010. Archived from the original on 21 April 2010.

14. ^ "Eyjafjallajökull frá Hvolsvelli". eldgos.mila.is. Archived from the original on 24 April 2010.

15. ^ Carlsen HK; et al. (February 2012). "A survey of early health effects of the Eyjafjallajökull 2010 eruption in Iceland: a population-based study". BMJ Open. 2 (2): e000343. doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2011-000343. PMC 3298836. PMID 22403340.

16. ^ Carlsen, HK; et al. (June 2012). "Health effects following the Eyjafjallajökull volcanic eruption: a cohort study". BMJ Open. 2 (6): e001851. doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2012-001851. PMC 3533043. PMID 23144261.

17. ^ Elliot AJ; et al. (June 2010). "Syndromic surveillance to assess the potential public health impact of the Icelandic volcanic ash plume across the United Kingdom, April 2010" (PDF). Euro Surveillance. 15 (23). PMID 20546694.

18. C. M. Riley, "Tephra" Michigan Technological University Geological & Mining, Engineering & Sciences, Retrieved on 23 January 2008.

19. ^ Hickman, Martin (23 April 2010). "RAF grounds fighter jets after volcanic dust is found in engines | Home News | News". The Independent. Archived from the original on 1 May 2022.

20. ^ "PICTURES: Finnish F-18 engine check reveals effects of volcanic dust". www.flightglobal.com. 16 April 2010. Archived from the original on 20 April 2010.

21. ^ "'Dirty thunderstorm': Lightning in a volcano - Picture Stories". NBC News. 23 February 2007.

22. Thorarinsson, ^ Hekla, A Notorious Volcano, p. 39-58

23. Tom de Castella (16 April 2010) "^ The eruption that changed Iceland forever," BBC News. Retrieved 18 April 2010.

24. Sara Phillips ^ "Icelandic volcano won't affect the world's climate" ABC, 16 April 2010.

25. ^ "Eyjafjallajökull (2013) - JPBox-Office".

26. ^ "JJ DOOM - Guv'nor".

27. ^ Abramovic, Marina (16 April 2015). "Björk by Marina Abramovic: TIME 100". Time.

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2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull - Wikipedia

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Between March and June 2010 a series of volcanic events at Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland caused enormous disruption to air travel across Western Europe. 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.

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Effects of the April 2010 Eyjafjallajökull eruption - Wikipedia

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Kenya is reported to have destroyed 400 tonnes of flowers it was unable to airship into the UK on 19 and 20 April 2010. As a result, their economy was estimated to be incurring losses of $3.8m each day of the disruption.

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AQA Geography A-level: Hazards Revision - PMT

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Summary notes, articles and past exam questions for AQA Geography AS and A-Level Hazards topic

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The Philippines - Multi-hazard Case Study (Earthquakes (Earthquakes are...

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The Philippines - Multi-hazard Case Study (Earthquakes (Earthquakes are...: The Philippines - Multi-hazard Case Study

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Open University research is providing new insights into the process occurring beneath persistently active volcanoes.

Key aspects of this research

Engaged volunteers and local communities in exploring natural hazards

The formation of an international network of collaborators, mainly local scientists

Operational guidelines for monitoring and responding to volcanic crises

Helped protect the public against the hazards of volcanic degassing

OU research led by Professor Hazel Rymer in the Faculty of Science provides new insights into the process occurring beneath persistently active volcanoes. This work is shedding light on the links between changes in the magma system deep beneath a volcano and the environmental impact downwind of the volcano.Important greenhouse gases, such as sulphur dioxide and carbon dioxide are emitted in enormous quantities by some of the world's volcanoes. Their output accounts for nearly one per cent of the global total.

A key aspect of this research has been the involvement of volunteer citizen scientists and also the way it has engaged local communities.

Citizen scientists

The research has led to the formation of an international network of collaborators working closely with local communities, government-run volcano observatories, universities and citizen scientists who undertake measurements at active volcanoes across the world.

The OU has undertaken much of this research in collaboration with Earthwatch, a charity which brings individuals from all walks of life together with world-class scientists to work for the good of the planet.

