The Iceland Volcano Thread

Hogzy

maquiladora wrote: »

Ash forecast animation :

http://transport.nilu.no/browser/fpv?fpp=conccol_VO_1_

Thursday doesn't look good for Ireland at the moment.

Both the low and high end of the scale are the same colour and they have it measured in Meters Squared and not cubic meters.

I wouldnt pay more attention to the UK met office predictions and charts

Popoutman

Hogzy wrote: »

hey have it measured in Meters Squared and not cubic meters.

I thought that the amount of ash per metre squared of the atmospheric column is a valid measurement of the total ash content of the atmosphere?

megatron989

Just heard Dublin airport is clear for 24 hours at least.

maquiladora

Ash plume is only 3km to 5km now so looks like the eruption is getting weaker. Hopefully the ash problems will be over soon enough.

According to Jon Frimann's latest blog update, Icelandic news media "say that this eruption was about the size of normal Katla eruption".

Different volcano, but if anyone is interested in watching a volcano erupting live, then check out Sakurajima. Already the shape of the mouth of caldera has changed

its been blowing off and on for weeks.

http://122.20.254.201:443/Camera09

morticia2

maquiladora wrote: »

According to Jon Frimann's latest blog update, Icelandic news media "say that this eruption was about the size of normal Katla eruption".

amazing the difference our usual westerlies make, innit??

Since the plume did reach 20km, though, what are the bets on another cold winter, and/or a manky summer/autumn?? There's got to be some climatic effects; most of the ash is north of Iceland. Grimsvotn seems to have upchucked as much in a day as Eyja did in a month.....

caseyann

http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2011/05/grimsvotn-volcano-erupts-in-iceland/100071/

Its frightening for what those poor people are going through.I wish them best and safety in these yet again hard days.

I am one thankful we have no such thing in Ireland.

je55ie

Germany is to shut down airports in the north of the country tomorrow morning because of the ash coming from the Icelandic volcano.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2011/0524/ash.html

je55ie

According to a status report issued by the Department of Civil Protection tonight, the ash plume from the Grímsvötn eruption now reaches about 2-3 km, not high enough to reach high-altitude winds.

There is considerably less ash being emitted from the eruption, and the spewing ash now only reaches the closest vicinity of the volcano. During the first 36 hours of the Grímsvötn eruption, the volcano emitted more ash than the total amount of ash emitted by Eyjafjallajökull during its entire eruption. There is still alot of ash covering the ground, and its effects may be felt for some time.




Things are improving at last

maquiladora

Some interesting comments from Jon Frimann :

Currently the ash plume is about 2 – 3 km high, with peaks up to 5 km. But the harmonic tremor remains high. So either lava eruption has started or the magma is going to find it self a new way out of the crust. That might happen soon if nothing changes.

The last large fissure eruption was in 1962 (or 1963), when Askja volcano did create 25 km long fissure. But it was not properly documented due to lack of instruments.

Currently the harmonic tremor is having a new spike. This pattern is really worrying and I am going to monitor it. But when anything happens is a big question. But I fear that there is going to be an new fissure at really bad location for the area. But how fast the such eruption would melt the glacier depends on the location. But the location also terminates where the floods goes down.

The current status in Grímsvötn is dangerous and I think that is an understatement. But for now all I can do and try to figure out what the data is trying to tell us.

maquiladora

The eruption is over (for the moment anyway).

Only some steam rising there now : http://img.visir.is/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=XZ&Date=20110525&Category=FRETTIR01&ArtNo=110529354&Ref=AR&NoBorder

DeVore

Any idea about the state of the airport in the next 24?

DeV.

cherryghost

Should be fine, there's a shift in wind direction tomorrow but if the volcano is only giving off steam we won't get anything disruptive

shrapnel222

any longer term predictions around? hoping to fly out friday

maquiladora

Some new comments from Jon Frimann :

I have no idea what happens next. But I am guessing that this eruption might resume soon and without an any warning at all.

This pattern of tremor is interesting. I am yet unsure what it means. But my guess is that this eruption is not over. Even if it has just stopped for now. I normally consider eruption over when the tremor has gone back into background noise (wind, ice, ocean etc..). That has not yet happened with Grímsfjall volcano eruption at this moment.

