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Eyjafjallajokull Case Study

What is eyjafjallajokull.

Eyjafjallajokull is a volcano located in Iceland. The name is a description of the volcano with Eyja meaning island; fjalla meaning mountain; and jokull meaning glacier. You can find out how to pronounce Eyjafjallajokull on the BBC website .

Eyjafjallajökull consists of a volcano completely covered by an ice cap. The ice cap covers an area of about 100 square kilometres (39 sq mi), feeding many outlet glaciers.

What type of volcano is Eyjafjallajokull?

The mountain itself, a composite (stratovolcano) volcano, stands 1,651 metres (5,417 ft) at its highest point and has a crater 3–4 kilometres (1.9–2.5 mi) in diameter, open to the north.

When did Eyjafjallajokull erupt?

Eyjafjallajokull erupted between March to May 2010.

Why did Eyjafjallajokull erupt?

Iceland lies on the Mid Atlantic Ridge, a constructive plate margin separating the North American Plate and the Eurasian plate. The two plates are moving apart due to ridge push along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. As the plates move apart, magma fills the magma chamber below Eyjafjallajokull. Several magma chambers combined to produce a significant volume of magma below the volcano. Eyjafjallajokull is located below a glacier.

The Eyjafjallajökull volcano erupted in 920, 1612 and again from 1821 to 1823 when it caused a glacial lake outburst flood (or jökulhlaup). It erupted three times in 2010—on 20 March, April–May, and June. The March event forced a brief evacuation of around 500 local people. Still, the 14 April eruption was ten to twenty times more powerful and caused substantial disruption to air traffic across Europe. It caused the cancellation of thousands of flights across Europe and to Iceland.

How big was the eruption of Eyjafjallajokull?

The eruption was only three on the volcanic explosivity index (VEI). Around 15 eruptions on this scale usually happen each year in Iceland. However, in this case, a combination of a settled weather pattern with winds blowing towards Europe, very fine ash and a persistent eruption lasting 39 days magnified the impact of a relatively ordinary event. The eruptions in March were mainly lava eruptions. On 14 April, a new phase began, which was much more explosive. Violent eruptions belched huge quantities of ash into the atmosphere.

The eruption of Eyjafjallajokull

What were the impacts of the eruption? (social / economic / environmental – primary and secondary effects)

Primary effects : As the result of the eruption, day turned to night, with the ash blocking out the sun. Rescuers wore face masks to prevent them from choking on the clouds of ash.

Homes and roads were damaged and services disrupted, crops were destroyed by ash and roads washed away. The ash cloud brought European airspace to a standstill during the latter half of April 2010 and cost billions of euros in delays. During the eruption, a no-fly zone was imposed across much of Europe, that meant airlines were losing around £130m per day. The price of shares in major airlines dropped between 2.5-3.3% during the eruption. However, it should be noted that both imports and exports are being impacted across countries in Europe on the trade front, so the net trade position was not affected markedly overall.

Secondary effects : Sporting events were cancelled or affected due to cancelled flights. Fresh food imports stopped, and industries were affected by a lack of imported raw materials. Local water supplies were contaminated with fluoride. Flooding was caused as the glacier melted.

International Effects: The impact was felt as far afield as Kenya, where farmers have laid off 5000 workers after flowers and vegetables were left rotting at airports. Kenya’s flower council says the country lost $1.3m a day in lost shipments to Europe. Kenya exports typically up to 500 tonnes of flowers daily – 97% of which is delivered to Europe. Horticulture earned Kenya 71 billion shillings (£594m) in 2009 and is the country’s top foreign exchange earner. You can read more about this on the Guardian website .

What opportunities did the eruption of Eyjafjallajokull bring?

Despite the problems caused by the eruption of Eyjafjallajokull, the eruption brought several benefits. According to the Environmental Transport Association, the grounding of European flights prevented some 2.8 million tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere (according to the Environmental Transport Association).

As passengers looked for other ways to travel than flying, many different transport companies benefited. There was a considerable increase in passenger numbers on Eurostar. It saw a rise of nearly a third, with 50,000 extra passengers travelling on their trains.

Ash from the Eyjafjallajökull volcano deposited dissolved iron into the North Atlantic, triggering a plankton bloom, driving an increase in biological productivity.

Following the negative publicity of the eruption, the Icelandic government launched a campaign to promote tourism . Inspired by Iceland was established with the strategic intent of depicting the country’s beauty, the friendliness of its people and the fact that it was very much open for business. As a result, tourist numbers increased significantly following the campaign, as shown in the graph below.

Foreign visitor arrivals to Iceland

What was done to reduce the impact of the eruption of Eyjafjallajokull?

In the short term, the area around the volcano was evacuated.

European Red Cross Societies mobilised volunteers, staff and other resources to help people affected directly or indirectly by the eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull glacier volcano. The European Red Cross provided food for the farming population living in the vicinity of the glacier, as well as counselling and psychosocial support, in particular for traumatised children. Some 700 people were evacuated from the disaster zone three times in the past month. In one instance, people had to flee their homes in the middle of the night to escape from flash floods.

The European Union has developed an integrated structure for air traffic management. As a result, nine Functional Airspace Blocks (FABs) will replace the existing 27 areas. This means following a volcanic eruption in the future, areas of air space may be closed, reducing the risk of closing all European air space.

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Open access
Published: 20 December 2018

Responding to volcanic eruptions in Iceland: from the small to the catastrophic

Deanne K. Bird 1 &
Guðrún Gísladóttir 1 , 2

Palgrave Communications volume 4 , Article number: 151 ( 2018 ) Cite this article

51k Accesses

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Environmental studies

There is no doubt that as the world’s population continues to grow and expand in hazardous environments, so too does our vulnerability to disaster. Researching disaster risk is therefore an ongoing challenge requiring a continual process of generating understanding of the changing environmental and societal characteristics that influence disaster vulnerability. Iceland, as the land of fire and ice, is of no exception. With a changing population, exponential growth in tourism and a volcanic eruption on average every 3–4 years, disaster risk research is of critical importance. Based on questionnaire survey results, interviews with key stakeholders and data derived from Statistics Iceland, this paper considers how residents might respond to a future eruption by examining their experience of the 2010 Eyjafjallajökull eruptions against the changing demographic, economic and political landscape. While authorities were pleased with public response to evacuation orders in 2010, some residents did not evacuate. The reasons for not evacuating were due to caring for others or thinking the warnings were not applicable. Yet, most residents showed respect for authority and acknowledged the necessity of the evacuations. The relatively small, homogenous population of Iceland coupled with its peoples’ desire to cooperate contributed to this success. Within these communities, people are bound together by common beliefs, values and activities. However, the changing social landscape will test this phenomenon. In particular, the region’s economic base is evolving from traditional farming practices to one that is increasingly reliant on tourism. Demographic changes most notably include greater international migration to the South, as well as from the capital region. As the communities diversify, so too will people’s beliefs, values and activities. This paper explores the challenges this diversity brings with respect to generating a proactive public response to future evacuation orders. Furthermore, it highlights the importance of capturing narratives of actions and activities to enhance our understanding of the process of decision-making and the situational factors that add to its complexity.

Introduction

Vulnerability to natural hazard risk is complex. At-risk populations are not only vulnerable due to a range of economic, demographic and political elements often beyond their control (Wisner et al., 2004 ), but also in relation to the various factors that affect their decision-making. For example, people’s decision to comply with evacuation orders may be influenced by their ability to perform the required action, the availability of information about the threat, trust in the source of that information and feelings of responsibility to undertake the prescribed action (Bird et al., 2009b , Bird et al., 2011 , Drabek, 1999 , Haynes et al., 2008 , Mileti et al., 2004 , Strahan et al., 2018 ).

Disaster researchers have, however, applied a range of theoretical perspectives to enhance our understanding of the process of decision-making in response to imminent threats. Combining various elements from these (e.g., Emergent Norm Theory, Protection Motivation Theory, Behavioural Decision Theory, Classical Persuasion Model, Attitude-Behaviour Theory), Lindell and Perry ( 2004 ) produced an integrated model entitled the Protective Action Decision Model (PADM—see Lindell and Perry ( 2004 ) for a description of each of these theories and models and how they relate to the PADM). The PADM shows that decision-making is initiated by environmental cues (e.g., the sight or sound of an eruption), social cues (e.g., neighbours evacuating) and/or warnings (e.g., official advice to evacuate). These trigger a series of pre-decisional processes that stimulate the receiver to consider their perception of the threat, alternative options for protective action and their perceptions of the relevant stakeholders involved (Lindell and Perry, 2012 ).

While the PADM identifies the way people ‘typically’ make decisions, Lindell and Perry, ( 2012 ) recognise that various situational facilitators and impediments influence their response. These include individual-level indicators and event-orientated variables (Dash and Gladwin, 2007 ) such as their perception of the ensuing event, the perceived safety of their home relative to the threat, timing of evacuation (e.g., are the roads already congested with traffic, are all household members accounted for) and past experiences (Drabek, 1986 , Gladwin et al., 2001 , Mileti and Peek, 2000 , Paton et al., 2001 , Sorensen and Sorensen, 2007 , Tierney et al., 2001 ).

This paper draws on these learnings to consider future response to an evacuation order with respect to a region’s recent experience of responding to evacuation orders. The experience that is the focus of this paper is the response to the 2010 Eyjafjallajökull eruptions. The first of these events began on 20 March 2010 and consisted of a 24-day long flank eruption at Fimmvörðuháls (Fig. 1 ) producing spectacular fire-fountain activity and lava flows. The flank eruption was followed 1–2 days later (14 April) by a far more explosive 39-day long summit eruption resulting in medium-sized jökulhlaups (glacial outburst floods) to the north, small jökulhlaups and lahars to the south and considerable ash fall to the east and east-southeast of the volcano (Þorkelsson, 2012 ). Together, these eruptions caused considerable damage and ongoing challenges to local residents (Bird and Gísladóttir, 2012 ).

Communities impacted by jökulhlaup (flood) inundation and ash fall exceeding 1 cm (from Bird et al., 2018 ). Tephra fallout and flood inundation data derived from Gudmundsson et al., ( 2012 ) and Þorkelsson ( 2012 ). Population data sourced from Ísólfur Gylfi Pálmason, the head of the Rangárþing eystra municipality, and Statistics Iceland ( 2016 ). Map produced by Þórdís Högnadóttir

These eruptions, however, did not occur without warning. The regional Chief of Police and the Department of Civil Protection and Emergency Management (DCPEM) held meetings with scientists, local police and rescue teams in response to increased seismicity in and around Eyjafjallajökull in early 2010. Multiple community meetings were also held with residents living in the expected hazard zone. Evacuation plans, based on a 2005 hazard assessment (see Guðmundsson and Gylfason, 2005 ), were finalised during this period (Bird et al., 2011 ). An immediate evacuation was considered critical, given the assessment showed that inhabited areas may be flooded by a jökulhlaup within an hour of an eruption commencing in Eyjafjallajökull (Sigurðsson et al., 2011 ). As a consequence, several evacuation orders were issued during the 2010 events via the automated phone alert system, supervised by the local Chief of Police. In addition, the sweeper system was deployed. Consisting of local residents as volunteers, some of whom form part of the local rescue team, their role is to ‘sweep’ their neighbourhood by going from house to house to ensure everyone has received the warnings and have, or are in the process of evacuating to their designated centre (Bird et al., 2009b ).

