Volcanoes in Finland. Eruption of the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajokull. Distribution of volcanic ash in Russia

Volcanoes frighten and attract people. They can sleep for centuries. An example is the recent history of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano. People cultivate fields on the slopes of the fiery mountains, conquer their peaks, and build houses. But sooner or later the fire-breathing mountain will wake up and bring destruction and troubles.

It is the sixth largest glacier in Iceland, located in the south 125 km east of Reykjavik. Beneath it and partly under the neighboring Myrdalsjökull glacier hides a conical volcano.

The height of the glacier's peak is 1666 meters, its area is about 100 km². The volcanic crater reaches a diameter of 4 km. Just five years ago, its slopes were covered with glaciers. Nearest locality- the village of Skougar, located in the south of the glacier. This is where the Skougau River originates, with famous waterfall Skógafoss.

Eyjafjallajokull - origin of the name

The name of the volcano comes from three Icelandic words that mean island, glacier and mountain. This is probably why it is so difficult to pronounce and difficult to remember. According to linguists, only a small part of the Earth's inhabitants can pronounce this name correctly - the Eyjafjallajokull volcano. The translation from Icelandic literally means “island of mountain glaciers.”

Volcano without a name

As such, the phrase “Eyjafjallajökull volcano” entered the world lexicon in 2010. This is funny, considering that in fact a fire-breathing mountain with that name does not exist in nature. Iceland has many glaciers and volcanoes. There are about thirty of the latter on the island. 125 kilometers from Reykjavik, in the south of Iceland, there is a fairly large glacier. It was he who shared his name with the Eyjafjallajokull volcano.

It is under it that there is a volcano, which for many centuries has not been given a name. He is nameless. In April 2010, he alarmed the whole of Europe, for some time becoming a global newsmaker. In order not to name it, the media suggested naming it after the glacier - Eyjafjallajokull. In order not to confuse our readers, we will call it the same.

Description

Eyjafjallajokull is a typical stratovolcano. In other words, its cone is formed by numerous layers of a solidified mixture of lava, ash, stones, etc.

The Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajokull has been active for 700 thousand years, but since 1823 it has been classified as dormant. This suggests that no eruptions have been recorded since the beginning of the 19th century. The condition of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano did not give scientists any particular cause for concern. They found that it has erupted several times over the past millennium. True, these manifestations of activity could be classified as calm - they did not pose a danger to people. As documents show, recent eruptions were not distinguished by large emissions of volcanic ash, lava and hot gases.

Irish volcano Eyjafjallajökull - the story of one eruption

As already mentioned, after the eruption in 1823 the volcano was considered dormant. At the end of 2009, seismic activity intensified there. Until March 2010, there were about a thousand tremors with a magnitude of 1-2 points. This disturbance occurred at a depth of about 10 km.

In February 2010, employees of the Icelandic Meteorological Institute, using GPS measurements, recorded a shift of the earth's crust by 3 cm to the southeast in the glacier area. Activity continued to increase and reached its maximum by March 3-5. At this time, up to three thousand tremors were recorded per day.

Waiting for the eruption

The authorities decided to evacuate 500 people from the danger zone around the volcano. local residents, fearing flooding of the area, which could cause intense covering of Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull volcano. Closed as a precaution international Airport Keflavik.

Since March 19, shaking has moved to the east of the northern crater. They were tapped at a depth of 4 - 7 km. Gradually, the activity spread further to the east, and shaking began to occur closer to the surface.

At 23:00 on April 13, Icelandic scientists recorded seismic activity in the central part of the volcano, to the west of two cracks that had formed. An hour later, a new eruption began in the south of the central caldera. A column of hot ash rose 8 km.

Another crack appeared, more than 2 kilometers long. The glacier began to actively melt, and its waters flowed both north and south, into populated areas. 700 people were urgently evacuated. Within a day, meltwater flooded motorway, the first destruction occurred. IN southern Iceland Falls of volcanic ash were recorded.

By April 16, the ash column reached 13 kilometers. This alarmed scientists. When ash rises above 11 kilometers above sea level, it penetrates the stratosphere and can be transported over long distances. Spreading ash in east direction contributed to a powerful anticyclone over the North Atlantic.

