Final hazards report: Iceland

Over the past few months I've learned extensively about the natural hazards and disasters that Iceland faces each year. Subsidence, earthquakes, flooding, extreme weather, etc. are just a few of the natural hazards that affect the inhabitants of Iceland but for this final report we're going to focus on the one that bring the most devastation to Iceland: Volcanoes.

Iceland is a Nordic country located between the North Atlantic Ocean and the Arctic Ocean. It's located right on top of the Mid Atlantic Ridge which is the reason for so much of it's volcanic activity. Add to this a divergent tectonic plate boundary and it's location over a hot spot, an area thought to be fed by underlying mantle that is unusually hot compared with the surrounding mantle, and you have one of the most geologically active, volcanic areas on Earth. Right now, Iceland has 30 active volcanoes that are being continuously monitored. Also, as if Iceland didn't have enough reasons to have so much seismic and volcanic activity we now have to add global warming/climate change into the mix. As the ice caps are melting the country is seeing more volcanic activity than ever. As the surface of the earth rises from the release of ice, the rocks underneath move and transport heat, which creates situations that are ripe for eruptions.

As I covered in my volcano post in week 5, Iceland has nearly all known types of volcanoes and they are Iceland's biggest and most dangerous natural hazard. Small eruptions happen every 4-5 years in Iceland and they can be either an annoying bother to the inhabitants or catastrophic to all of Iceland and other countries. Lava flow from the eruptions doesn't carry much concern for many inhabitants as there aren't that many houses located at the foot of a volcano, but it's the tephra or pyroclast that spews into the atmosphere that can cause the most lasting effects. As we saw with Eyjafjallajökull, back in 2010, a volcanic eruption doesn't just affect the country where the eruption happens but can affect other countries too. There are also the numerous other hazards/disasters that a volcanic eruption can cause: earthquakes, which are caused by the flow of magma beneath the surface, and glacier flooding(jökulhlaups), which is caused by the melting ice from the lava flow. Volcanic activity brings with it a whole list of possible disasters and this is why Iceland monitors all activity so closely.

Risky area: 
The biggest worry for Iceland is an eruption of Katla which is located on the southern side of Iceland.  One of the fears with Eyjafjallajökull erupting in 2010 was that it could also set off Katla nearby. Katla is considered one of Iceland's most dangerous volcanoes. In the past 1,000 years, all three known eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull have triggered subsequent Katla eruptions, except the one in 2010. An eruption of Katla would be 50 times worse than the Eyjafjallajökull eruption. The flooding alone from an eruption of Katla would be mean more water than the Amazon and Nile rivers combined and flood damage to all the outlying areas near Katla would be devastating. Glacier flooding from Katla is estimated to reach the coast within 45 minutes. As you can see from the above map, that is quite a bit of area open to flood damage and that's not including all damage from the tephra the volcano would spew. Scientists and geologists watch Katla very closely. According to my research, Grimsvotn and Hekla would be the other two volcanoes to watch closely.  

Recommendations:
The Icelandic Meteorological Office continuously monitors volcanic activity through the South Iceland Lowland national seismic network and though GPS stations. Records are kept for every single day of the year. They take significant measures to monitor the seismic activity on the island. Even with this monitoring, volcanic eruptions can be different each time and predicting volcanoes is not an exact science. There is no certainty in volcanic activity. Understanding how they happen can be crucial to saving lives and reducing damage to infrastructure and other property but for now it's all about analyzing possibility after possibility of how events could unfold. 

Thankfully Iceland has many preventative measure in place to ensure the safety of it's inhabitants. Iceland has The Civil Protection Act, a document that outlines the different responsibilities of the state, regional, and municipal governments to ensure the safety of their citizens, property, and infrastructure. Due to this act they formed the Civil Protection and Emergency Management System, which is a department of the state government tasked with implementing measures to protect the well being and safety of the public and prevent them from harm. In addition to this, Iceland has 112 which is a 24-hour emergency call center that responds to absolutely all safety concerns imaginable. For tourist safety they have SafeTravel, which include travel guides, weather reports, and search and rescue information. They have safety guides and pamphlets for most volcanic zones in the country. Iceland has disaster precautions pretty much covered.