A few months following the eruptions, we conducted a survey to investigate how impacted residents responded to and coped with the events. This paper considers how residents might respond to future evacuation orders by examining the results of that survey against the changing demographic, economic and political structure of South Iceland. Considering future response in this region is important given Katla is renowned as one of Iceland’s most dangerous volcanoes due to its potential to produce catastrophic jökulhlaup (>100,000 m 3 s −1 ) within 1½ to 2 h (Guðmundsson and Gylfason, 2005 , Guðmundsson et al., 2007 ) warranting the need for an immediate response to evacuation orders. Furthermore, South Iceland’s Hekla, Katla, Grímsvötn and Bárðarbunga volcanoes (Fig. 2 ), and their associated fissure systems, have the highest eruption frequency and greatest volcanic productivity in Iceland (Thordarson and Larsen, 2007 ). In addition to these systems, recent unrest in Öræfajökull has called for the development of further emergency response plans in South Iceland (Almannavarnadeild Ríkislögreglustjórinn, 2017 , Höskuldsson, 2015 ).

The volcanoes and districts of Iceland’s South region. Map produced by Olga Kolbrún Vilmundardóttir. The different coloured blue areas denote the four districts

2010 Eyjafjallajökull survey

The survey implemented in 2010 incorporated 15 semi-structured interviews with officials, rescue team members and residents alongside a questionnaire disseminated to households living within the hazard zones of the Eyjafjallajökull and Katla volcanoes (see Fig. 1 and Bird et al., ( 2011 )). The questionnaire developed for this survey was modelled on those implemented in a longitudinal study on knowledge and perceptions related to a possible Katla eruption (see Bird et al., 2009a , Bird et al., 2009b , Bird et al., 2011 , Jóhannesdóttir and Gísladóttir, 2010 ). Additional aspects, however, were included to examine experiences related to the Eyjafjallajökull eruptions. Some questions regarding Katla were retained because the Katla hazard zones cover the same communities impacted by the Eyjafjallajökull eruptions. Also, there was much media focus on a Katla eruption being generated because of the Eyjafjallajökull eruptions. Furthermore, earlier response plans were centred on a Katla eruption rather than a response to an Eyjafjallajökull eruption.

Out of 61 households approached to take part in the survey, 58 completed the questionnaire (one respondent per household) giving a response rate of 95%. This included 19 households from Vestur-Eyjafjöll, 26 from Austur-Eyjafjöll, seven from Sólheimar and six from Álftaver (see Fig. 1 ). These communities were targeted due to their exposure to volcanic hazards during the 2010 eruptions/their locations in relation to Katla’s jökulhlaup hazard zones (for details on the hazard zones, see Bird et al., 2011 ). More specifically:

Households in Vestur-Eyjafjöll were required to evacuate due to jökulhlaup hazard during the flank and summit eruptions in Eyjafjallajökull. During these events this area was impacted by jökulhlaup, ash fall, lightning, loud sound blasts and rock fall. This area also lies within the western jökulhlaup hazard zone for a Katla eruption.

Households in Austur-Eyjafjöll were required to evacuate due to jökulhlaup hazard during the flank and summit eruptions in Eyjafjallajökull. During these events they were impacted by jökulhlaup, ash fall, lightning, loud sound blasts and lahars.

Sólheimar lies within the southern jökulhlaup hazard zone for a Katla eruption and during the Eyjafjallajökull summit eruption they were impacted by considerable ash fall and loud sound blasts.

Álftaver lies within the eastern jökulhlaup hazard zone for a Katla eruption and was the first community to be blanketed by ash fall during the Eyjafjallajökull summit eruption.

Please note, due to time pressures the community of Skógar (Austur- Eyjafjöll) was not included in this study. The decision to omit Skógar was based on the fact that it is located further from the eruption site than other communities in Austur- Eyjafjöll and it is not situated in a jökulhlaup hazard zone for an Eyjafjallajökull or Katla eruption.

While the sample size may seem small, it is a reflection of this sparsely populated rural area (as evidenced by the number of inhabitants given in Fig. 1 ). Due to the small population size, a census style sampling method was undertaken. That is, we endeavoured to capture perspectives from every permanent household within these communities. However, 14 households were unavailable during the interview and questionnaire dissemination period, which was conducted over 10 days in August 2010. Each household was visited at least twice during the day.

Overall, the 58 households represent approximately 141 adults and 38 children. These figures are approximate based on some respondents noting a range in the number of people living at that address in the questionnaire. This range is a reflection of youths and adults being registered to that household while residing in a different location to attend school or university.

The questionnaire and semi-structured interviews were comprehensive, taking 30–45 min and up to 2 h and 36 min to complete, respectively. The questionnaire included 92 open and closed response questions compiled into the following 10 sections, which also formed the basis of the semi-structured interviews.

Demographics;

Experience prior to and during the flank eruption that began on 20th March in Fimmvörðuháls;

Experience prior to and during the summit eruption that began on 14th April under Eyjafjallajökull;

Impacts of the eruptions on you, your family and property;

Impact on agriculture;

Impact on tourism;

Use of various media sources for acquiring information about the possibility of a future Katla/Eyjafjallajökull eruption;

Perceived level of preparedness for a future Katla eruption;

Perceived possibility of a future Katla eruption and its effects;

Trust in information from various sources about a future Katla eruption.

The questionnaire was administered as a hardcopy. All data was entered into SurveyMonkey and exported into Microsoft Excel for analysis. As cloud-based software, Survey Monkey ensures greater access across our research team to the questionnaire and its data for use in future projects, reduces the risk of errors during data entry (when compared for example to manually entering coding into Excel) and allows an easy visualisation for crosschecking each entry to ensure accuracy. Its use post-surveying here was a result of unavailability of the software to our research team pre-surveying.

The semi-structured interviews were audio recorded and transcribed by us. Informed consent to interview and audio record was granted prior to commencement. Transcripts were analysed and coded according to the core topics of the 2010 questionnaire. The transcripts underwent a further analysis to capture detail and nuances within the data that relate to the aims of this paper. The items of import to this paper are: demographics; impact of the eruptions; receipt of cues and warnings; public response; perceived levels of coping; and, perceptions of the future. With respect to the latter, we draw similar data (i.e., from Bird et al., 2011 ) obtained prior to the eruptions to compare against post-event perceptions. Other aspects of the 2010 survey have been published elsewhere (Bird and Gísladóttir, 2012 , Bird and Gísladóttir, 2014 , Bird et al., 2018 ).

2016 interviews

Follow-up interviews were conducted in 2016 with the Chief of Police, the Chief Superintendent, the head of Rangárþing eystra and two local residents who operated both farming and tourism businesses. While the nature of the 2016 project prevented a more broad survey, as that conducted in 2010, it provided an excellent opportunity to exchange and discuss valuable information with authorities in regards to developments in volcanic emergency response strategies on the back of learnings from the 2010 Eyjafjallajökull eruptions and our survey data. These targeted, face-to-face meetings also provided the opportunity to explore regional economic, demographic and political changes.

Conducted as a more open interview than the rigorous 2010 interviews, the 2016 interviews lasted between 17 and 57 min. As with the semi-structured interviews conducted in 2010, the 2016 open interviews were audio recorded with consent and transcribed by the authors. Transcripts were analysed and coded according to the core topics of the 2010 questionnaire. The transcripts underwent a further analysis to capture detail and nuances that relate to the aims of this paper.

The changing demographics of South Iceland

In order to capture the changing structure and situation in South Iceland in more detail, demographic data held by Statistics Iceland was accessed from www.statice.is and analysed using Microsoft Excel. Of particular import to the study presented here is data pertaining to population, migration and livelihood.

Population data by age and gender is available from 1998. The years of 2000, 2008 and 2016 were selected as equal time periods of available data from the most recent year (i.e., 2016, as accessed in 2017). Population data for this period is available by municipality. Our analysis therefore focused on those municipalities surrounding the Eyjafjallajökull and Katla volcanoes: Mýrdalshreppur (which includes Sólheimar), Skaftárhreppur (which includes Álftaver) and Rangárþing eystra (which includes Vestur- and Austur-Eyjafjöll).

In comparison, specific migration details are not available by municipality, i.e., Statistics Iceland only provides aggregated data at a regional level. The municipalities encompassing the South region include Sveitarfélagið Hornafjörður, Vestmannaeyjar, Sveitarfélagið Árborg, Mýrdalshreppur, Skaftárhreppur, Ásahreppur, Rangárþing eystra, Rangárþing ytra, Hrunamannahreppur, Hveragerði, Sveitarfélagið Ölfus, Grímsnes- og Grafningshreppur, Skeiða- og Gnúpverjahreppur, Bláskógabyggð and Flóahreppur. Aggregated migration data is presented for South Iceland from 1986–2016 (i.e., the time period available from Statistics Iceland).

Farming has traditionally been the main livelihood in Iceland’s South region. The tourism industry, however, is rapidly growing, with the South attracting the highest number of visitors outside the capital region (Bird et al., 2016 ). Hence, we accessed data on the total number of people employed in main and second jobs held outside the capital region and within the farming (crop and animal production, hunting and related service activities) and tourism sectors.

Specific livelihood details are not available by municipality, i.e., Statistics Iceland only provides aggregated data from the capital region and outside the capital region. The capital region consists of Reykjavík, Seltjarnarnes, Kópavogur, Hafnarfjörður, Garðarbær, Mosfellsbær, Álftanes and Kjósahreppur. All other municipalities are considered as being outside the capital region. Given the South attracts the highest number of visitors outside the capital region (Bird et al., 2016 ), it is safe to assume that the changes in livelihood are a reflection of changes in the South. Aggregated livelihood data is therefore presented for outside the capital region from 1991–2016 (i.e., the time period available from Statistics Iceland).

The results section is presented under the three subsections: 2010 Eyjafjallajökull survey, 2016 interviews and the changing demographics of South Iceland. The former two incorporate the qualitative results mixed with verbatim quotes from the 2010 and 2016 interviews and open responses given in the 2010 questionnaire. Each quote is coded as one of the following: V-E for Vestur-Eyjafjöll resident, A-E for Austur-Eyjafjöll resident, S for Sólheimar resident, Á for Álftaver resident, RT for rescue team member and O for official.

Demographics

[My family has lived in this region as] far back as I am able to remember (S).

Overall, the 58 households that took part in the survey included approximately 141 adults and 38 children (an approximate is given as some respondents noted that household membership varied with children attending school outside the region). Most respondents were aged 50+ years and were farmers (Table 1 ). Many respondents had lived at their address (during surveying) all their lives with almost two-thirds having lived there 30 years or more and most having family in the region for two or more generations, with the longest at seven generations. Only two respondents noted living at that address for less than 5 years.

The majority of respondents declared farming as their occupation. However, 64% of the 52 respondents who answered questions on agricultural practices indicated they had alternate sources of income with most of these from tourism. An additional 13 respondents indicated they had tourism as their main occupation. Tourism related work mostly (85%) involved accommodation.

