This article is about Iceland's volcanoes and goes to describe a little about the environment effected by these volcanoes and its air pollution. In 2010, one of the volcanoes in iceland, known as Eyjafjallajökull, erupted a large cloud of ash over Europe as some of you may remember. This ash cloud was so large and potentially hazardous to the airways, that United Airlines and other airplane companies were forced to shut down their European travel lines for a few days, and lost thousand of millions of dollars in the process, even though it was for a short period of time. In the process, it severely polluted the air, and for days (maybe even months) smog from the volcano hovered over the region. This year, another one of Iceland's most active volcanoes, known as Grimsvotn, is up to the same tricks as the previous volcano, but to a lesser effect. A majority of air traffic is not anticipating to be stopped in any way from these slight eruptions of smoke/ash. Only some airlines canceled flights, to areas of Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Scandinavia; where the ash/smoke is estimated (and has) drifted towards. It's estimated that up to a quarter million of Iceland's population, has died as a result from their volcanoes (roughly about 500), either from noxious clouds of gas or acidic vapor, or even lava when they have fully erupted (on rare occasion.) The weather is always effected to a degree from surrounding volcanoes, but after the ash cloud eruption from Eyjafjallajökul, weather patterns around the globe were adversely effected. There were crop failures, water shortages, and famine in places as far away as Japan. Ash not only scatters in the air, but also collects on the ground, making it difficult to drive and navigate through and coating homes and people alive. Reminds me almost of Pompei! The only nice thing about the Ash scattering is, rather than falling all over Iceland and other areas for long periods of time like with the previous volcano, the ash from this one is falling relatively quickly, and closer to the point of origin. Overall, this ash cloud that has formed is expected not to be nearly as colossal (in terms of size AND impact) as last year's, which is much safer for our environment, ourselves, and a surely a heck of a lot better for the airlines that depend on money from flights every single day. SO, my questions for you are...1. What do you think caused the volcano to erupt? What are usual signs of triggers that something is going to happen?
2. How do you suppose residents clean up and deal with the ash? List some methods and ideas.
3. If this volcano is supposedly more active than the previous one, why does it not produce an ash cloud as large or dangerous do you suppose? Use scientific ideas/examples to back up your response.
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