Local people who live near active volcanoes get involved in and are empowered by OU research in this field

Project teams based at the persistently active volcanoes in Iceland and Central America have made significant discoveries which benefited both the volunteers and the environment.

The work has impacted on the lives of the volunteers who collect the data in the field because they are able to contribute in very real terms to scientific research. They disseminate the results through outreach activities in their home environments.

Local stakeholders including park wardens, civil defence officials and those who live near the volcanoes are empowered by this work to engage in monitoring work themselves and to play a part in hazard mitigation.

Protecting the public

Citizen scientist observations at Askja volcano in Iceland suggest that magma has been accumulating underneath since 2007 and colleagues at the Nordic Volcanological Institute increased their surveillance of the area during the summer field seasons of 2009 onwards.

More recently, the group's work at Poás volcano, Costa Rica, involved citizen scientists in predicting increased local environmental damage from 2009 and helped to inform the volcano observatory staff and National Park officials who restricted access by the public to the crater area during the degassing crisis of 2009-10, reducing the risk of injury.

To mitigate against such hazards, operational guidelines for monitoring and responding to changes in volcanic degassing were put in place in Costa Rica and Nicaragua in 2009.

Learn more about scientists' work on active volcanoes:

Publications

Williams-Jones, Glyn; Rymer, Hazel; Mauri, Guillaume; Gottsmann, Joachim; Poland, Michael and Carbone, Daniele (2008). Toward continuous 4D microgravity monitoring of volcanoes. Geophysics, 73(6) WA19-WA28

Gottsmann, J.; Camacho, A. G.; Marti, J.; Wooller, L.; Fernandez, J.; Garcia, A. and Rymer, H. (2008). Shallow structure beneath the Central Volcanic Complex of Tenerife from new gravity data: implications for its evolution and recent reactivation. Physic

Wooller, Luke; van Wyk de Vries, Benjamin; Cecchi, Emmanuelle and Rymer, Hazel (2009). Analogue models of the effect of long-term basement fault movement on volcanic edifices. Bulletin of Volcanology, 71(10) pp. 1111-1131

Carbone, D.; Zuccarello, L.; Saccorotti, G.; Rymer, H. and Rapisarda, S. (2010). The effect of inertial accelerations on the higher frequency components of the signal from spring gravimeters. Geophysical Journal International, 182(2) pp. 772-780

Carbone, Daniele; Zuccarello, Luciano; Montalto, Placido and Rymer, Hazel (2012). New geophysical insight into the dynamics of Stromboli volcano (Italy). Gondwana Research, 22(1) pp. 290-299

de Zeeuw van Dalfsen, Elske; Rymer, Hazel; Pedersen, Rikke; Sturkell, Erik; Sigmundsson, Freysteinn and Ófeigsson, Benedikt (2013). Geodetic data shed light on ongoing caldera subsidence at Askja, Iceland. Bulletin of Volcanology, 75(5) pp. 709-722

People

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Mitigating the effects of volcanoes worldwide

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Open University research is providing new insights into the process occurring beneath persistently active volcanoes. Engaged volunteers and local communities in exploring natural hazards The formation of an international network of collaborators, mainly local scientists Operational guidelines for monitoring and responding to volcanic crises Helped protect the public against the hazards of volcanic degassing OU research led by Professor Hazel Rymer in the Faculty of Science provides new insights into the process occurring beneath persistently active volcanoes.

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Earthquake and eruptive activity at Poás volcano, Costa Rica

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The science goes on, despite experiencing an earthquake at the Poás volcano in Costa Rica

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Global Volcanism Program | Report on Poas (Costa Rica) - November 2015

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Activity at Costa Rica's Poás Volcano, located about 35 km NW of the country's capital, San Jose, is characterized by intermittent phreatic explosions from its "ultra-acid" Laguna Caliente that cause geyser-like eruptions of crater lake water and sediment.

