The Grímsvötn Volcano

Grímsvötn is a subglacial volcano located in Iceland and within the Arctic Ocean. The volcano itself remains beneath the Vatnajökull glacier. The Grímsvötn volcano includes a variety of aspects, such as the characteristics of subglacial volcanoes, phreatomagmatic eruptions, seismic activity, past eruptions, various types of damage, and rescue and aid for the locals and environment.

Subglacial volcanoes, also known as glaciovolcanoes, are formed when an eruption occurs beneath the surface of a glacier. The heat of the lava melts near ice and the water then cools the lava, forming a bulbous, pillow shaped mound of rock. Thus resulting in an ice-covered volcano that has explosive eruptions that accounts as glaciovolcanism. According to the Antarctic

This type of eruption is driven by thermal contraction where the temperature difference between the two results in violent water-lava interactions. The eruption usually has bursts of tremors, geothermal activity, mushroom cloud formation, and a large amount of ash. These tremors can result in earthquakes and geothermal activity refers to the melting of the ice. When the volcano erupts, a mushroom cloud can be formed from 30 km wide and 15 km high. In addition, ash is formed by the magma and glacial ice. This formation is due to the ice quickly cooling down the magma and then crushing it into tiny fragments of rock, which thus causes huge clouds of

According to the World Bank, Iceland had a population of 323,002 in 2013 and 1,736 citizens are within a 100 km range from Grímsvötn. During the 2011 eruption, the State Road Authority closed a major road (the Skeidarársandur flood pain) due to the threat of outwash. This road was important in terms of connecting major towns along the Icelandic coastline, which led to the inability of transportation during that time. In addition, the ash created from the eruption and plumes impacted the locals and the environment. In this case, the ash resulted in extensive crop damage and livestock losses that caused a famine, which lost one-fifth of the population of Iceland. In reference to IBTimes, the excessive amounts of ash in the air also intensified asthma and lung diseases in local citizens. In addition, the glacial outburst floods (jökulhlaups) caused damage to infrastructure, citizens, and the land. Since these floods can occur suddenly and release large volumes of water and ice, it’s a hazard to citizens in regard to drowning or being swept away. Also, infrastructure can be damaged and the land may be altered through modification, erosion, and/or