Is Iceland about to experience its next natural disaster? A possible volcanic eruption is expected on Europe’s largest glacier after a violent series of earthquakes. Local conditions can even lead to serious flooding.
Magma collects about six miles below the Bárdarbunga volcano to the northwest of the Vatnajökull glacier, said Kristín Jónsdóttir, head of the Icelandic Meteorological Agency’s volcanoes and earthquakes department. In recent months, activity has increased and the region has experienced larger earthquakes as pressure builds underground, she said.
“And that can only lead to one thing: eventually there will be an eruption.” However, it is extremely difficult to predict when this will happen; it may even take years for it to happen. There can also be very different types of eruptions: if one were to occur beneath the glacier, it would lead to catastrophic flooding.
130 earthquakes recorded within a few hours
Vatnajökull is considered the largest glacier in Europe outside the polar regions. Around the enormous Bárdarbunga volcanic system, which is partly covered by the ice colossus and partly not, the strongest earthquake swarm in a decade occurred on Tuesday – followed by an eruption that lasted for months. An estimated 130 earthquakes have now been recorded in just a few hours, including 17 with a magnitude of 3.0 or higher and one with a magnitude of 5.1.
The Icelandic Civil Protection Agency has subsequently declared a level of uncertainty, meaning it is closely monitoring the situation and its potential threats to people, the environment and infrastructure. Since then the earth has calmed down again.
Memories of the Eyjafjallajökull eruption
The volcanic hazard on an Icelandic glacier is inevitably reminiscent of the eruption at Eyjafjallajökull, which paralyzed international air traffic for days in 2010 with a kilometre-high ash cloud. Just like then, the current case also concerns a volcano covered by a glacier, but it was then significantly smaller than Bárdarbunga, says volcanologist Jónsdóttir.
In the event of an eruption within the glacier area, you could expect a similar situation to what happened then, she says, including an ash cloud with possible consequences for air traffic. However, it all depends on how strong the eruption is, how long it lasts and where the wind blows. At the same time, we learned from Eyjafjallajökull at the time, so the impact on air traffic would probably be smaller this time.
Source: Krone
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