Unfortunately, it's difficult to make recommendations for mitigating volcano hazards when there are so many different ways the eruption can go and so until it happens you won't know what problems you will have to face. As far as recommendations I could make, I would just make sure that those that live closest to the eruption have easy access to water and breathing masks in case of an eruption. Tephra is the biggest concern after a volcano for those closest to it. It can build up to tens of centimeters depending on the type of eruption. Water supplies can be polluted if chemical compounds attach to the tephra’s surface and so it's very important that nearby inhabitants have access to clean water. Clean water plays an important role in the future of Iceland's population. The 1783 eruption of the Laki fissure caused catastrophic damage to crops and livestock which in turn caused a famine and lead to a 25% loss of Iceland's population following the event. I would also continue to work closely with the Icelandic Met office to ensure that we had the most up to date information regarding volcanic activity. Communication between all the government offices is vital to keeping the people of Iceland safe.


Where would I live:
I would live and build a house in Reykjavik. Being the biggest city in Iceland means easy access to the nation's response system in times of disaster. Reykjavik is relatively safe on the disaster scale despite the many hazards the country faces. Even though it's located near the ocean, the storms that hit usually don't cause catastrophic damage. Unlike many cities in the North, they aren't in danger of landslides. Glacier flooding is minimum although when it happens it affects the main highway. And even though Iceland on a whole is "isolated" Reykjavik is home to about 64% of the inhabitants of Iceland so there isn't much chance that I will find myself in danger and all alone like I would if I lived in one of the smaller towns, in another area of Iceland. The only worry I can see to living is Reykjavik is that, in past eruptions, lava has reached the outskirts of the city. I would definitely need to look at that when deciding on where in Reykjavik to build a house. 

Thanks so much for reading my blog this semester. I hope that you have learned as much about Iceland as I have. I'm headed to Iceland, for the first time, in October and it's been very exciting (and educational) to spend so much time reading about this country. I can only hope that none of these natural disasters happen while I am visiting:)

Jennifer  


Works cited
Thompson, Andrea. "How Did Iceland Form?". Livescience.com. 22 March 2010.  Web. http://www.livescience.com/8129-iceland-form.html

Andrea Thompson

Andrea Thompson

Andrea Thompson

Wikipedia contributors. "Hotspot (geology)". Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 13 May 2016. Web.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotspot_%28geology%29

Wikipedia contributors. "Geology of Iceland". Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 8 March 2016. Web. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:CiteThisPage&page=Geology_of_Iceland&id=709003963

Wikipedia contributors."Katla Volcano" Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 11 May 2016. Web. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katla_volcano

Fountain, Henry."Pressure, and Mystery, on the Rise". New York Times. 5 Jan, 2015. Web. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/06/science/predicting-what-a-volcano-may-or-may-not-do-is-as-tricky-as-it-is-crucial-as-iceland-well-knows.html?_r=0 

Goldberg, Suzanne. "Climate change is lifting Iceland". The Guardian. 30 Jan 2015. Web. http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jan/30/climate-change-lifting-iceland-volcanic-eruptions


Jang, Brittany. "Geography of Danger: Reykjavík". Prezi.com. 04 March 2016. Web. https://prezi.com/kcgeedes3fsv/geography-of-danger-reykjavik/

Civil Protection of Iceland. http://www.almannavarnir.is/displayer.asp?cat_id=357

Week 13: Coastal hazards in Iceland

Iceland, is a country surrounded by water making it especially vulnerable to coastal hazards. Not only do they have surge storms and coastal flooding from high waves but they also have glaciers and ice caps that are melting and causing a rise in sea levels.

Eustatic Sea Level: This refers to changes in the global sea level. The sea level and the climate are closely linked. As the climate warms the glaciers and ice caps have begun to melt. Sea level has been rising about 1 to 2 millimeters per year due to the reduction in volume of ice caps, ice fields, and mountain glaciers in addition to the thermal expansion of ocean water. For Iceland this will be a huge problem in years to come in regards to coastal flooding. In Iceland, about 11 percent of the island is covered by glaciers (mostly ice caps). If warming continues, Iceland's glaciers will decrease by 40 percent by 2100 and virtually disappear by 2200.
The threat of coastal flooding is especially high in the SW area of Iceland as that area is subsiding and therefore more vulnerable to rising sea levels. 

Storm surges: Iceland is frequently hit by big storms, especially in the winter months. In the past Iceland has been hit with storm surges and extreme waves that have caused extensive damage along the coastal areas. The most extensive damage has occurred at low lying areas and in less protected harbors along the south and west coast of the country. which are most exposed to surges and extreme weather conditions. Luckily,in Iceland, many coastal areas are made of solid rock which reduces the coastal erosion. Damage to roads and structures are the concern when it comes to large waves and storm systems. 


