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Laki

January 01, 1970

For other uses, see Laki (disambiguation).

Laki (Icelandic pronunciation: [ˈlaːcɪ] ⓘ) or Lakagígar ([ˈlaːkaˌciːɣar̥], Craters of Laki) is a volcanic fissure in the western part of Vatnajökull National Park, Iceland, not far from the volcanic fissure of Eldgjá and the small village of Kirkjubæjarklaustur. The fissure is properly referred to as Lakagígar, while Laki is a mountain that the fissure bisects. Lakagígar is part of a volcanic system centered on the volcano Grímsvötn and including the volcano Þórðarhyrna.[1][2][3] It lies between the glaciers of Mýrdalsjökull and Vatnajökull, in an area of fissures that run in a southwest to northeast direction.

Laki
Highest point
ElevationVaries: canyon to 1,725 m (5,659 ft)
Coordinates64°03′53″N 18°13′34″W / 64.06472°N 18.22611°W / 64.06472; -18.22611
Geography
Geology
Mountain typeFissure vents
Last eruption1784
Geological features near the Grímsvötn fissure swarm (red outline). The Laki surface lava flows are shaded violet. Shading also shows:   calderas, other   central volcanoes,   fissure swarms,   subglacial terrain above 1,100 m (3,600 ft), and   seismically active areas. Clicking on the image enables full window and mouse-over with more detail.

The system erupted violently over an eight-month period between June 1783 and February 1784 from the Laki fissure and the adjoining volcano Grímsvötn. It poured out an estimated 42 billion tonnes or 14 km3 (18×10^9 cu yd) of basalt lava as well as clouds of poisonous hydrofluoric acid and sulfur dioxide compounds that contaminated the soil, leading to the death of over 50% of Iceland's livestock population, and the destruction of the vast majority of all crops. This led to a famine which then killed at least a fifth [4] of the island's human population, although some have claimed a quarter. [5]

The Laki eruption and its aftermath caused a drop in global temperatures, as 120 million tonnes of sulfur dioxide was spewed into the Northern Hemisphere. This caused crop failures in Europe and may have caused droughts in North Africa and India.

1783 eruption edit

1783 eruption of Laki
Start date8 June 1783
End date7 February 1784
TypePhreatomagmatic, Strombolian, Hawaiian
VEI4

On 8 June 1783, a 25 km-long (15.5 mi) fissure of at least 130 vents opened with phreatomagmatic explosions because of the groundwater interacting with the rising basalt magma.[6] Over a few days the eruptions became less explosive, Strombolian, and later Hawaiian in character, with high rates of lava effusion. This event is rated as 4 on the Volcanic Explosivity Index,[7] but the eight-month emission of sulfuric aerosols resulted in one of the most important climatic and socially significant natural events of the last millennium.[8][6]

The eruption, also known as the Skaftáreldar [ˈskaftˌauːrˌɛltar̥] ("Skaftá fires") or Síðueldur [ˈsiːðʏˌɛltʏr̥] produced an estimated 14 km3 (18×10^9 cu yd) of basalt lava, and the total volume of tephra emitted was 0.91 km3 (1.2×10^9 cu yd).[9] Lava fountains were estimated to have reached heights of 800 to 1,400 m (2,600 to 4,600 ft). The gases were carried by the convective eruption column to altitudes of about 15 km (50,000 ft).[4]

The eruption continued until 7 February 1784, but most of the lava was ejected in the first five months. One study states that the event "occurred as ten pulses of activity, each starting with a short-lived explosive phase followed by a long-lived period of fire-fountaining".[10] Grímsvötn volcano, from which the Laki fissure extends, also erupted at the time, from 1783 until 1785. The outpouring of gases, including an estimated 8 million tonnes of fluorine and an estimated 120 million tonnes of sulfur dioxide, gave rise to what has since become known as the "Laki haze" across Europe.[4]

Consequences in Iceland edit

The consequences for Iceland, known as the Móðuharðindin [ˈmouːðʏˌharðɪntɪn] (mist hardships), were disastrous.[11] An estimated 20–25% of the population died in the famine after the fissure eruptions ensued. (Some sources specify a death toll of 9,000 people.)[12] Approximately 80% of sheep, 50% of cattle and 50% of horses died because of dental fluorosis and skeletal fluorosis from the 8 million tons of fluorine that were released.[13][14] The livestock deaths were primarily caused by eating the contaminated grass, while humans deaths were mostly from the subsequent famine.[12]

The parish minister and provost of Vestur-Skaftafellssýsla, Jón Steingrímsson (1728–1791), grew famous for the eldmessa [ˈɛltˌmɛsːa] ("fire mass") that he delivered on 20 July 1783. The church farm of Kirkjubæjarklaustur was endangered by a branch of the lava flow that halted not far from the farm while the Rev. Jón and his parishioners were worshipping in the church. The spot at which the lava diverted away from the church became known thereafter as Eldmessutangi [ˈɛltˌmɛsːʏˌtʰauɲcɪ] ("Fire Mass Point").

