This week’s West Bay Rotary meeting featured Meg Weston, who shared her stories of chasing volcanoes whenever and wherever she could, along with many trips to her beloved Iceland, where a series of earthquakes portends an imminent eruption of the Fagradalsfjall volcano. Weston is a writer, photographer, and former President of Maine Media.

She notes that of the 1,400 volcanoes in the world, an average of 60 erupt or become active every year, most going unnoticed.

Others, like those in Hawaii, Italy, and Iceland, have become “tourist volcanos,” where efforts to make volcanoes accessible has made them popular to experience up close. In Iceland alone, over two million tourists visited last year.

Weston herself has seen up to 40 volcanos from Hawaii, Alaska, Washington, and the U.S. Pacific Territories to Italy, Mexico, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Russia, and, of course, Iceland.

She recently returned from her 12th trip to Iceland. The unique geography of this small island country, about the size of Ohio, with a population of 380,000, running nearly 100 percent on electric power, manages to be a natural site for active volcanoes occurring every four or five years. The country sits on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, which lies on a “hot spot” between tectonic plates slowly pulling the country apart between the American and European continents.

Weston’s fascination with volcanoes dates back to age 12, when she received a copy of National Geographic magazine with the cover “Surtsey—Island on Fire.” Surtsey is an uninhabited island in the archipelago off of Iceland, and Meg was hooked. Years later in 1980 when she learned that the Krafla volcano in Iceland was active through SEAN (Science Event Alert Network), she jumped at the chance to see it. It was her first trip to the country and the experience was transformative. “I saw evidence of volcanos everywhere,” she said. “It was like seeing earth in creation in such a vast landscape without trees, the earth steaming with activity below.”

In 2010 she received an alert that Eyjafjallajokull was actively erupting. She leapt at the opportunity, and soon found herself driving across a glacier in a super-inflated jeep at night (the best time to see a volcano) to capture the eruption.

The next experience came in 2014 with the Bardarbunga volcano, which sits on the largest glacier in Europe. This time she secured a helicopter that allowed her to get the closest she’d ever been to an active volcano. Her most recent experience was two years ago on Iceland’s Fagradalsfjall, which had been inactive for 800 years.

For Meg, volcanoes are evidence of the beginning of the earth, and remind us to have awe and respect for earth’s enduring power and magnificence that is rooted in its deepest geology. Meg’s “obsession” rolls her natural curiosity, enthusiasm, and a dedication to learning into a life-long passion.

About West Bay Rotary

West Bay Rotary is celebrating its 38th year of manifesting its mission of “service above self” here in the Midcoast. The club undertakes dozens of community projects as well as fundraising (and “fun-raising”) events, including its annual “Duck Derby,” Chowder Challenge, Christmas Trees, Chili Challenge, Toboggan Nationals parking, and more. The door for prospective members is always open. The club meets on Thursday mornings from 7:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m., also via Zoom. For more information, go to: www.westbayrotaryofmaine.org.