Usually I'm a pretty reasonable person. However, over the past day, various items in the media have begun to drive me mad. Maybe I've been watching too much of Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares but I am bleeping irritated with how little fact checking and research some parts of the media have been doing when it comes to reporting on volcanic activity. I mean, just yesterday there were no less than three egregious articles or images floating around in the news (and this doesn't even get into the fear-mongering)
AFP:Hekla is not Heimaey Island. The only island Hekla is on is Iceland itself (see top left). And that volcano isn't even Hekla, it is Eldfell. I think the Volcanism Blog handled this best with Ralph's simple illustration of the problem.
Reuters:Hekla did not erupt this year (see image on side). In fact, the last eruption was in 2000, which was 11 years ...
