what time did the heimaey first erupt?

After the first day, the eruptive activity concentrated at a section of the fissure where the fountains became more vigorous and a new volcanic edifice began to grow. Heimaey is the most complex of the islands. The photo below shows the cone at its maximum height. Upon returning to Iceland, she married the poet Hallgrímur Pétursson. Some of the fish factories that had escaped destruction from the March lava flow resumed production. By that time, more than 400 buildings had been buried and collapsed under the weight of tephra, burned by bombs or crushed by lava. A vast pumping and plumbing system was installed, carrying sea water closer and closer to the source of the lava. Volcanic ash was blown to sea. Our next stop is the viewpoint over the old town located on the new lava, before we continue over the new lava field. Conditions changed soon after the successful completion of the evaciation. The volcano eruption of 1973 is so important to the history of the area that Heimaey Island is known as the “Pompeii of the North.” People had no warning of the eruption, but they were lucky because the weather that day was bad so the fishing boats were still in the harbor. Meanwhile, lava continuously moved towards the harbor entrance, threatening to close it. we did. About 40 lava fountains shot up immediately behind the easternmost homes of Vestmannaeyjar, visible in the foreground. Thus, the eruption came as a complete surprise. Various aspects of Heimaey and the 1973 eruption Regional and geological setting The 1963-1967 Surtsey eruption A brief story of Heimaey before 1973 Some folklore about "those who knew it before" Eyewitness accounts of the first moments of the eruption The first few days (23-31 January) Social and economic impact of the eruption Early salvation work Development of the Eldfell cone Development of the lava field Chilling the lava The declining phase Rehabilitiation of Heimaey NOTE: These chapters will gradually grow and live from contributions by Richard Kölbl who does invaluable translation work from Icelandic sources inaccessible to many volcanophiles. On those pages you will find what you are missing here! The lava field on the E side of the fissure had soon built up such that all new lava was channellized towards the harbor and closer and closer to the town. One month after the beginning of the eruption, the hope of a salvation of the town began to fade. In the early hours of the morning of January 23, 1973 a large erupting crevice tore open the earth on the east side of Heimaey. Have a little patience! It was a very dramatic and beautiful sight. In the 1970s Heimaey boasted a population of 5,200—all of whom were abruptly awakened by Helgafell at 2 a.m. on January 23, 1973, when the volcano erupted for the first time in recorded history. At 2am on the night of January 23rd 1973, a massive eruption began in the eastern part of Heimaey. The winds changed, and half a million cubic metres of ash blew on the town. Looking north-east, Learn how and when to remove this template message, "Man Against Volcano: The Eruption of Heimay, Vestmannaeyjar, Iceland (2nd Edition)", "Which Way The Wind Blows - The Reykjavik Grapevine", All you need to know about Westman Islands, "Icelandic Kids Save Befuddled Puffins," National Geographic Today, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Heimaey&oldid=1008835223, Articles needing additional references from January 2014, All articles needing additional references, Articles needing additional references from August 2020, Articles containing Greenlandic-language text, Wikipedia articles with WorldCat-VIAF identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 25 February 2021, at 08:32. The Hallgrímskirkja Lutheran church in Reykjavík is named in his honour. The new volcanic cone, Eldfell, a horseshoe-shaped tephra wall open towards the N, was 215 m high. That way it was hoped to stop the lava from moving towards the harbor and filling more and more of its entrance. Photo is from H. R. Bárdarsson (1982) "Iceland, a protrait of the country and its people". Protective barriers were built up along the W margin of the lava field, in order to prevent its westward spread. Almost all of the 5,000 inhabitants were safely evacuated to the mainland. The absence of active volcanism south of the Vestmannaeyjar speaks in favor of the propagating rift hypothesis. However, that is still enough to coat the entire island of Manhattan with ~8.5 meters (~27 feet) of lava. The eruption ended on 25 June (but was officially declared over only on 4 July) 1973, after about 5 months. Heimaey in February 2009. The only inhabited one in the group, Heimaey, is an easy trip from the mainland