Island on FireLaki is Iceland’s largest volcano. Its eruption in 1783 is one of history’s great, untold natural disasters. Spewing out sun-blocking ash and then a poisonous fog for eight long months, the effects of the eruption lingered across the world for years. It caused the deaths of people as far away as the Nile and created catastrophic conditions throughout Europe.Island on Fire is the story not only of a single eruption but the people whose lives it changed, the dawn of modern volcanology, as well as the history—and potential—of other super-volcanoes like Laki around the world. And perhaps most pertinently, in the wake of the eruption of another Icelandic volcano, Eyjafjallajökull, which closed European air space in 2010, acclaimed science writers Witze and Kanipe look at what might transpire should Laki erupt again in our lifetime. |
Contents
The volcanoes of Iceland | |
The worlds hotspots | |
The poisoning of Iceland | |
Europes year of wonders | |
Lakis global fallout | |
Life in the mountains shadow | |
The many ways eruptions can kill | |
How worried should we | |
Return to Heimaey | |
Photo Credits | |
Other editions - View all
Island on Fire: The Extraordinary Story of Laki, the Volcano That Turned ... Alexandra Witze,Jeff Kanipe No preview available - 2017 |
Island on Fire: The extraordinary story of Laki, the volcano that turned ... Alexandra Witze,Jeff Kanipe No preview available - 2014 |
Common terms and phrases
aerosols ash cloud ash plume atmosphere Author photo began beneath Bergrún buried century church continent cooling country’s crust death devastation disaster dry fog Earth earthquakes east Eldgjá environmental Europe explosion Eyjafjallajökull famine farm farmers Fire Mass fissure floods fluorine Franklin Geological Grímsvötn ground happened haze heat Heimaey Hekla Helgason ice cores Iceland Indonesia island Jón’s June Katla Kilauea kilometres Klaustur Krakatau lake Lake Nyos Laki eruption Laki’s lava flow layer London look magma mantle plume melting metres mid-ocean ridges million Mount St mountain nearly North northern Nyos ocean particles planet plate plate tectonics pollution pyroclastic flows reported Research Reykjavík rise river rock Santorini scientists sheep Skaftá smog snow spewed spread stratosphere sulphur dioxide summer supereruption supervolcano Tambora tectonic temperatures Thordarson Thórunn Toba town Trausti tsunami Vatnajökull Vesuvius village volcanic ash volcanic eruption volcano volcanologists weather winds winter wrote Yellowstone