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In 2010, Iceland's Eyjafjallajökull volcano--its crater covered by glacier ice--erupted, spewing clouds of ash that led to delays in flights to and from Europe. Now Katla, another Iceland volcano, is rumbling. Volcanoes at high latitudes on continents are often covered by ice and snow, sometimes through the summer months.
Volcanologists are always concerned when a volcano beneath a glacier becomes active. When scalding-hot lava melts vast amounts of ice and snow, for example, severe mudflows may result. To mark Earth Science Week, Oct. 9-15, 2016, the National Science Foundation (NSF) spoke with geologist Benjamin Edwards of Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pa., and Sonia Esperanca, a volcanologist and program director in NSF's Division of Earth Sciences, about Eyjafjallajökull and other volcanoes hidden under glaciers. See the full Q&A here.Image credit: Ben Edwards
