Transcript 2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull, Iceland

2010 eruptions of
Eyjafjallajökull,
Iceland
Iceland
• Population: 311,058 (July 2011 est.)
• GDP – per capital: $38,000
• GDP - composition by sector:
1. agriculture: 5.4%
2. industry: 24.8%
3. services: 69.8%
Preparations
• Scientists monitor the activity of active
volcanoes
• Awareness: At school, using the media
• Emergency plans are put before hand
Vulnerability
• Vulnerability: the geographic conditions that
increase the susceptibility of a community to a
hazard or to the impact of a hazard event.
The perception of the population to the
hazard
• Icelandic people are well aware about the fact
that they live in a hotspot.
Probability of Volcanic Eruptions in
Iceland
•
•
Probability of a second Icelandic volcano erupting this year: more than 80%
Kolbeinsey ridge (Last erupted: 1999) or a new submarine fissure in its vicinity –
probability of eruption: 80%
•
•
Krafla (1984)/ Theistareykjarbunga (after 1000 BC)/ Tjörnes fracture zone (1868)
– probability of eruption: 52%
Askja (1961) – probability of eruption: 66 percent
Bárðarbunga (1903) and neighboring Grímsvötn (2004) – probability of eruption:
84 percent
Grímsnes (before 3500 BC) – 40%
•
Reykjanes (1879) – 50%
•
•
Katla – probability of eruption: 64%
Other Icelandic volcanoes not mentioned on this list: probability of eruption: less
than 40 percent
•
•
• The Eyjafjallajökull volcano erupted in 920, 1612
and again from 1821 to 1823
• It erupted twice in 2010 — on 20 March and in
April/May. The March event forced a brief
evacuation of around 500 local people, but the 14
April eruption was ten to twenty times more
powerful and caused substantial disruption to air
traffic across Europe. It caused the cancellation of
thousands of flights across and to Iceland.
Hazard management to reduce the risk
and damage
• “Risk culture classes” so that the population
know how to behave in case of a hazard
• World class monitoring system which includes
evacuation programs
• Awareness to inform people about possible
hazards
• innovative hazard mapping methodology to
experiment with a wide range of possible hazards
and solutions
• The culture of Iceland: open, honest and ask for
help if needed
Spatial extent of the hazard
• 20 March: first eruption, 500 people had to be
evacuated
• Second eruption on the 14th Apriltwenty times
more powerful than eruption in March; led to
flooding in Iceland and disruption of air traffic
in Europe due to a ash cloud
Magnitude and duration of the
Eyjafjallajoekull eruption
•January 2010 an earthquake swarm began under the Eyjafjallajoekull
•Beginning of March 3000 earthquakes were measured in 24 hour time period with a
magnitude of 3.1
•21st of March the eruption near the Eyjafjallajoekull glacier started, locals reported
lava fountaining and lava flow down the glacier
•14th April new eruptions and earthquakes occurred, 45 people in Langidalur valley
north of the Eyjafjallajökull glacier were isolated by the eruption, and 800 people
were evacuated; glacier flooding occurred
•16th April a new eruption takes places which leads to a major ash emission
•17th April the eruption continues
•18th April the ash emission continues
•20th April eruption continues
• 22nd April Eruptions have decreased at Eyjafjallajokull volcano in
Iceland.
• Present magma eruption rate is about 75 tonnes/second which is
about 10% of
• the 72-hour long maximum phase. About 100 million cubic
• meters of material has been erupted so far. Ash fall is 30 m deep
near the crater. There
• have been no changes in crater size at Eyjafjallajokull volcano since
19th April.
• 9th May: The eruption is still in the explosive phase.
• 16th May: Ash emissions from Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland
reached a maximum height of 27,000 ft on 15th May. An
earthquake swarm was recorded beneath the volcano between
23:54 hr (14th May) and 02:45 (15th May). Over 30 earthquakes
less than magnitude 2 were recorded at a depth of 30 km.
• Summary: About 4 months, thousands of earthquakes, ash
emission over Europe for about 1 month
Causes of the volcanic eruption
• Eruption mostly occurred because of the shifting
of the North American plate and the European
plate
• The plates moved away from each other
• To plug the gap between the two plates lava
seeps up
• In order to have an eruption an earthquake has to
happen like it was seen in Iceland
• Summary of the causes: movement of plates in
combination with earthquakes
Economic impacts of the volcanic
eruption
• Airline industry: cancellation of flights; leaded to a loss
of $200million per day worldwide, total loss %1.3billion
• European economy: import and export was affected,
loss in these areas like pharmaceutics because they
expired
• African economy: eg: Kenya lost income if $3.8 million
per day because of the lack of export of flowers to UK
• Asian economy: companies for technology could not
export their products like LG, Hong Kong’s hotels and
restaurants faced a shortage of European imports
Impacts on politicians
• Travel disruption: number of world leaders
had to postpone planned trips or could not
attend meetings due to the closure of airports
• Funeral of Lech Kaczyński and Maria
Kaczyńska: many politicians who planned to
come like Obama, Merkel were unable to
attend the funeral on the 18th April
Environmental impact
• The volcano released approximately 0.15
million tones of CO2 each day
• Cancellation of flights saved an estimated 1.3
to 2.8 million tonnes of carbon dioxide from
entering the atmosphere by 19 April 2010
Responses to the disaster
• Local: Icelanders have learned to live with
their volcanoes, it was not the first time
• National: airports in Iceland were immediately
closed to international traffic
• Evacuation where necessary
• International: closing of international traffic
Future plans
• the UN’s International Strategy for Disaster
Reduction (ISDR) is urging European
governments to take more action to integrate
volcano risk as part of their air travel policies
and legislation
• Greater coordination and interaction between
decision-makers and the scientific
community.