Island on Fire Read online

  CHAPTER 9

  There’s no shortage of publications on the many aspects of the 2010 Eyjafjallajökull eruption, but the Icelandic Meteorological Office, the University of Iceland Institute of Earth Sciences, and the National Commissioner of the Icelandic Police compiled an authoritative report in June 2012 for the International Civil Aviation Organization. It is available via the IMO’s English-language web site, http://en.vedur.is. Also see Magnús T. Gudmundsson et al, ‘Ash generation and distribution from the April–May 2010 eruption of Eyjafjallajökull, Iceland,’ Scientific Reports, vol. 2, 572 (2012), as well as F. Sigmundsson et al, ‘Intrusion triggering of the 2010 Eyjafjallajökull explosive eruption,” Nature, vol. 468, pp. 426–430 (2010).

  For rates of Icelandic eruption over time, see T. Thordarson and G. Larsen, ‘Volcanism in Iceland in historical time: volcano types, eruption styles and eruptive history,’ Journal of Geodynamics, vol. 43, pp. 118–152 (2007).

  For Popocatépetl, see Claus Siebe et al, ‘Repeated volcanic disasters in Prehispanic time at Popocatépetl, central Mexico: past key to the future?’, Geology, vol. 24, pp. 399–402 (1996). Archaeological digs at the site are described in Patricia Plunket and Gabriela Uruñuela, ‘Appeasing the volcano gods,’ Archaeology, vol. 51 (1998).

  For Mount Rainier, see James W. Vallance et al, ‘Debris-flow hazards caused by hydrologic events at Mount Rainier, Washington,’ USGS Open-File Report 03–368 (2003). For Mount St. Helens, see Vallance et al, ‘Mount St. Helens: A 30-year legacy of volcanism,’ EOS, vol. 91, pp. 169–170 (2010).

  Steve Self warned about VEI 6–7 events at the International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth (IAVCEI) conference in July 2013 in Kagoshima, Japan.

  For Asian volcanic risk, see Susanna Jenkins et al, ‘Regional ash fall hazard I: a probabilistic assessment methodology,’ Bulletin of Volcanology, vol. 74, pp. 1699–1712 (2012). For the mystery eruption in 1258, see Richard B. Stothers, ‘Climatic and demographic consequences of the massive volcanic eruption of 1258,’ Climatic Change, vol. 45, pp. 361–374 (2000). The Spitalfields excavation, and the possible link to a volcanic eruption, are detailed in the Museum of London Archaeology monograph ‘A bioarchaeological study of medieval burials on the site of St. Mary Spital: excavations at Spitalfields Market, London E1, 1991–2007” (2012). For the Rinjani identification, see F. Lavigne et al, ‘Source of the great A.D. 1257 mystery eruption unveiled, Samalas volcano, Rinjani volcanic complex, Indonesia,’ Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, doi:10.1073/pnas.1307520110 (2013).

  Supereruptions lend themselves to dramatic sounding papers, such as Michael R. Rampino, ‘Supereruptions as a threat to civilizations on earth-like planets,’ Icarus, vol. 156, pp. 562–569 (2002). Also see S. Self, ‘The effects and consequences of very large explosive volcanic eruptions,’ Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A, vol. 364, pp. 2073–2097 (2006), and S. Sparks et al, ‘Super-eruptions: global effects and future threats,’ Report of a Geological Society of London Working Group (2005).

  Monitoring details are sourced from John P. Lockwood and Richard W. Hazlett, Volcanoes: Global Perspectives (Wiley-Blackwell, 2010). On the topic of climate change and magma generation, see Carolina Pagli and Freysteinn Sigmundsson, ‘Will present day glacier retreat increase volcanic activity? Stress induced by recent retreat and its effect on magmatism at the Vatnajökull ice cap, Iceland,’ Geophysical Research Letters, vol. 35, L09304 (2008), as well as Hugh Tuffen, ‘How will melting of ice affect volcanic hazards in the twenty-first century?’ Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A, vol. 368, pp. 2535–2558 (2010). For more on this general topic, see Bill McGuire, Waking the Giant: How a Changing Climate Triggers Earthquakes, Tsunamis and Volcanoes (Oxford University Press, 2012).

  EPILOGUE

  Details of the Heimaey fire mass came via Helga Hallsbergsdóttir, of Heimaey, and the photographs of Sigurgeir Jónsson.

