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There’s an Eruption in Iceland — Again
There being vulcanism in Iceland is almost not news. But every so often it becomes news.
In 2010, a volcano named Eyjafjallajökull hit the news big time…the eruptions disrupted air travel across western and northern Europe, ruined multiple people’s trips and cost about $1.7 million in lost revenue. It caused permanent changes in how airlines assess risk from volcanic ash and clouds.
The current eruption in Iceland, though, is of a very different type.
Where is the Eruption?
The eruption is happening on the Reykjanes peninsular at Fagradalsfjall near Geldingadalir. This is the first time in several hundred years.
Reykjanes is a peninsula that sticks out from the southwest corner of Iceland and is not far from Reykjavik.
Despite that, Reykjanes is sparsely populated due to the fact that it’s…a giant lava field. The airport is there because when the U.S. wanted to build a base in Iceland, the Icelandic people gave us cheap, useless land that was far enough from Reykjavik to help keep soldiers from doing what soldiers do. This later became Iceland’s main civilian airport (landing there is interesting because the runway was made to hold military transports and even large airliners are dwarfed by it).