Sponge Bob

Could be a giant glacier burst awaits after the lava bubbles up underneath. Anything but a second Laki trap episode .

up for anything

http://visir.is/section/MEDIA99&fileid=CLP4326

Young male photographer took this video about five o'clock in the night, which shows clearly the situation at the volcano in Grímsvötn. Gisli went on powerful fjallabíl literally overflowing gigs, as shown in the accompanying video. It shows how one comes blasting from the crater, and scientists say that they can be very powerful and come without warning. Due to the unpredictable explosions, people are encouraged to go no closer than the cabin Glaciological Society is about 6 miles away.

Mc Love

Some of the pictures from that Chilean Volcano are unreal

Sponge Bob

Damn fine ash cloud. Top right of this pic is Uruguay/Brazil border on the Atlantic . Centre just north of Buenos Aires.

Sponge Bob

Chilean Volcano now closing airports in Australia and New Zealand

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-13740877

6000 Miles to NZ and 7000 mile to Melbourne :eek:

maquiladora

From Jon Frimanns blog :

Earthquake swarm in Katla volcano

Posted on June 17, 2011 by Jón Frímann

Around 17:10 UTC an earthquake swarm did start in Katla volcano. This earthquake swarm is focused inside the Katla caldera at small point. The one earthquake that I have so far been able to record was an long period earthquake, but that suggests that this earthquake was created by magma movement. At current time I am not sure from where this earthquake did originate from. But from Goðabunga area in Katla volcano this types of earthquakes are common and no surprise at all.

At current time I do not know what this means for Katla volcano. But so far no increase in harmonic tremor has been detected on the seismometers around Katla volcano. But that might not start at current time, as harmonic tremor is only going to increase when magma starts to move inside the Katla volcano, like did happen in Grímsfjall volcano few weeks ago.

The location of this earthquake swarm strongly suggests that what is going on in Katla volcano is an dike intrusion in the Katla caldera. If that is powerful enough to start an eruption is an question remained unanswered at current time.

http://en.vedur.is/earthquakes-and-volcanism/earthquakes/myrdalsjokull/

Looks like two clusters of quakes since 5pm today.

Some comments from Jon following that article :

It is magma on the move, and it can be signs of an volcano waking up. Katla volcano is somewhat similar to Krafla volcano. But with an glacier. Last eruption was in the year 1918, so we do not know an lot about how Katla volcano behaves before an eruption starts in it.

I did manage to record two earthquakes from the last burst of earthquakes. Both of them where long period earthquakes. That is magma pushing it’s way up the crust. The earthquakes happen at random time, so it is hard to know what is going on.

But I have an bad feeling about this. I must say. But at the moment the best thing to do is to observe what is going on.

So far NO eruption has been detected in Katla volcano. This is just earthquakes at the moment.

maquiladora

Swarm including a +3 mag close to the "probably extinct" Prestahnukur volcano.

http://en.vedur.is/earthquakes-and-volcanism/earthquakes/langjokull/

up for anything

I've been following the Icelandic EQs on BT and Jon's blog. I was too scared to post here about them in case it has the same effect as the first Irish match I watched in Italia 90 being the game against Italy. I should change my username to Jonah.

maquiladora

Latest update on Katla which has been quiet all day :

Jón Frímann says:
June 18, 2011 at 19:34

There was an harmonic tremor spike in Katla volcano just now, or an small and dense earthquake swarm that looks like an harmonic tremor spike.

I am not sure yet what is the correct case now.

maquiladora

Jón Frímann confirming on his blog there is a "tremor spike taking place in Katla volcano". It was spotted a little earlier by some of his followers on his blog.

Spike it strongest here : http://hraun.vedur.is/ja/oroi/hvo.gif

Should be interesting to see if we get another swarm there.

roryc1

maquiladora wrote: »

Jón Frímann confirming on his blog there is a "tremor spike taking place in Katla volcano". It was spotted a little earlier by some of his followers on his blog.

Spike it strongest here : http://hraun.vedur.is/ja/oroi/hvo.gif

Should be interesting to see if we get another swarm there.

Few small earthquakes in the area too
http://en.vedur.is/earthquakes-and-volcanism/earthquakes/myrdalsjokull/

maquiladora

Some more from Jon Frimann :

Today around 16:00 UTC there was an new harmonic tremor in Katla volcano. This harmonic tremor has two sources. Hyrdothermal activity under the glacier, or magma moving deep inside Katla volcano (without creating many earthquakes in Katla volcano). It is unclear what is the case at the moment.