  Photo Credits

  All maps created by Theresa Dubé © Author

  TITLEPAGE

  Hekla engraving © Depositphotos

  INTRODUCTION

  Man vs lava © Sigurgeir Jónasson

  Heimaey’s harbour © Author photo

  CHAPTER 1

  Mauna Loa eruption © J.D. Griggs, US Geological Survey

  Church in Skógar © Author photo

  Laki crater © Author photo

  Church ornaments © Author photo

  Eyjafjallajökull lightning © Snaevarr Gudmundsson/Getty Images

  CHAPTER 2

  Wegener/Villumsen © Archive for German Polar Research/Alfred Wegener Institute

  Mid-ocean ridges © Wikimedia Commons

  Tectonic plates © US Geological Survey

  Subducting ocean plates © US Geological Survey

  Mid-Atlantic Rift © US Geological Survey

  Ortelius’s map of Iceland © helmink.com

  Katla’s 1918 eruption © University of Iceland Institute of Earth Sciences

  May 11 2010 ash plume from Eyjafjallajökull © NASA

  Grímsvötn August 2011 © Henrik Thorburn/Wikimedia Commons

  CHAPTER 3

  Yellowstone geyser © Author photo

  Toba space shot © Google Earth

  Santorini overview © Google Earth

  Pompeii fresco © Mark Ellingham

  Tambora from space © NASA Earth Observatory

  Krakatau eruption lithograph © Royal Society

  CHAPTER 4

  Prestbakki altar © Author photo

  Laki lava flow map © Author sketch, after Fig. 7 in Thordarson & Self 1993

  Sheep farmers after Grímsvötn eruption © Getty Images

  Laki lava flows with moss © Author photo

  CHAPTER 5

  Herschel 20-foot telescope © The Scientific Papers of Sir William Herschel (1912)

  August 1783 meteor © The Hunterian, University of Glasgow 2013

  Erban Prague engraving © Prague City Museum

  CHAPTER 6

  Benjamin Franklin engraving © Library of Congress

  NICL deep freezer © US Geological Survey

  Nile river drops, from Oman 2006 © Courtesy Alan Robock; graphic from

  Oman et al 2006, based on data from Kondrashov et al 2005

  Volcanic atmospheric cooling © Berkeley Earth

  CHAPTER 7

  Crater row northeast © Author photo

  Klaustur’s memorial chapel © Author photo

  Jón Helgason © Author photo

  Leading a pony through ash from Grímsvötn © AFP/Getty Images

  Page from Book of Fire © Author photo

  CHAPTER 8

  Lake Nyos degassing © Bill Evans, US Geological Survey

  Unzen pyroclastic flows © T. Kobayashi/University of Kagoshima; US Geological Survey

  Pele, the Hawaiian fire goddess © Author photo

  Egil Skallagrímsson © Wikimedia Commons

  London smog © Popperfoto/Getty Images

  CHAPTER 9

  Icelandair plane ‘Eyjafjallajökull’ © AFP/Getty Images

  Klaustur farmer with mask © Ingolfur Juliusson/Reuters/Corbis

  Evacuation route for Popocatépetl, Mexico © Hector Aiza Ramirez/Demotix/Corbis

  GPS antenna at Porkchop, Yellowstone © USGS

  Acknowledgements

  This book would not have been possible without the generous help of many. To begin with we must acknowledge Lindy Elkins-Tanton, who over dinner at a Boulder restaurant some years ago made the fatal comment of suggesting that a book about Laki would be a good idea.

  We are also indebted to the scholarship of true Laki experts, foremost among them Thorvaldur Thordarson of the University of Iceland. Thordarson’s work on the Laki eruption – its details and consequences, both scientific and cultural – is unmatched, and you will find many of his papers referenced in the endnotes. He also shared many of his experiences in an in-person interview. Thordarson’s former advisor, Stephen Self of the US Nuclear Regulatory
Commission, also helped with references and general advice on world-changing eruptions. We relied heavily on the published research of John Grattan, of Aberystwyth University, for the environmental and health effects of the eruption.

  Among the younger generation of Icelandic volcano experts, we are particularly indebted to Anja Schmidt of the University of Leeds and John Stevenson of the University of Edinburgh. Both endured lengthy sets of pestering questions, and both graciously provided technical comments on portions of the manuscript. Any errors that remain are, of course, ours.

  In Iceland, England and the United States, we benefitted from the advice of many volcanologists and historians. Among them, and in no particular order, we thank Haraldur Sigurdsson, Freysteinn Sigmundsson, Benedikt Ofeigsson, Bergrún Óladóttir, Sveinbjörn Rafnsson, Helga Hallbergsdóttir, Jón Torfason, Astrid Ogilvie, Alan Robock, Rosanne D’Arrigo, Peter Baxter, Emmanuel Garnier, Richard Payne, Rudolf Brázdil, Michael Fell, Ian Skilling, Emily Constantine Mercurio, Hugh Tuffen, Ben Edwards, John Maclennan, Sue Loughlin, Stephen Sparks and Ken Carslaw.

