Iceland- a place I want to travel to

From a young age I have been fascinated with volcanoes and was amazed at how beautiful, but also destructive, they were. I was also intrigued as to how volcanoes work. As Iceland has a large number of volcanoes, I was always drawn to it as a place I'd love to visit one day. I first found out about Iceland when I was in Year 8/9 from information about Iceland dotted around the geography department at school. I'd look at all of the pictures of Iceland in the corridor waiting to go into my geography lessons, they immediately made Iceland appeal me and I knew I had to visit this amazing country one day. As I've got older, and realised that I could go into the field of volcanology and geology, my passion for Iceland only grew as its very existence has come from volcanic action, and volcanoes are the essence of life for people in Iceland.

Iceland is a European country that is north, north west of the UK. Iceland is the only part of the Mid-Atlantic ridge that sits above sea-level. It is an island that was formed by volcanic eruptions, which still help to build up the island today. Iceland is at a divergent plate bountry which means it has a range of different types of volcanoes, with the most common being fissure, sheild and dome. Its capital city is Reykjavik and it's the northernmost capital city in the world. Iceland is also home to around 130 volcanoes with most of these being active volcanoes, with the dormant sites situated in Westfjords.

The weather in Iceland is influenced by the Gulf-Stream bringing mild Atlantic-air and mixes with Arctic-air. Its most frequent weather condition is wind and is even strong enough to knock you over! Iceland is known for its weather unpredictability, with Icelanders stating that you'll experience all 4-seasons in one day. It also experiences the phenomenon known as the 'midnight sun', where the sun is up for most of the 24-hour day. The opposite happens in the winter where the sun is rarely visible above the horizon in any 24-hour period. This is due to Icelands position in the Arctic circle and the Earth's axil tilt which (in summer) causes the sun to just touch the horizon, and then rise again.

Iceland is made up of 3 geographically sectioned parts based on their formation. The first part was made-up around 16-18 million years ago and geologists have said it was formed when an underwater volcano erupted and forced magma to above-sea-level, and as it solidified, it formed the first part of Iceland. This is called the 'Tertiary Granite Formation' and can be seen at Westfjords. The second part of Iceland's creation was 3 million years ago and came from a volcanic eruption under ice which and created some of Iceland's dolerite mountains. The final part of this formation happened 10,000 years ago at the end of the last ice age, the ice melted and lava flowed over the land, creating some of the lava-fields that can be still be seen around Iceland.

Iceland has many geographical features to offer. Some of the most spectacular ones include glaciers, mountains, rivers, geysers, black beaches and ,of course, volcanoes.

These are some of my favourite Icelandic volcanoes shown on a map:

On the 19th March 2021, the most recent volcanic eruption in Iceland began; the Reykjanes eruption. This was the first eruption that had taken place in Iceland since I discovered my passion for volcanism so I was very excited at the concept of a new eruption. The eruption had been predicted due to increased seismic activity 3 weeks prior to the eruption, and I tracked what was going on through updates from Icelandic volcanologist Helga Kristín Torfadóttir, who is one of my role models as she studies geology/volcanology in Iceland. I watched the eruption happen from a webcam set-up next to the volcano and I had it on in the background during the first weeks of the eruption and I even witnessed the main crater rim collapsing through the webcam!

As I was watching the eruption unfold on the webcam, I took pictures to compare what changes were taking place.

These images show from the 21st March- 4th April (with the absence of 27th/28th March)

There are many things I would love to visit if I was to go to Iceland:

• Blue Lagoon- it's one of the main attractions in Iceland with up to 1.3 million tourists a year visiting. It is a geothermal pool heated by volcanism in the area. It is 50 minutes from Reykjavik, which makes it easily accessible.
• The Golden Circle- it's one of the most visited attractions in Iceland as it features some of the world's most spectacular waterfalls like Skogafoss and Seljalandsfoss, many locals recommend visiting.
• Geysir geyser- this mesmerizing natural display is one of the top things to visit in Iceland and shows how powerful geothermal forces beneath Iceland are.
• Surtsey Island- geological feature left behind from the 1963 eruption of an underwater volcano off the coast of Iceland, creating this island made from solidified magma. It is accessible via boat.

The most obvious way to get to Iceland would be on a plane as it is the quickest option, however it is also the most damaging as a plane emits (on average) 53 pounds of C02 for every mile. As Iceland is 2365 miles away, that would mean that a plane to Iceland would put ~125,345 pounds of CO2 into the atmosphere which is harmful to the environment. A more environmentally friendly way of getting to Iceland would be by ferry, but the only way to do that is to travel to Denmark first (by train as it's less polluting) and then travel by ferry until you reach Seydisfjordur in Iceland.

In some research I carried out, I found that the majority of people preferred to travel via plane, which suggests that people may not be aware of how polluting that form of travel can be, or may not be aware of other travel options available.

I carried out some of my own research, asking participants to fill out a survey about the topics I've previously discussed. You can view the survey at this link:  https://forms.gle/LjbshUo9hxAvPVf69 

The results from this survey showed that the majority of people had missed travelling over lockdown, and it made them want to travel more. This suggests that being inside for so long has made everyone (including me) more keen to see the world!

A few people said that they wanted to travel to Iceland, but a lot of responses also stated that lockdown made them want to travel more around their own country. There was also A LOT of people who wanted to visit Italy for some reason!

People's perceptions of Iceland mainly matched mine:

Surprisingly, not many people who answered had been to Iceland, but those who had, recommended it. They had visited the main attractions that I have listed, which suggests that Iceland has marketed their country through these attractions as everyone either wants to visit them, or has. As these attractions are natural, it suggests that Iceland has branded itself as a place of natural beauty to bring visitors to the country, which has clearly worked.