This past week, and the two prior to it, more poison fell from the sky than words can describe: ash, volcanic hairs, rain full of sulfur and saltpeter, all of it mixed with sand. The snouts, nostrils, and feet of livestock grazing or walking on the grass turned bright yellow and raw. All water went tepid and light blue in color and gravel slides turned grey. All the earth's plants burned, withered and turned grey, one after another, as the fire increased and neared the settlements.[15]

 
Center of the Laki fissure

Consequences in monsoon regions edit

There is evidence that the Laki eruption weakened African and Indian monsoon circulations, leading to between 1 and 3 millimetres (0.04 and 0.12 in) less daily precipitation than normal over the Sahel of Africa, resulting in, among other effects, low flow in the River Nile.[16] The resulting famine that afflicted Egypt in 1784 cost it roughly one-sixth of its population.[16][17] The eruption was also found to have affected South Arabia and the already ongoing Chalisa famine in India.[17][18]

Consequences in East Asia edit

The Great Tenmei famine of 1782–1788 in Japan may have been worsened by the Laki eruption. In the same year, Mt. Asama erupted in Japan (Tenmei eruption).[19] The eruption may have affected a drought in eastern China.[20]

Consequences in Europe edit

 
Laki in July 2012

An estimated 120,000,000 tonnes of sulfur dioxide was emitted, about three times the total annual European industrial output in 2006 (but delivered to higher altitudes, hence its persistence), and equivalent to six times the total 1991 Mount Pinatubo eruption.[13][4] This outpouring of sulfur dioxide during unusual weather conditions caused a thick haze to spread across western Europe, resulting in many thousands of deaths throughout the remainder of 1783 and the winter of 1784.[citation needed]

The summer of 1783 was the hottest on record and a rare high-pressure zone over Iceland caused the winds to blow to the south-east.[13] The poisonous cloud drifted to Bergen in Denmark–Norway, then spread to Prague in the Kingdom of Bohemia (now the Czech Republic) by 17 June, Berlin by 18 June, Paris by 20 June, Le Havre by 22 June, and Great Britain by 23 June. The fog was so thick that ships stayed in port, unable to navigate, and the sun was described as "blood coloured".[13]

Inhaling sulfur dioxide gas causes victims to choke as their internal soft tissues swell – the gas reacts with the moisture in the lungs and produces sulfurous acid.[21] The local death rate in Chartres was up by 5% during August and September, with more than 40 dead. In Great Britain, the east of England was most affected. The records show that the additional deaths were among outdoor workers; the death rate in Bedfordshire, Lincolnshire, and the east coast was perhaps two or three times the normal rate. It has been estimated that 23,000 British people died from the poisoning.[22]

The weather became very hot, causing severe thunderstorms with large hailstones that were reported to have killed cattle,[23] until the haze dissipated in the autumn. The winter of 1783–1784 was very severe;[24] the naturalist Gilbert White in Selborne, Hampshire, reported 28 days of continuous frost. The extreme winter is estimated to have caused 8,000 additional deaths in the UK. During the spring thaw, Germany and Central Europe reported severe flood damage.[13] This is considered part of a volcanic winter.[25]

The meteorological impact of Laki continued, contributing significantly to several years of extreme weather in Europe. In France, the sequence of extreme weather events included a failed harvest in 1785 that caused poverty for rural workers, as well as droughts, bad winters and summers. These events contributed significantly to an increase in poverty and famine that may have contributed to the French Revolution in 1789.[25] Laki was only one factor in a decade of climatic disruption, as Grímsvötn was erupting from 1783 to 1785, and there may have been an unusually strong El Niño effect from 1789 to 1793.[26][27]

Consequences in North America edit

In North America, the winter of 1784 was the longest and one of the coldest on record. It was the longest period of below-zero temperatures in New England, with the largest accumulation of snow in New Jersey, and the longest freezing over of Chesapeake Bay. At the time, the capital of the United States was situated on the Chesapeake at Annapolis, Maryland; the weather delayed Congressmen who were traveling there to vote for the Treaty of Paris, which formally ended the American Revolutionary War. A huge snowstorm hit the South; the Mississippi River froze at New Orleans and there were reports of ice floes in the Gulf of Mexico.[25][28]

Contemporaneous reports edit

 
Kirkjubaejarklaustur, an important church farm in South Iceland, was the home of the Rev. Jón Steingrímsson (1728–1791), who left contemporary eyewitness accounts of the effects of the eruption and its aftermath. Today, Kirkjubæjarkaustur is a small village.

Gilbert White recorded his perceptions of the event at Selborne, Hampshire, England:

The summer of the year 1783 was an amazing and portentous one, and full of horrible phaenomena; for besides the alarming meteors and tremendous thunder-storms that affrighted and distressed the different counties of this kingdom, the peculiar haze, or smokey fog, that prevailed for many weeks in this island, and in every part of Europe, and even beyond its limits, was a most extraordinary appearance, unlike anything known within the memory of man. By my journal I find that I had noticed this strange occurrence from June 23 to July 20 inclusive, during which period the wind varied to every quarter without making any alteration in the air. The sun, at noon, looked as blank as a clouded moon, and shed a rust-coloured ferruginous light on the ground, and floors of rooms; but was particularly lurid and blood-coloured at rising and setting. All the time the heat was so intense that butchers' meat could hardly be eaten on the day after it was killed; and the flies swarmed so in the lanes and hedges that they rendered the horses half frantic, and riding irksome. The country people began to look, with a superstitious awe, at the red, louring aspect of the sun; ...[29]

Benjamin Franklin recorded his observations in America in a 1784 lecture:

During several of the summer months of the year 1783, when the effect of the sun's rays to heat the earth in these northern regions should have been greater, there existed a constant fog over all Europe, and a great part of North America. This fog was of a permanent nature; it was dry, and the rays of the sun seemed to have little effect towards dissipating it, as they easily do a moist fog, arising from water. They were indeed rendered so faint in passing through it, that when collected in the focus of a burning glass they would scarce kindle brown paper. Of course, their summer effect in heating the Earth was exceedingly diminished. Hence the surface was early frozen. Hence the first snows remained on it unmelted, and received continual additions. Hence the air was more chilled, and the winds more severely cold. Hence perhaps the winter of 1783–84 was more severe than any that had happened for many years.