Impact of the eruptions

We taped the windows and the doors…by 12:00–14:00 it was completely dark, we could not see anything. It was not only the darkness but also the noise of the eruption for the children and animals. We could not expect our children to stay in the darkness and the hell (A-E).

All respondents were impacted by ash fall, just over a quarter (26%) were impacted by lahars and 20% were impacted by jökulhlaup. Overall, respondents ranked impacts on their home as the greatest followed by impacts to them and / or their family emotionally and financially (Table 2 ).

Of note, 57% of respondents recorded moderate to extreme impacts to them and/or their family emotionally, with Austur-Eyjafjöll respondents recording the greatest. Austur-Eyjafjöll respondents also recorded the greatest impacts with respect to their home, while Sólheimar respondents recorded the greatest impacts to them and/or their family’s health and financially. These impacts, however, were felt right across the region to Álftaver.

The impacts of the eruption were significant on my farm and at my neighbouring farms. It is very misleading and wrong description that the impacts were confined to Eyjafjöll. The western part of Mýrdalshreppur [municipality] is somewhat forgotten and lost in this all. We still live with ash storm when the wind is blowing (S).

The day after the eruption we felt the ash come over here and it was completely dark. There is an old Icelandic saying: “You couldn’t see/distinguish your hands.” I now understand this. Never in my whole life have I been in such darkness. (Á).

Despite this, some appreciated the eruption for its sheer beauty and force.

For me this was at the same time frightening and magnificent. We certainly sympathised with our nearest neighbours from Austur-Eyjafjöll. The flooding that threatened a whole area was terrifying and moved us deeply… But this was fantastic and magnificent… I would not have liked to miss this experience (S).

Receipt of cues and warnings

I got a phone call from the officers who were on duty. They called me and said a farmer reported a fire in the glacier, I didn’t quite believe it… Veðurstofa [the Icelandic Meteorological Office] didn’t see anything. The computer showed it was all very quiet (O).

Environmental cues, observed and communicated by farmers in Fljótshlíð as “a fire on top of the mountain”, were the first notification that alerted officials and monitoring scientists that an eruption had commenced on 20 March 2010. It is therefore not surprising that half the respondents reported hearing about the eruption via a family member, friend or neighbour. A further 23% heard about the eruption from DCPEM/police while 14% heard about it on the radio. None of the respondents had first noticed environmental cues as these were most visible from parts of Fljótshlíð, which was not included in the study region.

Once these observations were confirmed by police, and because the specific location of the eruption could not be verified— an evacuation for jökulhlaup hazard is only necessary if the eruption occurs under a glacier—officials initiated the pre-defined evacuation plans in the early hours of 21 March 2010. Evacuation orders were disseminated via the automated phone alert system, supervised by the local Chief of Police. Local police also personally contacted people in the area if they believed the evacuation orders were not received.

The first evacuation orders that residents in Vestur-Eyjafjöll and Austur-Eyjafjöll received came from DCPEM/police (38% A-E; 43% V-E), family, friends or neighbours (31% A-E; 14% V-E) and, the rescue teams (6% A-E; 14% V-E) Footnote 1 . Residents in Sólheimar and Álftaver stated they were not required to evacuate. The approximate 700 residents that evacuated were allowed to return to their homes when the eruption was confirmed in the flank of the volcano and not under the glacier.

Respondents’ comments to corresponding open questions and during the interviews highlighted the importance of secondary sources of information as a means for residents to confirm the first source of news to evacuate. The points raised in the following excerpt taken from one interview with a resident were echoed by several other respondents.

The first alarm about the eruption in Fimmvörðuháls did not come to our phones. Something went wrong then…but our kids in Reykjavík, college students, they got an alarm. And it was on a Saturday night and we had a phone call from our youngest son… he called and said ‘hey, there’s an eruption. I had a text message from the Civil Defence authorities’ and I said OK. And then our daughter called. She was a little more anxious. And she said ‘You’re supposed to evacuate!’ But we didn’t evacuate because we got no further information.

We of course ran to the TV and turned it on and turned on the computers and [motions typing on keyboard] and made phone calls and we had phones calls and then we tried to get more information from the television mostly and the internet and when we didn’t get any more information we just went to bed. I think that’s what most everyone did. [Initially] it had not been established as on Fimmvörðuháls but [we knew it was on the] east [side]. And we could see. We drove down to the highway and we could see a little reddish glow and of course we were excited, almost having fun because we were not afraid at all. Because there is no history of disaster in all the three eruptions in Eyjafjallajökull. It’s more like Hekla erupting. It can be annoying. Scientists had already said many times that Eyjafjallajökull was a lazy crater with rather slow, small eruptions, not much coming out of the crater. So they were surprised when it turned out to be like a medium Katla. We believed the scientists when they said Eyjafjallajökull was lazy. So when it started we were more like ‘What? Yeah!’ [stated in a very blasé tone] (A-E).

Due to the flank eruption, residents’ awareness was heightened when the summit eruption began in the early hours of 14 April 2010, with many reporting they were closely monitoring earthquake activity on the Icelandic Meteorological Office’s website. Nevertheless, only 5% reported environmental cues as the first notification they received that a second eruption had begun. 27% of respondents reported receiving news of the summit eruption from DCPEM/police. A further 21% received news from family, friends or neighbours and 36% heard about it on the radio.

Again, evacuation orders were disseminated via the automated phone alert system with approximately 800 residents complying before daybreak on 14 April 2010. The first evacuation orders that residents in Vestur- and Austur-Eyjafjöll received this second time came from DCPEM/police (50% A-E; 58% V-E), family, friends or neighbours (28% A-E; 8% V-E) and, the rescue teams (6% A-E; 8% V-E). Again, residents in Sólheimar and Álftaver were not required to evacuate. This evacuation was warranted as the summit eruption, located under the glacier, produced medium-sized jökulhlaups to the north and small jökulhlaups to the south.

Public response

I found it safer to be at a place where many of my countrymen were also (A-E).

A little over half the respondents indicated they evacuated during the flank (56% A-E; 56% V-E) and summit (54% A-E; 47% V-E) eruptions. These figures, however, should be treated with caution. One of the semi-structured interviews revealed that while the respondent marked on the questionnaire that they had evacuated, in reality, they had not. This person believed that the evacuation was necessary and that people should evacuate. However, they chose to stay at home because they were caring for elderly parents who were unwell. They marked the questionnaire as a positive response because they had intended to evacuate, as they believed it was the right thing to do, to the extent that they were concerned the police would come for them:

To be very honest, during the night and until the morning I was more scared of the police than the eruption! About them coming with the sirens [makes siren sounds] and taking me… I don’t mind the eruption but please don’t send the police! (A-E)

In addition to ‘duty of care’, non-compliance can be attributed to a belief that the warnings were irrelevant to the household.

The farm is on a hill and in my opinion there was no risk of flooding (A-E).

We never went, we behaved as we always planned to do, we just stayed at home and everything was ok (V-E).

Officials had, however, explained the need for a broad evacuation order even for areas that are safe from jökulhlaup hazards.

I said [at the pre-eruption meetings] that you have some safe areas but they are also isolated. It is much easier for me to have the people in the same area…because if someone gets heart attack, if someone gets hurt, it’s very difficult to help them… Maybe you have to stay in your isolated farm for many days (O).

However, some people viewed their homes as the safest option.

There is not any better place to be at [referring to the safety of his home]; there is no reason to be running somewhere (V-E).

Additionally, people were concerned about the designated evacuation centres. For example, many noted that Heimaland was a poor choice as they believe it is vulnerable to jökulhlaup emanating from Eyjafjallajökull because it is so low in the landscape and it is built in the old river bed of Markarfljót (V-E).

I found the place that people from Eyjafjöll were supposed to evacuate to not safe [Heimaland]. I therefore did not evacuate, as I felt safer at home (V-E).

What I found in the wrong was that I was made to evacuate my farm which is located such that it is not subjected to floods, and I was sent off across the risk area to Vík in Mýrdalur, and needed to cross many glacial rivers, and depending on the development of the volcanic activity, outburst floods could potentially have occurred in all of them. This evacuation could be listed as disorganised (A-E).

There was hardly any registration of who were where and who were missing (A-E).

Despite these issues, the majority of respondents believed both evacuations were necessary. However, more respondents acknowledged the necessity of evacuating during the summit eruption (75%) than the flank eruption (54%).

They could hardly do it differently. If it caused a flood in the rivers then we would of had only 1 h to escape. They didn’t know where it was erupting and therefore it was necessary (A-E).

Evacuation went better because of the experience from previous eruption (V-E).

Officials were also very pleased with public response to the evacuation orders.

It is a small community. I was born here. I know most of the people that live here. It brought us much closer and then I knew also the trust that the people have in us. It was very good (O).

Most of the things went very well because the people were really well prepared. Both Almannavarnir [DCPEM] and Björgunarsveitir [rescue teams], the Red Cross and the municipalities in the area were well organised. There are of course some things that we can do better and I think that most of that is regarding information to people. People feeling that they didn’t get enough information. They were moved to a certain place but they didn’t get the necessary information about why and how (O).

Residents attributed this success to the desire to conform to authorities that are known to them on a more personal basis. Other factors noted by respondents were past experiences relating to the full-scale evacuation exercise practiced in 2006 for a Katla eruption (see Bird et al., 2009b ) and the ongoing meetings right up until the flank eruption began.

Even if we already know that we are safe here…we are higher up so we are actually in no danger from the flood. But still I say the evacuation was necessary because I think what makes everything so easy and organised and good is people obey the authorities. You’re told to evacuate and you do that. We had rehearsals years before and meetings and talks and it was in the back of our minds that everyone needed to evacuate if told to do so (A-E).

Perceived levels of coping

That is of course how and why Iceland is settled, in general, after all, you just deal with the avalanches, you just deal with the everything, the cold winters, eruptions, because the good sides are so many, so you have to compromise (A-E).

Overall, residents believed they coped rather well with the eruptions (Table 3 ). Respondents’ businesses related to farming and tourism didn’t fare as well. Respondents reflected that they simply dealt with the situation at-hand knowing that it wouldn’t last forever. They banded together with neighbours and friends to help each other through the tough times but they also had great concerns for their livestock.

We got away relatively well from ash fall and the jökulhlaup went only over grazing land and not cultivated land. We were though temporarily isolated because the road connection broke. The family took the situation as it was, slightly worried about the continuation; not knowing what to expect was the worst. But foremost you felt powerlessness, tranquillity, and respect towards nature (V-E).

I was concerned about the horses… I found it terrifying and I feared that the ash would [continue to increase in quantity] (Á).

Flexibility in the evacuation plans also helped people cope and residents were impressed with open and transparent communication from officials.

As soon as we knew when the flood had come we told the people that we would let them go home and feed their animals. They registered in and out of the area. They told us they needed 2 h and after 2 h if they hadn’t come back we would call them (O).

I started to explain to them what happened, why we evacuated in such a hurry…I waited to see the response and get the anger but it was quite the opposite. They said we feel safe at home because we know you are watching us (O).

