From time immemorial, volcanoes scare and attract people. For centuries they can sleep. An example is the recent history of Eyyafyatlayokudl volcano. People cultivate fields on the slopes of the mountains of fire, conquer their peaks, build houses. But sooner or later the fire-breathing mountain will wake up, bring destruction and misfortune.
It is the sixth glacier in Iceland, located in the south 125 km east of Reykjavik. Under it and partially beneath the neighboring Märdalsjökull glacier, a volcano has a conical shape.
The height of the peak of the glacier is 1666 meters, its area is about 100 km². Volcanic crater reaches a diameter of 4 km. Five years ago, glaciers covered its slopes. The nearest settlement is Skougar village, located in the south of the glacier. From here, the Skogau River originates, with the famous Skogafoss waterfall.
Icelandic Eyyafyatlayokudl volcano - origin of the name
The name of the volcano comes from three Icelandic words that denote an island, glacier and mountain. This is probably why it is so difficult to pronounce and poorly remembered. According to linguists, only a small part of the inhabitants of the Earth can pronounce this name correctly - Eyyafyatlayokudl volcano. The translation from Icelandic sounds literally as "the island of mountain glaciers."
Volcano without a name
As such, the phrase “Eyyafyatlayokudl volcano” entered the world lexicon in 2010. This is funny when you consider that in fact there is no fire-breathing mountain with that name in nature. There are many glaciers and volcanoes in Iceland. The last number on the island is about thirty. 125 kilometers from Reykjavik, in the south of Iceland, there is a fairly large glacier. He shared his name with Eyyafyatlayokudl volcano.
It is under it that there is a volcano, which for many centuries did not come up with a name. He is nameless. In April 2010, he stirred the whole of Europe, for a while becoming the world newsmaker. In order not to call it an anonymous volcano, the media suggested its name by the name of the glacier - Eyyafyatlayokudl. In order not to confuse our readers, we will call it the same.
Description
Icelandic Eyyafyatlayokudl volcano is a typical stratovolcano. In other words, its cone is formed by numerous layers of a frozen mixture of lava, ash, stones, etc.
The volcano of Iceland Eyyafyatlayokudl active for 700 thousand years, but since 1823 he was assigned to the category of sleeping. This suggests that since the beginning of the XIX century it has not been erupted. The state of Eyyafyatlayokudl volcano did not deliver any particular cause for concern to scientists. They found that over the past millennium he erupted several times. True, these manifestations of activity could be attributed to calm - they did not pose a danger to people. According to documents, the last eruptions did not differ in large emissions of volcanic ash, lava and hot gases.
Eyyafyatlayokudl Irish volcano - the story of one eruption
As already mentioned, after the eruption in 1823, the volcano was recognized as sleeping. At the end of 2009, seismic activity intensified in it. Until March 2010, there were about a thousand tremors with a force of 1-2 points. This unrest occurred at a depth of about 10 km.
In February 2010, employees of the Meteorological Institute of Iceland using GPS measurements recorded a shift of the earth's crust by 3 cm to the southeast in the glacier area. Activity continued to increase and reached its maximum by March 3 - 5. At this time, up to three thousand tremors per day were recorded.
Awaiting eruption
The authorities decided to evacuate 500 local residents from the danger zone around the volcano, fearing flooding, which could cause intense melting of the glacier covering Eyyafyatlayokudl Iceland volcano. For safety reasons, the Keflavik International Airport was shut down.
Since March 19, tremors have moved east of the northern crater. They were bugged at a depth of 4 - 7 km. Gradually, activity spread farther east, and tremors began to occur closer to the surface.
At 11:00 p.m. on April 13, Icelandic scientists recorded seismic activity in the central part of the volcano, west of the two formed cracks. An hour later, a new eruption began in the south of the central caldera. A column of hot ash rose 8 km.
Another crack appeared, more than 2 kilometers long. The glacier began to actively melt, and its waters flowed both north and south, into populated areas. Urgently 700 people were evacuated. During the day, meltwater flooded the highway, the first damage occurred. In southern Iceland, sediments of volcanic ash were recorded.