The cause of this universal fog is not yet ascertained ... or whether it was the vast quantity of smoke, long continuing, to issue during the summer from Hekla in Iceland, and that other volcano which arose out of the sea near that island, which smoke might be spread by various winds, over the northern part of the world, is yet uncertain.[30]

According to contemporary records, Hekla did not erupt in 1783; its previous eruption was in 1766. The Laki fissure eruption was 70 km (45 mi) east and the Grímsvötn volcano was erupting about 120 km (75 mi) northeast. Katla, only 50 km (31 mi) southeast, was still renowned after its spectacular eruption 28 years earlier in 1755.

Sir John Cullum of Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, England, recorded his observations on 23 June 1783 (the same date on which Gilbert White noted the onset of the unusual atmospheric phenomena), in a letter to Sir Joseph Banks, then President of the Royal Society:

... about six o'clock, that morning, I observed the air very much condensed in my chamber-window; and, upon getting up, was informed by a tenant that finding himself cold in bed, about three o'clock in the morning, he looked out at his window, and to his great surprise saw the ground covered with a white frost: and I was assured that two men at Barton, about three miles (five kilometres) off, saw in some shallow tubs, ice of the thickness of a crown-piece.[31]

Sir John goes on to describe the effect of this "frost" on trees and crops:

The aristae of the barley, which was coming into ear, became brown and withered at their extremities, as did the leaves of the oats; the rye had the appearance of being mildewed; so that the farmers were alarmed for those crops. The wheat was not much affected. The larch, Weymouth pine, and hardy Scotch fir, had the tips of their leaves withered.[31]

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ "Katla". Global Volcanism Program. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved March 26, 2010.
  2. ^ "Iceland : Katla Volcano". Iceland on the web. Retrieved March 26, 2010.
  3. ^ Gudmundsson, Magnús T.; Thórdís Högnadóttir (January 2007). "Volcanic systems and calderas in the Vatnajökull region, central Iceland: Constraints on crustal structure from gravity data". Journal of Geodynamics. 43 (1): 153–169. Bibcode:2007JGeo...43..153G. doi:10.1016/j.jog.2006.09.015.
  4. ^ a b c d Thordarson, T.; Self, S. (2003). . Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres. 108 (D1): 4011. arXiv:astro-ph/0309423. Bibcode:2003JGRD..108.4011T. doi:10.1029/2001JD002042. hdl:20.500.11820/17d8aae9-d2bf-4120-b61a-31c6966a7e24. Archived from the original on April 24, 2012.
  5. ^ Gunnar Karlsson (2000), Iceland's 1100 Years, p. 181
  6. ^ a b "The Summer of acid rain". The Economist. December 19, 2007. Retrieved October 21, 2012.
  7. ^ "Grimsvotn – Eruptive History". Global Volcanism Program. Smithsonian Institution. 8 May 2017. Retrieved 15 June 2017.
  8. ^ Brayshay and Grattan, 1999; Demarée and Ogilvie, 2001
  9. ^ "Grímsvötn". Global Volcanism Program. Smithsonian Institution.
  10. ^ . British Geological Survey. UK Research and Innovation. 2013. Archived from the original on 2020-06-27.
  11. ^ "The eruption that changed Iceland forever". BBC News. April 16, 2010. Retrieved 31 May 2013.
  12. ^ a b Rincon, Paul (25 May 2004). "Volcano 'drove up UK death toll'". BBC News. Retrieved 13 November 2022.
  13. ^ a b c d e "Killer Cloud". BBC Timewatch. 19 January 2007. BBC Two.
  14. ^ Richard Stone (November 19, 2004). "Volcanology: Iceland's Doomsday Scenario?". Science. Vol. 306, no. 5700. p. 1278. doi:10.1126/science.306.5700.1278. Retrieved 31 May 2013.
  15. ^ Steingrímsson, Jón; Kunz, Keneva (1998). Fires of the earth: the Laki eruption, 1783–1784. University of Iceland Press. ISBN 978-9979-54-244-5.
  16. ^ a b Oman, Luke; Robock, Alan; Stenchikov, Georgiy L.; Thordarson, Thorvaldur (September 30, 2006). "High-latitude eruptions cast shadow over the African monsoon and the flow of the Nile" (PDF). Geophysical Research Letters. 33 (L18711): n/a. Bibcode:2006GeoRL..3318711O. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.695.8121. doi:10.1029/2006GL027665. S2CID 35693664. Retrieved June 9, 2012.
  17. ^ a b Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey (November 22, 2006). "Icelandic Volcano Caused Historic Famine In Egypt, Study Shows". Science Daily. Retrieved June 9, 2012.
  18. ^ Gunnarsdóttir, Margrét (29 December 2022). "Facing natural extremes: The catastrophe of the Laki eruption in Iceland, 1783–1784". 1700-tal: Nordic Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies. 19: 72–93. doi:10.7557/4.6611.
  19. ^ [Famine in Edo and the shadow of a huge eruption: Falling temperatures led to crop failures and man-made disasters]. Nikkei. April 30, 2022. Archived from the original on May 5, 2022.
  20. ^ Gao, Chao-Chao; Yang, Lin-Shan; Liu, Fei (April 2021). "Hydroclimatic anomalies in China during the post-Laki years and the role of concurring El Niño". Advances in Climate Change Research. 12 (2): 187–198. doi:10.1016/j.accre.2021.03.006.
  21. ^ . Elmhurst College. Archived from the original on March 11, 2015. Retrieved June 9, 2012.
  22. ^ "When a killer cloud hit Britain". BBC News. January 2007. Retrieved 31 May 2013.
  23. ^ "Volcano Seasons: Weather reports from northern Britain, 1783". PastPresented.info. Quotes reports from the Newcastle Courant and Cumberland Pacquet newspapers.
  24. ^ "Volcano Seasons: Weather reports from northern Britain, 1784". PastPresented.info. Quotes reports from the Newcastle Courant and Cumberland Pacquet newspapers.
  25. ^ a b c Wood, C. A. (1992). "The climatic effects of the 1783 Laki eruption". In Harrington, C. R. (ed.). The Year Without a Summer?. Ottawa: Canadian Museum of Nature. pp. 58–77.
  26. ^ Grove, Richard H. (1998). "Global impact of the 1789–93 El Niño". Nature. 393 (6683): 318–319. Bibcode:1998Natur.393..318G. doi:10.1038/30636. S2CID 205000683.
  27. ^ D'Arrigo, Rosanne; Seager, Richard; Smerdon, Jason E.; LeGrande, Allegra N.; Cook, Edward R. (16 March 2011). "The anomalous winter of 1783–1784: Was the Laki eruption or an analog of the 2009–2010 winter to blame?". Geophysical Research Letters. 38 (5): n/a. Bibcode:2011GeoRL..38.5706D. doi:10.1029/2011GL046696. S2CID 13583569.
  28. ^ . lave club-internet fr. Archived from the original on March 5, 2012. Retrieved April 22, 2020.
  29. ^ Gilbert White; Edward Jesse (1870). The natural history of Selborne: with observations on various parts of nature and the Naturalist's calendar. Bell & Daldy. p. 300.
  30. ^ Franklin, Benjamin (1785). "Meteorological imaginations and conjectures". Memoirs of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Manchester. 1st series. 2: 357–361.; see especially pp. 359–360.
  31. ^ a b Hutton, C.; Shaw, G.; Pearson, R., eds. (1809). The Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London – Abridged with notes and biographical illustrations – Volume 15 – from 1781 to 1785. pp. 604–605.

