Reykjavík Grapevine - 07.05.2010, Blaðsíða 37

This article by Marc Vincenz sure is a fun read.
Article | Volcanic bliss
In a recent New Scientist article, “Get
ready for decades of Icelandic fire-
works,” volcanologist Þorvaldur Þórðar-
son speculates this next active volcanic
phase could last for another 60 years,
reaching its peak before 2040. So far,
estimates of Eyjafjallajökull’s costs to
airlines and travel companies range be-
tween $1.7 and 4 billion—and that’s just
for five days of ash plumes. And while
the EU is still squabbling to find a uni-
fied “ash-no-ash flying policy,” the days
of volcanic-free travel appear to lie in the
distant future. EU aid to effected, cash-
poor airlines such as FinnAir has also not
yet been unilaterally agreed upon. Being
stranded at the airport for five days may
seem like the end of the world, but it isn’t.
Not by a long shot.
Let’s rewind for a minute
Iceland, June 1783. A 25-kilometre fis-
sure spanning 130 craters erupts. Lava
fountains spout 1500 metres. Gasses of
toxic sulphuric aerosols rise to 15 kilo-
metres and inundate Europe, then sift
across the globe. (In comparison Eyjaf-
jallajökull’s plume rose to around 9 km)
Over 122 million tonnes of sulphur diox-
ide are emitted in eight months (that’s
more than three times the entire Euro-
pean industrial output today). In the end,
the lava covers 600 square kilometres.
The Laki eruption and its aftermath kills
close to a third of the Icelandic popula-
tion. Toxic gasses reach as far as Japan.
The Alaskan Kauwerak tribe come to
call 1783 “the year the summer did not
come.”
Events as recounted by Lutheran
“Fire Preacher” Rev. Jón Steingrímsson
unfold thus: “It began with the earth
heaving upwards, with a great scream-
ing…of winds…then spitting asunder,
ripping…as if a crazed animal were tear-
ing something apart. The flood of fire
flowed like a great river…great cliffs and
slabs were swept along, tumbling about
like large whales swimming red hot
and glowing.” The reverend blames the
cataclysm on the loose morality of the
Icelandic nation, but delivers his church
and congregation from the river of lava
through prayer and divine intervention:
the wrath and subsequent vindication of
a merciful God.
In France, priests conduct exorcisms
on Satan’s fog cloud as people fall like
flies. Over 5% of the French population
died in one 18th Century summer (some
claim the aftermath may have precipi-
tated the French Revolution). Across
the channel in England, mortality rates
double. Scientists have estimated that
toxic fumes killed over 20,000 people
in Britain (100,000 people by today’s
reckoning). Torrential rain, flash floods,
hail and lightning storms plague Britain
in August and September. In 1783, the
naturalist Gilbert White writes: “Unlike
anything known within the memory of
man.”
By the time Laki stopped erupting in
February of 1784, it had emitted over 8
million tonnes of toxic chemical fluorine.
The fluorine, mixed with fallen ash, killed
80% of Iceland’s sheep population and
over 50% of its cows and horses. Fall-out
effects were dramatic and far-flung. The
high-pressure weather system carried
particles as far as India, where the mon-
soon was nothing more than a drizzle.
In 1784, famine hit Egypt reducing the
country by 20% of its population. During
the ensuing years extreme cold in Japan
decimated crops, leading to the death of
over one million people. In short, these
volcanic effects ran amok across the
globe. A study conducted by Rutgers
University in 2006 conclusively proved a
direct correlation between high-latitude
eruptions and water supply in North Af-
rica during the period. For Europe, pos-
sibly the biggest natural catastrophe di-
saster ever, would be the toxic fog from
an Icelandic volcano.
And Laki was not the largest to have
shown its wrath.
Fire canyon
Alongside Laki, in the conjoined volcanic
system including Katla, Hekla, Gríms-
vötn, and the now-well-known-yet-still-
unpronounceable Eyjafjallajökull, lies
the dormant Eldgjá (the “fire canyon”),
the largest volcanic canyon in the world.
Eight hundred years before the Laki
eruption (934-940 AD), not long after
the Viking settlers started to get com-
fortable in their turf houses, Eldgjá, the
largest emitter of volcanic gas in record-
ed history, spewed forth in all its glory.
All in all, Eldgjá exhumed over 220 million
tonnes of sulphur dioxide—nearly double
that of Laki.
Yet there is little mention in the me-
dieval record, and certainly not in the
Sagas.
The historian Oren Falk sees the por-
trayal of Ragnarök in the prophetic poem
Völuspá (detailing the creation of the
world as recounted by a völva [a seer-
ess] to the god Óðinn) as being influ-
enced by witnesses to Icelandic volcanic
activity, yet there is very little that points
any particular eruption. Falk only finds a
few vague references in Landnámabók
and in the later Bishops’ Sagas. In fact,
he says: “the entire corpus of Family
Sagas, thirteen thick volumes’-worth…
seems to know nothing of lava and ash
plumes.”
Folklorist Juliana Magnúsdóttir theo-
rises that the early settlers were cautious
of their volcanic tales for fear of halting
the influx of new immigrants to Iceland.
Nevertheless there are a handful leg-
ends speckled within the oral traditions
and the Annals. And, as Magnúsdót-
tir points out, “One of the descriptions
of Ragnarök before the end is that of a
blood-covered sun. The shape of Iceland
was defined by volcanic activity and how
it affected the people.” Gilbert White
writes: “The sun at noon [over Hamp-
shire] looked as blank as the moon and
shed a rust coloured ferruginous light
on the ground, but was particularly lurid
and blood-coloured at rising and set-
ting.”
Recent catastrophes are a testa-
ment to the lack of foresight and the
inadequacy of governments: floods, tsu-
namis, hurricane Katrina, the Haiti and
Szechwan earthquakes, the avian and
swine flu. The lingering presence of the
ever-recurring-greenhouse-gas-driven
El Niño sends shivers down most policy-
makers’ spines.
With the Mayan cosmic cycle com-
ing to a close in 2012 conspiracy theories
abound, New Agers maintain that this
is all part of the great cosmic plan. Bio-
physicist Dieter Broers speculates that
the largest solar flare for fifteen years
triggered Iceland’s volcanic activity; oth-
ers maintain these are the beginnings of
the European death cloud predicted by
Nostradamus. Lord knows. Even UFOs
have been spotted hovering over top of
Eyjafjallajökull.
Gordon Brown sent the HMS Ark
Royal to pick up marooned tourists in
France and Spain. With him lagging
behind at the voting polls, one wonders
if he didn’t seriously consider putting
Iceland back on the terrorist list. This,
friends, is the ashen-faced reality.
MARC VINCENZ
Hot Air And Solar Flares
The ash clouds from the edge of the world that changed everything
25
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 05 — 2010
Licensing and
registration of travel-
related services
The Icelandic Tourist Board issues licences to tour operators and travel agents,
as well as issuing registration to booking services and information centres.
Tour operators and travel agents are required to use a special logo approved
by the Icelandic Tourist Board on all their advertisements and on their Internet
website.
Booking services and information centres are entitled to use a Tourist
Board logo on all their material. The logos below are recognised by the
Icelandic Tourist Board.
List of licenced Tour
Operators and Travel
Agencies on:
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