Impacts of the Eyjafjallajokull Volcano

This past week all major newspapers and broadcasting was overwhelmed with stories of the Eyjafjallajokull Volcano eruption in Iceland. Though most people only focused on this eruption because it halted travel plans. The eruption caused ash and smoke to fog up the skies thus halting all air travel in and around Iceland. What many reporters failed to acknowledge was the environmental impacts of this eruption. As well as what this eruption was telling us about global warming.

The first environmental impact this eruption could have is the prospect of acid rain. When the volcano erupted it spewed a massive amount of ash and smoke into the air. Though the Eyjafjallajokull Volcano is not an immediate threat right now, previous large-scale volcanoes have spewed gasses that have led to acid rain. Among the many gasses that spewed out of the volcano a few of the most dangerous ones included sulfur dioxide, carbon dioxide and hydrogen fluoride. Whenthese chemicals mix with the atmospheric clouds and rain they will fall to the ground in the form of acid rain. Acid rain can destroy vegetation, farmland, and harm human health. Furthermore, sulfur dioxide from previous large-scale volcano eruptions has shown signs of actually cooling the earth’s temperature. The cooling of the earth will greatly affect our weather as well as the ability for various plants and animals to prosper.

Also, the gasses that have been spewed into our atmosphere have the potential of thinning the ozone layer even more than it has been already. The potential of the thinning of the ozone layer will be even more harmful to us as people continue to spew our own Carbon Dioxide into the atmosphere.

As for the direct impacts right now the ash and particles are proving to be horrible for respiratory problems. People all over Europe are having trouble breathing and inhaling. Specifically those who already have respiratory problems such as asthma are experiencing irritation.

Should we have seen this coming? As early as December 2009 scientists detected small scale earthquakes near the surface of the volcano. These little earthquakes showed us that the plates under the volcano had been shifting and this should have been the first sign to scientists that an eruption was ensuing. Furthermore, last month the Volcano erupted on a smaller scale. After this eruption people were evacuated but no other initiatives were taken.