2010

Eyjafjallajökull Eruption

Volcanic eruptions with a rating of 4 (out of 8) on the Volcanic Explosivity Index (VEI) scale occur about every year or two somewhere on Earth; in terms of their impact, the relatively modest amounts of ash, steam, and/or lava released by such events generally has only local, rather than global, consequence. It is perhaps surprising, then, that the VEI = 4 eruption of Iceland’s Eyjafjallajökull volcano in April 2010 will go down in history as having a substantial impact on millions of people around the world.

Eyjafjallajökull is a stratovolcano built up over millions of years as part of the creation of the island of Iceland from lavas erupted from the mid-Atlantic ridge spreading center. Given Iceland’s high northerly latitude, the high summits of volcanoes like Eyjafjallajökull are usually covered in snow and/or glaciers. Thus, when eruptions do occur, the interaction of the hot lava and gases with snow and ice cause intense steam explosions that can help eject rapidly cooled, sharp, tiny glassy volcanic shards to great heights.

That was exactly the case with the eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in mid-April 2010. A violent plume of ash and dust was lifted into the stratosphere, to elevations of more than 26,000 feet (8,000 meters). Coincidentally, the eastward-flowing polar jet stream just happened to be located over Iceland at the same time, and so Eyjafjallajökull’s ash cloud was quickly swept up in that upper atmospheric flow and volcanic dust was quickly spread to Great Britain, Scandinavia, and across much of Europe. Because volcanic smoke and ash can reduce visibility substantially, and because the glassy and abrasive dust could cause significant damage to jet engines attached to aircraft that would need to fly through it, more than 100,000 commercial airline flights were cancelled within and to/from Europe and North America over the course of about eight days, until the dust literally settled.

Eyjafjallajökull may have been relatively small on the scale of historical volcanic eruptions, but it had a profound effect on the way people move about the planet. An estimated 10 million passengers had to change their plans, and the airline industry lost about $200 million per day because of the eruption cloud. Perhaps the only silver lining was that despite all the hassles, there were no casualties from this particular natural disaster.

Steam and ash cloud from the April 17, 2010 eruption of Eyjafjallajökull volcano, Iceland.