A short meteorological overview of the Eyjafjallajökull eruption 14 April–23 May 2010

• Published in: Weather
• Main Author: Petersen, Guðrún Nína
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2010
• Subjects: Eyjafjallajökull; Iceland
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/wea.634; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1002%2Fwea.634; https://rmets.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/wea.634

Abstract On 14 April 2010 a subglacial explosive eruption started Eyjafjallajökull, situated on the southcentral coast of Iceland. This was a medium‐size eruption but due to the explosive nature and the prevailing winds during that first week, the ash was advected southeastward into the crowded air space of the UK and continental Europe. This caused major disruptions of air traffic. Volcanic eruptions are not uncommon in Iceland but the Eyjafjallajökull eruption has shown different characteristics than usually expected. Instead of peaking during the first few days and then gradually decreasing, the eruption had an explosive phase 14–17 April with mainly tephra and ash production, and a phase of mainly lava production 18–30 April before becoming explosive again. This meant that a continuous reevaluation of the strength of the eruption and the production of tephra and ash was necessary. Because the winds carried the ash a short distance overland, only a small part of Iceland, about 3%, was badly affected by ash fall. However, the rural community in the vicinity of the volcano that experienced the worst ash fall is also facing problems with drifting ash. The purpose of the article is to give a short overview of the eruption, in a meteorological sense, during the period 14 April–23 May 2010. Copyright © 2010 Royal Meteorological Society