Last eruption

This happened on March 20, 2010. On this day, the last volcanic eruption in Iceland began. Eyjafjallajökull finally woke up at 23:30 GMT. A fault formed in the east of the glacier, the length of which was about 500 meters.

At this time, no large ash emissions were recorded. On April 14, the eruption intensified. It was then that powerful emissions of gigantic volumes of volcanic ash appeared. In this regard, the airspace over part of Europe was closed until April 20, 2010. Flights were limited sporadically in May 2010. Experts assessed the intensity of the eruption on the VEI scale at 4 points.

Dangerous Ash

It should be noted that there was nothing outstanding in the behavior of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano. After seismic activity that lasted several months, a rather calm volcanic eruption began in the glacier area on the night of March 20-21. This was not even mentioned in the press. Everything changed only on the night of April 13-14, when the eruption began to be accompanied by the release of a gigantic volume of volcanic ash, and its column reached enormous heights.

What caused the air transport collapse?

It is worth recalling that since March 20, 2010, an air transport collapse has loomed over the Old World. It was associated with a volcanic cloud that was created by the suddenly awakened Eyjafjallajokull volcano. It is unknown where this mountain, silent since the 19th century, gained strength, but gradually a huge cloud of ash, which began to form on April 14, covered Europe.

After the closure of airspace, more than three hundred airports across Europe were paralyzed. Volcanic ash also caused a lot of concern for Russian specialists. Hundreds of flights have been delayed or completely canceled in our country. Thousands of people, including Russians, expected an improvement in the situation at airports around the world.

And the cloud of volcanic ash seemed to be playing with people, changing its direction of movement every day and completely “not listening” to the opinions of experts who reassured desperate people that the eruption would not last long.

Icelandic weather service geophysicists told RIA Novosti on April 18 that they were unable to predict the duration of the eruption. Humanity prepared for a protracted “battle” with the volcano and began to count considerable losses.

Oddly enough, for Iceland itself, the awakening of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano did not have any serious consequences, except, perhaps, for the evacuation of the population and the temporary closure of one airport.

And for continental Europe, a huge column of volcanic ash became a real disaster, naturally, in the transport aspect. This was due to the fact that volcanic ash has physical properties that are extremely dangerous for aviation. If it hits an airplane turbine, it can stop the engine, which will undoubtedly lead to a terrible catastrophe.

The risk for aviation increases significantly due to large cluster volcanic ash in the air, which significantly reduces visibility. This is especially dangerous during landing. Volcanic ash can cause malfunctions in on-board electronics and radio equipment, on which flight safety largely depends.

Losses

The eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano brought losses to European tourism companies. They claim that their losses exceeded 2.3 billion dollars, and the damage that hit their pockets every day amounted to approximately 400 million dollars

The airlines' losses were officially estimated at $1.7 billion. Awakening fire mountain affected 29% of world aviation. Every day, more than a million passengers became hostage to the eruption.

The Russian Aeroflot also suffered. During the period of closure of air routes over Europe, the company did not complete 362 flights on time. Its losses amounted to millions of dollars.

Experts' opinions

Experts say the volcanic cloud does pose a serious threat to aircraft. When the plane hits it, the crew notes very poor visibility. On-board electronics work with great interruptions.

The formation of glassy “shirts” on the engine rotor blades and clogging of the holes that are used to supply air to the engine and other parts of the aircraft can cause their failure. Airship captains agree with this.

Volcano Katla

After the subsidence of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano, many scientists predicted an even more powerful eruption of another Icelandic fire mountain, Katla. It is much larger and more powerful than Eyjafjallajokull.

For the last two millennia, when people watched the eruptions of Eyjafjallajokull, Katla exploded after them at intervals of six months.

These volcanoes are located in the south of Iceland, eighteen kilometers apart. They are connected by a common underground system of magma channels. The Katla crater is located under the Mýrdalsjökull glacier. Its area is 700 sq. km, thickness - 500 meters. Scientists are confident that during its eruption, ash will fall into the atmosphere tens of times more than in 2010. But fortunately, despite the dire predictions of scientists, Katla is not yet showing signs of life.

