My first day in Iceland this previous August was clear and sunny, a vacationer’s dream. And it turned out to be an incredible day to squeeze in a sightseeing exercise I hadn’t initially signed as much as do: fly over the Reykjanes peninsula in a helicopter to get a top-down view of an lively volcanic eruption, particularly Sundhnúksgígar.
Ryan Connolly from Hidden Iceland, a tour firm who helped me arrange my journey, prompt the last-minute helicopter journey as a result of a volcano on the southwestern fringe of the island had lately turn out to be lively. Not desirous to miss the chance, I paid for the helicopter tour from my cellphone at 1 pm after having arrived in Iceland that morning at 6:15. After a short nap on the lodge, I drove two hours to the assembly level, which is situated 10 minutes from the town of Reykjavík, for a 7 pm flight that night.
The helicopter seated six folks complete, together with the pilot, with little wiggle room. Based mostly on the heights and weights of me and my fellow passengers, I used to be strategically positioned within the back-right of the helicopter. The cabin had glass home windows from the roof to the ground so we might take within the full view of the panorama. All of us placed on headsets fitted with microphones, the one means we might talk with each other over the noise of the helicopter’s thudding blades.
Inside minutes of take-off, the pilot described the sights beneath, which at first included the town however quickly grew to become an enormous, vacant, black land. Because the helicopter dipped to the best, the erupting volcano got here into full view with magma rising and sparking crimson and orange, a stark distinction to the black earth. We might see the magma ooze down the facet, turning into thinner and extra subdued because it moved farther down from the slope. The pilot circled the volcano just a few occasions so passengers on the left and proper every received an excellent look earlier than flying to a close-by dormant volcano and explaining its historical past.
Security Rules
Jón Grétar Sigurðsson, proprietor of Atlantsflug, the helicopter touring firm I used, explains that planning for these flights has turn out to be commonplace because the eruptions have turn out to be extra widespread. “We fly in accordance with aviation rules. Often when an eruption begins, the world is closed for everyone. However now the Icelandic authorities has arrange sure flight routes we observe and sure procedures, [including] distances of how shut we will come and what altitude we now have to remain at.”
Once I arrived that night, the flight earlier than me had been delayed. So, I waited within the workplace with the opposite friends the place we chatted, had espresso, and watched a dwell feed of the volcano.
General, there are two important explanation why a flight could also be delayed or canceled. “Generally the world is closed to all operations as a result of the federal government is doing a little measurements,” says Sigurðsson. “One thing that may occur with out a lot discover. The climate will also be an element, particularly within the wintertime. If there’s a delay on the primary one or two flights, we now have often picked it up on the third flight to get on contract once more.”
How They Monitor Volcanic Exercise
In accordance with Sigurðsson, the federal government in Iceland is tuned into the volcanic exercise and is monitoring it continuously. “It is like a affected person in fixed care on the hospital,” he says. “I might say they’re measuring very extensively and watch the lifting of the bottom in millimeters. On the graph, we see when the eruption began after which the bottom sinks down once more. Whereas the eruption is ongoing, and begins to climb up once more, we all know magma is gathering in the identical chamber. I used to be exhibiting the pilot this morning that there is a particular improve within the uplifting of the world, and it is a duplicate of what occurred final time.”
Volcanic eruptions are a daily prevalence in Iceland and one thing Sigurðsson says they will anticipate for the following 30 to 100 years.
My helicopter journey on that August evening lasted about 40 minutes, with the six of us circling the volcano from the left facet to the best and again once more. Smoke was billowing out however headed in the other way of our flight sample, giving us a transparent view of the volcano. Because the pilot flew us to the airport, I might see the bottom turn out to be extra populated once more earlier than we descended towards the earth. A clean touchdown received me on the bottom, and I headed to my lodge that evening glad to have been in the best place on the proper time.
Be aware: Since this text was written there was one other eruption in the same location. In accordance with Connolly of Hidden Iceland, it’s nonetheless “enterprise as standard for worldwide flights, important roads, native infrastructure, and journey to wherever apart from the eruption web site, which incorporates Grindavík and the Blue Lagoon.” For the time being, the one protected strategy to see the volcano is by helicopter.