Further reading edit

  • Brayshay, M and Grattan, J. "Environmental and social responses in Europe to the 1783 eruption of the Laki fissure volcano in Iceland: a consideration of contemporary documentary evidence" in Firth, C. R. and McGuire, W. J. (eds) Volcanoes in the Quaternary. Geological Society, London, Special Publication 161, 173–187, 1999
  • Chris Caseldine (2005). Iceland: Modern Processes And Past Environments. Elsevier. ISBN 978-0-444-50652-8.
  • Grattan, John; Brayshay, Mark; Sadler, John (1998). "Modelling the distal impacts of past volcanic gas emissions. Evidence of Europe-wide environmental impacts from gases emitted during the eruption of Italian and Icelandic volcanoes in 1783". Quaternaire. 9 (1): 25–35. doi:10.3406/quate.1998.2103.
  • Grattan, D., Schütenhelm, R. and Brayshay, M. "Volcanic gases, environmental crises and social response" in Grattan, J. and Torrence, R. (eds) Natural Disasters and Cultural Change, Routledge, London 87–106. 2002.
  • Grattan, John; Brayshay, Mark (1995). "An Amazing and Portentous Summer: Environmental and Social Responses in Britain to the 1783 Eruption of an Iceland Volcano". The Geographical Journal. 161 (2): 125–134. Bibcode:1995GeogJ.161..125G. doi:10.2307/3059970. JSTOR 3059970.
  • Kleemann, Katrin. A Mist Connection: An Environmental History of the Laki Eruption of 1783 and Its Legacy, (Berlin: De Gruyter, 2023) online book review
  • Steingrímsson, Jón. A Very Present Help in Trouble: The Autobiography of the Fire-priest. Translated by Michael Fell. New York: Lang, 2002.
  • Stothers, Richard B. (1996). "The great dry fog of 1783". Climatic Change. 32 (1): 79–89. Bibcode:1996ClCh...32...79S. doi:10.1007/BF00141279. S2CID 140551420.
  • "The Summer of Acid Rain", Economist, December 19, 2007.
  • Thordarson, Thorvaldur (2003). "Atmospheric and environmental effects of the 1783–1784 Laki eruption: A review and reassessment". Journal of Geophysical Research. 108 (D1): 4011. Bibcode:2003JGRD..108.4011T. doi:10.1029/2001JD002042. hdl:20.500.11820/17d8aae9-d2bf-4120-b61a-31c6966a7e24.
  • Witze, Alexandra and Jeff Kanipe. Island on Fire: The Extraordinary Story of Laki, the Volcano That Turned Eighteenth-Century Europe Dark. Profile Books, 2014. ISBN 9781781250044.

External links edit

 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lakagígar (Laki eruption fissures).
 
