Iceland Volcanoes Again

[Tenkaykev]

Whilst we were in Iceland my wife and I both read the book ‘The Fires’ by Sigríður Hagalín Björnsdóttir. Written in Icelandic and translated to English it is a fictional novel but written with a lot of research and information on volcanism. What’s happening now draws many parallels with the plot of the book and I found it a fascinating read simply to learn about volcanism. It was further engaging as we were visiting the very locations mentioned in the book, almost in real time!

That first diacritic mark had me wiping my screen to clear it away 😄

 

[Once a Wheeler]

From a west European point of view, a long period with high-level volcanic ash in the atmosphere can play havoc with agriculture and the weather. Fingers crossed everyone.🤞

 

[T4tomo]

I'm not sure, but even if they were "quake-proof" the land on the west side of Grindavik dropped by an entire metre! I'm not sure any quake-proof standards build to those specifications.

Its not just buildings, as Icelandic style is low rise, plenty of tin sheet used quick / cheap construction anyway, its the infrastructure that make up a town - roads, power supply, sewers, water - don't forget pretty much all of Iceland has free geothermal central heating, but there is a network of pipes that support that. Even if the houses are fine, a lot of that infrastructure will need repairing, and if a lava flow goes through the town it will make matters much much worse.

 

[figbat]

That first diacritic mark had me wiping my screen to clear it away 😄

I'm a stickler for diacritics - I hate that lazy Anglophiles just lop them off and assume it makes no difference. Typing Icelandic words with an English keyboard can require some effort though.

 

[Profpointy]

From a west European point of view, a long period with high-level volcanic ash in the atmosphere can play havoc with agriculture and the weather. Fingers crossed everyone.🤞

Back when the Icelandic eruption a few years back totally disrupted air travel, one of the guys' PhD had been on vulcanology so our boss had said to him "When are you going to sort that bloody volcano out. I'm supposed to be going on holiday in a couple of weeks"

 

[matticus]

Even if the houses are fine, a lot of that infrastructure will need repairing, and if a lava flow goes through the town it will make matters much much worse.

Just to be clear, when I talked about "quake-proof" buildings, I made absolutely NO mention that they might be resistant to lava-flows!!! :P

 

[MichaelW2]

My holiday plans to Corsica were interrupted by the last volcano so I never went there.
Ironically, our honeymoon return flight from NY was diverted to Iceland. We had an unsheduled stopover so I was able to tick it off my bucket list. The former NATO airbase reminded me of CCF summer camp in a damp, windy, rainy Cumbria.