Throwback Thursday: Eyjafjallajökull

March 26th, 2010 looking west

Today, this image turns 10. You can see how red the sky is. That’s a result of the series of eruptions of the volcano Eyjafjallajökull in southern Iceland, which started on March 20th. The huge amount of volcanic ashed blasted in the sky during the eruptions forced the aviation to pause for a couple of weeks. The impact was worldwide in the northern hemisphere because of the enormous power of the eruption which brought the ashes to the upper layers of the atmosphere where it could be spread quickly by the jetstreams.

while prop airliners are quite resistant to these ashes, jet engines are at risk to get broken because of the ashes might melt inside the jet engine and dispose of the movable parts of the engine and glaze them over. When this happens the engine is broken and the plane is about to crash.

Btw. when looking at certain paintings by William Turner starting from around 1821 you can notice a very reddish sky. Now it seems, this wasn’t artificial freedom but reality affected by the series of eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull from 1821-1823.

Take care!

 

Throwback Thursday: apocalypse now?

2010, April 17th

This HDR image is a result of tone mapping 6 images taken with my DX camera.

The red sky is a result of the eruption of the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajökull on March, 20th. For several weeks the sky was polluted by volcanic ashes. No aviation was allowed during these weeks because of the ashes in the sky. The evening skies became more reddish than usual.

Take care!

smoke on the water

 

Here we have another hot spot: Krýsuvík-Seltún

Hot water is coming out of the ground. Lots of hot pools, fumaroles and a strange smell like rotten eggs.

These hot spots are part of the active volcano Krýsuvík. The thermal sources were used for producing heating energy, but the geo-thermal plant exploded a few years ago. Other geo-thermal plants are still in use and produce heating energy as well as electrical power.

I’d recommend strictly staying on the paths, when visiting this location or any other destinations in the high temperature areas.

Take care!

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coming deeper into the volcanic highlands

 

I have to admit, I never was on a volcano before. Thus, I was astonished, when I saw these structures and colors first.

The greens are tiny plants: lichen and moss. Although the green is so intense and seems wrong, it is real. The reds come from the minerals in the ashes. All these photos are taken around the volcano Hekla, the snowy mountain you can see in one of the photos in the background.

You can even drive uphill to one of the side crates and have a look inside the eruption crack. But, don’t ask for streets. You need a four-wheeled off-road vehicle to drive here. In on of my next posts you can see, how roads on Iceland look like. Also, be prepared to cross rivers with your car. Driving in the highlands isn’t easy and I was gland to have an experienced driver along.

Take care!

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I’m back ….

… from another island. This time I haven’t chosen an island in the sun. This time I went north, way north. This times destination was Iceland!
Iceland is a pretty nice island in the north of the Atlantic Ocean. A land with bright nights in the summer and extremely short days in the winter.
Iceland was found by the ancient vikings. They started settling the island in the 9th century, about 1.100 years ago.
The landscape in Iceland is very special. It is dominated by volcanos, glaciers and water. But in between there are beautiful sights.
Again, we were very lucky to get typical Icelandic whether most of the time and now I know, why the island is so green. Our temperature was between 6°C and 13°C (don’t forget, it’s middle of the summer!!!), often strong winds and lots of rain every single day. Our clothing, health and camera equipment was stressed to the limits. Luckily no gear was damaged, although it was sometimes hard to get good photos with lots of raindrops on the lenses or completely wet cameras. Nevertheless, it was a great experience with an extremely good and experienced driver and guide.
We visited volcanos and a high-temperature zone as well as rural areas and the capital Reykjavik, but we were also in the rough and unpaved highlands and visited some of the most impressive natural monuments. Stay tuned to see them too in a few weeks.
Last night I arrived home at 2.30 a.m. after being on the road for about 15 hours.
Stay tuned for my further posts on Iceland. Maybe you could consider subscribing my blog to get an email for every new published posts.

Take care!