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BACK TO THE FEATURE INDEX

After witnessing the eruption of the Mount Vesuvius in the bay of Naples, Italy, on 24 August, 79 C.E., ancient Roman scientist and writer "Pliny the Younger" documented how the volcano mouth spit burning rocks and ashes upon the nearby region. The ruins of the ancient Roman cities Pompeii and Herculaneum, and the perfectly preserved shapes of inhabitants who perished in the ashes, offer an unequivocal expression of the destructive power of volcanic eruptions.

The last time the Mount Vesuvius erupted--with less dramatic consequences, thankfully--was in 1944; the volcano has since entered a "closed-conduit" or quiescence phase. Yet the volcano's apparent inactivity is only part of a cycle that is punctuated by an "open-conduit" state and violent eruptions. Predicting when that will happen, and protecting the Neapolitan population, is the hefty remit of the Vesuvius Observatory. The job requires constant development of innovative technology, and has proved to be the perfect place for Massimo Orazi (pictured above) to utilise his scientific knowledge and his huge appetite for technical advances.

A Talent Unfolds

Orazi graduated from the University of Naples in 2002 with a Laurea degree in physics, the Italian equivalent of a combined B.Sc. and M.Sc. Although he had started his degree with the objective of specialising in astrophysics, "my passion changed" on taking the first classes in electronics, which he eventually chose to specialise in.

It soon became clear that he had not only a passion but a flair for developing electronics for scientific instrumentation. After whizzing through a first final-year undergraduate project--building electronics for a nuclear particle physics instrument-he decided to take on another one. "I wanted something more difficult, so I started to collaborate with another group of researchers on experiments about nuclear particle [physics] in space." The researchers were working on the PAMELA (Payload for Anti-Matter Exploration and Light-Nuclei Astrophysics) project in collaboration with the Italian National Institute of Nuclear Physics, ( Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, INFN ,) to develop a magnetic spectrometer that would allow the measurement of matter and anti-matter in cosmic rays from a satellite.

A Natural Researcher

The experience challenged him to think independently and ingeniously. "I developed the electronics for the telescope [that was to detect] cosmic rays," says Orazi. "For example, researchers would tell me to find a way to regulate temperature in the instrumentation, and they wouldn't say how." While collaborating closely with researchers and space engineers, Orazi learned not "only [about] developing electronics, but also [about] the way to start a project in electronics and the management of a project."

But when Orazi finished his work on the PAMELA project, he found himself in limbo. He wanted to do a Ph.D., but the Italian academic system--where students have to be selected through nationwide exams--wasn't flexible enough for people like him with cross-disciplinary experiences. He believes his expertise--a mixture of electrical engineering and particle physics--did not make him competitive for entry into Ph.D. programmes. So Orazi took a job at a small company in space applications of electronics, but he wasn't happy with that kind of work. "After 2 months, I understood that my big satisfaction is to work in research, not in industry."

A Perfect Fit

Orazi started to look for a suitable position when luck struck and the job found him. "I had a call from Marcello Martini from the [Vesuvius] Observatory," says Orazi, sounding as though he still can't quite believe it. "Martini told me he wanted to develop instrumentation for geophysical science." The Observatory was in need of a technologist for the Monitoring Centre, a support role to "develop something that is needed by researchers, but that the researchers don't really have the competence to develop." For Orazi, such a position was a perfect fit for his expertise and research career aspirations. "This is exactly what I want to research."

Sensing Vesuvius's Seismic Activity

The research of Orazi and his colleagues has a specific objective. The Vesuvius Observatory, which is part of the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology, has the task of "monitoring all the physical [parameters] that show volcanic activity," explains Orazi. Measurable variations in geochemistry, geodesy, and seismology in volcanic areas are signs of what is going on in the heart of the volcano, and allows researchers to predict when an eruption is about to happen. The Observatory keeps a close watch not only on the Mount Vesuvius, but also on the volcanoes of the nearby regions of Campi Flegrei and the Island of Ischia.

Orazi's work falls within the seismic monitoring unit, which relies on a seismologic network of stations situated very close to the volcano. "A seismologic station is an instrument that collects data from seismologic sensors, calculates and in some cases compresses these data, and finally [sends them] to the data centre" in real-time, says Orazi. "My job is to develop all the electronics, from the sensors to the data centre. They gave me very big responsibilities."