In Iceland, the Eyjafjallajokull volcano has awakened after a 200-year hibernation. The eruption began on March 21, 2010 and was so powerful that the country declared a state of emergency and evacuated hundreds of residents of nearby settlements.
On April 14, a new eruption began, accompanied by the release of a huge amount of ash into the atmosphere. The next day, a dozen European countries were forced to completely or partially close their airspaces - in particular, flights were canceled at the airports of London, Copenhagen and Oslo.

Eyjafjallajokull means "Island of Mountain Glaciers". The volcano is located 200 kilometers east of Reykjavik between the Eyjafjallajokull and Myrdalsjokull glaciers. These are the largest ice caps in the south of the northern island country, covering active volcanoes.

The Eyjafjallajökull volcano is a cone-shaped glacier, the sixth largest in Iceland. The height of the volcano is 1666 meters. The diameter of the crater is 3-4 kilometers, the glacial cover is about 100 square kilometers.

Iceland lies on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, where volcanic eruptions occur quite often. This country contains almost all types of volcanoes found on Earth. Ice caps and other glaciers cover an area of 11,900 square kilometers.

Since many of Iceland's volcanoes are covered by glaciers, they are often flooded from below. The tongues of glaciers break from their places, releasing millions of tons of water and ice that destroy everything in their path.

It was out of these fears that Iceland took such serious security measures after the Eyjafjallajokull awakening in 2010. In particular, after its March eruption, traffic on nearby roads was stopped and residents were evacuated. Local authorities feared that volcanic lava would melt the glacier and cause severe flooding.

However, after research, experts came to the conclusion that the eruption does not pose a threat to local residents. A few days later, authorities allowed people to return to their homes.

Volcanologists were able to approach the crater at a distance of several meters and film the eruption; they saw that the crack from which the lava comes out is about 500 meters long. In addition, the filming was carried out from the air. Many were published on the popular video portal YouTube.

Icelandic scientists have been monitoring the volcano for a long time, tracking signs of seismic activity. In their opinion, the eruption may last about another year or even two. Last eruption Eyjafjallajokull was registered in 1821. Then it lasted until 1823 and caused a threatening melting of the glacier. In addition, due to the high content of fluorine compounds (fluorides) in its emissions, it created a threat to health, namely the bone structure of people and livestock.

If the current eruption continues for this long, the airspace over Europe will have to be closed and opened periodically, depending on the activity of the volcano, warns Professor Bill McGuire, an expert at the center for the study of natural disasters at University College London.

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In the spring of 2010, a volcanic eruption began in Iceland. A huge cloud of ash was released into the atmosphere, causing the airspace of much of the continent to be closed and many flights to be cancelled. Photos of the grandiose spectacle circulated in large numbers on the Internet, and the name of the volcano - Eyjafjallajokull (translated as “Island of Mountain Glaciers”) gave rise to many anecdotes (though mostly in printed form, it’s not so easy to pronounce this word).

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Photo of the spectacle

People all over the world admire the extraordinary spectacle - some live, some in the photo.

1. Lava erupts from the Eyjafjallajokull volcano amid lightning on April 17. (REUTERS/Lucas Jackson)

2. The volcano near the southern glacier Eyjafjallajokull sends ash into the air at sunset on April 16. Dense clouds of volcanic ash shrouded some parts rural areas Iceland, and an invisible plume of sand and dust covered Europe, “clearing” the skies of planes and forcing hundreds of thousands of people to rush to look for hotel rooms, train tickets and hire a taxi. (AP Photo/Brynjar Gauti)

3. A car drives along a road strewn with volcanic ash near Kirkjubaeyarklaustur. (AP Photo/Omar Oskarsson)

4. Chunks of ice from a glacier lie in front of an erupting volcano near Eyjafjallajokull on April 17. (REUTERS/Lucas Jackson)

5. An airplane flies past a column of smoke and ash from the Eyjafjallajokull volcano on April 17. (REUTERS/Lucas Jackson)

