Surtsey Trivia | 54 facts about the volcanic Island

When you’re thinking of an island, you think about a place where you could easily relax spending your holidays. Well, not when it comes to Surtsey Island.

But how many things do we know about Surtsey Island? Let’s find out more about it!

Surtsey is a volcanic island.
It is located in the Vestmannaeyjar archipelago off the southern coast of Iceland.
At 63.303°N 20.605°WCoordinates: 63.303°N 20.605°W, Surtsey is the southernmost point of Iceland.
It was formed recently. More specifically it was formed on the 14th of November in 1963.
How was it formed? It was formed in a volcanic eruption which began 130 metres (430 feet) below sea level, and reached the surface.
The eruption was unexpected, and almost certainly began some days before it became apparent at the surface.
The sea floor at the eruption site is 130 metres (430 feet) below sea level, and at this depth volcanic emissions and explosions would be suppressed, quenched and dissipated by the water pressure and density.
Gradually, as repeated flows built up a mound of material that approached sea level, the explosions could no longer be contained, and activity broke the surface.
The first noticeable indications of volcanic activity were recorded at the seismic station in Kirkjubæjarklaustur, Iceland from 6 to 8 November.
They detected weak tremors emanating from an epicentre approximately west-south-west at a distance of 140 km (87 mi), the location of Surtsey.
Another station in Reykjavík recorded even weaker tremors for ten hours on 12 November at an undetermined location, when seismic activity ceased until 21 November.
That same day, people in the coastal town of Vík 80 km (50 mi) away noticed a smell of hydrogen sulphide.
On 13 November, a fishing vessel in search of herring, equipped with sensitive thermometers, noted sea temperatures 3.2 km (2.0 mi) SW of the eruption center were 2.4 °C (4.3 °F) higher than surrounding waters.
At 07:15 UTC on 14 November 1963, the cook of Ísleifur II, a trawler sailing these same waters, spotted a rising column of dark smoke southwest of the boat.
The captain thought it might have been a boat on fire, and ordered his crew to investigate.
Instead, they encountered explosive eruptions giving off black columns of ash, indicating that a volcanic eruption had begun to penetrate the surface of the sea.
By 11:00 the same day, the eruption column had reached several kilometres in height as mentioned before. At first the eruptions took place at three separate vents along a northeast by southwest trending fissure, but by the afternoon the separate eruption columns had merged into one along the erupting fissure.
Over the next week, explosions were continuous, and after just a few days the new island, formed mainly of scoria, measured over 500 metres (1,600 feet) in length and had reached a height of 45 metres (148 feet).
As the eruptions continued, they became concentrated at one vent along the fissure and began to build the island into a more circular shape.
By 24 November, the island measured about 900 by 650 metres (2,950 by 2,130 ft). The violent explosions caused by the meeting of lava and sea water meant that the island consisted of a loose pile of volcanic rock (scoria), which was eroded rapidly by North Atlantic storms during the winter.
However, eruptions more than kept pace with wave erosion, and by February 1964, the island had a maximum diameter of over 1,300 metres (4,300 feet).
The eruption lasted until 5 June 1967.
It was then, when the island reached its maximum size of 2.7 km² (1.0 sq mi).
Since then, wave erosion has caused the island to steadily diminish in size.
As of 2012, its surface area was 1.3 km² (0.50 sq mi).
The most recent survey (2007) shows the island’s maximum elevation at 155 m (509 ft) above sea level.
The new island was named after Surtr.
Surtr was a fire jötunn or giant from Norse mythology.
Three French journalists representing the magazine Paris Match notably landed there on 6 December 1963.
They only stayed for about 15 minutes before violent explosions encouraged them to leave.
The journalists jokingly claimed French sovereignty over the island. Iceland though quickly asserted that the new island belonged to it
It was intensively studied by volcanologists during its eruption.
Afterwards it was searched by botanists and other biologists as life forms gradually colonised the originally barren island.
The undersea vents that produced Surtsey are part of the Vestmannaeyjar submarine volcanic system, part of the fissure of the sea floor called the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.
Vestmannaeyjar also produced the famous eruption of Eldfell on the island of Heimaey in 1973.
The eruption that created Surtsey also created a few other small islands along this volcanic chain, such as Jólnir and other unnamed peaks.
Most of these eroded away fairly quickly.
Surtsey island is the only one left from these islands.
It is estimated that Surtsey will remain above sea level for another 100 years.
By early 1964, though, the continuing eruptions had built the island to such a size that sea water could no longer easily reach the vents, and the volcanic activity became much less explosive.
Instead, lava fountains and flows became the main form of activity. These resulted in a hard cap of extremely erosion-resistant rock being laid down on top of much of the loose volcanic pile, which prevented the island from being washed away rapidly.
Effusive eruptions continued until 1965, by which time the island had a surface area of 2.5 km² (0.97 sq mi).
Following the end of the eruption, scientists established a grid of benchmarks against which they measured the change in the shape of the island.
In the 20 years following the end of the eruption, measurements revealed that the island was steadily subsiding and had lost about one metre in height.
The rate of subsidence was initially about 20 cm (8 in) per year but slowed to 1–2 cm (0.39–0.79 in) a year by the 1990s.
It had several causes: settling of the loose tephra forming the bulk of the volcano, compaction of sea floor sediments underlying the island, and downward warping of the lithosphere due to the weight of the volcano.
Complex chemical reactions within the loose tephra within the island have gradually formed highly erosion resistant tuff material, in a process known as palagonitization. On Surtsey this process has happened quite rapidly, due to high temperatures not far below the surface.
Assuming that the current rate does not change, the island will be mostly at or below sea level by 2100.
Nobody is allowed to visit (or live) on the island. The only ones who visit it are the scientists.
The only significant human impact is a small prefabricated hut which is used by researchers while staying on the island. The hut includes a few bunk beds and a solar power source to drive an emergency radio and other key electronics. There is also an abandoned lighthouse foundation.
All visitors check themselves and belongings to ensure no seeds are accidentally introduced by humans to this ecosystem. I
t is believed that some young boys tried to introduce potatoes, which were promptly dug up once discovered.
An improperly handled human defecation resulted in a tomato plant taking root which was also destroyed.
In 2009 a weather station for weather observations and a webcam were installed on Surtsey.