There is also a logistical side to Orazi's work: some of his most important work occurs outside the lab, because the instruments he develops have to work in the field, where they are exposed to heat and other environmental threats. "I collaborate with other researchers for the implementation of the seismologic network," He says. The fieldwork, in turn, informs his work in the laboratory. "Our work [in] the field gives me many ideas to develop new instrumentations that respond exactly to what [the other researchers] want."

Protecting people

Orazi's detection systems must function correctly. "All the people in the Observatory are involved in . . . protecting the population," says Orazi. "There are one million people near the volcanoes."

The volcanoes are under 24-hour surveillance; should scientists at the Observatory detect threatening changes in volcanic activity, observatory experts would communicate the data and their meaning immediately to the local civil-protection authorities. Together they would estimate the risk and, if it is substantial, alert and possibly evacuate the local population.

Looking Toward the Future

Scientists working at the Vesuvius Observatory strive to improve the monitoring of volcanoes, and here Orazi has a lot of freedom to pursue his own ideas. "My chief wants to start new ways of thinking about the instrumentation," says Orazi, a task that will involve developing new electronics. Orazi has already proposed the creation of a new multi-channel data logger that would allow seismologic, geochemistry, and geodesic data to be collected all at once; this proposal has already been accepted. Orazi considers this broad scope to develop and pursue new ideas as a very positive aspect of his career at the Observatory.

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Monitoring the Pulse of the Mount Vesuvius

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BACK TO THE FEATURE INDEX After witnessing the eruption of the Mount Vesuvius in the bay of Naples, Italy, on 24 August, 79 C.E., ancient Roman scientist and writer "Pliny the Younger" documented how the volcano mouth spit burning rocks and ashes upon the nearby region.

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List of countries by natural disaster risk - Wikipedia

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The report systematically considers a country's vulnerability and its exposure to natural hazards to determine a ranking of countries around the world based on their natural disaster risk.

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September 24, 2015

The Center for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters publishes an Annual Disaster Review to provide valuable information on the occurrence of natural disasters and their impacts on society. The latest edition covers 2014, and it identifies China, the United States, the Philippines, Indonesia, and India as the five countries most frequently hit by natural disasters. For years now these same countries have regularly featured at the top of this annual list. Why do they keep showing up?

Location, Location, Location

Location matters, obviously. When it is not experiencing a multi-year "hurricane drought," the United States is ideally positioned to welcome many of the hurricanes that form in the Atlantic. And its west coast occupies a sizable chunk of the Circum-Pacific Belt, the so-called "Ring of Fire," along which most of the world's earthquakes occur.

China and the Philippines lie in the path of typhoons tracking westward, and both countries are vulnerable to seismic activity.Indonesia's 6,000 inhabited islands sit between the world's two most seismically active areas, the Circum-Pacific Belt and the Alpide Belt. These islands experience some of the planet's most devastating volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, and tsunamis as a result.

India's location places it at risk for tropical cyclones, which can deliver damaging winds and heavy precipitation, causing flooding thousands of kilometers inland. Flood is India's most frequent form of natural disaster.

Size Matters Too

In terms of landmass, the United States ranks third, China fourth, India seventh, and Indonesia 14 th.The Philippines appears on this list in 67 th place, but its more than 7,000 islands are spread over a considerable area.

All else being equal, countries occupying the most real estate in vulnerable regions will experience more disasters than smaller ones. No country experiences more typhoons than China, for example,and this is largely due to the extreme length of its coastline,making it a prime target.

Multiple Risks

Another issue is the wide variety of hazards that each of these five countries is subject to. In addition to earthquakes and tropical cyclones, each experiences landslides, wildfires, inland flooding, coastal inundation caused by storm surge or tsunami, and a host of other perils.

