Erupting Volcano in Iceland Spewed 3 Times as Much Toxic Gas as All of Europe

How many toxins do volcanoes spew into the air? Scientists have taken a closer look at a volcanic eruption that occurred in Iceland and have found that the eruption emitted on average three times as much of a toxic gas as all European industry combined.

The volcano in this case was calledthe Baroarbunga volcano, which was the biggest one to have occurred in Iceland for more than 200 years. Occurring last year, the eruption released a river of lava across northern Iceland, and lasted for six months.

In this latest study, the researchers used data from satellite sensors to map sulphur dioxide pollution from the eruption. These were reproduced by computer simulations of the spreading gas cloud.

Sulphur dioxide isn't only given off by volcanoes. It's also given off by burning fossil fuels and industrial processes such as smelting. With that said, human-made sulphur dioxide production has been falling since 1990, and was recorded at 12,000 tons per day in 2010.

"This eruption produced lava instead of ash, and so it didn't impact on flights-but it did affect air quality," said John Stevenson, one of the researchers, in a news release. "These results help scientists predict where pollution from future eruptions will spread."

In fact, discharge from the volcano released a huge mass of up to 120,000 tons per day of sulphur dioxide gas, which can cause acid rain and respiratory problems.

"The eruption discharged lava at a rate of more than 200 cubic meters per second, which is equivalent to filling five Olympic-sized swimming pools in a minute," said Anja Schmidt, one of the researchers. "Six months later, when the eruption ended, it had produced enough lava to cover an area the size of Manhattan. In the study, we were concerned with the quantity of sulphur dioxide emissions, with numbers that are equally astonishing: In the beginning, the eruption emitted about eight times more sulphur dioxide per day than is emitted from all human-made sources in Europe per day."

The findings reveal a bit more about this eruption, which may help researchers calculate the pollution from future eruptions.

The findings are published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres

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