  Dave McGarvie was immensely helpful for Icelandic logistics and background information.

  In Klaustur itself, we thank Jón Helgason, the local keeper of the Laki flame, and Sveinn Jensson of the Icelandair Hotel Klaustur for facilitating much of our visit. Hólasport provided transportation to the Laki crater row. The National and University Library of Iceland allowed us access to one of the original Eldrit manuscripts. Geoff Hargreaves brought out the Laki sample for us at the National Ice Core Laboratory in Denver.

  A journalism fellowship from the European Geosciences Union helped with travel costs. The University of Washington’s Friday Harbor Laboratories provided us a tranquil writing space in their Helen Riaboff Whiteley Center in the San Juan Islands.

  William West, Carol Witze, Brendan Borrell and Mason Inman provided useful feedback on the writing. Jim Williams, Chris Witze, Torben Brun and Elle Jauffret helped with translation issues. An unnamed librarian at the USGS library in Reston, Virginia, has our eternal thanks for scanning the Helland map of the crater row, and Kathleen Cassaday and her colleagues at the Boulder Public Library efficiently fulfilled many requests for obscure Icelandic documents. Colleagues at Science News and Nature magazines put up with Alex’s obsessions with all things volcanic, and Twitter colleagues including but not limited to Erik Klemetti provided an excellent sounding board for virtual volcanological discussions.

  We thank Anna Carmichael at the Abner Stein literary agency, and especially Jeff’s agent Regula Noetzli who launched the project into reality. Jonathan Buckley provided insightful line editing, and Mark Ellingham of Profile Books championed the idea from the start. Thanks also to Henry Iles for design, Bodhan Buciak for proofreading and Caroline Wilding for the index.

  Above all we are grateful to our family, to whom we dedicate this book.

  Alexandra Witze and Jeff Kanipe

  Boulder, Colorado, January 2014.

