Iceland review - 2015, Page 67

ICELAND REVIEW 65
ENVIRONMENT
It’s at times like these when you start
wondering whether there really is a
god,” says geochemist Sigurður Reynir
Gíslason, one of the authors of an article
about the environmental pressure of the
volcanic eruption in Holuhraun, published
in Geochemical Perspectives Letters in July. He
and the 30 other scientists who authored the
report concluded that even though roughly
12 million tons of sulfur dioxide (SO2) were
emitted during the six-month eruption—
more than the annual SO2 emissions of all
of Europe—the timing and location couldn’t
have been more fortunate, to a large extent
sparing the environment. “The beautiful
thing about nature is that it has a defense
mechanism,” Sigurður says in awe. “Do you
know the area Flæðurnar, where Holuhraun
is located? It’s a wide expanse of sand where
the wind whirls up dust storms, which have
caused problems in Fljótsdalshérað [East
Iceland] in the past. The thing with dust
is that it acts like base, a vaccine. When it
reacts with sulfuric acid, it neutralizes it.”
HAND OF GOD
In time for the one-year anniversary of
the volcanic eruption in Holuhraun, a
team of scientists has released a report
on the effects of the gas pollution,
revealing some scary findings.
BY EYGLÓ SVALA ARNARSDÓTTIR. PHOTOS BY PÁLL STEFÁNSSON.
Sigurður Reynir Gíslason, research professor in
geochemistry at the University of Iceland.