Electricity + Control February 2019

CABLES + ACCESSORIES

by Bernd M ü ller for LAPP Cables to the crater

Source: Icelandic Meteorological Office

Hekla is one of Iceland’s most active volcanoes and scientists hope to use a network of seismometers to peer into the belly of the mountain and warn of an impending eruption. Connecting this network called for an especially tough cable, as the envi- ronment in the mountains of Iceland is anything but friendly.

Take Note!

Six seismometers have been installed on top of Hekla, one of Iceland’s most active volcanoes. The chosen cable fea- t u r e s f o u r t w i s t e d pairs surrounded by an aluminium-coated plastic band.

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V olcanoes are just as much a part of Ice- land as geysers, elves and trolls. One of the most active and dangerous of these is Hekla, located in the south of the island. It erupts approximately every ten years, most recently in 1970, 1980, 1991 and 2000, spewing fountains of

ash up to 30 kilometres into the sky. But since the last eruption in 2000, the volcano appears to have been on a break. This is good news for tourists, who come in their droves to hike to the crater rim 1 491 m above sea level, but it makes geophysi- cists nervous. “Hekla could erupt at any minute”, warns Martin Möllhoff, “and the longer this quiet period goes on, the more violent the eruption will be”. The German geophysicist works at the School of Cosmic Physics of the Institute for Advanced Studies in Dublin, Ireland. Here, he leads the tech- nical division that uses seismometers to monitor countless volcanoes around the world, including Hekla. If these probes detect minor tremors in the ground, it is red alert. This is because the last erup- tions were only detected in seismic measurement curves around 30 to 80 minutes in advance. As a result, all visitors to Hekla must download an app to their smartphone that receives warning mes- sages via SMS. Detecting the warning signs Möllhoff’s team is in the process of installing six seismometers on top of Hekla. Each of these

Figure 2: Cables for Icelandic Volcano.

Source: Icelandic Meteorological Office

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FEBRUARY 2019