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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/oct/13/nature-volcanic-island-surtsey-iceland-ecosystems-aoe>
"The crew of the
Ísleifur II had just finished casting their nets off the
coast of southern Iceland when they realised something was wrong. In the early
morning gloom in November 1963, a dark mass filled the sky over the Atlantic
Ocean. They rushed to the radio, thinking that another fishing vessel was
burning at sea, but no boats in the area were in distress.
Then, their trawler began to drift unexpectedly, unnerving the crew further.
The cook scrambled to wake the captain, thinking they were being pulled into a
whirlpool. Finally, through binoculars, they spotted columns of ash bursting
from the water and realised what was going on: a volcano was erupting in the
ocean below.
By the time the sun had risen, dark ash filled the sky and a ridge was forming
just below the surface of the water. By the next morning, it was 10 metres
high. A day later, it was 40 metres. An island was being born.
Two months later, the rock was more than a kilometre long and 174 metres high
at its peak. It was named Surtsey after the fire giant Surtr from Norse
mythology.
Islanders and fishers from the nearby Vestmannaeyjar archipelago watched as
lightning struck the volcanic eruption, which waxed and waned in its intensity,
lighting up the winter half light. It would be two years before it stopped
erupting completely.
“It is very rare to have an eruption where an island forms and is long lasting.
It happens once every 3,000 to 5,000 years in this area,” says Olga Kolbrún
Vilmundardóttir, a geographer with the Natural Science Institute of Iceland.
Those that do form are often quickly washed away by the ocean, she says.
The emergence of Surtsey presented researchers with a precious scientific
opportunity. They could observe how life colonises and spreads on an island
away from the human interference that has overtaken much of the Earth."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
