Editing Hekla (section)

===2000===
[[File:Iceland-Hekla2-July 2000.jpg|thumb|right|A lava field on Hekla in July 2000]]
The most recent eruption was relatively short; it started at 18:18 on 26 February 2000 and lasted until 8 March. It was a VEI-3 eruption producing a lava volume of {{convert|0.189|km3|abbr=on}},  [[Dense-rock equivalent|DRE]]<ref name="TMEOH">{{cite journal |title= The millennium eruption of Hekla in February 2000 |year= 2007 |doi=10.1007/s00445-007-0128-3|bibcode=2007BVol...70..169H|pages=169–182 |last1= Höskuldsson |first1= Ármann |last2= Óskarsson |first2= Níels |last3= Pedersen |first3= Rikke |last4= Grönvold |first4= Karl |last5= Vogfjörð |first5= Kristín |last6= Ólafsdóttir |first6= Rósa |journal= Bulletin of Volcanology |volume= 70 |issue= 2|s2cid= 129882382 }}</ref> {{convert|0.29|km3|abbr=on}} <ref name="GVP" /> and {{convert|1E7|m3|abbr=on}}m<sup>3</sup> of tephra.<ref name="GVP" /> The eruption went through four phases:
#initial explosive stage
#fire fountains
#bursts of [[Strombolian eruption]]
#effusion of lava<ref name="TMEOH" />

Eruption activity was at a maximum in the first hour, and by the first night the fissure on Hekla had opened to a length of {{convert|6|-|7|km|abbr=on}}. The steam column rose to a height of almost {{convert|15|km|abbr=on}}, and ash was transported to [[Grímsey]] on the North coast of Iceland.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.hi.is/~thorstur/science/hekla2000.htm |title=Hekla erupts Feb 26 – ~29, 2000|access-date=19 January 2008 |work=Modified from Daily News from Iceland}}</ref> During this eruption, a [[NASA]] [[DC-8]] aeroplane accidentally flew through the plume with all instruments switched on, resulting in unprecedented measurement of a young volcanic plume.<ref name=Grindle2003/>

Up until this eruption, it had been assumed that Hekla was incapable of producing the most dangerous of volcanic phenomena, the [[pyroclastic flow]]. In January 2003, however, a team from the Norvol Institute in [[Reykjavík]], under the leadership of Dr. Ármann Höskuldsson, reported that they found traces of a pyroclastic flow, roughly 5&nbsp;km long, stretching down the side of the mountain. This will call for a reappraisal of volcanic eruptions of the [[Mafic|basic]] rock type, which up to now were generally thought not to produce large pyroclastic flows. It will also require that the public and curious spectators who always rush to the scene at the start of a new outbreak, be kept much further away from the volcanic activity than was thought necessary during previous outbreaks.
[[Image:Steaming top of Hekla volcano, Island.jpg|thumb|right|Steam at the summit of Hekla]]