Reykjavík Grapevine - 09.04.2010, Side 10

10
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 04 — 2010 More info on booking eruption tours with Iceland Rovers and Snow.is at www.
icelandrovers.is and www.snow.is - check ‘em out!
More eruption pics at www.grapevine.is
Now that the Icelandic people
have overwhelmingly rejected
the IceSave bill, we have to
ask ourselves: what have we
accomplished?
Certainly, the Icelandic negotiators
are in a stronger bargaining position, but
what will that translate into? A percentage
point or two on the interest that we will
eventually have to pay to cover the British
and Dutch depositors’ losses? Is that what
has kept the entire country’s attention for
months, while more important matters
languished? Will that be enough to cover
the increased interest rates Iceland will have
to pay to acquire funds on international
capital markets after its sovereign rating is
downgraded to junk bond status? Will it pay
for the lost opportunities that will result from
the continuation of currency controls?
At best, this will be a wash. At worst, it
will set back our recovery by months. We
all feel better about having stuck it to “The
Man,” but I’m honestly not sure who “The
Man” is. Gordon Brown? I’m not on speaking
terms with the British Prime Minister, but I’d
bet this barely registered on his radar. The
Landsbanki executives and shareholders?
They’re still out enjoying their ill-gotten gains
in complete freedom.
The reality is that the minority political
parties, especially the Progressive Party,
have decided to demolish what’s left of
Iceland’s international reputation in a
desperate attempt to garner political points.
After the election results were announced,
Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson, chairman
of the Progressive Party and founder of
the InDefence group that led the petition
drive to hold the referendum, gloated on
television, pontificating that the referendum
proved the people did not trust the
governing coalition, calling for new elections
this spring.
The Progressive Party has no plausible
new ideas for rescuing the country from the
mess that it had a big hand in creating, so
it has decided to pull the Social Democrats
and the Left-Greens down to its level. Its
plan for a 20% across-the-board reduction
of mortgages was laughed off by all
serious parties. Its public announcement
that Norway was going to give us all the
money we needed was as surprising to
the Norwegians as it was to the rest of us.
But as the saying goes, if at first you don’t
succeed...
Inflaming the Icelandic public against
IceSave was like shooting fish in a barrel.
Of course, no one wanted to pay for
the machinations of the incompetent
Landsbanki crew. Finance Minister
Steingrímur Sigfússon and the rest made the
rational assessment that speedy resolution
of this matter was essential to the country’s
recovery, and that more important matters
needed their attention. Antagonizing the
British and the Dutch, delaying the IMF
aid, and helping Iceland’s international
reputation swirl further down the toilet are
not likely to benefit the nation in the long
run.
When all that matters to you is your own
success, however, why not play with the
feelings, fortunes, and futures of others?
Predictably, one upshot of the recent
debate—and the media’s habit of presenting
only the pro-Iceland side— is that the
majority of Icelanders now feel that they
should not have any liability for any of the
debts rung up by others. The Icelandic
taxpayers who repudiated responsibility
for the IceSave debt have no qualms about
foisting that responsibility onto the British
and Dutch taxpayers. Icelandic investors
who bought bank stock after the Danske
Bank report predicted a collapse of the
Icelandic banks now denounce the IceSave
depositors for gambling for a higher rate
of return. Icelandic armchair pundits who
blame this whole mess on the Americans’
failure to regulate mortgage-backed
securities argue that they should not have
to pay for the homes they bought when the
Reykjavik real estate market was peaking.
Fortunately, reasonable Icelandic
voters have seen through Sigmundur
Davíð’s shenanigans, and the popularity of
the Progressive Party continues to slide.
Unfortunately, like the banks in late 2008,
this leads only to more and more desperate
and destructive measures. Sigmundur Davíð
may claim a victory, but what have we, the
Icelandic people, won?
Any more “victories” like this and we’ll
be living in turf huts eating rotten skate
before you know it.
