While the after effects of the volcano Eyjafjallajokull are slowly beginning to dissipate, scientists warn that there may be more to come in the near future. The concern is not centered around Eyjafjallajokull erupting again now or in the near future, the new concern surrounds Katla volcano. While some consider this concern unwarranted or alarmist, history often has a way of repeating itself, and Eyjafjallajokull and Katla have plenty history.
Geologists and geophysicists point out that the Earth like anything else operates on a system of cause and effect which is logical and proved time and again. One event can trigger or contribute to triggering another event in concert with other factors that may or may not seem related but still somehow tie in together. In the case of these Icelandic volcanoes, Eyjafjallajokull has served as the opening act or at the least a contributing trigger for Katla more than once.
The volcano Katla, if triggered, could pose a far more serious threat than anyone wants to consider right now. For starters, a Katla eruption it is believed would be as much as ten times stronger than what was just experienced with Eyjafjallajokull. That means stronger tremors and more lava of course, but also a much larger ash plume. Scientists do admit that the plume may not pose the same serious problems to Europe as Eyjafjallajokull did recently because the odds of the prevailing winds matching the same out of the norm flow pattern again are unlikely – but that does not mean this much larger plume would in any way be negligible.
The pair of volcanoes are only separated by approximately 12 miles above ground, but geologists believe that beneath the surface they are connected by a series of shared magma channels which is why they so often erupt in relative unison. Like Eyjafjallajokull, Katla is buried beneath a glacier called Myrdalsjokull which is among the largest in Iceland. Myrdalsjokull is estimated to be about 550 yards thick – or about 5.5 U.S. football fields for comparison. This is twice as thick as the glacier over Eyjafjallajokull was prior to the eruption.
Katla was inactive on Tuesday 4/20/10 according seismic readings, but that has been little comfort to scientists like geophysicist Pall Einarsson who have been observing Katla. He points out that the last three times Eyjafjallajokull erupted, Katla followed suit. To make matters a bit more edgy, Katla erupts about every 80 years on average, the last time being in 1918 following an Eyjafjallajokull eruption, so it is overdue to erupt again. While it is impossible to hold nature to a hard and fast predictable schedule, it is also hard to ignore historic patterns and show due concern.
While not everyone is taking the threat of a Katla eruption seriously, the residents of Vik are taking steps to prepare for an evacuation just in case the need arises. The residents of Vik estimate they have up to three hours to vacate the area should Katla erupt, but many towns would have somewhere in the area of only 20-30 minutes which is not terribly comforting. Still these locals say life must go on and they cannot live in fear of what might happen, and can do no better than be aware and prepared for the possibility of a Katla eruption and nothing more.
At this time there have been small tremors at Katla, but geologists and geophysicists believe these are not indicators of an eruption, but rather the after effects of Eyjafjallajokull that triggered glacial displacement and are slightly skewing sensors causing false positive readings. While there is no fear of an imminent threat from a Katla eruption as Katla could erupt tomorrow or hold off another 1, 5, or 20 years before becoming active again, all anyone is saying is that people need to be aware of the history of the two volcanoes and be prepared. It all goes back to that thing about an ounce of prevention and never underestimating the will of nature.
Source:
AP News