6. Eyjafjallajokull volcano in all its splendor. (AP Photo/Brynjar Gauti)

8. Ash and a column of dust and dirt erupts from the crater of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano. (AP Photo/Arnar Thorisson/Helicopter.is)

9. An ash plume stretches from the Eyjafjallajokull volcano to the south over northern part Atlantic Ocean. The image was taken from a satellite on April 17. A volcano in Iceland spewed another batch of ash and smoke on April 19, but the ash cloud that plunged airlines and tour operators across Europe into chaos fell to a height of 2 km. (REUTERS/NERC Satellite Receiving Station, Dundee University, Scotland)

10. Lava and lightning illuminate the crater of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano. (REUTERS/Lucas Jackson)

11. The first of three photographs taken by Olivier Vandeginste 25 km from the crater of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano on April 18. The photo was taken with a 15 second exposure. (Olivier Vandeginste)

12. Second photo by Olivier Vandeginste, taken 25 km from the Eyjafjallajokull volcano. In this 168-second exposure photo, the ash pillars are illuminated from within by numerous lightning bolts. (Olivier Vandeginste)

13. Third photo by Olivier Vandeginste. Lightning and hot lava illuminate parts of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano. The photo was taken with a 30-second exposure. (Olivier Vandeginste)

14. This natural-color satellite image shows lava fountains and flows, a volcanic plume and steam from evaporating snow. The image was taken on March 24 by the ALI instrument on board the Earth Observing-1 satellite. Lava fountains (orange-red) are practically invisible through the camera’s lens with a resolution of 10 meters. The cinder cone surrounding the fissure is black, as is the lava flowing to the northeast. White volcanic gases and lava rise from the fissure, and where the lava meets the snow, steam rises into the air. (The bright green stripe along the edge of the lava flow is a distortion from the sensor). (NASA's Earth Observatory/Robert Simmon)

15. Tourists gather to watch the Eyjafjallajokull volcano erupt with lava on March 27. On the morning of April 14, more than 800 people were evacuated in the area of the awakened volcano. (HALLDOR KOLBEINS/AFP/Getty Images)

16. People gathered to watch the lava flow of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano on March 27. (HALLDOR KOLBEINS/AFP/Getty Images)

18. Steam and hot gases rise above lava from the Eyjafjallajokull volcano on April 3. (Ulrich Latzenhofer / CC BY-SA)

19. A farmer took a photograph of the volcano shortly after it erupted. (Zuma Press).

20. Since many of Iceland's volcanoes are covered by glaciers, they often flood them from below. The tongues of glaciers break from their places, releasing millions of tons of water and ice that destroy everything in their path.

21. Photo of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano from space. It has three craters ranging in size from 200 to 500 meters in diameter.

A few more photos.

Jokes and anecdotes

Written in a mixture of Icelandic and Norwegian. “Put 30 billion Euros in the dumpster outside the Icelandic Embassy tonight, then we'll shut down the volcano! Don't call the police."

The mystery of the name

In response to Iceland's actions, Greenland begins to push into the ocean
icebergs.

New curse word: “Eyafjallajökull to you all over Europe!”

— Did you hear that Eyjafjallajökull has come to life?
“Are you sure it’s not Hvannadalsnukur?”
— Of course, Hvannadalsnukur is near Kaulvafellsstaður itself, and Eyjafjallajökull is closer to Vestmannaeyjar if you go towards Snæfellsjokull.
- Thank God, otherwise I have relatives in Brynholeskirkja!
If you read this dialogue out loud without hesitation, then you are an Icelander.

Tongue twister: “Eyafjallajökull ejaculated, ejaculated, but did not ejaculate.”

According to Mayan predictions, until all Europeans learn the word “Eyjafjaldayökull”, the volcano will not stop erupting. If you find it difficult to pronounce this, I suggest you remember the phrase: “Hey, I’m drunk, fuck off with it.”

You and I sat by the window, eating apple strudel. We both can't sleep anymore because Eyafjallajokull.

“Eyjafjallajokull” - whatever you call the boat, that’s how it will float.

The presenters of news programs are in quiet horror: according to rumors,
eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano may soon include
pyroclastic flows from the Mexican mountain Popocatepetl.