By April 16, the ash column reached 13 kilometers. This aroused the concern of scientists. When ash rises to a height above 11 kilometers above sea level, it penetrates the stratosphere and can be transported over long distances. The spread of ash in the east was promoted by a powerful anticyclone over the North Atlantic.
Last eruption
This happened on March 20, 2010. On this day, the last volcanic eruption in Iceland began. Eyyafyatlayokudl finally woke up at 23:30 GMT. In the east of the glacier, a fault was formed, the length of which was about 500 meters.
At this time, no large ash emissions were recorded. On April 14, the eruption intensified. It was then that powerful emissions of gigantic volumes of volcanic ash appeared. In this regard, airspace over part of Europe was closed until April 20, 2010. Occasionally, flights were limited in May 2010. Experts rated the intensity of the eruption on a VEI scale of 4 points.
Dangerous ashes
It should be noted that there was nothing outstanding in the behavior of Eyyafyatlayokudl volcano. After seismic activity, which lasted several months, a rather calm volcanic eruption began in the glacier area on the night of March 20 to 21. This was not even mentioned in the press. Everything changed only on the night of April 13-14, when the eruption began to be accompanied by the release of a giant volume of volcanic ash, and its pillar reached a huge height.
What caused the air transport collapse?
It is worth recalling that since March 20, 2010, air transport collapse has hung over the Old World. It was connected with a volcanic cloud that created the suddenly awakened Eyyafyatlayokudl volcano. Where this mountain, silent since the 19th century, gained strength, it is unknown, but gradually a huge cloud of ash, which began to form on April 14, covered Europe.
Following the closure of airspace, more than three hundred airports across Europe were paralyzed. Volcanic ashes also brought many worries to Russian specialists. In our country, hundreds of flights have been delayed or completely canceled. Thousands of people, including Russians, expected an improvement in the situation at airports around the world.
And the cloud of volcanic ash seemed to play with people, daily changing the direction of movement and completely "did not listen" to the opinions of experts, reassuring desperate people that the eruption would not last long.
Geophysicists of the weather service of Iceland on April 18 told RIA Novosti that they were not able to predict the duration of the eruption. Mankind has prepared for a protracted “battle” with the volcano and has begun to calculate considerable losses.
Oddly enough, for Iceland itself, the awakening of Eyyafyatlayokudl volcano did not have any serious consequences, except, perhaps, the evacuation of the population and the temporary closure of one airport.
And for continental Europe, a huge pillar of volcanic ash became a real disaster, of course, in the transport aspect. This was due to the fact that volcanic ash has such physical properties that are extremely dangerous for aviation. When hit in an airplane turbine, it is able to stop the engine, which will undoubtedly lead to a terrible disaster.
The risk for aviation is significantly increased due to the large accumulation of volcanic ash in the air, which significantly reduces visibility. This is especially dangerous when landing. Volcanic ash can cause malfunctions in the on-board electronics and radio equipment, on which flight safety is largely dependent.
Loss
The eruption of Eyyafyatlayokudl volcano caused losses to European travel companies. They claim that their losses exceeded $ 2.3 billion, and the damage that hit their pocket daily was approximately $ 400 million.
Airlines losses were officially calculated in the amount of 1.7 billion dollars. The awakening of the mountain of fire affected 29% of world aviation. Every day, more than a million passengers became hostages of the eruption.
The Russian Aeroflot suffered as well. During the closure of overhead lines over Europe, the company did not complete 362 flights on time. Her losses amounted to millions of dollars.
Opinions of experts
Experts argue that the volcanic cloud is indeed a serious danger to aircraft. When an aircraft hits it, the crew notes very poor visibility. On-board electronics works with big interruptions.
The resulting glassy “shirts” on the blades of the engine rotor, clogging of the holes that are used to supply air to the engine and other parts of the aircraft, can cause their failure. The captains of the air ships agree with this.