Wikisource has original text related to this article:
Laki
  • Information about the volcanism at Laki
  • A meditation on Jón Steingrímsson from Anglicans Online
  • The Dry Fog of 1783: Environmental Impact and Human Reaction to the Lakagígar Eruption
  • Official Website of Vatnajökull National Park
  • NPR Throughline: 40 minute audio piece about the 1783 eruption of Laki and worldwide effects
  • Old maps of the Laki area, Harvard Maps

January 01, 1970
laki, other, uses, disambiguation, icelandic, pronunciation, ˈlaːcɪ, lakagígar, ˈlaːkaˌciːɣar, craters, volcanic, fissure, western, part, vatnajökull, national, park, iceland, from, volcanic, fissure, eldgjá, small, village, kirkjubæjarklaustur, fissure, prope. For other uses see Laki disambiguation Laki Icelandic pronunciation ˈlaːcɪ or Lakagigar ˈlaːkaˌciːɣar Craters of Laki is a volcanic fissure in the western part of Vatnajokull National Park Iceland not far from the volcanic fissure of Eldgja and the small village of Kirkjubaejarklaustur The fissure is properly referred to as Lakagigar while Laki is a mountain that the fissure bisects Lakagigar is part of a volcanic system centered on the volcano Grimsvotn and including the volcano THordarhyrna 1 2 3 It lies between the glaciers of Myrdalsjokull and Vatnajokull in an area of fissures that run in a southwest to northeast direction LakiHighest pointElevationVaries canyon to 1 725 m 5 659 ft Coordinates64 03 53 N 18 13 34 W 64 06472 N 18 22611 W 64 06472 18 22611GeographyLakiIcelandGeologyMountain typeFissure ventsLast eruption1784Geological features near the Grimsvotn fissure swarm red outline The Laki surface lava flows are shaded violet Shading also shows calderas other central volcanoes fissure swarms subglacial terrain above 1 100 m 3 600 ft and seismically active areas Clicking on the image enables full window and mouse over with more detail The system erupted violently over an eight month period between June 1783 and February 1784 from the Laki fissure and the adjoining volcano Grimsvotn It poured out an estimated 42 billion tonnes or 14 km3 18 10 9 cu yd of basalt lava as well as clouds of poisonous hydrofluoric acid and sulfur dioxide compounds that contaminated the soil leading to the death of over 50 of Iceland s livestock population and the destruction of the vast majority of all crops This led to a famine which then killed at least a fifth 4 of the island s human population although some have claimed a quarter 5 The Laki eruption and its aftermath caused a drop in global temperatures as 120 million tonnes of sulfur dioxide was spewed into the Northern Hemisphere This caused crop failures in Europe and may have caused droughts in North Africa and India Contents 1 1783 eruption 1 1 Consequences in Iceland 1 2 Consequences in monsoon regions 1 3 Consequences in East Asia 1 4 Consequences in Europe 1 5 Consequences in North America 1 6 Contemporaneous reports 2 See also 3 References 4 Further reading 5 External links1783 eruption edit1783 eruption of LakiStart date8 June 1783End date7 February 1784TypePhreatomagmatic Strombolian HawaiianVEI4 On 8 June 1783 a 25 km long 15 5 mi fissure of at least 130 vents opened with phreatomagmatic explosions because of the groundwater interacting with the rising basalt magma 6 Over a few days the eruptions became less explosive Strombolian and later Hawaiian in character with high rates of lava effusion This event is rated as 4 on the Volcanic Explosivity Index 7 but the eight month emission of sulfuric aerosols resulted in one of the most important climatic and socially significant natural events of the last millennium 8 6 The eruption also known as the Skaftareldar ˈskaftˌauːrˌɛltar Skafta fires or Sidueldur ˈsiːdʏˌɛltʏr produced an estimated 14 km3 18 10 9 cu yd of basalt lava and the total volume of tephra emitted was 0 91 km3 1 2 10 9 cu yd 9 Lava fountains were estimated to have reached heights of 800 to 1 400 m 2 600 to 4 600 ft The gases were carried by the convective eruption column to altitudes of about 15 km 50 000 ft 4 The eruption continued until 7 February 1784 but most of the lava was ejected in the first five months One study states that the event occurred as ten pulses of activity each starting with a short lived explosive phase followed by a long lived period of fire fountaining 10 Grimsvotn volcano from which the Laki fissure extends also erupted at the time from 1783 until 1785 The outpouring of gases including an estimated 8 million tonnes of fluorine and an estimated 120 million tonnes of sulfur dioxide gave rise to what has since become known as the Laki haze across Europe 4 Consequences in Iceland edit The consequences for Iceland known as the Moduhardindin ˈmouːdʏˌhardɪntɪn mist hardships were disastrous 11 An estimated 20 25 of the population died in the famine after the fissure eruptions ensued Some sources specify a death toll of 9 000 people 12 Approximately 80 of sheep 50 of cattle and 50 of horses died because of dental fluorosis and skeletal fluorosis from the 8 million tons of fluorine that were released 13 14 The livestock deaths were primarily caused by eating the contaminated grass while humans deaths were mostly from the subsequent famine 12 The parish minister and provost of Vestur Skaftafellssysla Jon Steingrimsson 1728 1791 grew famous for the eldmessa ˈɛltˌmɛsːa fire mass that he delivered on 20 July 1783 The church farm of Kirkjubaejarklaustur was endangered by a branch of the lava flow that halted not far from the farm while the Rev Jon and his parishioners were worshipping in the church The spot at which the lava diverted away from the church