In the spring of 2010, the whole world watched violent eruption Icelandic volcano with the unusual and fabulous name Eyjafjallajokull. It has become one of the most powerful modern history humanity, scientists are still discussing the consequences of this natural phenomenon.

Iceland

This Island state often called the Ice Kingdom, it is located between Greenland and Norway in close proximity to the Arctic Circle. The bulk of Iceland lies on a volcanic plateau, so earthquakes and eruptions are common here. Despite geographical position, the climate in the region is by no means arctic, but moderately cool, with strong winds and high humidity.

Despite the harsh nature, very positive and friendly people live here. Icelandic hospitality is known throughout the world. Every year on these harsh edges Thousands of tourists come to see unique nature and, of course, see the most famous volcano in Iceland - Eyjafjallajokull. After 2010, the flow of people wishing to witness this wonder of the world with their own eyes has increased noticeably.

Historical reference

Iceland is located at the junction of two continental plates, the Eurasian and North American, and is considered the country with the most big amount geothermal springs, lava fields, ice and volcanoes. There are more than a hundred of them, and twenty-five are active. The most popular volcanoes among tourists are Laki and Hekla; they have almost a hundred craters and present a unique spectacle.

But in 2010, the whole world learned about another attraction of Iceland - the Eyjafjallajokull volcano. Photos of lava erupting from under the glacier spread all over the world news feeds; perhaps this event was not so popular in the media mass media, if not for the problems with air travel that arose in most of Europe.

Eyjafjallajökull is a stratovolcano whose cone is formed by layers of hardened lava and rock, remaining there after numerous eruptions. Officially, this is not a volcano, but a glacier, the sixth largest on the island, located 125 kilometers from the capital of Iceland, Reykjavik. The height of the peak is 1666 m, the area of the volcanic crater is 3-4 km, until 2010 it was hidden under a thick layer of ice. The previous eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano occurred from 1821 to 1823, and for two hundred years it was considered dormant.

Preceding circumstances

Almost a year before the main events, the glacier was already showing signs of high activity. In 2009, at a depth of seven kilometers, scientists noticed seismological tremors of 1-2 magnitude. They continued for several months, and even a shift of the cortex of 3 cm was recorded.

The activity of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano worried the authorities in the region, they took necessary measures to resettle local residents, and the nearest airport was closed. People were primarily afraid of flooding, since the glacier could begin to melt under the influence of the earth's heat.

Scientists have been monitoring activity in this area for a long time, so casualties were avoided. In total, more than 800 people left the disaster zone. After the investigation, the possibility of flooding was ruled out and some residents returned to their homes.

Chronicle of events

On March 20, 2010, in the late evening, the Eyjafjallajokull volcano began to erupt. Smoke and ash poured out from a fissure that appeared in the glacier; the first emissions were small and did not reach a height of more than one kilometer. After five days, activity decreased significantly. The reason was that melted water poured into the crater and partially extinguished the fire.

But on March 31, a new crack formed, and for several days lava flowed abundantly from two holes at once. As it turned out, this was just the beginning. On April 13, the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajokull was once again shaken by tremors, as a result of which a new crack appeared 2 km long, and a column of smoke rose to a height of eight kilometers. On the fifteenth and sixteenth of April, this figure was already 15 km, and volcanic ash reached the stratosphere, from where the substances are already spreading over long distances.

Closure of air traffic in Europe

The Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajokull will go down in 21st century history thanks to the massive consequences of its eruption. Due to its activity, air traffic in dozens of countries was suspended. Companies suffered losses, thousands of passengers huddled in airport terminals and in the homes of caring people.

Events in Iceland have had big influence to revise some laws and regulations governing air travel in such situations. Many companies said that the computer program that calculates the risks of flying in the ash zone is questionable, and they also accused the heads of European countries in deliberately exaggerating the problem and helplessness when making important decisions.

Consequences

In addition to economic damage, the Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland has caused serious environmental damage. In the first three days, about 140 million cubic meters of dust were released into the atmosphere. During an eruption, ash is thrown into the air along with particles of earth rocks. great amount suspended particles or aerosols. The danger of such a substance is that it quickly spreads over long distances and has a detrimental effect on the composition of the atmosphere, absorbing part of the solar radiation.

