Annual research expedition to Surtsey island launches to study shifting ecosystem

Scientists have embarked on their annual research expedition to the volcanic island of Surtsey. The ecosystem on the island can vary greatly from year to year.

The team of researchers set out on their yearly expedition to Surtsey yesterday. The island’s ecosystem is constantly changing and the development of plants and small animal life is particularly researched during this expedition. The scientists will stay on Surtsey until July 18. There is a great demand to join the research group, which currently consists of seven members; three botanists and one zoologist from the Institute of Natural History, three botanists from the Agricultural University, a ranger from the Environment Agency, and a French filmmaker.

Eydís Líndal Finnbogadóttir, the acting director of the Institute of Natural History, says that monitoring the ecosystem and geological formations is the main project, but the tasks vary between expeditions. The development of vegetation and small animals is always studied and samples are taken if new species are found. “The situation in Surtsey can be very different from year to year. If it has been very dry, it has an immediate impact,” says Eydís.

Surtsey is 1.4 square kilometers. It was protected in 1965, but if the progress of recent decades is taken into account, it will no longer exist in the future. “Surtsey is continuously shrinking and changing, there are sandbanks that move and change, but then the main changes that we are monitoring are for example in the vegetation. It is very much related to the bird population on the island, the most vegetation is where the bird colonies and seagull colonies are on the island,” says Eydís.

Surtsey was formed in a submarine volcanic eruption in 1963 which lasted intermittently until 1967. The creation of the island provided a unique opportunity to study active geological development and not least the colonization of ecosystems on new land.