Article by Efthymios Lekkas after the eruption of the Fagradalsfjall volcano in Iceland
Thirteen years after 2010, when the Eyjafjallajökull Volcano erupteddirectly affecting the lives of 2 million people and canceling over 60,000 flights across Europeas a result of the ash spewing into the atmosphere, Iceland is calmly dealing with another major volcanic eruption.
Of course, in Iceland at regular intervals, volcanic activity returns as for example in 2014, when the Bardarbunga volcano in the center of the country erupted producing lava that covered 84 square kilometers and the Fagradalsfjall volcano that erupted in 2021 creating a huge laboratory nature reserve near the capital Reykjavik, which was visited by thousands of tourists every day.
Iceland is a land of volcanoes, which for millions of years has been built up almost exclusively by lava, which finds its way through two huge tectonic plates that diverge and create a vacuum filled by the erupted magma. This gap practically runs through the country from north to south, dividing it into two large parts.
After all, the entire Atlantic ocean is divided in two by an elongated mid-oceanic ridge of volcanic rocks that occupy the area of plate divergence, moving Europe away from one part, and America from the other at the rate of a few centimeters every year. Just such was the movement, which gradually separated the continents that 300 million years ago were united into a single continent, Pangaea.
The volcano in the Grindavik area became active with a marked change in the quantity and chemical composition of the emitted gases, hundreds of earthquakes every day and mainly uplift and impressive cracks in the ground surface. Precursor phenomena indicated that the limits had been exceeded and thus the surface volcanic activity began, which was expected to take on greater dimensions.
In any case, Iceland is ready, mainly due to great experience, to face a final action of the volcano, with structured monitoring services, with equipment, means, with organized civil protection and above all with information of the general population.
Metaphorically, we can simulate the eruption of a volcano by bursting a balloon, that we never know what will be the last “blow” that will lead to the break.
Volcanic eruptions always warn of activity, but never “reveal” the moment of the eruption, which may eventually not occur and the volcano will return to its normal and “safe” activity.
We faced a similar phenomenon in 2011-2012, in Santorini, where there was every indication of increased activity, but the final explosion never occurred, as after a prolonged period of intense activity, the readings eventually returned to normal “quiet” values.
In that critical period, when there was an excess of risk “scientific” opinions, mainly from foreign centers, for a large imminent eruption that would create problems in the leading tourist destination, the Permanent Scientific Monitoring Committee of the Hellenic Volcanic Arc was instituted, which operates within the framework of the Anti-Seismic Organization Design and Protection. The committee is made up of leading scientists, representatives of Research Institutions and Universities, who do not only express personal opinions, but convey the general scientific positions of their Agencies, while at the same time they are also the scientific adviser of the Ministry of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection.
The Commission recently recommended the organization of the Hellenic Volcanic Arc with modern monitoring systems in Methana, Milos, Santorini, Kos and Nisyros, while at the same time the corresponding credits have been committed. This equipment is absolutely necessary and will replace part of the instruments installed since 2012, which were damaged by the strong corrosive effect of the volcanic environment.
Especially in Santorini, it has been prepared by the General Secretariat of Civil Protection and the competent bodies the integrated volcanic risk management plan codenamed “Talos”which, taking into account all the data, provides for dealing with the impacts on projects and critical infrastructures, the timely transfer of residents to safe places, the assurance of transportation by sea and air and above all the management of the large number of visitors, especially during summer period.
Dr. Efthymis Lekkas
Professor
of Dynamic Tectonics Applied Geology &
of Natural Disaster Management
President of the Earthquake Planning & Protection Organization
President of the Permanent Scientific Monitoring Committee of the Hellenic Volcanic Arc of the OASP
Director of PMS “Environmental, Disaster & Crisis Management Strategies”
Source: Skai
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