The Politics Of
Destruction
Opinion | Íris Erlingsdóttir
It is 1 AM. My phone is going crazy.
Emails and Facebook messages are
flying around. Why? A volcano is
erupting, I am a volcanology student,
and this is the most exciting thing
since... well, the last time something
erupted.
Our excitement was excusable,
though. Many of us came to study
in Iceland because of this possibil-
ity. We’d all been following the events
beneath Eyjafjallajökull since 2010
began, hoping to see some action. But
what had we been watching, exactly,
and what has happened since then?
Well, sit yourself down and prepare for
a brief and hopefully somewhat inter-
esting lesson in volcanology...
EARLy TREMORS
It started around New Year, when
earthquake activity began to increase
in the area of Eyjafjallajökull, in south-
ern Iceland. This was particularly ex-
citing since the volcano in question
hadn’t erupted since 1821-23. GPS sat-
ellite measurements showed that the
volcano was actually inflating—pres-
sure was building up inside, causing
it to bulge outwards. A so-called intru-
sion event was probably taking place:
magma, molten rock, was pushing up
into the volcano from below. In early
February, the groundwater became
acidic due to gases from the magma
seeping up through the rock. Despite
these signs, chances were it would be
just another benign intrusion, which
would never reach the surface—as
happened here most recently in the
summer of 2009.
In early March, earthquake ac-
tivity literally went off the chart: a
huge 'earthquake swarm’ had begun.
Something unusual was going on. De-
bate amongst scientists was hot. This
seemed like something different from
the event in 2009, but volcanology is
a fickle subject and it’s always impos-
sible to say for sure what a volcano is
going to do. After a couple of weeks,
the earthquake swarm died down. It
looked like things might be coming to
a halt.
ERUPTION!
Then, on the evening of March 21st,
quite the opposite happened. Volca-
nic tremors began—a sort of constant
shaking of the ground—which means
that magma is on the move. The earth-
quakes were getting closer to the sur-
face, too. Finally, at about midnight,
the first report was made of light be-
ing seen coming from the glacier.
The student communications bomb
began. Information came trickling in
throughout the (sleepless) night, but
come daylight a better picture formed
of what was going on. A volcanic fis-
sure (basically a crack in the ground)
about a kilometre long had opened
up on the ridge between the Eyjafjal-
lajökull and Mýrdalsjökull glaciers,
fountaining lava a couple of hundred
metres into the air and forming spec-
tacular lava flows.
The initial official reaction was one
of caution but it soon became clear
that the eruption was small and not
beneath the glacier, which was frankly
quite a relief: a jökulhlaup (glacial
meltwater flood) would almost cer-
tainly have been the most dangerous
product of such an eruption.
The weather in the first few days
hampered attempts to actually see
anything, but things soon cleared up
and it became easier to observe what
was going on. Roads and even the hik-
ing trail along Fimmvörðuháls (which
the fissure basically cut in two) eventu-
ally opened up, allowing for much bet-
ter access, even by the general public.
PRETTy SMALL, SUPER ExCITING
In the weeks after the first fissure rip-
ping open, the eruption has remained
pretty small, but extremely exciting.
It’s unusual to be able to view an erup-
tion so well, especially an Icelandic
fissure eruption. A couple of beautiful
lava falls—basically waterfalls of lava
(!)—have formed, cascading down
into valleys near the eruption site. A
second fissure opened up a couple of
weeks after the first, pouring out even
more lava. And all of this activity is
beginning to form an impressive little
hill up on Fimmvörðuháls, one that
will soon need a name...
The Grapevine managed to get two
of us on a snowmobile trip to the vol-
cano a couple of weeks after it began,
courtesy of the kind folks at Iceland
Rovers and Snow.is. Even as some-
one who studies these things, it was
incredibly humbling to get so close
and to bear witness to what is going
on up on that ridge—it’s impossible
to comprehend until you see it for
yourself, really. Even if you make the
10+ hour hike to and from the site, it
is still mind-blowing and absolutely
worth the effort (and warm clothing!).