Perceptions of the future

With respect to the future, respondents were asked about how they viewed preparedness for a Katla eruption. Included in this section is 2008 data derived from Bird et al., ( 2011 ) from the communities of Sólheimar and Álftaver. While we are not able to show statistically significant differences between the datasets due to the small size and slightly different nature of the 2008 dataset (e.g., it does not include respondents from Vestur-Eyjafjöll and Austur-Eyjafjöll), we can present some interesting observations. Namely, it appears that residents believe they, their families and the DCPEM are better prepared for a Katla eruption based on the Eyjafjallajökull experience (Fig. 3 )—an observation that is supported by verbatim quotes presented in the previous sections.

Average sentiment (where 1 = not at all and 5 = completely) in regards to respondents’ perception of the levels of preparedness for a Katla eruption (n2008 = 19, n2010 = 54–56)

While 2010 respondents believed it is more likely a Katla eruption will occur in the next 10 years, they perceived less damage would occur particularly in relation to their property (Fig. 4 ). This optimism was frequently linked to their experience of Eyjafjallajökull.

People talked about the possibility of Eyjafjallajökull [erupting], and we were light-hearted about it you know, saying wow, it can erupt. But it didn’t worry us at all. We would be much, much more afraid if somebody told us about the possibility of a huge earthquake in the ocean with the coast with a wave [tsunami]. That would scare us much more. Also if they told us there was a huge, huge snowstorm coming like in the West Fjords and we could have an avalanche. That would worry us. But an eruption does not worry us. I would be anxious. But I would not be afraid. I don’t think that anyone around here was afraid. And I have the same feeling about Katla (A-E).

Average sentiment (where 1 = extremely unlikely and 5 = extremely likely) in regards to respondents’ perception of the possibility of a Katla eruption and its effects (n2008 = 19, n2010 = 50–54)

The open and transparent communication from police, and ensuing trust that developed between them and residents, as described in the previous sections, supports the data observed in Fig. 5 which shows residents have much more trust in information from local police in 2010 than respondents did in 2008.

Average sentiment (where 1 = not at all and 5 = completely) in regards to respondents’ levels of trust in information from various sources about a future Katla eruption (n2008 = 19, n2010 = 54–58)

The officials interviewed in 2016 were extremely positive about their relationship with local residents and the trust that residents have in them and the volcanic response plans. Because of this, officials have faith that residents will comply with evacuation orders when given, as they did during the 2010 Eyjafjallajökull eruptions. However, they have grave concerns for the safety of the ever-increasing number of tourists visiting the South region.

It’s all going very well in a way but it’s a huge change because the tourists have multiplied - there are a lot more tourists here than there used to be three years ago. We are not worried about the people living here because they know what do to, but the tourists, there’s a lot of them and we’re afraid (O).

It was noted that the region attracts all types of travellers, from large tour groups, to individuals in rental cars, people on private tours, campervans and hitchhikers. And more times than not, their interest is volcanoes as they remember the 2010 eruption in the summit of Eyjafjallajökull.

They don’t seem like they are afraid or trying to get information about when the next [eruption] comes. They are just visiting the country; they think it’s a plus if they can find some volcanoes and maybe have their picture of it. And of course [Eyjafjallajökull] they want to say they’ve been here. I don’t think they realise the risk of an eruption (A-E).

Concern was also raised with respect to the lack of knowledge and interest among young Icelanders, with one of the residents stating that more emphasis should be placed on teaching the geography and geology of Iceland to primary school through to college students.

I don’t think they [Icelandic children] think enough about their own country. I would like to see more emphasis on this, like volcanic activity, geothermal, everything geography in Iceland because we’re having the tourists now… [But] we have our children who are not finding out about those things. They are the future who should be taking over (A-E).

This sentiment was not only directed to children growing up in the suburbs of Reykjavík, but also to the local farming region.

Our primary school here in the area, they don’t do anything special about this area. They could put more effort in it. The kids they can learn everything. They are so enthusiastic. And I think they should try to take that enthusiasm and bring it forward. You have to know what is around you. Iceland is not big so it should be possible to teach (A-E).

The lack of resources was also noted as an impeding factor in the South region. While interviewees stated that available resources were insufficient in dealing with the increased number of tourists visiting the area they also raised concerns relating to the amalgamation of districts on 1 January 2015. This amalgamation resulted in just one jurisdiction for South Iceland that incorporates 14 municipalities (Stjórnarráð Íslands 2014a , 2014b ) and three local Civil Protection Committees that the South Iceland Chief of Police oversees (see Fig. 2 ).

This summer [2016] we have more accidents and more calls for the rescue teams to Fimmvörðuháls than before. The calls are increasing. People used to be everywhere and it’s still the same, but now there are 30 times, 100 times more [tourists]. This district is now about 31,000 km 2 . We have a similar amount of policemen as we had in 2004 (O).

In relation to the amalgamation and the timing of the 2006 evacuation exercise, one of the rescue team members from the 2010 interviews stated:

The time for the evacuation exercises in 2006 was not logical because it had been decided that the police districts would be joined here in the south. It would have therefore been more logical to practice it under the new police jurisdiction once it had been created (RT).

In addition to the everyday work of the local rescue teams, these officials will again call upon the sweeper system to help disseminate warning messages and check that individual households have complied with evacuation orders.

We still have the sweeper system… it is difficult to depend only on the mobile phones so we still have the sweeper system (O).

Population numbers in Mýrdalshreppur, Skaftárhreppur and Rangárþing eystra—the municipalities impacted by the Eyjafjallajökull eruption—have been fairly consistent, with a total number of 2772, 2710 and 2769 recorded in 2000, 2008 and 2016, respectively. The structure of the population, however, changed during this period with losses in the 0–17 year and 30–44 year age categories across both genders between 2000 and 2016 (Fig. 6 ). This loss was most keenly felt in the male age group 0–17 years (loss of 0.72). Balancing this loss was growth in all other categories (except 45–59 year old males) between 2000 and 2016, with the greatest among females 60–74 years (growth of 1.43), males 75+ years (growth of 1.31) and females (growth of 1.23) and males 18–29 years (growth of 1.19).

Population of Mýrdalshreppur, Skaftárhreppur and Rangárþing eystra by age and sex. Data derived from Statistics Iceland ( 2017a )

Another noteworthy change in the population structure of the South region is the increase in migration. Following the collapse of Iceland’s banking system in October 2008 (Danielsson, 2009 ), the region has experienced an increase in international migration (growth of 2.54 between 2009 and 2016), as well as that from the capital region (growth of 1.30 between 2011 and 2016), as shown in Fig. 7 .

Migration into the South region (Statistics Iceland, 2017b ). Solid red vertical line indicates timing of Iceland’s financial crash in 2008. Dashed blue vertical line indicates the occurrence of the Eyjafjallajökull eruptions in 2010

Before the financial crash in 2008, Iceland had become too expensive for many visitors—evidenced by a somewhat steady decline in employment numbers within the tourism industry outside the capital region from 2000 (Fig. 8 ). Since then, the industry has flourished resulting in a rapid increase in employment numbers particularly since 2012—corroborating the statements from officials in 2016. As a result, 2016 recorded the highest number of people employed in tourism. At the same time, the number of people involved in farming activities outside the capital region declined, with 2016 portraying the lowest employment rates in the industry since 1991.

Total number of people employed in main and second jobs held outside the capital region and within the farming (crop and animal production, hunting and related service activities) and tourism sectors (Statistics Iceland, 2017c )

The relatively small, homogenous population of Iceland, with a tradition of integrated research, policy and practice and, as well as its peoples’ strong desire to cooperate have been attributed as factors influencing the success of community-based health interventions (Sigfúsdóttir et al., 2009 ). The data presented here clearly shows that the success of the 2010 evacuations, which were a risk mitigation intervention, is no different—from the integrated approach employed during the 2005 hazard assessment (Guðmundsson and Gylfason, 2005 ), the 2006 evacuation exercise (Bird et al., 2009b ), the 2010 meetings and throughout the 2010 response (Bird et al., 2018 ), to the South region’s communities where neighbours interact relatively frequently due to their beliefs, values and activities. Even where compliance did not occur, residents showed respect for authority and the jobs they were undertaking, despite the errors and confusion.

Within these local communities (geographic location), people are bound together by relations of affect, loyalty and common values and as such, they have a certain familiarity with each other (Brint, 2001 ). Not only is this evident in the study region between neighbours, but also between residents, scientists, officials and local police. It does not mean, however, that all relationships are amicable. Nevertheless, as Brint ( 2001 ; p. 9) highlights, “ a sense of security in the face of disliked others is deeply characteristic of communal relations ”. That is, these communities look to each other for guidance and support during times of crisis.

However, the changing economic, demographic and political landscape will test this phenomenon. As our results indicate, political changes have resulted in a lack of available resources for police, civil defence and emergency management. There is also economic change occurring with respect to people’s livelihoods. Demographic changes most notably include greater international migration and migration from the capital region. The population is also aging but at the same time, the number of children and youths in the region has decreased while the number of young adults has increased.

The inherent challenges this enhanced diversity brings with respect to developing risk mitigation strategies cannot be ignored. In a simple comparison of populations (urban and rural residents of South Iceland), Bird et al., ( 2011 ) identified different perceptions and beliefs, and therefore different needs with respect to risk mitigation. For example, rural residents responsible for livestock questioned their ability to comply with evacuation orders (Bird et al., 2009b , Bird et al., 2011 ). The police overcame this issue during the 2010 evacuations by allowing farmers to re-enter the hazard zones to tend their livestock. That is, local police/DCPEM worked with local residents to ensure safety from an imminent threat, as well as protecting livelihood interests. Furthermore, residents were not kept at the evacuation centre any longer than needed. This positive experience enabled compliance with subsequent evacuation notices when the second stage of the eruption began at the summit of Eyjafjallajökull.

Despite this, the results presented here show not all residents evacuated in 2010 (~47% of our respondents). Even though some considered it the right thing to do, they decided to shelter in place (e.g., within their own home) because they had a duty of care to family members and believed this was the safest option. Others chose to stay home because they did not believe the warnings and/or evacuation plan were relevant to them. Exact figures on how many people were supposed to evacuate during both phases of the eruption are not available. It is almost impossible to know exactly how many people are located in a given area at any point in time. Exact figures on how many people evacuated during both phases are also not available. This lack of detail can be attributed to people sheltering in unofficial places (either by choice or official instruction to do so) and as reported by a few respondents, registration was not well organised in some instances.

Nevertheless, officials were pleased with public response. As evidenced by the results presented here and by Bird et al., ( 2018 ), compliance with evacuation orders can be attributed to: trust in the information source; recency of community meetings regarding a potential eruption (i.e., people were able to easily retrieve relevant information from memory); and, a strong desire to abide by social norms (normative beliefs). Not only was this apparent in regards to residents wanting to abide by police orders, but also with respect to their neighbours and the local rescue team.

Furthermore, the required action, i.e., to evacuate, was clearly communicated. The first and foremost hazard risk that authorities focus on is jökulhlaup, as emphasised in historical accounts, the 2006 evacuation exercise, and most recent meetings. Residents are aware that until the site of the eruption is confirmed, and hence the path of a potential jökulhlaup, all low-lying regions close to flood channels are considered to be hazard zones. Hence, it is well known that if you are located in these areas you must evacuate—highlighting geographic location as an important factor influencing decision-making. It is therefore not surprising that people contested the location of some evacuation centres, particularly those located in low-lying regions and old flood channels. And despite the clarity of the prescribed action to evacuate, some residents received conflicting information regarding the location of their designated centre.

