Volcano Bardarbunga Hit by the Strongest Earthquake

Volcano Bardarbunga Hit by the Strongest Earthquake

 

The area being monitored by The University of Cambridge (Fig. 1) (http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-28943708) 

            In the last 15 years, not many earthquakes had occurred in Iceland. In fact, there were only three recorded ones that took time in 2000, 2008 and 2010. However, a volcanic system close to Bardarbunga’s volcano was hit on Wednesday, August 27^th, by a magnitude (size) 5.7 earthquake. This event is often compared to the Iceland’s Eyjafjallajokull volcano, which had erupted in 2010. It produced ash, which had troubled air traffic across some parts of Europe.

            Earthquakes occur when the energy from the Earth Crust is suddenly released. At the same time, they produce seismic waves. Even though an eruption did not happen, new seismic activity could lead to the volcano erupting at any point. Icelandic volcanologist, Melissa Pfeffer said: ‘’The thicker the ice, the more water there is, the more explosive it will be and the more ash-rich the eruption will be.’’ As it could be noticed on the Figure 1, the Bardarbunga volcano is covered with a big amount of snow as well as ice, which may lead to many environmental problems. Why the eruption is not beneficial for environment? It is because the volcano sits in a major flight path from the United Kingdom to North America, and the eruption would cause chaos.

Bardarbunga is located under Iceland’s largest glacier (Vatanajokull, 500m thick). The Associated Press reports that if the eruption occurs outside the glacier, only local problems would occur. However, if the volcano blows inside of it, the ash would be sent directly into atmosphere and trigger heavy problems for the air travel. I would personally predict several consequences not only in terms of environmental, but also social and economical. When the other Iceland volcano erupted in 2010, the ash from the eruption caused air traffic problems leaving 10 million people from all over the world unable to travel.  The earthquake that had caused an eruption 4 years ago, and the on that had hit Bardarbunga’s volcano belong to the same type, which leads us to a thought that the result could end up being the same. Why the eruption would represent threat to their economy is because Iceland’s aircraft companies would lose certain amount of money. That would happen either because of passengers canceling their flights by themselves, or passengers’ flights being canceled by others (people who work at the aircraft companies).  As a matter of fact, BBC reports that the earthquake in 2010 caused the largest closure of European airspace since WW2, losing between 1.5 and 2.5 billion euros.

            We must not forget the fact that the volcano located in Bardarbunga has not erupted yet. As a geologist Palni Erlendsson said: ‘‘we still can’t say whether the activity will cease, continue like this for a while or erupt. It is impossible to say.’’

Finishing this blog made me wonder how the possible eruption is related to the study of science. It is related in a way where we are expected to trust and rely on scientists’ (more specifically geologist) own perceptions.  And lastly, while we are observing the possible Bardarbunga’s volcano eruption we are able to become ‘scientifically literate’ in a way where we can relate the event to the real life complications.

Sited sources/Bibliography:

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-28943708

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-28936427

http://www.weather.com/news/icelands-bardarbunga-volcano-earthquake-update-20140826

http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2014/08/23/b_r_arbunga_volcanic_eruption_has_begun_in_iceland.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_earthquakes_in_Iceland