  Index

  Page references for photographs, illustrations and maps are in italics

  A

  Africa 132, 140–1

  Agung, Mount 142

  air travel 56–7, 188–90

  Alaska

  Katmai eruption 80, 139

  Laki eruption 133

  Alsace 78

  Altai Mountains 132

  Althing 48–9

  Ambrose, Stanley 67

  Ambrym 175

  Anak Krakatau 84

  Anaxagoras 36

  Aristotle 117, 118

  Armero, Colombia 169

  Asama, Mount 141

  ash clouds 37–8, 66, 191–2, 193

  Eyjafjallajökull 38, 56–7, 187–90

  Grímsvötn 97

  Laki 107–12

  Vesuvius 72

  Atlantis 69

  atmospheric chemistry 129–32

  atmospheric extinction 110

  atmospheric pollution 179–82

  Schmidt study 183–4

  see also smog

  Azores 175

  B

  Bardabunga 51

  Baxter, Peter 177–8

  Bengal 80

  Bessastadir 104

  Blake, William 50

  Book of Fire (Jón Steingrímsson) 25, 159–62, 160

  Brugmans, Sebaldi 182

  Byron, Lord 78–9

  C

  Cameroon 163–7

  carbon dioxide 165–6, 170–1

  Cascades 45, 195

  see also St. Helens, Mount

  cataclysmic eruptions 63

  Champseru, France 182

  Chichón, El 132, 142, 198

  China 132, 142

  chlorine 22

  Church Farm, Heimaey 7, 8, 10

  climate 129–32

  and Laki eruption 112–13, 120–4, 127–8, 133–4, 138–45

  and Tambora eruption 78–80

  and Toba eruption 66–7

  Colombia 169

  colossal eruptions 64

  continental drift 39–40, 41, 44

  Cooper, William 116

  Corsica 114

  Cortés, Hernán 194–5

  Cosiguina 142

  Cowper, William 118, 120, 121

  D

  ‘Darkness’ (Byron) 79

  D’Arrigo, Rosanne 142–3

  de Lamanon, Robert 110

  de Montredon, Morgue 128–9

  de Volney, Constantin 140–1

  debris flows 169

  Denmark 25, 121

  Donora, Pennsylvania 179–80

  Dresden 122

  E

  earthquakes 44, 199–201

  Eyjafjallajökull eruption 185

  Laki eruption 16, 17, 21, 31, 33, 94, 95, 115

  Ecuador, Quilotoa 198

  Egil 175–7, 176

  Egypt 24, 141

  El Niño 141, 143

  Eldfell, Heimaey 13, 14

  Eldgjá 60

  Eldmessa see Fire Mass

  Eldrit (Jón Steingrímsson) 25, 159–62, 160

  Etna, Mount 10, 35, 49, 70, 131

  Eyjafjallajökull

  2010 eruption 32, 38, 55–8, 63, 185–7, 190

  ash plume 56–7, 57, 187–90

  fluorine 175

  glacial outburst flood 186–7

  F

  Faroe Islands 107

  Feinemann, Maureen 175

  Fire Mass

  Heimaey 203–4

  Klaustur 87–90, 152, 153, 154, 204

  Fire Mountain, Heimaey 13, 14

  ‘Fire Treatise’ (Jón Steingrímsson) 25, 159–62, 160

  fireballs 115–18, 117, 127–8

  Fjathará river 89

  floods

  Europe 121–2

  Eyjafjallajökull 186–7

  Grímsvötn 59, 169

  Katla 21, 54, 55

  Laki 96

  fluorine 98, 174–8, 193

  Laki 22, 24

  fluorosis 97–8, 174–8

  France

  deaths 119–20

  flooding 122

  haze 107–8, 109, 110, 115, 118–20, 125–8, 182

  revolution 24, 145

  smog 24

  Frankenstein (Shelley) 78

  Franklin, Benjamin 125–8, 127, 129, 132

  Fukushima nuclear plant 199

  G

  Galeras 169

  Galunggung, Mount 56

  Germany 108, 110

  geysers 61, 62

  Gigjökull 187

  glacial outburst floods 54

  Eyjafjallajökull 186–7

  Grímsvötn 59, 169

  Katla 21, 54, 55

  Laki 96

  Glicken, Harry 168

  Godi, Snorri 49

  Grattan, John 145, 182

  Greece, Santorini 68–70

  Greenland, ice cores 134–8

  Grímsvötn 58–9, 58

  2011 eruption 59, 97, 156–9, 157, 190

  flood 59, 169

  Gudbrandur, Bishop 50

  G
udmundsson, Magnús Tumi 158

  H

  Halley, Edmond 117–18

  Hamilton, Sir William 74

  Hannesdóttir, Thórunn 27–8, 30

  death 105

  in Eldrit 160, 162

  gravestone 153

  Hargreaves, Geoff 135–7

  Hawaii 45–6

  controlling lava flows 9–10

  Kilauea 38, 46, 171–4, 199

  Hawaiian Volcano Observatory 171–2, 199

  haze see smog

  Heimaey 7–8, 9, 9, 10–14, 12

  Fire Mass 203–4

  Hekla 49–50, 52, 128

  eruptions 51–3

  fluorosis 97–8, 174

  Helgafell, Heimaey 13

  Helgason, Jón 151–4, 154, 156–7

  Herculaneum 71, 168

  Herschel, William 110, 111, 113, 116–17

  Hess, Harry 41–2

  Holland 111–12, 121, 182

  Holtsá river 89

  Humphreys, W.J. 80

  Hverfisfljót river 92, 94

  hydrogen sulphide 170–1

  I

  Iceland

  future eruption risks 190–4, 201–2

  money 104

  supernatural powers 26–7

  volcanoes 35–6, 46–60

  weather radar systems 188

  see also Heimaey; Klaustur; Laki

  Icelandair 189

  India

  and Laki eruption 24, 141

  and Toba eruption 67

  Indonesia 169, 201

  Agung 142

  Rinjani 198

  Tambora 64, 74–80, 77, 142, 170, 196

  Toba 64–8, 65, 198–9

  see also Krakatau

  International Civil Aviation Organization 188

  Ireland

  Great Frost 144

  and Iceland 30

  and Laki eruption 114

  and Tambora eruption 79

  Ísleifsson, Trausti 146–50, 157, 159

  Italy

  and Laki eruption 112, 115

  Pozzuoli 70

  Stromboli 63, 70

  Vesuvius 70–4, 73, 168, 194, 199

  see also Sicily

  J

  Jaggar, Thomas 171–2, 199

  Japan

  Asama 141

  earthquakes 44

  Fukushima nuclear plant 199

  and Laki eruption 24, 141

  Unzen 168, 170

  Java 75, 76

  Jensson, Sveinn 156, 157

  Johnston, David 168

  jökulhlaups see glacial outburst floods

  Jónsson, Arngrímur 50

  Jónsson, Thorsteinn Lúther 204