To be effective, warnings need to be clear, precise and consistent as people will focus on minor points of inconsistency to support their decision to reject proposed actions (Drabek, 1999 ). Given the complexities of risks associated with volcanic hazards in Iceland—e.g., jökulhlaups, lightning, poisonous gases, as well as ash fall—it is critical that these are clearly communicated with sufficient detail to avoid confusion among new residents. This is particularly pertinent among those that have immigrated from abroad. As Bird et al., ( 2010 ) found, foreigners are often not aware of the fact that volcanoes lie underneath some of Iceland’s glaciers and as such, are not aware of jökulhlaup risk nor are they aware of the risk of lightning and poisonous gases. However, rather than just focusing information on the risk itself it is essential to communicate actionable risk, i.e., what actions people need to take with respect to reducing their personal risk (Drabek, 1999 , Mileti et al., 2004 , Wood et al., 2012 ).

Communication and risk mitigation strategies must also be tailored to meet the changing population’s needs. A one-size-fits-all approach among diverse populations is unlikely to generate a proactive public response to future evacuation orders (Mileti et al., 2004 , Paveglio et al., 2017 , Tierney et al., 2001 ). For example, there are distinct differences between decision-making and actions undertaken by men and women (Haynes et al., 2016 , Haynes et al., 2010 ) and age plays a significant role, with younger males often taking greater risks than older age groups and women across all age groups (Haynes et al., 2016 ).

With the rapidly increasing number of tourists in the region, the police/DCPEM may need to consider further non-compliance, particularly among tour operators and tourist accommodation managers/staff due to their duty of care to their patrons. This may be particularly apparent if their patrons are out sightseeing and are therefore unaccountable, which is just as likely during the night (e.g., on a Northern Lights tour) as it is during the day. With more people engaging in tourism, the police/DCPEM should also be cognisant of the possibility of tour operators feeling obliged to engage in activities that enhance their vulnerability. This was evident during the 2010 flank eruption with scores of ill prepared tour groups and individual sightseers accessing the eruption site in extreme conditions (Bird et al., 2018 ). There is no doubt that many tourists want to see an eruption, as was the case with Hawaii’s Kilauea eruption in 2018 (Walker, 2018 ), and may try to persuade their guides to deliver.

As discussed elsewhere (e.g., Mileti and Sorensen, 1990 ), friends, family and neighbours were invaluable in communicating official warnings. These kin, friend and community networks not only provide an added element of warning dissemination, but also provide an additional source with whom warning-recipients can verify the legitimacy of information (Lindell and Perry, 2004 ). It is important to note that these networks have become more accessible and much greater with the advent of social media and the reliance on it for risk and crisis communication (Bird et al., 2012 , Sennert et al., 2015 ), notwithstanding the challenges that brings. Furthermore, the region’s mobile communication network is much improved to that used during the Eyjafjallajökull eruption. Authorities now have the ability to push emergency notifications out to all mobile phones within a designated area of telecommunication towers ( pers. comm. Sveinn Rúnarsson, 2018 ).

Despite these advances, Iceland’s ‘sweeper system’ is still considered a critical component of the communication network. In some instances, the sweepers provide the only link between emergency management officials and the community (Bird et al., 2009b ), further bolstering the work of the rescue teams at the local level. Ensuring the sustainability of local rescue teams and the sweeper system is critical, as their roles during future events may become even more important with respect to reaching new residents and tourists that are not connected to kin, friend and community networks.

New residents may also benefit from storytelling, involving detailed accounts from people who experienced the event. People who lack their own personal experience (i.e., new residents, tourists) might be influenced by vivid accounts from other members of the public more so than from volcanologists communicating geophysical probabilistic data (Lindell and Perry, 2004 ). However, experience of an event, either direct or vicarious, can lead people to expect similar impacts from future events. That is, they may be unable to perceive worse impacts from a different scenario than that they’ve already experienced (Tversky and Kahneman, 1973 ). Hence, memories of a significant experience, e.g., that relating to the Eyjafjallajökull eruption, may influence people’s response to a future event, e.g., a catastrophic Katla eruption.

In this instance, emergency managers need to be aware of normalisation bias, where individuals believe they are able to cope with a future (larger) event, based on a past experience of coping with a previous (smaller) event (Paton et al., 2001 ). Our results here showing an increase in perceived preparedness and decrease in perception of risk associated with damage to property and home may stem from the relatively low impacts of the Eyjafjallajökull eruptions and the fact that residents believed they coped moderately well, in general.

At the same time, however, respondents still viewed a similar level of risk to the community as a whole in terms of adverse impacts. This unrealistic optimistic bias, where people consider themselves less vulnerable than others in their community (Paton et al. 2008 , Sjöberg, 2000 , Weinstein, 1987 ), may be directly linked to residents’ predicting their future vulnerability based on their personal experience of the Eyjafjallajökull eruptions. It may also relate to the incessant news broadcasts that some believed exaggerated the level of impacts in the region (Bird et al., 2011 , Bird et al., 2018 ). That is, based on media reports, residents deem others suffered far greater impacts than themselves and therefore consider them more vulnerable. Because of this, optimistic residents may be less inclined to respond to a future event.

Importantly, there is greater trust in those responsible for public safety, i.e., local police and the DCPEM. It is apparent that this trust has stemmed from open, regular and transparent communication well before and throughout the Eyjafjallajökull eruptions. Residents’ trust in these officials has also evolved from officials listening to and developing strategies to meet the needs of the community. To ensure this trust is maintained, officials must continually engage and work with the population of South Iceland as the region’s demographic, economic and political landscape changes.

It is important to note, however, that the perspectives presented here are predominantly drawn from a survey implemented during the early to medium-term stages of recovery (where early and medium are classified as ‘beginning to resume some kind of normal existence’ and ‘life is finally beginning to feel stable’ (Crutchfield, 2013 ), respectively). That is, our study does not incorporate perspectives on long-term impacts and how they may influence people’s decision-making during a future event due to ongoing physical and mental health impacts. While this is a limitation of the present study, we do not believe it detracts from the overall results. By undertaking research within this time period, we were able to capture more detailed and accurate narratives of actions and perspectives of the decision-making process, given that intricate details of which fade with time. Given the immediate need for evacuation, particularly for a catastrophic Katla eruption, these perspectives provide a critical viewpoint of how and why people behave the way they do when faced with a volcanic crisis. Coupled with the changing social characteristics, this paper provides a unique perspective of how residents may behave when faced with future evacuation orders.

From a societal viewpoint, the results highlight the need for local authorities to continually engage the local population in risk mitigation strategies and procedures. In doing so, they will gain an enhanced understanding of the changing population and be in a position to adjust strategies to suit the population’s needs. The research also highlights the importance of local residents knowing and sharing their stories and experiences with their neighbours. And, it stresses the importance of residents considering the changes in their livelihoods and what that may mean with respect to their vulnerability during a volcanic crisis. As the communities diversify, so too will people’s beliefs, values and activities. This greater complexity will inevitably create greater challenges for the local police and DCPEM. However, while it may enhance some aspects of vulnerability, it may also bring about new opportunities for developing new and exciting methods for generating a proactive public response to future evacuation orders among new and old residents.

Significantly, this paper links together longitudinal research that spans more than a decade capturing an at-risk population’s perspectives of: inherited knowledge, hazard assessments, risk mitigation strategies including a full–scale evacuation exercise; to their response during and perspectives of a volcanic crisis. It is rare to find such a detailed study that spans the before and after—a perspective that is often unattainable due to the nature of natural hazard events.

Data availability

The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are not publicly available due to human research ethics agreements but may be made available from the corresponding author on reasonable request. Data collection tools are available from the lead author on request. Survey data are not available for distribution as per anonymity protocols of the Human Research Ethics agreement.

Please note, the questionnaire did not specifically ask respondents whether or not they received information from a sweeper. This is because the sweepers, who are residents of the immediate neighbourhood, are only active during a volcanic eruption. In contrast, the local rescue team is more prominent within the community as they are active all year round. Hence, respondents know the person as a neighbour or as a rescue team member rather than a sweeper.

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Acknowledgements

All interviewees and respondents are graciously thanked for their willingness to participate in this study. Contributions from the Ash Fall Impacts Working Group, Katharine Haynes, Carolina Garcia Londoño and Guðrún Pétursdóttir are appreciated in relation to the development of the questionnaire. The 2016 interviews and the preparation of this paper were supported by the Nordic Centre of Excellence for Resilience and Societal Security—NORDRESS, which is funded by the Nordic Societal Security Programme.

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Bird, D.K., Gísladóttir, G. Responding to volcanic eruptions in Iceland: from the small to the catastrophic. Palgrave Commun 4 , 151 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-018-0205-6

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Q&A: Is a volcano about to erupt in Iceland? Expert explains the telltale signs that an eruption might occur

by Cyrus Moulton, Northeastern University

What is going on in Iceland right now that suggests we're in line for a volcanic eruption?

The ground surface starts to swell where it is pushed up by magma underneath the surface.
Rocks begin cracking, which is manifest as earthquakes.
And a change or increase in volcanic gases occurs, as these can escape when the magma moves closer to the surface.

So based on these signals, do we know when an eruption could occur?

Is there a specific volcano that geologists are monitoring, what is the danger posed by this volcanic eruption.

Provided by Northeastern University

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Iceland volcano: What happens if it erupts?

Residents of Grindavik have evacuated the town as the threat of a volcanic eruption looms over Iceland.

A fissure stretches across a road in the town of Grindavik, Iceland.

Iceland, which has 33 active volcanic systems, declared a state of emergency and ordered the mandatory evacuation of the town of Grindavik on Saturday.

Here is what to know:

Keep reading

Volcanic eruption could destroy icelandic fishing town, say experts, where is grindavik and what is happening there.

Grindavik is a fishing town on Iceland’s southwestern peninsula of Reykjanes. It is home to 3,800 people. Around 900 earthquakes hit southern Iceland on Monday alone, adding to the tens of thousands of tremors that have shaken up the south of the country in recent weeks.

Grindavik residents described being evacuated from their homes by police in the early hours of Saturday as the ground shook, roads cracked and buildings suffered structural damage.

Scientists have linked these earthquakes to the movement and spreading of magma, which is around 5km (3 miles) underground. Land in the region has risen by 9cm since October 27, according to the Icelandic Meteorological Office.

Authorities fear that molten rock can rise to the surface and hit Grindavik. Experts expect an eruption soon since the magma is at a shallow depth.

The Icelandic Meteorological Office said on Monday there was a “significant likelihood” of an eruption in the coming days on or just off Reykjanes, despite the size and intensity of earthquakes decreasing.

What precautionary measures are being taken?

The residents were told to leave Grindavik on Saturday and were allowed to briefly return on Sunday to collect their belongings including documents, medicines or pets, with Icelandic police and civil protection vehicles on standby.