became known thereafter as Eldmessutangi ˈɛltˌmɛsːʏˌtʰauɲcɪ Fire Mass Point This past week and the two prior to it more poison fell from the sky than words can describe ash volcanic hairs rain full of sulfur and saltpeter all of it mixed with sand The snouts nostrils and feet of livestock grazing or walking on the grass turned bright yellow and raw All water went tepid and light blue in color and gravel slides turned grey All the earth s plants burned withered and turned grey one after another as the fire increased and neared the settlements 15 nbsp Center of the Laki fissure Consequences in monsoon regions edit There is evidence that the Laki eruption weakened African and Indian monsoon circulations leading to between 1 and 3 millimetres 0 04 and 0 12 in less daily precipitation than normal over the Sahel of Africa resulting in among other effects low flow in the River Nile 16 The resulting famine that afflicted Egypt in 1784 cost it roughly one sixth of its population 16 17 The eruption was also found to have affected South Arabia and the already ongoing Chalisa famine in India 17 18 Consequences in East Asia edit The Great Tenmei famine of 1782 1788 in Japan may have been worsened by the Laki eruption In the same year Mt Asama erupted in Japan Tenmei eruption 19 The eruption may have affected a drought in eastern China 20 Consequences in Europe edit nbsp Laki in July 2012 An estimated 120 000 000 tonnes of sulfur dioxide was emitted about three times the total annual European industrial output in 2006 but delivered to higher altitudes hence its persistence and equivalent to six times the total 1991 Mount Pinatubo eruption 13 4 This outpouring of sulfur dioxide during unusual weather conditions caused a thick haze to spread across western Europe resulting in many thousands of deaths throughout the remainder of 1783 and the winter of 1784 citation needed The summer of 1783 was the hottest on record and a rare high pressure zone over Iceland caused the winds to blow to the south east 13 The poisonous cloud drifted to Bergen in Denmark Norway then spread to Prague in the Kingdom of Bohemia now the Czech Republic by 17 June Berlin by 18 June Paris by 20 June Le Havre by 22 June and Great Britain by 23 June The fog was so thick that ships stayed in port unable to navigate and the sun was described as blood coloured 13 Inhaling sulfur dioxide gas causes victims to choke as their internal soft tissues swell the gas reacts with the moisture in the lungs and produces sulfurous acid 21 The local death rate in Chartres was up by 5 during August and September with more than 40 dead In Great Britain the east of England was most affected The records show that the additional deaths were among outdoor workers the death rate in Bedfordshire Lincolnshire and the east coast was perhaps two or three times the normal rate It has been estimated that 23 000 British people died from the poisoning 22 The weather became very hot causing severe thunderstorms with large hailstones that were reported to have killed cattle 23 until the haze dissipated in the autumn The winter of 1783 1784 was very severe 24 the naturalist Gilbert White in Selborne Hampshire reported 28 days of continuous frost The extreme winter is estimated to have caused 8 000 additional deaths in the UK During the spring thaw Germany and Central Europe reported severe flood damage 13 This is considered part of a volcanic winter 25 The meteorological impact of Laki continued contributing significantly to several years of extreme weather in Europe In France the sequence of extreme weather events included a failed harvest in 1785 that caused poverty for rural workers as well as droughts bad winters and summers These events contributed significantly to an increase in poverty and famine that may have contributed to the French Revolution in 1789 25 Laki was only one factor in a decade of climatic disruption as Grimsvotn was erupting from 1783 to 1785 and there may have been an unusually strong El Nino effect from 1789 to 1793 26 27 Consequences in North America edit In North America the winter of 1784 was the longest and one of the coldest on record It was the longest period of below zero temperatures in New England with the largest accumulation of snow in New Jersey and the longest freezing over of Chesapeake Bay At the time the capital of the United States was situated on the Chesapeake at Annapolis Maryland the weather delayed Congressmen who were traveling there to vote for the Treaty of Paris which formally ended the American Revolutionary War A huge snowstorm hit the South the Mississippi River froze at New Orleans and there were reports of ice floes in the Gulf of Mexico 25 28 Contemporaneous reports edit nbsp Kirkjubaejarklaustur an important church farm in South Iceland was the home of the Rev Jon Steingrimsson 1728 1791 who left contemporary eyewitness accounts of the effects of the eruption and its aftermath Today Kirkjubaejarkaustur is a small village Gilbert White recorded his perceptions of the event at Selborne Hampshire England The summer of the year 1783 was an amazing and portentous one and full of horrible phaenomena for besides the alarming meteors and tremendous thunder storms that affrighted and distressed the different counties of this kingdom the peculiar haze or smokey fog that prevailed for many weeks in this island and in every part of Europe and even beyond its limits was a most extraordinary appearance unlike anything known within the memory of man By my journal I find that I had noticed this strange occurrence from June 23 to July 20 inclusive during which period the wind