Iceland Prepares For Another Volcanic Eruption

Yesterday's U.K. Times reported that Iceland is bracing for another more severe volcanic eruption.  The article reports that tremors around the volcano near the Eyjafjallajokull glacier, which erupted Sunday, were first recorded in early March.  About 500 people have been evacuated from near the volcano.  The volcano is about 75 miles southeast of the Icelandic capital Reykjavik.  The fear is that a nearby volcano, Katla, beneath Myrdalsjoekull, a large glacier, will also erupt.  If a volcano erupts beneath a glacier, the risk is flooding and mudslides as well as the risk from the eruption itself.

Iceland is a beautiful country, built on volcanic rock where the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates meet.   The picture below was taken at Reykjanes where the plates meet.  They are pulling apart at a rate of about 2 centimeters a year.  The white spot toward the right side of the bridge is me wearing a white winter hat!  The dark gray under the bridge is not water--it is lava dust.  That section of Iceland (the southwestern section) is lava rock (covered with green moss in spots).  The picture is a color picture.  That is the color that things looked in February 2007!

The volcanoes under iceland provide the country with true 'green' energy.  The place that we stayed while we were there had radiant heat in the floors that was provided by the local hot spring.  There were huge pipes all along the roads going away from the Blue Lagoon that carried hot water throughout the country.  There were greenhouses throughout the country heated by geo-thermal activity.  There are, however, risks involved in living on an island with continuing volcanic activity.

For a larger version of the picture below, click on the same picture on the right.