Almost all of the town’s residents found accommodation with family members or friends. Only between 50 and 70 people were staying at evacuation centres, a rescue official told the Reuters news agency.

The Blue Lagoon geothermal spa, a tourist attraction in Iceland also announced its temporary closure until November 16. The spa is located on the peninsula, “amid moss-covered lava fields”, according to its website.

Scientists are monitoring the situation to examine the flow and proximity of the magma to try to predict the likelihood of eruption.

On Tuesday, the authorities were preparing to build defence walls around a geothermal power plant in the southwestern part of the country that they hope will protect it from lava flows in the event of an eruption.

What can happen if the volcano erupts in Iceland?

The lava can potentially threaten the town of Grindavik and the Blue Lagoon. Geothermal pipelines that supply hot water to thousands of homes are also under threat.

There also might be a risk of toxic fumes and air pollution as a result of the eruption.

“We have a fissure that’s about 15km [9.3 miles] long, and anywhere on that fissure we can see that an eruption could happen,” Vidir Reynisson, head of Iceland’s Civil Protection and Emergency Management told the AFP news agency.

However, the end of the fissure goes into the sea, which means the eruption can occur on the ocean floor, which would likely cause a large ash cloud.

Volcanic eruptions also pose a serious hazard to aviation because they can spew highly abrasive ash high into the atmosphere where it can cause jet engines to fail, damage flight control systems and reduce visibility.

Has this happened in Iceland before?

Iceland sits above a volcanic hotspot in the North Atlantic and averages an eruption every four to five years.

The 2010 eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano was one of the most disruptive eruptions recently, resulting in widespread airspace closures over Europe and costing airlines an estimated $3bn as they cancelled more than 100,000 flights.

After 800 years, three eruptions have taken place on the peninsula of Reykjanes near the Fagradalsfjall volcano: in March 2021, August 2022 and July 2023 . Previous eruptions did not cause damage, having occurred in remote valleys.

Volcanologists believe the new cycle of increased activity could last for several decades or centuries.

Is the capital Reykjavik at risk?

Grindavik is around 40km (25 miles) southwest of Iceland’s capital, Reykjavik, where authorities have not ordered residents to evacuate, indicating that they do not think the country’s biggest city will be impacted by an eruption.

Eruption in Iceland may mark the start of decades of volcanic activity

The first eruption in the Reykjanes Peninsula in about 800 years is not expected to threaten any population centers, but it does provide a unique opportunity to study the geologic mysteries of the region.

After being shaken by 15 months of increasingly disruptive earthquakes , including about 50,000 in the past three weeks, Iceland’s Reykjanes Peninsula is finally experiencing the volcanic eruption that many geologists suspected was on its way . After nearly 800 years without an eruption, this southwestern strip of the country is experiencing lava flows that experts say have been a long time coming.

On Friday, March 19, at around 8:45 p.m. local time, molten rock breached the surface in a valley near a flat-topped mountain named Fagradalsfjall, in the region of Geldingadalur, six miles from the nearest town. Incandescent spatter erupted along a crack in the earth, scorching the soil as small lava fountains illuminated the dark landscape.

The eruption involves a relatively small amount of lava confined to a series of valleys, making it unlikely that any population centers will be threatened. This type of molten rock is very fluid and trapped gasses easily escape, and it’s not erupting into water or ice, so it won’t become especially explosive, generate a sustained ash plume, or fling any sizable volcanic blocks across the region. Scientists believe the eruption will persist for a few more days or weeks before fizzling out.

But this modest eruption could mark the beginning of something bigger. Evidence from both historical accounts and ancient lava flows shows that whenever this region has experienced a major uptick in seismic activity, intermittent eruptions followed for around 100 years.

“The signs are that it’s reawakening,” says Dave McGarvie , a volcanologist at Lancaster University.

The Geldingadalur eruption therefore provides an unprecedented opportunity to study the long-term volcanic activity of southwest Iceland. Scientists are scrambling to monitor what may be the opening salvo in a series of volcanic volleys, which could provide clues about why the peninsula flares up just once every eight centuries.

The case of the missing magma

Sitting on a landward portion of the continuously spreading Mid-Atlantic Ridge, the Reykjanes Peninsula, about 17 miles southwest of the capital city Reykjavík, is no stranger to earthquakes. But since late 2019, temblors have become more frequent and more energetic. Icelanders on the peninsula, particularly those in the coastal town of Grindavík, have had trouble sleeping lately due to the constant shaking.

This heightened seismic activity is thought to represent a transition from a gradual opening of the rift to a considerably more dramatic phase when both sides of the peninsula are rapidly pulled apart. When a geologic rift quickly pulls the land apart like this, it creates an empty space, and magma rushes up to fill it in.

On March 3, acoustic signals associated with the injection of magma into the shallow crust emanated from between the mountain Fagradalsfjall and a series of fissures that erupted long ago. A new eruption seemed extremely likely—but no lava followed , and the acoustic signals vanished, says Thorbjörg Ágústsdóttir , a seismologist at Iceland GeoSurvey.

Instead, the sheet of magma, known as a dyke, wandered about underground for the next few weeks. Seismic activity and the changing shape of the ground allowed scientists to roughly track its movements. They caught it oscillating between the northeast and southwest of the peninsula, causing cracks to appear in the earth above as it went.

“I called it the dithering dyke because it didn’t seem to know what to do,” McGarvie says. It appeared to be searching, to no avail, for a place it could breach the surface.

Over the past few weeks, the seismic activity in the region declined, and most dykes cool and solidify before getting a chance to erupt. This led some scientists to suspect an eruption would not occur after all.

Iceland’s uppermost crust is peculiar, however, acting somewhat elastically—meaning it’s a little closer to toffee than hard candy. The crust in this area can stretch a little to make room for magma, allowing the dyke to infiltrate the rock just below the surface without causing violent fractures and producing those telltale acoustic signals.

This stealth mode is typical for eruptions that happen along fissures, such as those along the peninsula. Scientists in Iceland had “just been in the field, and all of a sudden, the ground is opening,” Ágústsdóttir says. Apparently the waning seismic activity in this region, instead of being a sign of calmer days to come, could in fact be a precursor to an eruption.

A long-awaited eruption

On March 19, the Icelandic Meteorological Office picked up a few low-frequency earthquakes that may have come from magma moving toward the surface—but these were very subtle events, Ágústsdóttir says. With no way to know when and where an eruption would happen, local authorities continued to tell people to stay away from the fissure-riddled area.

That evening, lava began erupting close to Fagradalsfjall, inside Geldingadalur, a natural depression whose name means Eunuch Valley—possibly a reference to early settlers’ practice of castrating animals in the region. After failing to find an escape hatch to the northeast or southwest, the dyke apparently “broke through in the middle, because both directions were kind of jammed,” says Tobias Dürig , a volcanologist at the University of Iceland.

A webcam on a nearby ridge first caught sight of the lava. A Coast Guard helicopter was dispatched to the site, and the pilot quickly spotted the embers of lava spitting and hissing at the sky.

Lava first poured out of a meandering fissure 1,650 feet long, but over the weekend, the eruption focused its output on single spot, building a steep, towering cauldron of freshly cooled rock. Smooth rivers of lava crept around blockier, rubble-like lava. Lava flowing at a steady pace caused the cone to suffer a few partial collapses as it flung blobs of lava across the scorched earth.

The dyke of magma is small, just over four miles long, and the eruption is confined to a valley that is surrounded by more valleys, preventing lava from escaping the area and threatening any population centers. Sulfur dioxide, a common volcanic gas, is being emitted by the eruption, however, and even small quantities can irritate the lungs of those with respiratory conditions such as asthma. But so far, the wind is blowing the volcanic gas away from populated areas.

Scientists say one possible concern is that a new fissure could suddenly and unexpectedly open up near the current one, ambushing anyone in the area. “That could easily happen, and that could happen fast, and it would not be a good place to be,” Dürig says.

Studying the inferno

Overall, however, scientists believe this will be a largely unhazardous eruption. Thanks to easy access to the area, researchers are throwing their entire toolbox at the eruption, seeing it as the best chance they have ever had to understand the unusual tectonics and volcanism of the region.

Some have scooped up lava and rushed it to a lab, hoping to unravel the specific chemistry of the material. Dürig has flown back and forth over the eruption, using radar to determine how thick the lava flows are and estimate how much lava is erupting.

Evgenia Ilyinskaya , a volcanologist at the University of Leeds, went up to the eruption this weekend wearing a backpack full of instruments that analyzed the compounds gushing out of the fissure.

“It’s a very special thing to get close to an eruption site,” Ilyinskaya says. During the eruption’s beginning, she was greeted with a cacophony of booms and whooshes under her feet. “It shakes you to your core,” she says. “This is something that’s really, really powerful. You feel very small and very insignificant.”

Against official advice, thousands of people living in the peninsula have gathered around the eruption site , treating the ridges as an amphitheater. One group lingered for too long, then got lost looking for their cars in the dark. Someone was also caught trying to fry eggs and bacon atop the lava, predictably with little success.

While volcanologists are taking the opportunity to study this eruption, archaeologists are scrambling to figure out if the lava threatens any significant sites. Based on historical records, experts believe a burial site thought to date back more than 1,000 years, perhaps belonging to a notable figure, could be right in the path of the eruption. According to local news reports, archaeologist Oddgeir Isaksen of the Cultural Heritage Agency of Iceland sped to the scene in a helicopter shortly after the eruption began, but he was not able to find evidence of the burial site before lava overran the area.

A century of activity?

The eruption is probably going to peter out in the coming days or weeks, and the bigger earthquakes keeping people awake may also drop off for a bit. “A small eruption still releases some pressure,” Ágústsdóttir says.

But there are hints that the fireworks are far from over. “The amount of seismic energy release for this small eruption is disproportionately high,” McGarvie says. There could have been a significant amount of tectonic shifting across the peninsula, meaning additional pockets of magma could make their way to the surface.

Based on the geological history of the region and studies of somewhat similar eruptions elsewhere in Iceland, another eruption from a different fissure in Reykjanes Peninsula is a distinct possibility, Ilyinskaya says. But this could transpire in days, weeks, months, or even years. It may involve a similar amount of magma as the current eruption, or it could release significantly more.

The possibility of future eruptions is underscored by the fact that the type of seismic shaking leading up to last week’s eruption has happened before—three times before, in fact, in the past few thousand years. Historical accounts and layers of ancient volcanic rock suggest that each time this area experiences a significant increase in earthquakes, it culminates in several decades of eruptions, jumping from fissure to fissure all over the peninsula.

The small and relatively safe eruption occurring now therefore provides a stellar opportunity for scientists and emergency managers to prepare for possible bursts of lava to come. “If this is the start,” Ágústsdóttir says, “this is good training.”

Iceland has entered a new volcanic era

Crystal lava shards offer a peek into a volcano’s underworld.

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Eyjafjallajokull 2010 volcanic eruption case study

Tectonic Hazards Community Insight

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Course links: GCSE • IGCSE • A-level • IA-level • IB Geography

This award-winning geography case study video resource reflects on the eruption of Eyjafjallajokull in 2010 and looks ahead to potential volcanic eruptions in Iceland.