varied to every quarter without making any alteration in the air The sun at noon looked as blank as a clouded moon and shed a rust coloured ferruginous light on the ground and floors of rooms but was particularly lurid and blood coloured at rising and setting All the time the heat was so intense that butchers meat could hardly be eaten on the day after it was killed and the flies swarmed so in the lanes and hedges that they rendered the horses half frantic and riding irksome The country people began to look with a superstitious awe at the red louring aspect of the sun 29 Benjamin Franklin recorded his observations in America in a 1784 lecture During several of the summer months of the year 1783 when the effect of the sun s rays to heat the earth in these northern regions should have been greater there existed a constant fog over all Europe and a great part of North America This fog was of a permanent nature it was dry and the rays of the sun seemed to have little effect towards dissipating it as they easily do a moist fog arising from water They were indeed rendered so faint in passing through it that when collected in the focus of a burning glass they would scarce kindle brown paper Of course their summer effect in heating the Earth was exceedingly diminished Hence the surface was early frozen Hence the first snows remained on it unmelted and received continual additions Hence the air was more chilled and the winds more severely cold Hence perhaps the winter of 1783 84 was more severe than any that had happened for many years The cause of this universal fog is not yet ascertained or whether it was the vast quantity of smoke long continuing to issue during the summer from Hekla in Iceland and that other volcano which arose out of the sea near that island which smoke might be spread by various winds over the northern part of the world is yet uncertain 30 According to contemporary records Hekla did not erupt in 1783 its previous eruption was in 1766 The Laki fissure eruption was 70 km 45 mi east and the Grimsvotn volcano was erupting about 120 km 75 mi northeast Katla only 50 km 31 mi southeast was still renowned after its spectacular eruption 28 years earlier in 1755 Sir John Cullum of Bury St Edmunds Suffolk England recorded his observations on 23 June 1783 the same date on which Gilbert White noted the onset of the unusual atmospheric phenomena in a letter to Sir Joseph Banks then President of the Royal Society about six o clock that morning I observed the air very much condensed in my chamber window and upon getting up was informed by a tenant that finding himself cold in bed about three o clock in the morning he looked out at his window and to his great surprise saw the ground covered with a white frost and I was assured that two men at Barton about three miles five kilometres off saw in some shallow tubs ice of the thickness of a crown piece 31 Sir John goes on to describe the effect of this frost on trees and crops The aristae of the barley which was coming into ear became brown and withered at their extremities as did the leaves of the oats the rye had the appearance of being mildewed so that the farmers were alarmed for those crops The wheat was not much affected The larch Weymouth pine and hardy Scotch fir had the tips of their leaves withered 31 See also editGeography of Iceland Glacial lake outburst flood Iceland hotspot List of glaciers of Iceland List of volcanic eruptions by death toll List of waterfalls of Iceland Plate tectonics Timeline of volcanism on Earth Volcanism of Iceland List of volcanic eruptions in Iceland List of volcanoes in IcelandReferences edit Katla Global Volcanism Program Smithsonian Institution Retrieved March 26 2010 Iceland Katla Volcano Iceland on the web Retrieved March 26 2010 Gudmundsson Magnus T Thordis Hognadottir January 2007 Volcanic systems and calderas in the Vatnajokull region central Iceland Constraints on crustal structure from gravity data Journal of Geodynamics 43 1 153 169 Bibcode 2007JGeo 43 153G doi 10 1016 j jog 2006 09 015 a b c d Thordarson T Self S 2003 Atmospheric and environmental effects of the 1783 1784 Laki eruption A review and reassessment Journal of Geophysical Research Atmospheres 108 D1 4011 arXiv astro ph 0309423 Bibcode 2003JGRD 108 4011T doi 10 1029 2001JD002042 hdl 20 500 11820 17d8aae9 d2bf 4120 b61a 31c6966a7e24 Archived from the original on April 24 2012 Gunnar Karlsson 2000 Iceland s 1100 Years p 181 a b The Summer of acid rain The Economist December 19 2007 Retrieved October 21 2012 Grimsvotn Eruptive History Global Volcanism Program Smithsonian Institution 8 May 2017 Retrieved 15 June 2017 Brayshay and Grattan 1999 Demaree and Ogilvie 2001 Grimsvotn Global Volcanism Program Smithsonian Institution Laki eruption Iceland British Geological Survey UK Research and Innovation 2013 Archived from the original on 2020 06 27 The eruption that changed Iceland forever BBC News April 16 2010 Retrieved 31 May 2013 a b Rincon Paul 25 May 2004 Volcano drove up UK death toll BBC News Retrieved 13 November 2022 a b c d e Killer Cloud BBC Timewatch 19 January 2007 BBC Two Richard Stone November 19 2004 Volcanology Iceland s Doomsday Scenario Science Vol 306 no 5700 p 1278 doi 10 1126 science 306 5700 1278 Retrieved 31 May 2013 Steingrimsson Jon Kunz Keneva 1998 Fires of the earth the Laki eruption 1783 1784 University of Iceland Press ISBN 978 9979 54 244 5 a b Oman Luke Robock Alan Stenchikov Georgiy L Thordarson Thorvaldur September 30 2006 High latitude eruptions cast shadow over the African monsoon and the flow of the Nile PDF Geophysical Research Letters 33 L18711 n a Bibcode 