As for our tour up there: it involved su-
per jeeps and snowmobiles, was well
organised and got us exactly where we
wanted to be!
So what will happen in the future?
Well, no one can really predict how
long this will last, but at the time of
writing it seems to be going strong.
There is certainly the possibility of
more fissures opening, even beneath
Eyjafjallajökull glacier, which could
produce a jökulhlaup. It’s also worth
keeping an eye on the much larger
neighbouring volcano, Katla. The last
time Eyjafjallajökull erupted, Katla
followed suit 18 months later. The two
volcanoes appear to be linked some-
how, so an eruption at Katla (which is
statistically “overdue,” although this is
a terrible method of volcano forecast-
ing) should not be ruled out.
But for now, don't worry. Sit back,
relax and enjoy—it’s not often you get
to see the Earth’s power so beautifully
(and accessibly) displayed!
James Ashworth is currently studying for
a B.Sc in volcanology and Earth sciences
at the University of Iceland.
News | The Eyjafjallajökull-Fimmvörðuháls Eruption
JAMES ASHwORTH
JULIA STAPLES
From New Year
To New Mountain
Amazing as the current eruption
is, it's still really rather small—at
least compared to some of the
incredible eruptions Iceland has
seen throughout its history. On
average, an eruption here occurs
about every 3-4 years. Here are my
picks for the top five.
1. Laki (Grímsvötn),
1783-74 Ad
The Laki eruption was a fissure
eruption much like the one we
are so fixated with now, except it
was larger. A lot larger. The Laki
fissure system extended a massive
27 kilometres, and erupted for 8
months straight, pouring out huge
floods of lava. The large amounts of
ash and poisonous gas produced
had the effect of killing about a
quarter of the Icelandic population,
mainly due to failing crop and
livestock production. It is also
attributed with helping to start the
French Revolution, again due to
crop failure.
2. Eldgjá (Katla), 934 Ad
Another huge flood lava eruption,
the Eldgjá fissure opened up in
934 AD and produced the largest
volcanic canyon in the world—
about 57 kilometres long, and up
to 270 metres deep and 600 metres
wide at some points. The effects of
the Eldgjá eruption are less well-
known than those of Laki, but there
is no doubt that this was a massive
event. There is evidence of it
having triggered climatic changes
as far away as China, leading to
thousands of deaths.
3. Hekla, 1104 Ad
Hekla is infamous as being the
Icelandic gateway to hell, and
perhaps its most destructive
eruption occurred about 900
years ago. Thankfully, most Hekla
eruptions are fairly peaceful (at
least after the first 6 hours or
so), but this time it produced a
very explosive eruption, sending
ash and tephra (small pieces
of volcanic rock) high into the
atmosphere. This then came back
down on over half of the country.
Many houses and villages were
buried and had to be abandoned.
4. Krafla, 1975-84 Ad
Krafla's most recent eruption was
much smaller than those above, but
makes this list because it was just
so damned beautiful. Consisting
of nine separate eruptions, this
was one of the first times that a
large fissure eruption could be
observed, analysed by scientists,
and filmed by cameramen. Plus it
actually yielded some important
scientific observations that are still
useful to this day and aid in our
understanding of these complex
beasts.
5. Heimaey (Vestmannaeyjar),
1973 Ad
Heimaey makes my list because,
despite being a small eruption,
it has such an amazing story
attached to it. Almost without
warning a fissure opened above
the town of Heimaey on January
23rd in the middle of the night.
Luckily a storm had kept the fishing
boats in the harbour overnight, and
so everyone could be evacuated
safely. Then many of the island's
4000 or so residents came together
to battle the lava flows with cold
water pumped from the sea, saving
their harbour. Much of the town
was buried beneath ash, tephra
and lava but the island quickly got
back on its feet.
James' Top 5
Icelandic Eruptions