Lacey's Geography 361 Blog: Iceland Volcanos Being Watched

The volcano Grimsvotn in Iceland is under an alert right now. The glacial ice on the volcano is melting, which may cause an eruption or at the very least the threat of lahars. Also an earthquake occured on the volcano Katla in Iceland. It was a magnitude 3 and there is concern that that quake could trigger more quakes or an eruption. The reasoning behid why these volcanoes may erupt is very plausible. Katla has not had a major eruption since 1819 with a small glacial eruption in 1955 and some volcanic activity in 1999. On the other hand, Grimsvotn is a very active volcano, erupting on average once a decade. So Katla is overdue for an eruption while Grimsvotn experiences them frequently, with the last on being in 2004. Scientists have been following Katla's activity to watch for signs of a major eruption, which is expected in the near future. I believe alot of the new coverage and fear for these volcanoes erupting stems from the newly percieved threat of volcanic eruption in Iceland since April with the eruption of Eyjafjallajokull. Not to say that the percieved view of those in Iceland has changed a lot becuase they are used to volcanos, but the world is more focused on volcanic activity in Iceland since that major eruption.