Although geophysicists and meteorologists did not support the general panic that flared up on the pages of some newspapers. According to scientists, the eruption of the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajökull was not so powerful that the emissions could somehow lead to climate change, or at most affect the weather. Thus, long and thick clouds were observed many thousands of kilometers from the island, even in Russia.

Ash Spread

The progress of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano eruption was recorded from space, and daily meteorological services forecast the movement of the dust cloud. In mid-April 2010, ash covered more than half of Europe and some regions of Russia. Officially, Roshydrometcenter has not confirmed the assumption that particles of dust and volcanic matter have reached the territory of our country. True, eyewitnesses claim that the ashes could be easily detected with a sheet of paper placed on the windowsill.

The ejected dust consisted of fine-grained, volatile tephra, some of which settled near the vent and on the glacier, but the bulk of which rose into the air. However, experts assured the public that the gases released into the atmosphere do not pose a serious threat to humans.

Only almost a month after the events began, the media of all countries reported that the Eyjafjallajokull volcano had finally ceased its activity. The 2010 eruption was remembered primarily not for its uniqueness, because similar things happen on earth all the time, but for the increased attention to this event in the news and newspapers.

The Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland, whose photos appeared on the covers of many publications seven years ago, has a special history. Such a complex name comes from combining three words at once, meaning mountain, glacier and island. And in fact, the name belongs to the glacier, under which the volcano was located for a long time. In connection with the events of 2010, linguists became interested in the origin and meaning of the toponym different countries trying to determine the exact meaning of the word.

After the hype surrounding the Eyjafjallajökull volcano eruption subsided, the scientific world started talking about another possible problem that could lead to much greater consequences. We are talking about Mount Katla, which is located just 12 km from the epicenter of the underground explosion in 2010. Research by geophysicists confirms that each previous activity of Eyjafjallajokull preceded the eruption of the much more powerful and destructive volcano Katla. Therefore, scientists have suggested that the events of seven years ago may turn out to be the beginning of a more grandiose catastrophe in the future.

There are still many places in this region where nature can bring surprises. So, several hundred kilometers away there is the only active volcano in Norway. Eyjafjallajökull and Berenberg (translated as “Bear Mountain”) are similar in structure and physical characteristics. The northernmost volcano in the world was also considered extinct for a long time, but in 1985 a strong eruption was recorded.

Reflection in culture

Today, the story of seven years ago on the distant island of Iceland has been somewhat forgotten, but at that time this event made a strong impression on many, because it is not every day that you can see a real volcano erupting live. Society reacted differently to the event. Videos appeared on the Internet in which people tried to pronounce the unusual name, and people wrote jokes on this topic.

National Geographic Channel filmed documentary, which tells about the events of the spring of 2010, and the plots of some feature films are connected with the Icelandic volcano, for example, the French film “Volcano of Passions” and some episodes of the American-made film “The Walter Mitty Story”.

Perhaps the sweetest note to the craze for the Icelandic natural phenomenon was brought by a native of this country, singer Elisa Geirsdottir Newman. She composed a playful song about Eyjafjallajökull, which helps people learn how to pronounce the exotic name correctly.

In the spring of 2010 in Iceland, after more than 200 years of hibernation, the volcano under the Eyjafjallajokull glacier became active. The volcano made its presence felt for the first time on March 20, but the “test” eruption did not lead to any serious consequences. On April 14, it began to erupt again and threw a huge amount of ash into the air, due to which air traffic over Europe had to be almost completely stopped.

The volcano under the Eyjafjallajokull glacier (Eyjafjallajokull, the correct pronunciation of this word can be heard) does not have its own name, so in the media it is usually called by the name of the glacier. He wakes up on average once every two hundred years. Over the last millennium, it entered an active phase 4 times, the last time between 1821 and 1823. The eruptions did not result in any particularly serious destruction, despite the fact that the volcano is located 200 kilometers from the capital of Iceland, Reykjavik. In the 19th century, eruptions were limited to ash emissions, which, however, were quite toxic due to the high fluorine content.

