On July 22nd Iceland Post will issue three new stamps. The theme is the eruption in Eyjafjallajökull Glacier earlier this year.

The volcanic events in Eyjafjallajökull which started in March 2010 are considered to be a single eruption divided into two different phases, so far. The first phase started on March 20th with a relatively small eruption on Fimmvörduháls. Additional localised disruptions continued for a few weeks.

Beginning on April 14th the eruption entered a second phase, creating an enormous ash cloud that led to the closure of most of Europe's IFR airspace for a few days - the highest level of air travel disruption since the Second World War. This phase resulted in an estimated 250 million cubic metres of ejected tephra with the ash plume rising to a height of approx. 9 kilometres. Thick layer of ash fell on farms and pastures in the South, making it very difficult to continue farming, harvesting or grazing livestock. Hundreds of farmers and their families in the worst affected areas had to be evacuated. By May 21st 2010, the second eruption phase had died down, indicating that the volcano had become dormant again.

All the stamps are silkscreen printed with very fine-grained trachyandesite ash (3 microns (μm) or less) which fell at Eyjafjallajökull April 17th 2010. The trachyandesite magma has ca. 60% silica content and comes from a depth of 7 km with a temperature of more than 1100°C when it reaches the glacial ice.

The postage rate of the stamps are:

• Domestic letter 50 g (ISK 75)
• 50 g Letter to Europe (ISK 165)
• 50 g Letter outside Europe (ISK 220)

The stamps are designed by Borgar Hjörleifur Árnason and Hany Hadaya with H2 design. Photographs are taken by Óskar Ragnarsson (Fimmvörðuháls) and Ragnar Th. Sigurðsson (Two photographs of Eyjafjallajökull).

The stamps are available a the nearest post office and online on www.stamps.is