Viking Magazine - March 2021 - 15

Meteorological Institute. But perhaps
most notably, Jan Mayen is home to the
Beerenberg volcano.
Thrihnukagigur: While
active volcanoes are a sight
to see, don't discount the
dormant ones. Located
in southwest Iceland,
about 30 minutes from
Reykjavík, Thrihnukagigur
hasn't erupted in more
than 4,000 years, allowing
visitors to actually go into
the volcano. During the
Inside the Volcano tour
(insidethevolcano.com),
participants hike four
miles and descend 400
feet to the bottom of the
crater in an open cable lift.
Afterwards, they enjoy a
bowl of traditional Icelandic
meat soup as a reward.
Standing at nearly 7,500 feet,
Beerenberg is the only active above-water
volcano in Norway, and is the world's
northernmost volcano above sea level.
Its volcanic activity is due to the island's
location on top of the Jan Mayen Rift
Zone, where the seafloor continues to
spread at a rate of about two centimeters
per year. It's estimated that, on average,
there is a volcanic eruption on Jan
Mayen every 100 to 130 years, though
there have been two recently, in 1970
and 1985.
Today, an Arctic climate with foggy
skies and icy waters means there is little
wildlife on the island, save for seals
and 27 species of birds. Aside from
researchers and authorities,
people are sparse as well,
especially since the Norwegian
government designated Jan
Mayen as a nature reserve in
2010, putting in place stringent
restrictions for visitors. Guests
must receive permission from
local authorities before arriving
on the island, which is closed
to commercial airlines and only
reachable by ship.
Adventure-seekers aren't
completely out of luck,
however. The Norwegian
company EcoExpeditions
(ecoexpeditions.no) offers a
travel package to Jan Mayen, where
participants have the opportunity to
climb Beerenberg. For those not feeling
up to the challenge of ascending an
active volcano, the current crew
maintains a live webcam of Beerenberg
at jan-mayen.no.
water mud volcano off the northern
coasts of Norway and Russia in the
Barents Sea. Named for the famous
Norwegian oceanographer and the ship
of the international expedition crew that
discovered the volcano in 1995, Haakon
Mosby is relatively short and wide,
climbing only 32 feet off the ocean floor
and covering 250 acres at its 4,000-foot
depth.
During an eruption, which can last
several days and is often accompanied
by earthquakes, mud is expelled into
the ocean along with other particles. In
fact, methane gas makes up 99% of the
volcano's emissions. The 100-year global
warming potential of methane is 25 times
that of carbon dioxide and the gas is
linked to negative environmental impacts.
However, scientists have found that some
Mineral-rich fluid flows and
methane gas bubbles seeping
from the seabed at the Haakon
Mosby Mud Volcano
deep sea-dwelling microorganisms feed
on methane, reducing emissions before
they reach the atmosphere.
Haakon Mosby
Lava isn't the only element that can be
emitted from a volcano. Just take a look
at Haakon Mosby, the Arctic deep " Mud
volcanoes [...] form over great
sediment accumulations in which bacteria
digest buried organic matter, producing
methane as a waste product, " explained
Peter Vogt of the Washington, D.C.-
based Naval Research Laboratory in a
UiB article. " Specially evolved bacteria
oxidize the methane, forming the
foundation of a food chain. "
sonsofnorway.com VIKING MARCH 2021 15
PHOTO RIGHT: PUBLIC DOMAIN SOURCED / ACCESS RIGHTS FROM CENTRAL HISTORIC BOOKS / ALAMY STOCK PHOTO

http://www.ecoexpeditions.no http://www.insidethevolcano.com http://www.jan-mayen.no http://www.sonsofnorway.com

Viking Magazine - March 2021

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