subject: Deadly Toxic Debris Spews From Eyjafjallajokull Volcano [print this page] The call came from a civil protection official to Hanna Lara Andrews, a half-English, half-Icelandic farmer who lived on a farm at the base of the mountain which was about to explode. She had only 20 minutes to evacuate her entire family for fear of the devastating effects of torrents of meltwater that were expected to flow onto her property from the mountain that loomed high above.
Can you imagine the fear that the people of the district surrounding the volcano must have felt on the night the mountain exploded? This event also showed how fragile humanity is against a giant that could close most of the airspace in Europe, inconveniencing millions of travellers. An initial shutdown of air travel occurred over much of northern Europe from 15 April to 23 April. Other parts of European airspace were closed during the ensuing weeks, followed by Ireland, Scotland, Spain, Portugal, northern Italy, Austria and southern Germany.
Eyjafjallajokull Volcano
The Eyjafjallajokull volcano, which has a summit elevation of 1,666 metres and a crater 3-4 kilometers in diameter, is situated north of Skogar, about 5 kilometers from the Atlantic coastline. A magma chamber under the mountain feeds the volcano which had lain dormant since 1821, that is until the night of 14 April, 2010. Increasing seismic activity had been recorded since the end of 2009 which culminated in a small eruption, rated as 1 on the Volcanic Explosivity Index.
On 14 April, the second phase eruption occurred and by the morning of the 15th, eye witnesses claimed they could see an ash plume rising to about 9 kilometers high which equated to a 4 on the VEI.
Deadly Toxic Debris Spews From Eyjafjallajokull Volcano