Risk management: Since 2008 the Icelandic meteorological Office is responsible for risk assessment of natural hazards, including coastal floods. Residents rely on the storm surge warnings from the Icelandic Meteorological Office(IMO) and Icelandic Civil Protection and Emergency Management (ICP). There are a number of preventative measures that can be taken. Sea level rise should be accounted for in urban planning and coastal structures.Severe coastal floods occur in this area on average every 11 years. Levees and piers have been put up in various places, but these do not provide protection against serious floods. The probability of flooding should be assessed. Some kind of defense should be built in the south side of the island, near Reykjavik, to counter the subsidence in that area. Evacuation and emergency plans for the South Iceland coast community is needed and appropriate hazard education taught to the inhabitants.

thanks for reading, 

Jennifer 

Week 10: Extreme weather of Iceland

Iceland sits near the border of both cold and warm ocean currents. The North Atlantic Drift passes to the south on it's course northeastwards while the cold East Greenland Current flows in the southern and southeastern area off the east coast of Iceland. These conditions influence weather and climate considerably, especially along the coasts. Iceland enjoys a much milder climate than its name and location adjacent to the Arctic circle would imply. A branch of the Gulf Stream flows along the southern and the western coast greatly moderating the climate.

Aerial view of dust storm on coast

The weather in Iceland is very changeable and is mostly influenced by the atmospheric depressions crossing the North Atlantic, the so-called "Iceland-lows". The passage of a depression some distance south of Iceland causes relatively cold and dry weather, especially in southern districts, while one passing north-eastward between Iceland and Greenland brings relatively mild and dry weather, especially in the north. 

Let's take a look at some of the extreme weather that Iceland experiences:

Drought: Droughts are defined by lower than expected rainfall or higher than expected evaporation during a period of time. Drought in Iceland is not really a concern they face often due to their high rainfall and large snowfall every year. In 2012 they did experience a lower than usual rainfall and drought concerns were brought up but the rivers never got low due to the late winter snowfall they got.  Iceland is also not affected by drought often because the cool air temperature reduces evaporation.

Wildfires:Iceland does experience wildfires but they are usually small and don't happen with the regularity that we here in the U.S. see every season. In Iceland, wildfire during the summer months is a relatively recent development. This fits well with increased biomassdue to global warming, denser summerhouse populations, and less grazing. Their numbers are much less though than other countries.  Data pulled over a 6 year period show only 10 wildfires over 1 hectoacre while California alone had at least 11 fires that large over the course of one year. (1)

Thunderstorms: Rare in Iceland. usually they experience less than 5 a year and usually they happen in late summer. (2)

Tornadoes: As stated in our textbook "with the exception of Bangladesh, violent tornadoes (EF4 or EF5) are rare or nonexistent outside of the United States and Canada.(Keller) Iceland does not have tornadoes, at least not the kind of tornadoes we are familiar with. Back in 2014 though they did have a toxic tornado, north of the Bardarbunga volcano, in the Holuhraun lava field that was captured with a special infrared camera. This phenomenon had not been seen before. Here is a link to the story: http://www.livescience.com/47742-volcano-tornado-iceland-eruption-holuhraun.html

Snow storm conditions. Southern Iceland.

The biggest hazard that Iceland faces when it comes to extreme weather though is their winter weather. 

Blizzards and ice storms: Even though the climate of Iceland is cold oceanic (Köppen classification) near the southern coastal area and tundra inland in the highlands their winters are considered mild for the most part. I think I have a different idea of "mild climate" though than some people. In the first 70 days of 2015, Iceland was pummeled by 53 storms – with winds in excess of 72km an hour. Powerful storms are common near Iceland and Greenland during the winter, aided by the wintertime jet stream and the contrast between the relatively mild Gulf Stream ocean current and chillier waters to the north.  This past December they experienced one of the worst storms in the past 25 years with winds up to 160 mph in some areas when a "severe polar low hit the island, bringing with it rain, snow and massive wind gusts". (3) This storm caused the closure of schools, roads, and businesses. Inhabitants were advised to stay inside after 12pm in Southern Iceland and 5pm in other areas of Iceland. Flights and public transportation was canceled. Thankfully no one was seriously injured and most of the damage was to property only. The Civil Protection Agency credits the heeding of their warnings for saving many people from injury.(3)

This video was taken in December 2014 during a snow storm in Iceland. Having lived my life either in Arizona or California this amount of wind and snow is unbelievable to me.  

