The eyes of Eldhraun

The old road through Eldhraun, the vast lava field created by the 1783/84 Laki eruption.

Laki produced 14 km3 of basalt lava and emitted 22 megatons of SO2, producing 200 megatonnes H2SO4 aerosols (acid rain). This led to 2-3 years of surface cooling (-1,3°C) in the northern hemisphere. For months a volcanic haze obscured the sun over Northern and Central Europe. In Iceland 80% of sheep and 50% of cattle and horses died of fluorine poisoning, 20-25% of the population died of fluorine poisoning/ starvation.

Priest Jón Steingrímsson of Kirkjubæjarklaustur documented the eruption in his diaries:
"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 gray. All the earth's plants burned, withered and turned gray, one after another, as the fire increased and neared the settlements."

"The summer of acid rain": www.economist.com/node/10311405

Thordarson/Self- "Atmospheric and environmental effects of the 1783/ 1784 Laki eruption": seismo.berkeley.edu/~manga/LIPS/thordarson03.pdf