RAPID: Environmental and Social Impacts of the 2010 Eyjafjallajokull Eruption

Cuny Graduate School University Center, New York NY

Investigators

Abstract

This project will use the once-in-a-generation opportunity provided by the 2010 eruption of Eyjafjallajökull (Ey 2010) to create a new model of volcanic ash layer formation within the geological record, and evaluate the ash-fall?s social and environmental impact. This could potentially transform our understanding of the environmental data preserved within volcanic ash layers, refine our knowledge of past eruptions and enhance our understanding of their impacts on society and landscape. In order to achieve this goal this project it is necessary to rapidly gather a suitable multinational (US-Icelandic-UK) interdisciplinary team of researchers, hold a workshop to establish appropriate and meaningful collaborations between both the academic and local community and establish a rigorous sampling protocol that can be carried out over the next 3-5 years. The Ey 2010 eruption presents a unusual opportunity to understand more about thresholds of change related to volcanic ash-fall; under what circumstances do tipping points occur in relation to vegetation, geomorphology and land-use change? How does weather, vegetation, topography, land use affect the transformation of the ash layer? What is the effect of deposition over snow? When do volcanic ash layers remain the same, acquire or lose mass? What governs the timing of ash stabilisation and redistribution across landscape? If the ways in which volcanic ash layers become transformed are better understood then this could achieve four important goals: 1) we will be able to know more about the nature of the landscape onto which the ash fell and 2) the post depositional environmental processes operating on it; 3) we will be able to have a better idea of the nature of the initial ash fall and so 4) be able to better reconstruct the initial eruption. In the aftermath of the 2010 eruption the social and environmental impacts can be tracked in detail as they happen and it will be possible to discuss unfolding events and their consequences with the affected community. How does volcanic ash affect vegetation, water quality and drainage? What are the impacts on livestock? How does the ash-fall affect grazing, soil erosion and soil fertility? Where the ash was cleared, how was this done? What other impacts (negative and positive) has the eruption caused and how does this affect the viability of farming and other rural activities?