The Iceland Volcano Thread

video showing some of the flooding on main road
apologies if already posted, only have seconds on here at time, ( computer fecked )

http://http.ruv.straumar.is/static.ruv.is/vefur/Katla_fyrir_net.wmv

maquiladora

Alert level has been lowered and people who were evacuated are now allowed to return to their homes.

Jon F said he thinks activity could rise again in the coming hours but at the moment everything is pretty much back to normal again.

morticia2

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

fair amount of regular earthquake activity, all in the caldera. Grimsvoetn did this in October/November of last year, remember, glacier flood and then nothing....for a while.

maquiladora

This is some great helicopter footage of the cracking and damage done to the glacier over Katla from the recent activity. Later in the video it shows the flooding.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYUVC-gWyb8

Das Kitty

Can't believe it washed the bridge/raised road away, that's a lot of water and ice.

A massive pain in the ass for anyone living on the skaftafell side if they want to get to Reykjavik.

thetonynator

I have 4 flights to get in the next 2 weeks, if a volcano blows, i think i'm going to kill someone! Probably michael o'leary . . :P

maquiladora

Das Kitty wrote: »

Can't believe it washed the bridge/raised road away, that's a lot of water and ice.

It is estimated that in the 1918 eruption, around 100,000 cubic metres of ice was melted every second by the magma.

Das Kitty

maquiladora wrote: »

It is estimated that in the 1918 eruption, around 100,000 cubic metres of ice was melted every second by the magma.

This is supposed to be a small eruption though. The road is stilted across the flood plane to allow it to remain open during small events.

maquiladora

thetonynator wrote: »

I have 4 flights to get in the next 2 weeks, if a volcano blows, i think i'm going to kill someone! Probably michael o'leary . . :P

Well at the moment things are returning to normal with Katla.

There is still a bit of a question mark over Hekla but she is known for giving warnings of eruption only a couple of hours or even minutes in advance.

maquiladora

Das Kitty wrote: »

This is supposed to be a small eruption though. The road is stilted across the flood plane to allow it to remain open during small events.

Yes they are saying that if it was an eruption then it was a small one that didn't break through the ice. Something like this happened back in 55 and 99. They are still not actually calling this one an eruption for sure though.

maquiladora

Jon F thinks he has spotted the start of a new harmonic tremor at Katla. Nothing dramatic yet anyway, will check back in a few hours.

Edit : Update from Jon.

This harmonic tremor spike was small compared to the one on 8 – 9. July 2011. But this means that this area continues to be highly active and dangerous in my opinion. While there currently is an little pause ongoing in this area. I do not think that current events are over. When they end and how I don’t have any idea. But I am guessing that this is going to end in an full eruption of Katla volcano. When that might happen is something I don’t have any idea about.

maquiladora

Last night there was another harmonic tremor spotted but this time at a different location, under the Vatnajokull glacier. The Icelandic news has now confirmed a glacial flood so this was a very similar event to what happened with Katla a few days ago, maybe a small eruption under the ice or just magma rising close enough to melt the ice.

paddymc1

Earthquake of 3.3 today at the Katla Volcano time 16:04.

morticia2

maquiladora wrote: »

Last night there was another harmonic tremor spotted but this time at a different location, under the Vatnajokull glacier.

Give one little volcano its 15 mins in the limelight and they're all vying for attention...

Jon Frimann had the Vatnajokull flood pegged to Hamarinn, which is apparently part of the Bardarbunga system?

http://www.jonfr.com/volcano/

Katla, Hekla, now Hamarinn?? What next?

maquiladora

paddymc1 wrote: »

Earthquake of 3.3 today at the Katla Volcano time 16:04.

That was later downgraded to 2.6

Looks like it was a single event, I think if Katla was getting ready for a full eruption there would be dozens of quakes and probably a good few +3 or even stronger ones.

maquiladora

Shallow 3.0 quake within the Katla caldera.

up for anything

I'm fed up waiting around. I don't want destruction and devastation but a little something interesting happening would be nice.

maquiladora

up for anything wrote: »

I'm fed up waiting around. I don't want destruction and devastation but a little something interesting happening would be nice.

You might have to wait a bit longer. IMO just downgraded it to a not very interesting 0.9 mag quake now!

You could always watch Dante's Peak or Volcano.....

up for anything

up for anything wrote: »

I'm fed up waiting around. I don't want destruction and devastation but a little something interesting happening would be nice.

Be careful what you wish for!

je55ie

Big downgrade though

up for anything

maquiladora wrote: »

You might have to wait a bit longer. IMO just downgraded it to a not very interesting 0.9 mag quake now!

You could always watch Dante's Peak or Volcano.....

I've been watching Supervolcano on Youtube.

Here's a strange and sad story I came across just now.

http://www.losandes.com.ar/notas/2011/7/15/muere-hombre-engullido-geiser-hawai-581118.asp

maquiladora

Jon Frimann has spotted new activity at the small Hamarinn volcano in Iceland.

There is a a small harmonic tremor spike taking place at the moment.



You can see the spike rising at the very end of the plot, the bigger spike a few days back created a glacial flood (that didn't do any damage due to the remote area) and may have been due to a very small eruption under the ice.

Hamarinn might be on its way to a full eruption but it's way too early to tell.

Something to follow while Katla is keeping fairly quiet.

up for anything

maquiladora wrote: »

Something to follow while Katla is keeping fairly quiet.

