From Iceland — 60 Minutes Covers Eyjafjallajökull

60 Minutes Covers Eyjafjallajökull

Published January 7, 2014

In a new episode of 60 Minutes, Eyjafjallajökull is paid a visit, and the drama was high.

In the segment “Volcanoes”, the news discussion show visited three volcanoes, one of them Iceland’s Eyjafjallajökull. Scott Pelley, who hosted the piece, struggled with the pronunciation of the volcano, ascribing it to “the inscrutable language of Iceland.”

Scott, along with Icelandic volcanologist Haraldur Sigurðsson, went on an expedition to the summit, wanting to be the first to do so post-eruption. Along the way, Scott brought up some trivia about Iceland’s geological activity, such as, “Over the last 500 years, Iceland’s 30 volcanoes have released one third of the lava on earth.”

The view from Scott and Haraldur’s vantage point showed Eyjafjallajökull still billowing forth ash, with Haraldur pointing out pieces of rock “the size of cars” flying up “at least 1,000 feet into the air” from the eruption.

You can view the segment below, bearing in mind that Scott Pelley is trying his best to pronounce the volcano’s name properly:

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