Social
- Around 10 million airline passengers affected and stranded abroad
- Residents in the volcano shadow were covered in ash and may have evacuated
- Sports games across the globe had to be cancelled or postponed
- 20 farms were destroyed by the flooding or ash
- The 150m thick ice cap melted which caused major flooding to Iceland and 700 people to be evacuated.
Economic
- Airlines lost up to $200 million of each day not flying.
- Kenya lost up to $3.5 million because of lost exports, LEDC’s were also badly affected. 20% of the Kenyan economy is based on the export of green vegetables and cut flowers to Europe.
- These are perishable goods and they are transported by plane to keep them fresh, but the flight ban meant that products returned unsold and destroyed. Over 50,000 farmers were temporarily unemployed.
- Euro star and other travel companies flourished with 50,000 extra passengers a day added £7 million to the rail line.
Environmental
- Eruption added 0.15m tonnes of carbon dioxide each day to the atmosphere, but the lack of air travel prevented between 1.3 – 2.8m tonnes from reaching the atmosphere.
- Phytoplankton in the Atlantic Ocean bloomed as they fed on the iron from the falling ash boosting the marine ecosystem.
- The heat from the lava and the coolness of the ice blew the magma apart resulting in a more explosive eruption.
- The chemical composition of the lava was different and so there were more blasts which were help 5 miles up into the atmosphere.
- The ash reached 22,000 feet above.
- Blankets of ash covered crops and blocked out sunlight.