I imagine even Katla would find Bardabunga a hard act to follow. She'd really have to pull out all the stops. :eek:

maquiladora

up for anything wrote: »

I imagine even Katla would find Bardabunga a hard act to follow. She'd really have to pull out all the stops. :eek:

At the moment it seems the tremors are from Hamarinn which is a small volcano within the Bárðarbunga volcanic system, rather than that main Bárðarbunga volcano itself.

Right now the tremor has fallen back to normal levels again, but worth watching incase it jumps back up.

up for anything

maquiladora wrote: »

At the moment it seems the tremors are from Hamarinn which is a small volcano within the Bárðarbunga volcanic system, rather than that main Bárðarbunga volcano itself.

Right now the tremor has fallen back to normal levels again, but worth watching incase it jumps back up.

I was just thinking about them being connected and sods law.

maquiladora

Harmonic tremor spikes are on the rise again....

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

(There was a few small spikes, back to normal again now)

maquiladora

Small earthquake swarm at Katla happening right now.

Jon Frimann noted the swarm started with a Tornillo earthquake, which in some volcanic systems, is a precursor to eruption.

Hard to know how significant this will be yet, but I'm keeping an eye on it.

Edit : Swarm seems to have ended.

Edit 2 : Still some activity....

up for anything

Some more small EQs in the last while. To go to bed or stay up is the question?

maquiladora

up for anything wrote: »

Some more small EQs in the last while. To go to bed or stay up is the question?

Hard to know is it is the start of something or just a rumble on a long road to a future full eruption.

I think if an eruption was hours away then there would be a lot more quakes, much bigger quakes and a dramatic harmonic tremor.

maquiladora

Big earthquake on Jon Frimann's geophone!

maquiladora

3.8 earthquake right in the middle of the Katla caldera at 1.1km :eek:

Swarm still ongoing.

Edit : Swarm has ended and the big 3.8 quake got manually downgraded to a 2.6, despite looking much stronger than that. See if you can spot it http://www.simnet.is/jonfr500/earthquake/tremoren.htm

up for anything

Well, I'm glad I went to bed. If it's going to erupt it will be on Friday evening.

maquiladora

A small harmonic tremor is being picked up now at some stations close to Katla.

up for anything

Just looking at the Katla webcam. There seems to be some dispute over whether it is clouds or steam hovering over Katla. Any cloud expert here willing to make an educated guess?

http://www.ruv.is/katla

up for anything

They've put back the 3+.

Monday 18.07.2011 02:02:27 63.660 -19.116 1.1 km 3.8 90.09 7.0 km ENE of Goðabunga

Elmo5

Looks more like steam to me, although far from an expert!

maquiladora

up for anything wrote: »

They've put back the 3+.

It definitely looked stronger than 2.6 on Jon's geophone anyway.

up for anything

3.8 apparently if they don't change it again.

Another small one in the last few minutes.

ETA: Back to a 2.6. They're playing with us.

up for anything

I'm not altogether clear as to why they downgrade them. Something to do with background noise and the like. I must ask for a clear explanation why.

I keep losing the Katla cam. The Mila ones are much easier to get and keep.

up for anything

Back up again to 3.8 again. There must be an AH work experience person in the IMO taking the piss.

maquiladora

141_Oscar_Mike wrote: »

Why are they always corrected/downgraded? Does the geophone take false readings too?
.

When the earthquake happens it gets automatically presented on the webpage based on early data from maybe just one or two stations (I dont know how many) to save time and get the earthquake recorded quickly . So the first magnitude is based on this, but then later there is human input and other data from other stations etc. gets processed and so the magnitude and depth etc gets updated. Sometimes upgraded, sometimes downgraded.

maquiladora

Looks like everything is back to normal at Katla again. That small quake wasn't the start of a new swarm and the suspected harmonic tremor doesn't look as interesting now.

Will check back in a few hours. :pac:

mickger844posts

Just caught the last 25 mins of Julia Bradbury's Icelandic Walk last night on BBC 2. Looked very interesting. She finished by going to the mouth of the Eyjafjallajokull crater. Renewed my interest in the whole subject.

up for anything

Essential watching. Video about Katla by National Commissioner of the Icelandic Police Civil Protection Department.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji-yY3OmAZY

maquiladora

Nothing interesting happening with Katla at the moment.

Btw, Katla in English means Kettle.

A watched kettle never boils?

up for anything

maquiladora wrote: »

Nothing interesting happening with Katla at the moment.

Btw, Katla in English means Kettle.

A watched kettle never boils?

I'm going to bed early tonight so expect fireworks.

morticia2

up for anything wrote: »

Essential watching. Video about Katla by National Commissioner of the Icelandic Police Civil Protection Department.

very interesting. Glad I don't live anywhere near it...yikes, 2 hours warning to get out...not the easiest with small children, I'd imagine.

Bens

This definitely looks like steam to me.

http://makeagif.com/i/FENKnS

And the weather has air from Iceland heading right down over Ireland.
Hope nobody is plannig holidays this week.

maquiladora

There are no signs at the moment that a Katla eruption is imminent.

There has been some activity but that could go on and off for a long time before it erupts.

Back last year, before Eyjafjallajokull erupted there was hundreds of earthquakes happening every day before it finally blew its top.

I do think Katla is probably on the final road to an eruption because of the changes that have been happening but it could still be weeks, months or even a year or two away.

Elmo5

Another little swarm tonight !