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Iceland volcano: what is going to the have an effect on be? – BBC Information

Iceland volcano: what is going to the have an effect on be? – BBC Information
November 13, 2023



By way of Esme StallardClimate and science reporter, BBC News1 hour agoImage supply, Emin Yogurtcuoglu/Getty ImagesImage caption, The job is focused across the Fagradalsfjall volcanic space within the southwest of the rustic Iceland is bracing itself for a volcanic eruption within the coming days. Why is that this taking place, and what could be the have an effect on?Since past due October the area surrounding the Icelandic capital, Reykavik, within the south-west has been experiencing an build up in earthquake job. That is because of a underground river of magma – scorching liquid or semi-liquid rock – about 15-km (10 miles) in duration shifting upwards under the earth’s floor.This runs below Iceland and a part of the Atlantic Ocean, and the have an effect on of an eruption at the nation – and additional afield in regards to aviation – is determined by the place precisely the magma breaches the outside. One the town, Grindavik, which lies at once above the magma, has already been evacuated, because of the chance of ‘hearth fountains’ and noxious gasses.Symbol supply, Raul Moreno/SOPA Photographs/Getty ImagesImage caption, Dr Tom Winder installs a seismograph close to the Grindavik space to observe activityDr Invoice McGuire, professor emeritus of Geophysical & Local weather Hazards, UCL, stated: “Grindavik may be very just about the placement of the brand new fracture, and its survival is a long way from confident. The whole thing is determined by the place magma ultimately reaches the outside, however the scenario does not glance excellent for the citizens of town.”If a volcano erupts offshore, or erupts on land after which flows into the ocean, then there may be the chance of an explosive ash cloud because the tremendous scorching rock comes into touch with the water. In April 2010, the Eyjafjallajokull volcanic eruption, brought about the most important closure of Eu airspace since Global Conflict II, because of an in depth ash cloud, with losses estimated at between 1.5bn and a couple of.5bn euros (£1.3-2.2bn). The instances of this volcanic job are very other and due to this fact such an in depth have an effect on isn’t anticipated. “The Eyjafjallajokull eruption of 2010 was once moderately other because it was once related to a defend volcano crowned by way of a glacier. It was once the interplay of the magma with ice and soften water that made that eruption so explosive and perilous for aviation. This isn’t the case for Fagradalsfjall”, stated Dr Michele Paulatto, volcanologist at Imperial School London.The Icelandic meteorological administrative center estimates that lately the magma is 800m from breaking flooring, and in consequence the possibility of an eruption of Fagradalsfjall volcano is “top” and may occur within the coming days. Ultimate night time the earthquakes had been weaker however flooring deformation persisted, with rifts and cracks of a metre extensive reported in roads suggesting that the magma may well be even nearer to the outside – an indication that issues is also coming to a head.”In the previous couple of years we have now had a diminishing and pause in earthquakes prior to volcanic eruptions occur,” Dr Evgenia Ilyinskaya, Icelandic geophysicist and co-director of the Global Volcanic Well being Danger Community, informed the BBC.Iceland may be very used to volcanic job – effectively development a vacationer business on it – as it sits over the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. The Earth’s crust is fractured into other plates, and on the ridge the Eurasian and North American plates are shifting aside at a couple of centimetres a 12 months. This permits magma to get up to the outside, which erupts as lava and/or ash. The character of volcanic eruptions varies relying upon the rock sort and the way the plates are shifting. One of the vital intensive eruptions in Iceland was once again in 1783 when there was once a flood of lava which lasted for 8 months, and produced intensive sulphur clouds which hung over Northern Europe for greater than 5 months and is estimated to have brought about cooling of about 1.3C for the next two years. Dr Ilyinskaya, who’s in common touch with geologists at the flooring, informed the BBC that: “It appeared relating to again on Friday and Saturday that we may have one thing of that scale, in the ones uncommon however massive occasions after all that will have massive implications for air high quality within the Northern hemisphere.”That isn’t the scenario this is most likely nowadays.”The most recent proof that emerged on Sunday and Monday she stated suggests the eruption might be a lot smaller than in the past concept.

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Vacationers and citizens evacuated as volcano erupts on Iceland, with magma bursting via half-mile-long fissure

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By means of ELENA SALVONI Printed: 02:25 EDT, 16 July 2025 |