on the frequent ferries, and there are two immediate draws: Eldfell volcano, still steaming from its 1973 eruption, an event that doubled the width of the island and almost swallowed Heimaey town; and the sadly reduced numbers of seabirds and puffins. The absence of active volcanism south of the Vestmannaeyjar speaks in favor of the propagating rift hypothesis. The Surtsey eruption had delivered four times as much magma. Premonitory seismicity was registered on seismographs in South Iceland, but at that time no seismic network existed, there was no way of precisely locating the epicenters of the tremors, and an eruption from Katla volcano would have been considered more likely at that time. There could have been a wind from the predominating direction, carrying glowing tephra towards the houses. The eruption was not a particularly large eruptive event for Iceland standards. About 40 lava fountains shot up into the sky, and soon after the beginning of the eruption, lava began to flow out, away from the town thanks to the favorable morphological situation. Meanwhile, lava continuously moved towards the harbor entrance, threatening to close it. The eruption lasted until 3 July. The total volume of erupted material was about 250 million cubic meters, most of which was lava. In mid-March, a broad lava tongue swept over the protection barriers and right into the center of the town. (These were pillars associated with the chief's chair. [6] Many millions of other birds migrate there for breeding and feeding. The fishing town of Heimaey, with a population of 5,300, was only 200-300 m away from the eruption, which began without warning in the volcano Eldfell during the night of 23 January Nearly all the inhabitants were evacuated to the mainland by fishing boats and aircraft during the first night. The town of Vestmannaeyjar was built on the northern part of the Helgafell lava field, next to a small inlet between the north margin of the lava field and the vertical cliffs of Heimaklettur. At that time I was living on the island of Heimaey, in the Vestmannaeyjar (e. In mid-March, a broad lava tongue swept over the protection barriers and right into the center of the town. (15 kb JPG image) This is how the eruption on Heimaey looked like during its first few hours, on 23 January 1973, when the eruptive fissure was active along its full length. The eruptive activity itself showed a gradual decline, and by late May a positive feeling was prevailing among the displaced residents. Premonitory seismicity was registered on seismographs in South Iceland, but at that time no seismic network existed, there was no way of precisely locating the epicenters of the tremors, and an eruption from Katla volcano would have been considered more likely at that time. The inlet, being protected by Heimaklettur from northerly winds, serves as a perfect natural harbor. Various aspects of Heimaey and the 1973 eruption Regional and geological setting The 1963-1967 Surtsey eruption A brief story of Heimaey before 1973 Some folklore about "those who knew it before" Eyewitness accounts of the first moments of the eruption The first few days (23-31 January) Social and economic impact of the eruption Early salvation work Development of the Eldfell cone Development of the lava field Chilling the lava The declining phase Rehabilitiation of Heimaey NOTE: These chapters will gradually grow and live from contributions by Richard Kölbl who does invaluable translation work from Icelandic sources inaccessible to many volcanophiles. According to the Landnáma, he built his farm in Herjólfsdalur (literally: Herjólf's valley) about 900. Heimaey was so isolated that it was vulnerable and people suffered. Out at sea he could s… (18 kb JPG image) Eldfell cone when it was highest, surpassing 220 m in mid-February. Go to VolcanoWorld's nice Heimaey Page Go to Erling Árnason's marvellous Heimaey homepage, a new site offering marvellous images of the island and the 1973 eruption. This active section of the fissure was right where it lay closest to the nearest houses. There have been few instances where a volcanic emergency situation was handled so smoothly, but much of this was due a number of factors which, had they varied just a little bit, might have resulted in a tragedy. The collapsed portion of the crater wall slid a few hundred m across the eastern part of the town, burying numerous houses. It’s that famous volcano that spectacularly erupted out of nowhere on 23 January 1973. Index until mid-January 1973, a massive eruption began in the course a... Cubic meters, most of which was lava eruption came as a perfect natural harbor significantly enlarged towards harbor! 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