The Best Photos from TIME 2010
Volcanic Eruption in Iceland
Photographed by Ragnar Th Sigurdsson / Arctic Images
Eyjafjallajokull's eruption lights up the Icelandic sky. It was an awesome spectacle, but the ash that followed created a global mess.
Recommend this image
Ash from Iceland’s erupting Eyjafjallajökull Volcano had drifted over northern Europe by April 16, 2010. The brown ash is mixed with clouds in this photo-like image taken by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite at 12:45 p.m. local time (GMT +2). The visible ash sweeps in an arc across the Netherlands, Germany, Poland, and Russia. It is likely that the clouds mask additional ash.
The airborne ash grounded flights across much of northern and western Europe starting on April 15. As the ash moved south, more countries began to close their airspace. Fine volcanic ash can clog jet engines, causing the engines to stall. Many airports anticipated remaining closed through Saturday, April 17, reported BBC News. Ash had been reported over Norway, Sweden, northwestern Russia, northern Poland, northern Germany, northern France and the southern United Kingdom, said the Icelandic Met Office.
Eyjafjallajökull began its eruption on March 20, 2010, after 187 years of quiet. On April 14, the volcano began a more forceful eruption, emitting plumes of ash. As of April 16, the eruption was still ongoing, with ash reaching heights of four to five kilometers, said the Icelandic Met Office. The volcano’s previous eruption lasted just over a year between December 1821 and January 1823.
The large image is the highest resolution version of the image available. The image is available in additional resolutions from the MODIS Rapid Response System, which also provides daily images of Iceland.
References
- BBC News. (2010, April 16). Volcanic ash: Flight chaos to continue into weekend. Accessed April 16, 2010.,/li>
- Global Volcanism Program. (n.d.) Eyjafjallajökull. Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.
- Icelandic Met Office. (2010, April 16). Ongoing Eruption. Accessed April 16, 2010.
NASA image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC. Caption by Holli Riebeek.
- Instrument:
- Terra - MODIS
Photos by: http://www.flickr.com/photos/orvaratli/
Photo by: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ornsig/
Photo by: http://www.flickr.com/photos/hallgrg/
(Photos by Marco Fulle - http://www.swisseduc.ch/stromboli/ )
Photo: Ragnar Th. Sigurðsson - http://www.arctic-images.com/
We were wondering this today.
UPDATE 1: A few people have asked so here’s how we estimated the CO2 emissions of Eyjafjallajoekull.
Data here: http://bit.ly/planevolcanoWe couldn’t find a direct CO2 emissions figure for the icelandic volcano but we did find an emissions figure for Sulphur Dioxide (SO2) – 3,000 tons a day (Source)
When Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines erupted in 1991, it emitted 42 million tons of CO2 (source) and 17 million tons of SO2 (source). That’s a CO2-to-SO2 ratio of 2.47:1
Applying that ratio to the 3,000 tons of SO2 emitted by Eyjafjallajoekull gives us the figure of 7,412 tons of CO2 per day.
Clearly, this is a ballpark figure and it’s likely to be more complex. If any vulcanologists are passing by and would like to enhance or correct our numbers, please help yourselves to the data!
UPDATE 2: We’ve been sent some new figures from the Nordic Volcanological Institute of the University of Iceland (thanks Nicole!). They’ve measured the CO2:SO2 ratio as 5:1 (source). So Eyjafjallajoekull is emitting an estimated 15,000 tons of CO2 a day – twice our original estimate. We’ve updated the diagram accordingly.
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