Written by Editor-in-Chief emeritus

I have always been especially interested in Iceland and was lucky enough to travel to the country in 2018, I loved my time there and I was able to see the beauty of the country and get an insight into how the Icelandic people have managed the plethora of Tectonic Hazards that affect them daily.

Iceland is one of the few places in the world where the mid-Atlantic ridge is visible above sea-level. The ridge arises from the movement of the Eurasian and North American plate that are being pulled apart at a constructive divergent plate boundary. In addition to this Iceland is located on a hotspot in the Earth’s mantle, a vast plume of super-heated rising magma that is centred beneath the Vatnajökull ice sheet, located in the southeastern part of the country. The nature of this hotspot is heavily debated but the most popular and recent view finds that it is the result of a cylindrical plume that flows from a depth of 450km in the mantle. The combination of these two factors has meant that Iceland has 32 major volcanic systems, resulting in regular volcanic eruptions and the accompanying eruptions.

The risk of a natural hazard is evaluated by examining the potential harm that could be caused by a hazard to people, property and services. It is determined by the equation Risk = Hazard probability x Element of Risk x Vulnerability (the lack of an area’s capacity to cope with a particular hazard). Iceland has been commended by the United Nations Office for Disaster Reduction and is held up as a model of good practice for its planning and response to the many Hazards the country faces. The Icelandic government oversees both the preparation and response to natural hazards in Iceland. The government is so well co-ordinated that depending on the nature of the hazard, there are both nationwide and specific local plans in place, this comes to a total of 42 separate action plans.

As mentioned before there are 32 volcanic systems in Iceland making them the most significant hazard faced by the country. Volcanoes are particularity dangerous to assess (as a hazard) due to their varying and unpredictable eruption behaviours, risk assessments rely on past eruption data to construct models and scenarios for future eruptions, but as historical data is scarce future models become more and more speculative.

Ash fall, a prominent hazard during volcanic eruptions, although not directly lethal to humans, poses various risks including environmental damage, respiratory issues, skin and eye irritation, livestock poisoning, and the potential for triggering lahars by mixing with water bodies. Additionally, it can lead to substantial economic disruption on a global scale. This was illustrated by the Eyjafjallajökull eruption in 2010, where the disruptive effects of ash cost the airline industry $1.7 Billion and halted flights around the world. Furthermore, the economic costs of the eruption were not just confined to the global aviation industry but were felt locally. Infrastructure, such as the Icelandic Road network that the country is heavily reliant upon as well as Iceland’s electricity grid, were all damaged significantly by the falling ash, causing socioeconomic issues at both the local and national scale.

As you may have expected there are many significant challenges that accompany managing tectonic hazards in Iceland, one of the main challenges being the equipping and educating of Iceland’s residents on how to deal with volcanic eruptions. One crucial factor to consider in volcanic hazard management planning is the cohesiveness and role of local communities. Community co-operation is a great asset that can be used to manage the response to a hazard event more effectively, however, the growth of tourism complicates these local plans as often tourists aren’t considered or aren’t aware of evacuation plans.

However, information and education alone do not guarantee the desired behaviour when a natural hazard event occurs. Evidence from natural disasters, such as the 2004 Indonesian Tsunami suggests that the safety of tourists can be significantly improved by having trained tourism staff who can provide precise instruction during a hazard event.

Volcanic eruptions can also have unexpected and unreported effects that need to be taken into account when managing tectonic hazards. Following the 2010 Eyjafjallajökull eruption the Icelandic government found that 24% of those who had directly affected by the eruption through damage to property, the loss of income and livestock, had experienced stress related mental health difficulties. Thus, there are a whole host of challenges that come with managing Tectonic hazards from short term evacuation routes to long term mental health support to those worst affected.

Iceland’s south coast is characterised by vast areas of low-lying land which is home to many small communities that are often vulnerable to the effects of storm surges. This vulnerability arises from the very exposed nature of the south coast to the Inter Tropical Convergence Zone and the high spring tides that create the perfect conditions for storm surges. However, unlike Volcanoes and Jökulhlaups evacuation and communication plans are not in place as extensively as the rest of the country. These small, local communities only hear nationwide plans from the government that often don’t take their own needs into account. Furthermore, these communities have become further alienated from the rest of the country as the socio-economic dominance of Rekjavik and other settlements means that services like banks, hospitals and businesses have been centralised in these locations. This has led to an increased rate in the number of people, particularly younger residents who are drawn to larger settlements for study or work. While this has occurred, older retirees have moved into these smaller, coastal communities which has led to a decrease in the ability of these communities to manage the impacts and hazards of coastal surges.

Another significant hazard in Iceland is the occurrence of Jökulhlaups, which are glacial floods resulting from subglacial volcanic eruptions. Iceland experiences the highest number of these floods globally. Jökulhlaups happen when glaciers covering volcanoes melt, generating large volumes of meltwater that can rapidly flow from the peaks, leading to devastating consequences. Every historical eruption from Katla (one of Iceland’s largest volcanoes) has produced a Jökulhlaup, long posing the threat of flooding into the major valley of the Thorsmurk national park, as seen in the photos, which is a popular tourist hiking destination. A catastrophic Jökulhlaup could be more than 100,000 cumecs, for comparison that’s over half the Amazon’s annual discharge and could flood the whole Thorsmurk valley within 2 hours. The 2010 Eyjafjallajökull eruption produced numerous Jökulhlaups on the North and South side of the volcano that damaged the main ring road in the area. While Jökulhlaups aren’t as directly dangerous to human lives as volcanic eruptions they still are a significant hazard for the Icelandic government to deal with due to the damage they can cause to valuable infrastructure.

To conclude, the Icelandic government faces two major issues going forward, the first being they need to ensure that smaller, isolated communities are not left behind and left more vulnerable to hazards. And the second more pressing issue, being they how they sustainably manage the increasing issues of tourism, the government needs to way up the Risk or reward, balancing the rights levels of mitigation to make it liveable and keep it safe without limiting Tourism.