Are you curious about Icelandic volcanoes? Thanks to a new website, just launched, your curiosity will now be satisfied. The idea for the Catalogue of Icelandic Volcanoes was born when volcanologist Evgenia Ilyinskaya was stuck in Iceland during the 2010 Eyjafjallajökull eruption, RÚV reports. “The conception occurred during the eruption,” Evgenia jokingly remarked.
The Catalogue, which is in English, is an interactive web-based tool and includes information about Iceland’s 32 volcanic systems. It offers a wealth of information about the volcanoes, such as the frequency of eruptions, activity status, lava fields, seismic activity, and photos and descriptions of every volcano.
The Catalogue is an ongoing project. “If a new eruption occurs, or if we learn something new about the new volcano, then all of that [information] will be entered,” Evgenia stated.
During a visit to Iceland in 2010, when Evgenia was a doctoral student in the UK, she was stuck in Iceland for a while due to the Eyjafjallajökull eruption, which disrupted international flights.
As a result, Evgenia began working with the staff of the Icelandic Met Office on research related to the eruption. She was also introduced to University of Iceland’s Institute of Earth Sciences, and was subsequently offered a job as a result of the cooperation. She has been working on the website since 2010.
The Catalogue of Icelandic Volcanoes is a collaboration of the Icelandic Met Office, the Institute of Earth Sciences at the University of Iceland, and the Civil Protection Department of the National Commissioner of the Icelandic Police.
