March 2024 - KEP Iceland trip

I'm recently back from a trip to Iceland with 50 students, which was rather good.

Góða ferð

We had a lot of highlights, including:

- The Lava Show down by the harbour (a new one for me) - where lava is poured into the room - melted from rock collected near Vik - models how lava behaves...

- Raufarholshellir - a lava tunnel which is almost 4km long and shows the layers in the sides as the lava drained from the tunnel and is currently full of ice pinnacles created during the winter - a look at some images from a group about a week later suggested they had mostly melted away.

- Grábrok - a row of craters from an eruption 3000 years ago - with a view towards a lovely snow capped peak called Baula - a new one for me

- Hraunfossar - a line of low waterfalls flowing out from a lava flow, with lovely blue colours to the water

Images: top to bottom

- Solheimajökull glacier

- Hraunfossar

- On the road in Thingvellir National Park

- Gullfoss detail

A Flickr album of over 450 photos is available here.

Of course, the main highlight was that the Reykjanes peninsula came back to life while we were there.

The eruption started on the Saturday night.

It is known as the Sundhnukagigar eruption.

More to come...

Iceland trip

After a successful previous trip to Iceland, we are heading back there next week with 50 students and 6 staff. We will be sharing images and other news before, during and after the trip.

Follow on #KEPIceland24 and @KingsElyGeog

We will be using Discover the World Education as our tour provider. They have provided the itinerary and the arrangements for the trip.

Iceland - a new volcanic era

"We just have to go with the flow.”

After centuries of peace, the Reykjanes peninsula has woken up with numerous earthquakes, ground inflation and several fissure eruptions - some lasting only a short time. Various management methods have been tried, but now the town of Grindavik has been evacuated. 

"How, then, is the country going to defend itself? How is it going to try and coexist with the temperamental beast that stirs below?"

For Dr. Robin Andrews, this is a new volcanic era and may require new adjustments. This is an excellent piece for Scientific American.

NEW: Iceland's Reykjanes Peninsula has entered a new volcanic era, featuring years, decades or even centuries of eruptions. How is the country supposed to react?

For @sciam, I looked into the options—from fighting against lava to moving entire towns.https://t.co/fuVQ6Y0gyD

— Dr Robin George Andrews 🌋☄️ (@SquigglyVolcano) February 13, 2024

As the piece says, airborne threats are also airborne:

Noxious volcanic gases may also be a problem—in particular, sulphur dioxide, which effuses from shallow magma. It can be an irritant at best and lethal at worst, especially if it pools in enclosed environments, such as basements, and displaces the oxygen there. Erupted metal pollutants can also leech into the environment, and fine particles in plumes can “penetrate deep into our airways,” says Evgenia Ilyinskaya, a volcanologist at the University of Leeds in England.