Icelandic volcano’s toxic gas is treble that of Europe’s industry
A huge volcanic eruption in Iceland emitted on average three times as much of a toxic gas as all European industry combined, a study led by the University of Leeds has revealed. Discharge of lava from the eruption at Bįršarbunga volcano, starting in August 2014, released a huge mass – up to 120,000 tonnes per day – of sulphur dioxide gas. These emissions can cause acid rain and respiratory problems. Researchers hope that their study, published by the Journal of Geophysical Research , will aid understanding of how such eruptions can affect air quality in the UK. Dr Anja Schmidt from the School of Earth and Environment at the University of Leeds, who led the study, said: “The eruption discharged lava at a rate of more than 200 cubic metres per second, which is equivalent to filling five Olympic-sized swimming pools in a minute. Six months later, when the eruption ended, it had produced enough lava to cover an area the size of Manhattan. “In the study, we were concerned with the quantity of sulphur dioxide emissions, with numbers that are equally astonishing: in the beginning, the eruption emitted about eight times more sulphur dioxide per day than is emitted from all man-made sources in Europe per day.