It is impossible to know what happens next. But it is also important to be aware of the fact that earthquake season is starting in Katla volcano. But that is normally from end of June to beginning of October (or when it starts to snow again in Iceland). So more earthquakes are going to be seen this summer also because of more SIL seismometers around Katla volcano.

So there is no reason to panic about Katla volcano at current time. But it is worth to keep watch on it anyway.

morticia2

http://en.vedur.is/earthquakes-and-volcanism/earthquakes/myrdalsjokull

Katla seems to be sleeping uneasily still. There's always a few new quakes in the caldera every time I check, but few over 1 in magnitude.

nothing much from Mr. Frimann, either. Guess that means all's quiet on the Northern Front?

The mini earthquakes all seem focused inside the caldera at the mo' though... that's new-ish

J6P

Experts say one of Iceland's most feared volcanoes looks ready to erupt, with measurements indicating magma movement, raising fears of a new ash cloud halting flights over Europe.
The Hekla volcano is close to the ash-spewing Eyjafjoell, which last year caused the world's biggest airspace shut down since World War II, affecting more than 100,000 flights and 8 million passengers.
The Iceland Civil Protection Authority says it is closely monitoring the situation.


http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/07/06/3262975.htm

Hope the web cams stay working.

the icelanders call Hekla the Gateway to Hell


Hekla is a stratovolcano located in the south of Iceland with a height of 1,491 metres (4,892 ft). Hekla is one of Iceland's most active volcanoes; over 20 eruptions have occurred in and around the volcano since 874. During the Middle Ages, Icelanders called the volcano the "Gateway to Hell."

maquiladora

Activity in Hekla Not Necessarily Indication of Eruption

It cannot be stated with any certainty that the recent unusual activity picked up by sensors at the volcano Hekla in south Iceland is a signal of an imminent eruption, according to geophysics professor Páll Einarsson.

Einarsson told ruv.is that the volcano is certainly ripe for an eruption but the sensors are new and there isn’t enough experience with them to draw any conclusive assumptions.

In the past few days the sensors around Hekla have shown unusual movements in the earth’s crust and these movements were picked up by all the sensors.

Scientists aren’t familiar with the volcano’s behavior in this sense as they haven’t had the opportunity to monitor such movements before, Einarsson reasoned.

However, he is not in doubt that Hekla is ready to burst. The volcano has been extending slowly but surely in the past years as magma is accumulating below it. Hekla has been preparing to erupt ever since the last eruption concluded in 2000.

The Civil Protection Department of the National Commissioner of the Icelandic Police was notified of the latest developments yesterday, as were civil protection committees in south Iceland. However, no special action will be taken for the time being.

Hekla will continue to be monitored closely; its eruptions have usually started without much advance warning. In 2000, a series of earthquakes commenced one and a half hours before magma thrust its way to the surface.

Einarsson said this is in fact the longest advance warning Hekla has given; in some cases it is much shorter, only 25 minutes in 1970, for example. The volcano has erupted in approximately ten-year intervals in the past decades.

http://www.icelandreview.com/icelandreview/daily_news/Activity_in_Hekla_Not_Necessarily_Indication_of_Eruption_0_379832.news.aspx

Das Kitty

We were in Iceland in 2008, Hekla last erupted in 2000 and there were still red hot pieces of ash at the foot of it.

Iceland is a really cool place to go if you have an interest in geology, that is if you can get there.

maquiladora

Ongoing earthquake swarm, Reykjanes peninsula. Including two 3+

http://en.vedur.is/earthquakes-and-volcanism/earthquakes/reykjanesridge/#view=map

heres some Hekla history.

http://www.volcano.si.edu/world/volcano.cfm?vnum=1702-07=&volpage=erupt

just came across this webcam pretty decent , i had been using RUV

http://www.simnet.is/jonfr500/earthquake/vefmyndheklaen.html

Elmo5

I was working in Reykjavik after the 2000 eruption of Hekla. It didn't seem to have a very bad impact or maybe I just didnt go to the right place to find out!

I think that eruptions a few centuries ago were bad but now that the eruptions are closer together, they are small and shorter eruptions.

maquiladora

Update from JF on Hekla

Jón Frímann says:
July 6, 2011 at 16:24

The inflation spikes in the GPS data suggests an dike intrusion. How deep is hard to say since there where no earthquakes following this. But that also suggests that the magma was travelling already open pathways.