2006GeoRL 3318711O CiteSeerX 10 1 1 695 8121 doi 10 1029 2006GL027665 S2CID 35693664 Retrieved June 9 2012 a b Rutgers the State University of New Jersey November 22 2006 Icelandic Volcano Caused Historic Famine In Egypt Study Shows Science Daily Retrieved June 9 2012 Gunnarsdottir Margret 29 December 2022 Facing natural extremes The catastrophe of the Laki eruption in Iceland 1783 1784 1700 tal Nordic Journal for Eighteenth Century Studies 19 72 93 doi 10 7557 4 6611 江戸の飢饉に巨大噴火の影 気温低下で凶作 人災も Famine in Edo and the shadow of a huge eruption Falling temperatures led to crop failures and man made disasters Nikkei April 30 2022 Archived from the original on May 5 2022 Gao Chao Chao Yang Lin Shan Liu Fei April 2021 Hydroclimatic anomalies in China during the post Laki years and the role of concurring El Nino Advances in Climate Change Research 12 2 187 198 doi 10 1016 j accre 2021 03 006 Acid Rain Effects on Buildings Elmhurst College Archived from the original on March 11 2015 Retrieved June 9 2012 When a killer cloud hit Britain BBC News January 2007 Retrieved 31 May 2013 Volcano Seasons Weather reports from northern Britain 1783 PastPresented info Quotes reports from the Newcastle Courant and Cumberland Pacquet newspapers Volcano Seasons Weather reports from northern Britain 1784 PastPresented info Quotes reports from the Newcastle Courant and Cumberland Pacquet newspapers a b c Wood C A 1992 The climatic effects of the 1783 Laki eruption In Harrington C R ed The Year Without a Summer Ottawa Canadian Museum of Nature pp 58 77 Grove Richard H 1998 Global impact of the 1789 93 El Nino Nature 393 6683 318 319 Bibcode 1998Natur 393 318G doi 10 1038 30636 S2CID 205000683 D Arrigo Rosanne Seager Richard Smerdon Jason E LeGrande Allegra N Cook Edward R 16 March 2011 The anomalous winter of 1783 1784 Was the Laki eruption or an analog of the 2009 2010 winter to blame Geophysical Research Letters 38 5 n a Bibcode 2011GeoRL 38 5706D doi 10 1029 2011GL046696 S2CID 13583569 Volcanoes from Iceland Laki lave club internet fr Archived from the original on March 5 2012 Retrieved April 22 2020 Gilbert White Edward Jesse 1870 The natural history of Selborne with observations on various parts of nature and the Naturalist s calendar Bell amp Daldy p 300 Franklin Benjamin 1785 Meteorological imaginations and conjectures Memoirs of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Manchester 1st series 2 357 361 see especially pp 359 360 a b Hutton C Shaw G Pearson R eds 1809 The Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London Abridged with notes and biographical illustrations Volume 15 from 1781 to 1785 pp 604 605 Further reading editBrayshay M and Grattan J Environmental and social responses in Europe to the 1783 eruption of the Laki fissure volcano in Iceland a consideration of contemporary documentary evidence in Firth C R and McGuire W J eds Volcanoes in the Quaternary Geological Society London Special Publication 161 173 187 1999 Chris Caseldine 2005 Iceland Modern Processes And Past Environments Elsevier ISBN 978 0 444 50652 8 Grattan John Brayshay Mark Sadler John 1998 Modelling the distal impacts of past volcanic gas emissions Evidence of Europe wide environmental impacts from gases emitted during the eruption of Italian and Icelandic volcanoes in 1783 Quaternaire 9 1 25 35 doi 10 3406 quate 1998 2103 Grattan D Schutenhelm R and Brayshay M Volcanic gases environmental crises and social response in Grattan J and Torrence R eds Natural Disasters and Cultural Change Routledge London 87 106 2002 Grattan John Brayshay Mark 1995 An Amazing and Portentous Summer Environmental and Social Responses in Britain to the 1783 Eruption of an Iceland Volcano The Geographical Journal 161 2 125 134 Bibcode 1995GeogJ 161 125G doi 10 2307 3059970 JSTOR 3059970 Kleemann Katrin A Mist Connection An Environmental History of the Laki Eruption of 1783 and Its Legacy Berlin De Gruyter 2023 online book review Steingrimsson Jon A Very Present Help in Trouble The Autobiography of the Fire priest Translated by Michael Fell New York Lang 2002 Stothers Richard B 1996 The great dry fog of 1783 Climatic Change 32 1 79 89 Bibcode 1996ClCh 32 79S doi 10 1007 BF00141279 S2CID 140551420 The Summer of Acid Rain Economist December 19 2007 Thordarson Thorvaldur 2003 Atmospheric and environmental effects of the 1783 1784 Laki eruption A review and reassessment Journal of Geophysical Research 108 D1 4011 Bibcode 2003JGRD 108 4011T doi 10 1029 2001JD002042 hdl 20 500 11820 17d8aae9 d2bf 4120 b61a 31c6966a7e24 Witze Alexandra and Jeff Kanipe Island on Fire The Extraordinary Story of Laki the Volcano That Turned Eighteenth Century Europe Dark Profile Books 2014 ISBN 9781781250044 External links edit nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lakagigar Laki eruption fissures nbsp Wikisource has original text related to this article Laki Photos and information Information about the volcanism at Laki Lakagigar A meditation on Jon Steingrimsson from Anglicans Online Dr John Grattan at International Volcanic Heath Hazard Network A Sulphurous Stench Illness and Death in Europe Following the Eruption of the Laki Fissure The Dry Fog of 1783 Environmental Impact and Human Reaction to the Lakagigar Eruption Official Website of Vatnajokull National Park NPR Throughline 40 minute audio piece about the 1783 eruption of Laki and worldwide effects Old maps of the Laki area Harvard Maps Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Laki amp oldid 1220933209 Consequences in Iceland, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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