The Annual Disaster Review notes that 324 triggered natural disasters were registered in 2014, the third lowest number reported in the last decade. China experienced an unusually high total, and the Philippines and Indonesia reported low numbers. In the Americas, disaster damage was 62% below the annual average for the preceding decade. The United States made it into the top five not because of one or two major catastrophes, but because it experienced numerous geophysical, hydrological, and meteorological disasters, as well as drought.

Resilience and Insurance

These five countries have much in common with respect to the perils they face, but there is also a major distinction to be drawn.

The United States has a very high economic exposure to natural hazards, but it is also a wealthy nation that has invested in a range of measures to help it withstand the impact of major natural disasters and rebound from them quickly. It enjoys economic strength, strong governance, well established infrastructure,effective disaster preparedness and response systems, and strong and uniformly implemented building regulations. It also benefits from high insurance penetration rates.

China, the Philippines, India, and Indonesia on the other hand,are all emerging economies, whose rapid economic development is outpacing their already limited capacity to withstand the impact of major disasters. Countries like these face the highest threat from natural disasters.

Insurance take-up rates in these countries are generally very low. According to Axco Insurance Information Services, in 2013 Property and Casualty Market premium as a percentage of GDP was 0.47 in India, 0.35 in the Philippines, 0.42 in Indonesia, and 1.08 in China; these compare with 3.17 in the United States. Property and Casualty insurance expenditure on a per capita basis in 2013 was USD 7.43 in India, USD 9.70 in the Philippines, USD 14.52 in Indonesia, and USD 72.46 in China-but a whopping USD 1,661.73 in the United States.

AIR's 2015 Global Modeled Catastrophe Losses report details key loss metrics from AIR's global industry exceedance probability (EP) curve. It provides global insured and insurable loss estimates based on the EP curve, and highlights the gap between insured and insurable exposures worldwide. Economic loss estimates, newly added in this report, can be used to facilitate public risk financing and the development of regional resiliency plans to help societies better prepare for catastrophes and reduce the ultimate costs.

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Five Countries Most Frequently Hit by Natural Disasters

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September 24, 2015 The Center for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters publishes an Annual Disaster Review to provide valuable information on the occurrence of natural disasters and their impacts on society. The latest edition covers 2014, and it identifies China, the United States, the Philippines, Indonesia, and India as the five countries most frequently hit by natural disasters.

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Impact of human factors on wildfire occurrence in Mississippi, United States

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Fires have important ecological and socioeconomic effects in fire-prone regions globally. Human-caused wildfires often pose considerable safety and en...

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Many plants easily grow back and there is usually good recovery after a fire. Some plants have their seeds opened up and exposed to ash-enriched soils. Examples include serotinus cones, from a tree species such as jackpine. Species like white pine and yellow birch also benefit from forest fires in a similar way.

What are the effects of wildfires? Econmic cost:
If you have ever seen firefighters battling a wildfire and the images they show on TV, it will give you an idea of the immediate damage it can do to wildlife and vegetation. Fires also destroy houses and almost anything in its way. Additionally, the city spends millions of money to fight them with chemicals, logistics, aircrafts and trucks, time and personnel. The economic loss can be huge.

Soils and organic matter:
Take forest soils for example. Forest soils are rich in decaying debris and nutrients, and are composed of many natural features that support a myriad of life forms and organic activities. Wildfires raise the temperatures of these soils to over 900°C and this potentially wipes away almost all the organic value of the soil.

Watershed:
The effect on watershed is also key. Burned organic matter in the soil (volatized organic compounds) also affect the natural layering of the soils. This negatively affects infiltration and percolation, making the soil surfaces water repellent. Water therefore is unable to drain into water tables and the run-offs on the surfaces cause erosion.

Researchers believe that forest fires are not all that bad, as they have some benefits too. In fact, they believe that even though young animals and birds may die, many animals are able to escape or move away from fires. Birds fly away, dear and other reptiles find their own escape routes and so on.

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Many plants easily grow back and there is usually good recovery after a fire. Some plants have their seeds opened up and exposed to ash-enriched soils. Examples include serotinus cones, from a tree species such as jackpine. Species like white pine and yellow birch also benefit from forest fires in a similar way.