What I fear that this means that an fissure eruption is going to take place this time around. But it is hard to be sure on that until it actually happens.

je55ie

Changes in Katla

maquiladora

Yes, looks like magma movement under Katla, Jon Frimann has detected an ongoing harmonic tremor.

His most recent comment :

This is what I call not good. I am already at my own alert level 2 at the moment. There are changes taking place in Katla volcano and I do not like them one bit.

It's still rising, check out the graphs around Katla:

http://hraun.vedur.is/ja/oroi/

The harmonic levels are getting so strong that they have started to appear on stations around Hekla and on my own geophone, even if it is located almost 60 km away from the source of the harmonic tremor. Currently there is little to suggests that this is slowing down at the moment. But that might yet happen. But it is impossible to know for sure at the moment.

up for anything

Jon's latest post.

Don't book any flights.:D

Harmonic tremor continue to increase in Katla volcano
Posted on July 9, 2011 by Jón Frímann
When this is written around 00:36 UTC on 9. July 2011 the harmonic tremor levels on SIL stations around Katla volcano have continued to increase. The latest spike in harmonic tremor levels happened after an ML1.5 (automatic size) earthquake that took place at 22:13 UTC. There has been an small earthquake swarm in Katla volcano caldera yesterday. But the largest earthquake in that earthquake swarm had the size ML2.4.

The harmonic levels are getting so strong that they have started to appear on stations around Hekla and on my own geophone, even if it is located almost 60 km away from the source of the harmonic tremor. Currently there is little to suggests that this is slowing down at the moment. But that might yet happen. But it is impossible to know for sure at the moment.

The lack of earthquakes tells me that the magma has not yet reached the surface. When or if that might happen is an good question that I do not have the answer to. But this might take several more hours until something happens in terms of earthquakes or other activity in Katla volcano.

maquiladora

These tremors look a lot more intense than the ones spotted back in June. Still increasing after Jon's last post.

Will be interesting to see what (if anything) comes from this.

redsteveireland

L

maquiladora wrote: »

These tremors look a lot more intense than the ones spotted back in June. Still increasing after Jon's last post.

Will be interesting to see what (if anything) comes from this.

This one has a bit of a strange feeling about it, like something bad is about to happen.

up for anything

redsteveireland wrote: »

L


This one has a bit of a strange feeling about it, like something bad is about to happen.

Such as? Are you think VEI6 or something different?

maquiladora

Worth keeping in mind that even if this activity leads to an eruption, it could well be something along the lines of 1999, a small eruption. And even if it isn't a small eruption, there's a good chance it won't be as big as the recent Grímsvötn eruption, which was the biggest eruption in Iceland for 50 years but it didn't hurt anyone and didn't cause that much air traffic disruption.

Who knows though, maybe there will be a big surprise.

maquiladora

Tremor is starting to drop now.

maquiladora

And rising again....

Edit : Couple of shallow quakes recorded in Katla now.

Edit : And now tremor is dropping more steadily....

maquiladora

A glacial flood has started in Múlakvísl and there is a warning about dangerous gases being released.

Jón Frímann says:
July 9, 2011 at 07:29

The news this morning is that an small eruption most likely did happen or is happening in the Katla volcano caldera.

redsteveireland

up for anything wrote: »

Such as? Are you think VEI6 or something different?

I don't know but anything is possible. I just mean it feels ominous from Jon's posts.

maquiladora

Small, sub-glacial eruption in Katla it seems. Only risk at the moment is from flooding and dangerous gas for the locals.

Tremor is falling so could all be over, for now.

maquiladora

Iceland Met servers must be getting hammered, can't open their earthquake page.

The harmonic tremor is still dropping anyway.

http://hraun.vedur.is/ja/oroi/alf.gif

IMO not ready to call this an eruption. They still say there may have been a small eruption under the ice but no signs on the surface. Cracks seens in the glacier : http://www.icelandreview.com/icelandreview/daily_news/Cracks_in_Glacier,_No_Sign_of_Katla_Eruption_0_380019.news.aspx

maquiladora

Too early to tell if its just a blip, but the tremor could be rising again.

Edit : Just a blip! :-)