Today (November 14) marks 55 years since the Surtsey volcanic eruption. More accurately, it is 55 years since the eruption was first noticed, as lava broke the surface of the sea at 07.15 on the morning of the 14th November 1963, close to the unsuspecting fishing boat Ísleifur II.
The island of Surtsey did not exist before that day, but now it is the second-largest island in the Vestmannaeyjar archipelago and the southernmost part of the Republic of Iceland. The island is protected, and it is illegal to step foot there. The only exceptions are meticulously prepared and managed scientific expeditions, designed to monitor the colonisation of life on brand-new land. Surtsey has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since July 2008.
Surtsey is the only new island to be born off Iceland in historic times and was created by the biggest undersea volcanic eruption ever documented. The eruption was extremely powerful and four hours after it was first noticed, the ash cloud had already reached 3,500 metres into the atmosphere.
The following morning, it was already clear a new island was forming from the eruption and that the eruption had been raging below the waves for at least a few days before it broke the surface. The Surtsey eruption lasted, with a few quiet periods, until the 5th June 1967—which was about three-and-a-half years.
In 1965, the island of Syrtlingur appeared off Surtsey’s northeast shore and Jólnir to the southwest. Both smaller islands quickly eroded and disappeared completely before long.
Surtsey, too, has not been immune to erosion. It was 2.7 square kilometres at the end of the eruption but measured 1.5 square kilometres in 2002. The eroded edges were loose tephra, while the core of the island is solid lava. This means erosion has slowed considerably and Surtsey is unlikely to disappear entirely.
Source: RÚV