In this video, we cover:

- The causes and impacts of the eruption, with visits to some of the localities directly affected - Volcano monitoring and preparedness - The impacts associated with the future eruption of Katla - Positive impacts of the volcanic eruption on tourism in Iceland

This teaching resource uses narrative, incisive interviews of local people, stunning archive footage of the eruption itself and supportive maps and diagrams to show that, through detailed scientific knowledge and monitoring, the people in Iceland not only understand the threats posed by volcanic eruptions but also see the rich benefits of living in the ‘Land of Fire and Ice’.

Visit Discover the World Education to download the free teaching resources, which accompany this video: http://bit.ly/2xzJ8r5

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Effects on Aircraft
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Eyjafjallajökull Impact
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The 2010 eruption of Iceland's Eyjafjallajökull volcano had a huge impact on air travel, changing the assessment of risk by the aviation sector and catalyzing new lines of scientific investigation. Ash advisories derived from dispersion-model output were issued by the London VAAC, depicting the presence of ash over large parts of Europe and the North Atlantic. Based on those advisories, over 300 airports in about two dozen countries, and a correspondingly large airspace, were closed in Europe during 15-21 April 2010. This resulted in massive impacts on air travel worldwide. Over 100,000 flights were cancelled over that week, affecting 7 million passengers, and resulting in $1.7 billion USD in lost revenue to airlines according to an analysis by Oxford Economics.

To reopen airspace, European aviation authorities endorsed the creation of a new type of concentration chart advisory product that delineated hazard zones based on dispersion model output of ash concentrations. So called 'low' ash concentrations were deemed to be defined as 3 . The concentration charts were adopted by air traffic management and airlines with the expectation that zones of low density ash could be transited with no or minimal risk of immediate aircraft damage providing a regime of enhanced risk assessment by airlines, including more frequent aircraft inspections, was adopted. Currently, concentration charts have only been adopted for operational use in Europe and the North Atlantic region, as outlined in Volcanic Ash Contingency Plan EUR and NAT Regions . The scientific validity and operational utility of the ash concentration charts have been questioned by international experts and therefore have not been implemented outside Europe.

Also in response to Eyjafjallajökull's impact on air travel, ICAO formed the International Volcanic Ash Task Force (IVATF) in May 2010, charging it to examine how best to define hazardous airspace and manage aviation risk. The IVATF included representatives from government and industry groups involved in aviation regulation, operations, and scientific investigations. The IVATF finished its work in June 2012, and a record of its results is available.

On the scientific front, there has been a notable increase in volcanic-cloud research since Eyjafjallajökull and the Cordon Caulle long-lived ash plume of 2011. A burst of scientific articles has been published, including in special journal issues (Hasager et al, 2010; Langmann et al., 2012). Overall, these eruptions have prompted the aviation industry, regulators, and scientists to work more closely together to improve the manner in which hazardous airspace is defined, forecast, and communicated.

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Eyjafjallajokull: A geography case study

A free 15-minute video from Discover the World Education on the causes and impacts of the eruption of Eyjafjallajokull, Iceland, in 2010. The video also considers volcano monitoring and preparedness, and the potential impacts of the future eruption of nearby Katla.

It is suitable for key stages 3–5 and serves as excellent support for the study of tectonic hazards and their associated risks.

The video is available here:

Eyjafjallajokull Case Study from DiscovertheWorldEducation on Vimeo .

Accompanying worksheets, with answers, can be downloaded in the zipped folder.

The video covers:

the causes and impacts of the eruption, with visits to some of the localities directly affected by the disaster
volcano monitoring and preparedness
the impacts associated with the future eruption of Katla
the positive impacts of the volcanic eruption on tourism in Iceland.

It shows how detailed scientific knowledge and monitoring allow people in Iceland not only to understand the threats posed by volcanic eruptions but also to see the benefits of living in the ‘Land of Fire and Ice’.

This short film combines narrative with:

interviews with local experts (including geology writer and broadcaster Ari Trausti)
footage of the 2010 eruption
supporting maps and diagrams.

Eyjafjallajokull: A geography case study received the Highly Commended Award at the Scottish Association of Geography Teachers Conference and the Silver Award at the Geographical Association Awards.

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U.S. Embassy in Iceland

Social / search, volcano alert: u.s. embassy reykjavik, iceland november 10, 2023.

Location: Grindavik, Reykjanes Peninsula, southwest Iceland

Event : Earthquakes and indications of volcanic activity have increased in the Reykjanes Peninsula southwest of Reykjavik.

The National Commissioner of the Icelandic Police declared a Civil Protection Alert Phase following an intense earthquake wave on November 10 at Sundhnúki, north of Grindavik. This activity could indicate magma movement and a volcanic eruption in the area near Mt. Thorbjörn in the area of the Svartsengi power plant and the Blue Lagoon. The seismic activity created ruptures in the primary road to Grindavik (Rt 43 – Grindavíkurvegur). Authorities suggest using Suðurstrandarvegur and Nesvegur out of Grindavik.

Flight operations at Keflavik International Airport have not been affected, though the Alert level has been raised to Orange.

If an eruption occurs, follow the instructions of Icelandic authorities. Volcanic hazards may include lava, toxic gases, and heavy smoke from fires ignited by lava. Do not walk on new lava – it may be only a thin crust with molten lava just beneath the surface. Commercially available face masks (e.g., dust masks, N95, or surgical/medical) offer no protection against volcanic gases that may accumulate in low lying areas.

Actions to Take:

Monitor Iceland Civil Protection information about mass shelters and preparation at: Earthquakes in Reykjanes — Civil Protection (almannavarnir.is)
Monitor volcanic activity and weather at: https://en.vedur.is/
Follow recommendations by Icelandic Police, Icelandic Civil Defense (also at https://www.facebook.com/Almannavarnir/ ), and other authorities.
Monitor local media outlets for updates (including online English language news outlet RUV (also at https://www.facebook.com/ruvenglish ).
Follow the latest alerts on https://safetravel.is/

U.S. Embassy Reykjavik, Iceland +354-595-2248 (after hours) Contact Reykjavik Consular https://is.usembassy.gov/

State Department – Consular Affairs 888-407-4747 or 202-501-4444
Iceland Country Information
Enroll in Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP) to receive security updates.
Follow us on Twitter and Facebook

By U.S. Embassy Reykjavik | 10 November, 2023 | Topics: Alert , News

Volcano Alert: U.S. Embassy Reykjavik, Iceland November 13, 2023

Geologic Activity Alert: U.S. Embassy Reykjavik, Iceland November 6, 2023

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Tectonic hazards – volcanoes

What do you know, what is a volcano.

A volcano is an opening in the Earth’s crust through which magma, ash and gases escape.

A volcano is a hazard caused by plate tectonics.
Volcanic eruptions have both primary effects (such as the destruction of buildings) and secondary effects (such as homelessness).
There are ways of reducing the effects of volcanic eruptions by, for example, planning, predicting and preparing.

A volcano is an opening in the Earth's crust. Ash, magma and gases escape from this opening. Volcanic eruptions can be a hazard to people and the environment.

Volcanoes occur either at the unstable boundaries of tectonic plates or in the middle of plates where the crust is thin or where there is a particularly hot spot in the mantle .

Find out more about tectonic plates .

Explore the different parts of a volcanic eruption using the diagram below.

Effects of volcanoes

A volcanic eruption can cause a variety of effects. These can be classed as primary or secondary effects. Primary effects are caused by the volcanic eruption whereas the secondary effects are caused by the primary effects.

Primary effects

As the volcano erupts, streams of molten rock called lava flow from the volcano causing damage to habitats and property.
Pyroclastic flows are flows of super-heated gas and ash. These can travel at hundreds of kilometres per hour.
Ash fall from volcanoes can land on the roofs of buildings causing them to collapse.

Secondary effects

Volcanic eruptions can lead to climate change . Ash from volcanoes can reflect the sun’s energy and lead to cooling, the carbon dioxide released can contribute to global warming .
Roads can become blocked by solidified lava flows making it difficult to travel around.
There can be positive effects of volcanic eruptions. Ash from the volcano can act as a fertiliser for soils.

What is a positive effect of a volcanic eruption?

One positive effect of a volcanic eruption is that ash from the volcano can act as a fertiliser for soils.

Why do people live near volcanoes?

There are a number of reasons why people choose to live near volcanoes:

Geothermal energy can be harnessed by using the steam from under the ground.
Many people can visit the area, creating a tourism industry.
The soil around volcanoes is rich in minerals and therefore creates excellent agricultural land.

Response to volcanoes

After an eruption the country must respond. Some responses will happen very quickly (immediate responses) and some may go on for months or years (long-term responses).

Immediate responses

Evacuating residents from the area is a priority following a volcanic eruption, or before, if an eruption has been predicted.
Setting up exclusion zones, areas where people are not allowed to go, can help to reduce the number of deaths.

Providing medical care to those injured.

Long term responses

Rebuilding of damaged buildings and infrastructure must take place.
Resettling people affected by the eruption. This may mean building new houses or even moving people to a whole new location.
Installing monitoring equipment.

Risk reduction

Countries can try to reduce the risk of damage from volcanic eruptions by attempting to predict when they might occur, protecting their buildings and preparing their population for what to do in the event of an eruption. The extent to which a country can do this depends on their level of development. A high income country can spend more than a low income country meaning the effects would be reduced more.

It is much easier to predict volcanic eruptions than earthquakes. Monitoring the area for seismic activity , changes in shape of the volcano and gas emissions can all help to predict when an eruption may occur.

There is little that can be done to protect buildings or land from a volcanic eruption but it may be possible to restrict what can be built in at-risk areas. For example, an area that is high-risk may have restrictions that do not allow the building of homes.

Preparation

By training people on what to do in the event of an evacuation people can prepare for an eruption. This may involve drills in schools or advising people to pack survival kits.

Test your knowledge

Planet Planners game

Make decisions for the planet in this KS3 geography game

Disasters and responses

Plate tectonics - earthquakes and tsunamis, plate tectonics - volcanoes.

Responding to tropical storms

Desertification

Volcano case studies

Volcano case studies You should make sure you are familiar with 2 case studies: Either: Nyiragongo, Democratic Republic of Congo – Poor Country or Montserrat, Caribbean – Poor Country AND Either: Mount St. Helens, USA – Rich Country or Iceland – Rich Country

Key terms: Primary effects: the immediate effects of the eruption, caused directly by it Secondary effects: the after-effects that occur as an indirect effect of the eruption on a longer timescale Immediate responses: how people react as the disaster happens and in the immediate aftermath Long-term responses: later reactions that occur in the weeks, months and years after the event Nyiragongo Picture The video below contains more information on the primary and secondary effects of a volcano

On 17th January 2002 Nyiragongo volcano in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) was disturbed by the movement of plates along the East African Rift Valley. This led to lava spilling southwards in three streams.

The primary effects – The speed of the lava reached 60kph which is especially fast. The lava flowed across the runway at Goma airport and through the town splitting it in half. The lava destroyed many homes as well as roads and water pipes, set off explosions in fuel stores and powerplants and killed 45 people

The secondary effects – Half a million people fled from Goma into neighbouring Rwanda to escape the lava. They spent the nights sleeping on the streets of Gisenyi. Here, there was no shelter, electricity or clean water as the area could not cope with the influx. Diseases such as cholera were a real risk. People were frightened of going back. However, looting was a problem in Goma and many residents returned within a week in hope of receiving aid.

