People have always compared an erupting volcano to a person slowly getting angry.  At first, the person is calm and everything seems to be alright.  Then, for one reason or another, some sort of bad news hits or somebody else says the wrong thing.  The person then begins to flush and his blood begins to boil.  Then, when the person could not contain himself any longer, he explodes into a wild burst of anger.  Volcanoes are commonly perceived to erupt in much the same way.

Volcano Eruption

Volcanoes are in the news once again recently, as an Icelandic volcano under the Eyjafjallajokull glacier erupted last April 14.  This event did not come as a complete surprise to those who were monitoring the volcano, as there had been an increase in volcanic and seismic activity in the area since December 2009.  During that time, thousands of small earthquakes were happening in the area.  Nearly 3,000 earthquakes were recorded by early March and magma was beginning to pour out to the surface.  An eruption occurred in March 20, but this was a somewhat silent eruption compared to what happened a few weeks later, as it came from a fissure vent instead of underneath the glacier.

The second eruption had been widely publicized due to the massive amount of volcanic ash that spewed out of the volcano, causing flights to be cancelled for a number of days all across northwestern Europe.  This resulted to countless stranded travelers all over the world for six days since April 15.

Like when people lose their tempers, volcanic eruptions do not happen as abruptly as we think.  (more…)