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center for operational oceanographic products and services

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Storm surge is the rise in seawater level caused solely by a storm; while storm tide is the observed seawater level during a storm, resulting from both storm surge and the tide.

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Hurricane Preparedness - Hazards

A better understanding of tropical cyclones and hurricane hazards will help to make a more informed decision on your risk and what actions to take.

The major hazards associated with hurricanes are:

Storm surge and large waves produced by hurricanes pose the greatest threat to life and property along the coast.

Storm Surge is an abnormal rise of water generated by a storm's winds. Storm surge can reach heights well over 20 feet and can span hundreds of miles of coastline.

Storm Tide is the water level rise during a storm due to the combination of storm surge and the astronomical tide.

The destructive power of storm surge and large battering waves can result in loss of life, buildings destroyed, beach and dune erosion and road and bridge damage along the coast. Storm surge can travel several miles inland. In estuaries and bayous, salt water intrusion endangers public health and the environment.

Related Information

Learn more about storm surge from the NHC Storm Surge Unit.

Tropical cyclones often produce widespread, torrential rains in excess of 6 inches, which may result in deadly and destructive floods. In fact, flooding is the major threat from tropical cyclones for people living inland. Flash flooding, defined as a rapid rise in water levels, can occur quickly due to intense rainfall. Longer term flooding on rivers and streams can persist for several days after the storm. When approaching water on a roadway, always remember Turn Around Don't Drown.

Rainfall amounts are not directly related to the strength of tropical cyclones but rather to the speed and size of the storm, as well as the geography of the area. Slower moving and larger storms produce more rainfall. In addition, mountainous terrain enhances rainfall from a tropical cyclone.

Learn more about rainfall from the NWS Weather Prediction Center.

Tropical storm-force winds are strong enough to be dangerous to those caught in them. For this reason, emergency managers plan on having their evacuations complete and their personnel sheltered before the onset of tropical storm-force winds, not hurricane-force winds.

Hurricane&dash;force winds, 74 mph or more, can destroy buildings and mobile homes. Debris, such as signs, roofing material, siding and small items left outside become flying missiles during hurricanes. Winds can stay above hurricane strength well inland. In 2004, Hurricane Charley made landfall at Punta Gorda on the southwest Florida coast and produced major damage well inland across central Florida with gusts of more than 100 mph.

Atlantic and Eastern Pacific hurricanes are classified into five categories according to the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale, which estimates potential property damage according to the hurricane's sustained wind speed.

The strong winds of a tropical cyclone can cause dangerous waves that pose a significant hazard to mariners and coastal residents and visitors. When the waves break along the coast, they can produce deadly rip currents - even at large distances from the storm.

Rip currents are channeled currents of water flowing away from shore, usually extending past the line of breaking waves, that can pull even the strongest swimmers away from shore.

In 2008, despite the fact that Hurricane Bertha was more than a 1,000 miles offshore, the storm resulted in rip currents that killed three people along the New Jersey coast and required 1,500 lifeguard rescues in Ocean City, Maryland, over a 1 week period.

In 2009, all six deaths in the United States directly attributable to tropical cyclones occurred as the result of drowning from large waves or strong rip currents.

Find out more about rip currents on the NWS Rip Current Safety page.

Hurricanes and tropical storms can also produce tornadoes. These tornadoes most often occur in thunderstorms embedded in rain bands well away from the center of the hurricane; however, they can also occur near the eyewall. Usually, tornadoes produced by tropical cyclones are relatively weak and short-lived, but they still pose a significant threat.

Find out more about tornadoes from the NWS Storm Prediction Center.

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A better understanding of tropical cyclones and hurricane hazards will help to make a more informed decision on your risk and what actions to take. The major hazards associated with hurricanes are: Storm surge and large waves produced by hurricanes pose the greatest threat to life and property along the coast.

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Geography - The Earth & Tectonic Plates: Geography Exam Tips

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Tectonic hazards are hazard events caused by tectonic plates colliding into each other, moving against each other, moving apart or subduction between a less dense plate and a more dense plate. ...

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What causes a wildfire? | Natural Disasters