Photo credit:
1.http://eoimages.gsfc.nasa.gov/images/imagerecords/57000/57692/Iceland.A2002028.1310.500m.jpg

Works cited:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_California_wildfires
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_of_Iceland 
3. https://weather.com/news/weather/news/iceland-storm-worst-weather-25-years

 Keller, Edward and Duane DeVecchio. Natural Hazards. New Jersey: Prentice, 2012. Print.


Thanks, as always, for reading:)

Jennifer 

Week 8: Mass Wasting aka Landslides and Avalanches

This week we're discussing Mass Wasting. Mass Wasting is any downslope movement of earth material. In its more restricted sense, mass wasting refers to any rapid downslope movement of rock or soil. (Keller 210). Most of us know mass wasting by it's common name of landslide or when there is snow involved, avalanche. They range from a single boulder in a rock fall or a large mass of material in a debris flow. They can be triggered by natural events like earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and flooding, but gravity is the driving force. They can also be triggered by human activity such as mining and construction of road or buildings.

Iceland has both landslides and avalanches due to the geological landscape of the country. With it's abundance of volcanoes and glaciers along with winters that produce huge volumes of snow it's only natural that these would be a recurring hazard for the people of Iceland. I couldn't find much detailed information about landslides with regards to Iceland. There are sites that state they do occur frequently but I couldn't find any actual statistics and much of the information is in Icelandic so I was unable to read it. For the most part I found that avalanches, because of the amount of snow they get each winter, are a much bigger concern for Iceland.

Landslides in Iceland:
One recent landslide in Iceland though made the news. In 2014 a landslide in the Askja caldera occurred. Volcanoes are prone to landslides because they are constructed of loose piles of volcanic debris and lava flows on relatively steep slopes.  In this particular landslide the debris flow was so massive that it actually triggered tsunami like waves in the lake of the caldera. Some reports from early information suggest it might be 50-60 million cubic meters of material that moved and the tsunami inside the caldera is estimated to have been 73 meters high. Luckily this caldera is located in a remote part of Iceland and so there were no communities affected by this tsunami. It was though, one of the largest known landslides since the settlement of Iceland.

Askja before

Askja after landslide

Avalanches in Iceland
Avalanches are similar to landslides except that they involve the flow of snow rather than rocks and soil although they have the capability to include ice, rocks, trees, and other material if the avalanche is powerful enough. Avalanches are most common during winter or spring but glacier movements may cause ice and snow avalanches at any time of year. In mountainous terrain, avalanches are among the most serious natural hazard to life and property, with their destructive capability resulting from their potential to carry enormous masses of snow at high speeds (Wikipedia). Snow avalanches and landslides have caused both death and injury and done great damage to infrastructure and property in Iceland. In 1995 two separate avalanches, one in Flateyri and one in Sudavik caused 34 deaths between the two catastrophic events and as a consequence, Iceland's pre-existing snow avalanche and landslide regulations were completely revised. Previously these two villages had been thought safe from an avalanche hazard and so after the avalanches they had to revise their methods of research for avalanche hazard assessment. The Icelandic Meteorological Office is responsible for avalanche warnings and hazard zoning and advices the government on avalanche protective measures. The office employs snow observers in the the most important villages in avalanche-prone areas and maintains a database for avalanches. 

You can get up to date information and danger level of different areas of Iceland from this page: http://en.vedur.is/avalanches/forecast/

They even have this cool avalanche map viewer: http://en.ofanflodakortasja.vedur.is/ofanflod/

One interesting item I came across in my avalanche research had to do with the village of Flateyri. After the devastating avalanche of 1995 they built a special A-shaped earthen dam in 1998 that was built up the mountain to deflect future avalanches. It was put to the test shortly after it was completed and it worked! 

 
In February of 1999, only one year after the dams were completed, a large avalanche from Skollahvilft came crashing down into the eastern side of the dam and the avalanche went into the sea. The next winter, in March, another huge avalanche from the mountain called Innra-Bæjargil slammed into the western and the village was protected again.


Photo credit:
1.Askja landslide: http://en.vedur.is/avalanches/articles/nr/2929 
2.Flateyri protection dam: http://www.amusingplanet.com/2016/01/the-avalanche-protection-wall-of.html
3. Snow covered Flateyri: http://i.imgur.com/U6crt1E.jpg
 

Works cited:

Keller, Edward and Duane DeVecchio. Natural Hazards. New Jersey: Prentice, 2012. Print.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avalanche

Thanks for reading!

Jennifer