The fact that the Icelandic volcano will wake up this spring became known back in 2009, when seismologists recorded a large number of weak earthquakes with a magnitude of up to 3 in the vicinity of the glacier. At the beginning of March, more than three thousand earthquakes were already recorded on the Eyjafjallajokull glacier, which clearly indicated an impending eruption. On March 20, the volcano finally woke up and the first eruption began.

The power of the eruptions was relatively low: local travel companies They even began to organize helicopter trips to Eyjafjallajokull. However, about 500 farmers were evacuated from the vicinity of the glacier, and local and international flights in Iceland were suspended. By the evening of the next day, when it became known that the awakened volcano did not yet pose any danger, all emergency measures were canceled, and the evacuated citizens were allowed to return home a few more days later.

Scientists have monitored the volcano. Magma continued to flow from fissures in the glacier almost until the second major eruption, which occurred on April 14.

If the first signs of volcanic activity near Reykjavik in 200 years went virtually unnoticed, the second eruption affected the life of all of Europe. Firstly, it turned out to be about twenty times more powerful than the first. Secondly, magma began to erupt not from several faults in different parts of the glacier, but from one crater. The hot rock began to melt the glacier and caused minor flooding in local areas, from which authorities hastily evacuated about a thousand farmers.

Well, the main cause of concern was the huge amount of ash thrown into the atmosphere by the eruption. The ash cloud rose to a height of about 6-10 kilometers and spread to Great Britain, Denmark and the Scandinavian and Baltic countries. The appearance of ash was not long in coming in Russia - in the vicinity of St. Petersburg, Murmansk and a number of other cities. On the evening of April 15 it looked something like this.

Volcanic ash takes a very long time to settle (the cloud after the eruption of the Krakatoa volcano settled only after circling the Earth twice), and poses a great danger to aircraft. The Zhukovsky Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute notes that when ash particles enter engines, they form so-called glassy “shirts” on the rotor blades and can cause them to stop. Ash also impairs visibility, negatively affects the stability of radio communications and can damage on-board electronics. For safety reasons, flights in places where it accumulates are prohibited.

The decision to restrict aircraft traffic in Europe was made immediately after the scale of the eruption on the Eyjafjallajokull glacier became apparent. Already on the afternoon of April 15, all flights except emergency ones were canceled at London Heathrow. This was followed by cancellations and rescheduling of flights at other airports across Europe. France closed 24 airports; by Thursday evening, airports in Berlin and Hamburg were closed, and then in others German cities. As the cloud moved across Europe, more and more flight cancellations followed, including flights across Atlantic Ocean and even to Australia and New Zealand.

Limited air service in Minsk, the Russian Aeroflot canceled about 20 flights in European cities. Khrabrovo airport in Kaliningrad is completely closed to the reception and departure of aircraft; the same measures have been taken at airports bordering Kaliningrad region Lithuania. In total, about four thousand flights were canceled on Thursday; on Friday, this number could rise to 11 thousand.

Those affected by flight delays include thousands of tourists stranded at airports and many businessmen whose plans and business negotiations were disrupted. No exceptions were made even for top officials of states - Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin had to cancel his working trip to Murmansk and stay in Moscow.

Also in jeopardy is the visit of many heads of state to Poland for President Lech Kaczynski, scheduled for April 18. Air space Poland has been closed almost completely since early Friday morning, only Krakow airport is functioning (the Polish president will be buried in Krakow Castle), however, most flights there have been canceled or postponed indefinitely. However, there is no talk of postponing the date of the funeral of Kaczynski, who died in a plane crash near Smolensk.

The last time Europe and the world as a whole faced such a massive flight cancellation was in 2001, when planes hijacked by terrorists destroyed the Twin Towers in New York. For obvious reasons, there was much more panic then, as well as fears for the lives of passengers.

It is unclear when everything will return to normal in this case. On the one hand, airport representatives are trying not to create panic and promise to resume flights by the end of Friday or at least by Saturday; on the other hand, scientists warn that the ash will affect air traffic for several more weeks, or even months. According to preliminary data, the eruption will cost airlines about a billion dollars.

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