The island of Surtsey was not drawn on maps until the late 1960s. Logical, because until then it did not exist. It was in November 1963 when a series of submarine eruptions were detected about seventy kilometers southeast of the coast of VÃk, in Iceland. As of the 14th of that month, the mouths of the volcano that was under the waters of the Atlantic Ocean began to show their noses to the surface.
The volcanic activity lasted for almost four years. In June 1967 the fire on Earth went out and cartographers had to add a new place name to the world: Surtsey, in honor of the Scandinavian mythological giant who, according to oral tradition, will return at some point to set everything on fire with his sword in flames and leave no stone unturned. An omen, perhaps, of what awaits that emerged volcanic piece, which is destined to disappear.
Surtsey reached a maximum extent of 2.7 km2. Today only about 140 hectares remain emerged, and the calculations of the scientists is that the island will not see the 22nd century, since around the year 2100 it is expected that it will be literally devastated by the waves.
Meanwhile, Surtsey has become one of the most important natural laboratories for observing the dynamics of plant and animal colonization in a barren and tremendously hostile environment. It must be borne in mind that, as it is formed by cooled lava, the island’s rock is very fragile, and wears away very quickly due to wind and sea erosion, as well as that caused by snow.
On the days of the worst storms, waves of 16 meters in height have been recorded, which now pass over the entire surface of the island, helping to flatten it more and more quickly. There have been storms in which Surtsey has lost a meter in height in an episode of a few days.
However, in the roughly 140 years it will have lived, Surtsey will have meant a great deal to biologists. She had not yet finished the eruption that made her appear and in 1965 a vascular plant (which has a root, stem, leaves and flowers) had already been detected settled among the rocks. It was a discreet species, the Cakile arctica.
Some botanical species arrived in ways that ecologists had already anticipated, in the stomachs of some very curious birds such as the Snow Bunting, which immediately shows an interest in unknown territories. Through their droppings, the seeds arrived with the fertilizer incorporated. Others did it completely unexpectedly, such as those that stuck to the roe of fish such as stingrays. It was only two decades before the first species of tree was seen growing on Surtsey. The honor went to Salix phylicifolia, a willow well adapted to the cold of the North Atlantic and Russia.
Suspicious of the fragility of such a small island, the Icelandic authorities declared Surtsey absolute protection almost from the start, and in the five long decades since, only scientists carrying out specific studies of natural dynamics have been allowed to land there. .
But taking an innocent look without setting foot on land is allowed, which is why on the coasts of VÃk and Myrdal there are tourist boat companies that take to the waters of Surtsey to observe closely -with binoculars- the birds and plants of this piece of volcanic lava that has less than eighty years to live, if scientific calculations are correct.
Volcanologists believe that Surtsey will be slightly below the surface, and that once rolled by the waves it will stabilize, since neither storms nor snow nor wind will have the effect they do now. But the cartographers, once again, will have to redo the maps, since the island that appeared in 1963 will no longer be part of the emerged world atlas.
