Iceland volcano erupts again - 800 residents evacuated
Source: Agencies |
April 15, 2010, Thursday
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A VOLCANO under a glacier in Iceland erupted yesterday for the second time in less than a month, melting ice, shooting smoke and steam into the air, closing a major road and forcing hundreds of people to flee rising floodwaters.
Authorities evacuated 800 residents from around the Eyjafjallajokull glacier as rivers rose by up to 3 meters.
Emergency officials and scientists said the eruption under the ice cap was 10 to 20 times more powerful than the one last month, and carried a much greater risk of widespread flooding.
"This is a very much more violent eruption, because it's interacting with ice and water," said Andy Russell, an expert in glacial flooding at the University of Newcastle in northern England. "It becomes much more explosive, instead of a nice lava flow oozing out of the ground."
Rognvaldur Olafsson, a chief inspector for the Icelandic Civil Protection Agency, said no lives or properties were in immediate danger. Scientists said there was no sign of increased activity at the much larger Katla volcano nearby.
The agency said commercial aircraft had reported seeing steam plumes rising thousands of meters into the air.
There were no immediate signs of large clouds of volcanic ash, which could disrupt air travel between Europe and North America. Some domestic flights were canceled, but Iceland's international airport remained open.
The volcano, about 120 kilometers east of the capital, Reykjavik, erupted on March 20 after almost 200 years of silence.
The original eruption petered out earlier this week. But Gunnar Gudmunsson, a geophysicist at the Icelandic Meteorological Office, said there were a series of tremors overnight, and rivers in the area began rising yesterday morning - strong evidence of a new eruption under the glacier.
Last month's eruption struck near the glacier in an area that had no ice. "Most probably this eruption is taking place at the summit ... under the ice," he said.
Pall Einarsson, a geophysicist at the University of Iceland, said magma was melting a hole in the 200-meter thick ice covering the volcano's crater, sending floodwater coursing down the glacier.
Authorities evacuated 800 residents from around the Eyjafjallajokull glacier as rivers rose by up to 3 meters.
Emergency officials and scientists said the eruption under the ice cap was 10 to 20 times more powerful than the one last month, and carried a much greater risk of widespread flooding.
"This is a very much more violent eruption, because it's interacting with ice and water," said Andy Russell, an expert in glacial flooding at the University of Newcastle in northern England. "It becomes much more explosive, instead of a nice lava flow oozing out of the ground."
Rognvaldur Olafsson, a chief inspector for the Icelandic Civil Protection Agency, said no lives or properties were in immediate danger. Scientists said there was no sign of increased activity at the much larger Katla volcano nearby.
The agency said commercial aircraft had reported seeing steam plumes rising thousands of meters into the air.
There were no immediate signs of large clouds of volcanic ash, which could disrupt air travel between Europe and North America. Some domestic flights were canceled, but Iceland's international airport remained open.
The volcano, about 120 kilometers east of the capital, Reykjavik, erupted on March 20 after almost 200 years of silence.
The original eruption petered out earlier this week. But Gunnar Gudmunsson, a geophysicist at the Icelandic Meteorological Office, said there were a series of tremors overnight, and rivers in the area began rising yesterday morning - strong evidence of a new eruption under the glacier.
Last month's eruption struck near the glacier in an area that had no ice. "Most probably this eruption is taking place at the summit ... under the ice," he said.
Pall Einarsson, a geophysicist at the University of Iceland, said magma was melting a hole in the 200-meter thick ice covering the volcano's crater, sending floodwater coursing down the glacier.
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