Responses – In the aftermath of the eruption, water had to be supplied in tankers. Aid agencies, including Christian Aid and Oxfam, were involved in the distribution of food, medicine and blankets.

Montserrat – Poor country case study

Montserrat – Ledc Case Study from donotreply16 Mount St Helens – Rich country case study Picture Mount St. Helens is one of five volcanoes in the Cascade Range in Washington State, USA. The volcano erupted at 8:32am on 18th May 1980.

Effects – An earthquake caused the biggest landslide ever recorded and the sideways blast of pulverised rock, glacier ice and ash wiped out all living things up to 27km north of the volcano. Trees were uprooted and 57 people died.

Immediate responses – helicopters were mobilised to search and rescue those in the vicinity of the catastrophic blast. Rescuing survivors was a priority, followed by emergency treatment in nearby towns. Air conditioning systems were cleaned after by clogged with ash and blocked roads were cleared. Two million masks were ordered to protect peoples lungs.

Long-term responses – Buildings and bridges were rebuilt. Drains had to be cleared to prevent flooding. The forest which was damaged had to be replanted by the forest service. Roads were rebuilt to allow tourists to visit. Mount St. Helens is now a major tourist attraction with many visitor centres.

Iceland – Rich country case study Picture Location: Iceland lies on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, a constructive plate margin separating the Eurasian plate from the North American plate. As the plates move apart magma rises to the surface to form several active volcanoes located in a belt running roughly SW-NE through the centre of Iceland. Eyjafjallajokull (1,666m high) is located beneath an ice cap in southern Iceland 125km south east of the capital Reykjavik

The Eruption: In March 2010, magma broke through the crust beneath Eyjafjallajokull glacier. This was the start of two months of dramatic and powerful eruptions that would have an impact on people across the globe. The eruptions in March were mostly lava eruptions. Whilst they were spectacular and fiery they represented very little threat to local communities, However, on 14th April a new phase began which was much more explosive. Over a period of several days in mid-April violent eruptions belched huge quantities of ash in the atmosphere.

Local impacts and responses: The heavier particles of ash (such as black gritty sand) fell to the ground close to the volcano, forcing hundreds of people to be evacuated (immediate response) from their farms and villages. As day turned to night, rescuers wore face masks to prevent them choking on the dense cloud of ash. These ash falls, which coated agricultural land with a thick layer of ash, were the main primary effects of the eruption. One of the most damaging secondary effects of the eruption was flooding. As the eruption occurred beneath a glacier, a huge amount of meltwater was produced. Vast torrents of water flowed out from under the ice. Sections of embankment that supported the main highway in Southern Iceland were deliberately breached by the authorities to allow floodwaters to pass through to the sea. This action successfully prevented expensive bridges being destroyed. After the eruption, bulldozers were quickly able to rebuild the embankments and within a few weeks the highway was reconstructed.

Local impacts: 800 people evacuated Homes and roads were damaged and services (electricity & water) disrupted Local flood defences had to be constructed Crops were damaged by heavy falls of ash Local water supplies were contaminated with fluoride from the ash

National impacts: Drop in tourist numbers – affected Iceland’s economy as well as local people’s jobs and incomes Road transport was disrupted as roads were washed away by floods Agricultural production was affected as crops were smothered by a thick layer of ash Reconstruction of roads and services was expensive

International impacts: Over 8 days – some 100,000 flights were cancelled 10 million air passengers affected Losses estimated to be £80 million Industrial production halted due to a lack of raw materials Fresh food could not be imported Sporting events such as the Japanese Motorcycle grand prix, Rugby leagues challenge cup and the Boston Marathon were affected

International impacts and responses: The eruption of Eyjafjallajokull became an international event in mid-April 2010 as the cloud of fine ash spread south-eastwards toward the rest of Europe. Concerned about the possible harmful effects of ash on aeroplane jet engines, large sections of European airspace closed down. Passenger and freight traffic throughout much of Europe ground to a halt. The knock-on effects were extensive and were felt across the world. Business people and tourists were stranded unable to travel in to or out of Western Europe. Industrial production was affected as raw materials could be flown in and products could not be exported by air. As far away as Kenya, farm workers lost their jobs or suffered pay cuts as fresh produce such as flowers and bean perished, unable to be flown to European supermarkets. The airline companies and airport operators lost huge amounts of money. Some people felt that the closures were an over-reaction and that aeroplanes could fly safely through low concentrations of ash. However, a scientific review conducted after the eruption concluded that under the circumstances it had been right to close the airspace. Further research will be carried out as a long-term response to find better ways of monitoring ash concentrations and improving forecast methods.

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Iceland volcano case study

Subject: Geography

Age range: 11-14

Resource type: Worksheet/Activity

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Eyjafjallajokull Case Study
Eyjafjallajokull is a volcano located in Iceland. The name is a description of the volcano with Eyja meaning island; fjalla meaning mountain; and jokull meaning glacier. You can find out how to pronounce Eyjafjallajokull on the BBC website. Eyjafjallajökull consists of a volcano completely covered by an ice cap.
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Startling volcanic activity has town in Iceland bracing for crisis Scientists believe a large pocket of magma has risen below Grindavík, threatening to flood the coastal town with molten rock...
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Iceland has declared a state of emergency and more than 3,000 residents have been urged to evacuate the small, coastal town of Grindavík as the country's authorities anticipate the imminent...
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Bird D, Gísladóttir G (2012) Residents' attitudes and behaviour before and after the 2010 Eyjafjallajökull eruptions-a case study from southern Iceland. Bull Volcanol 74:1263-1279
PDF Volcanic Hazard Case Study: Eyjafjallajökull eruption, Iceland 2010
Volcanic Hazard Case Study: Eyjafjallajökull eruption, Iceland 2010 Describe the location of the case study. 14 Explain why nobody died as a result of this large eruption. 13 What is the Mid-Atlantic Ridge? 12 Theorise why some people called the area a 'volcanic Disneyland'. Would you like more information on the Eyjafjallajökull case study?
Iceland volcano: What could the impact be?
In April 2010, the Eyjafjallajokull volcanic eruption, caused the largest closure of European airspace since World War II, as a result of an extensive ash cloud, with losses estimated at between 1 ...
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So, a volcano erupts in Iceland every couple of years, so as a culture they are used to this; but the eruption is generally not underneath a small town. ... Use the present tense, study suggests ...
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Case Study Summary Sheet for Eyjafjallajökull Eruption 2010 (HIC) Where did it happen? Eyjafjallajökull is one of Iceland's smaller ice caps located in the far south of the island of Iceland. Situated to ... Eyjafjallajökull covers the caldera of a volcano 1,666 m high, which has erupted relatively frequently since the last ice age. The ...
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Iceland, which has 33 active volcanic systems, declared a state of emergency and ordered the mandatory evacuation of the town of Grindavik on Saturday. Grindavik is a fishing town on Iceland's ...
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Eyjafjallajokull 2010 volcanic eruption case study
This award-winning geography case study video resource reflects on the eruption of Eyjafjallajokull in 2010 and looks ahead to potential volcanic eruptions in Iceland. In this video, we cover: - The causes and impacts of the eruption, with visits to some of the localities directly affected. - Volcano monitoring and preparedness. - The impacts ...
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Aviation. The 2010 eruption of Iceland's Eyjafjallajökull volcano had a huge impact on air travel, changing the assessment of risk by the aviation sector and catalyzing new lines of scientific investigation. Ash advisories derived from dispersion-model output were issued by the London VAAC, depicting the presence of ash over large parts of ...
Eyjafjallajokull case study
Eyjafjallajokull Case Study from DiscovertheWorldEducation on Vimeo. Accompanying worksheets, with answers, can be downloaded in the zipped folder. The video covers: the causes and impacts of the eruption, with visits to some of the localities directly affected by the disaster volcano monitoring and preparedness
Volcano Alert: U.S. Embassy Reykjavik, Iceland November 10, 2023
Assistance. U.S. Embassy Reykjavik, Iceland. +354-595-2248 (after hours) Contact Reykjavik Consular. https://is.usembassy.gov/. State Department - Consular Affairs 888-407-4747 or 202-501-4444. Iceland Country Information. Enroll in Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP) to receive security updates. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.
PDF Volcano case studies presentation
Eyjafjallajökull (ey-yah-fyal-lah-yo-kul) is a stratovolcano situated in southern Iceland. Like other volcanoes in Iceland, Eyjafjallajökull lies beneath an ice cap which is 200m thick and 100km2 in area.
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Title: Eyjafjallajökull Eruption 2010 - Case Study - World at Risk - Edexcel Geography IAL Created Date: 20191125163824Z
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mechanisms that Iceland has adopted for handling the volcanic eruptions. Using Iceland as a case study allows other countries can learn and develop their own responses. There are two types of eruptions, effusive eruptions. when more than 95 percent of the erupted magma is lava or an . explosive eruptions. when more than 95 percent of the
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Eyjafjallajökull, Iceland 2010 (Volcano Case Study)
Case study of the Eyjafjallajökull eruption in Iceland in 2010. This is the ninth video for the AQA GCSE 9-1 Geography course, and the ninth video of the Cha...
PDF Eyjafjallajökull, Iceland
Eyjafjallajökull is a 500m long fissure volcano , that erupts basalt. Basaltic lava is fluid in nature. There is a glacier above the volcano. Hazards 10km high ash plume , containing sulphur , was emitted. This reached the stratosphere and caused huge problems for air-travel in Europe.
Tectonic hazards and volcanoes guide for KS3 geography students
lava flow from the volcano causing damage to habitats and property. Pyroclastic flows are flows of super-heated gas and ash. These can travel at hundreds of kilometres per hour. Ash fall from...
Eyjafjallajökull Icelandic Eruption 2010
A case study on the Eyjafjallajökull Icelandic Eruption of 2010. Suitable for GCSE, AS Level, A Level Geography and beyond. Complete with stunning images. ... • The volcano is on the island of Iceland, which is part of Europe and situated immediately South of the Arctic Circle. • Iceland is located on the North American plate (Moving West ...
Volcanic Case Study
As the volcano sits under a glacier, the ice melted rapidly, causing glacial floods. This caused a major flood, prompting the evacuation of 700 people. Washed roads away. Primary effects of the Iceland eruption - Crops. Crops were destroyed by the falling ash. Secondary effects of the Iceland eruption - The effects that the eruption had globally.
Volcano case studies
Iceland - Rich country case study Picture Location: Iceland lies on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, a constructive plate margin separating the Eurasian plate from the North American plate. As the plates move apart magma rises to the surface to form several active volcanoes located in a belt running roughly SW-NE through the centre of Iceland.
Iceland volcano case study
File previews. ppt, 534 KB. doc, 29.5 KB. Case study of 2010 Iceland eruption lesson. Tes paid licence How can I reuse this? Report this resource to let us know if it violates our terms and conditions. Our customer service team will review your report and will be in touch. Last updated.