Volcano Erupts in Iceland; Hundreds Evacuated
Al Fansome
Volcano Erupts in Iceland; Hundreds Evacuated
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 12:44 a.m. ET
REYKJAVIK, Iceland (AP) -- Authorities evacuated hundreds of people
after a volcano erupted beneath a glacier in southern Iceland, Iceland's
civil protection agency said Sunday.
The eruption occurred around 11:30 p.m. Saturday (1930 EDT) beneath the
Eyjafjallajokull glacier, the fifth largest glacier in Iceland.The
volcano is covered by an ice cap.
Fearing flooding from the glacier melt, authorities evacuated some 400
people in the area 160 kilometers (100 miles) southeast of the capital,
Reykjavik, as a precaution but no damage or injuries have been reported,
said Vidir Reynisson, the department manager for the Icelandic Civil
Protection Department.
A state of emergency has been declared in communities near the 100
square mile (160 kilometers) glacier.
''We do not at this moment know the full extent of the eruption but a
team is flying over the site now to evaluate the situation,'' said
Reynisson.
A European volcanic island in the North Atlantic, Iceland is largely an
arctic desert with mountains, glaciers and volcanoes and agricultural
areas in the lowlands close to the coastline.
The last time the volcano erupted was in the 1820s.
Belba Grubb
eruption from last night:
http://volcanism.wordpress.com/2010/03/21/iceland-eyjafjallajokull-volcano-erupts/
/Eruptions/ blog has a lot of details, too, plus a day shot (believe
it or not--it's quite dark) and a video:
http://scienceblogs.com/eruptions/2010/03/the_2010_fissure_eruption_at_e.php
No word yet of a jokulhlaup, or whether either of the nearby volcanoes
may join in (they do not have connected magma systems, per the
commenters at /Eruptions/, who have been following this since the
seismicity first started up weeks ago.
Barb
oriel36
> Here's the /Volcanism Blog/ report with a nice image of this fissure
>
> /Eruptions/ blog has a lot of details, too, plus a day shot (believe
>
> No word yet of a jokulhlaup, or whether either of the nearby volcanoes
> may join in (they do not have connected magma systems, per the
> commenters at /Eruptions/, who have been following this since the
> seismicity first started up weeks ago.
>
> Barb
Maybe some day geologists will pick up the chain of reasoning which
connects earthquakes and volcanic eruptions with the bigger picture of
the Mid Atlantic Ridge as a global feature and as a signature of the
rotational mechanism beneath it ,the symmetrical generation of crust
either side of the ridge with particular emphasis to rotational
orientation and the 'S' shape which splits at the equatorial crust -
http://www.cliffshade.com/colorado/images/mid_atlantic.gif
Is the certainty of 'convection cells' so appealing as to reject the
possibility that the rotation of the Earth viscous interior is
responsible for the present eruption and ultimately the creation of
crust off that ridge ?,I would like to think people are not so
enamored by those 'cells' which cannot explain the Mid Atlantic Ridge
while the lag/advance mechanism of differential rotation in the
interior can.
Australia Mining Pioneer & Founder of the True Geology
Your reasoning is hooked on a orbital stable planet whirling in a void
like environment! Your criticisms although right concerning the
present Gogology are mitigated by your own ignorance as to the cause
of Planets rotation & revolutions ... Hence please clean your door
step first before venturing into lesson giving, please!
Jean-Paul Turcaud
Founder of the True Geology
Belba Grubb
http://www.icelandreview.com/icelandreview/daily_news/?cat_id=21123&ew_0_a_id=359727
Although actually, there is effusive basalt flow as well as
fountaining -- which makes this especially beautiful. The question
now is twofold: will it get going under the ice and cause flooding
and what will Katla do.
Some nice collections of images (from /Eruptions/ blog):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/24454986@N08/ and
http://preview.tinyurl.com/ya77z8o
Barb
----------
Belba Grubb II
links:
http://scienceblogs.com/eruptions/2010/03/icelandic_eruption_from_space.php
Seriously -- check out the comments in this and other blog posts there
on Eyjaf for some insightful comments and good links, and some
excellent videos. Per another blog post at
http://scienceblogs.com/eruptions/2010/03/eyjafjallajokull_update_for_32_1.php
(the 3/24/10 update): "The eruption is actually "open for tourists",
much like many of the eruptions in Hawai`i. This is not to say that it
is safe to head there outside the bounds that the Icelandic government
has set, but many people could get the chance to see a fissure
eruption first hand (ah, if only for the time and the money)."
I felt a little like the lawyer in /Jurassic Park/ 1 while watching
one video made by travel-agency snowmobilers who got quite close:
"They're going to make a fortunate on this." Perhaps Iceland will, if
it stays pretty and fairly quiet, like most Hawaiian eruptions. Their
economy sure could use a cash boost right now. Who knows what will
happen, though, if the eruption gets under the ice and/or if Katla
also erupts. Geologists got samples of the lava to check on whether
it might be coming from a source related to Katla, but I haven't read
of the results yet (but then, haven't had time -- my "day job" is
really taking off, and I've been neglecting my writing for too long).
Barb
----------
"Science, my lad, is made up of mistakes, but they are mistakes which
it is useful to make, because they lead little by little to the
truth."
-- Jules Verne, in /Journey to the Center of the Earth/
Belba Grubb II
http://img411.imageshack.us/img411/6903/img78175951675.jpg
Man, if I had the time and the means, I'd be down there, too. Anyway,
the image is via http://iceland-dori.blogspot.com/2010/03/photos-and-video-of-volcano-in-iceland.html
, which in turn is by way of yesterday's /Eruptions/ blog post on
Eyjaf (technically, I guess, this is the Fimmvörðuháls/
Eyjafjallajokull eruption -- thank heavens for copy-and-paste).
No glacial floods yet; the eruption currently seems to be lessening,
too. A lot of stuff could still happen, though.
Barb
---------
"Above our heads, not more than 500 feet away, was the crater of the
volcano. Every quarter of an hour there came flying from it a tall
column of flames mixed with pumice-stone, ashes, and lava, together
with a deafening explosion. I felt the whole mountain heave every time
it breathed, sending out, like a whale, fire and air through its
enormous blowholes. Below, on a steep slope, layers of eruptive
material could be seen extending 700 or 800 feet down, meaning that
the volcano couldn’t be more than 2,000 feet high. Its base was hidden
by a real basket of green trees, amongst which I distinguished olive
and fig trees, plus vines laden with purple grapes. It didn’t look
much like the Arctic, I had to admit."
-- Jules Verne, in "Journey to the Center of the Earth," quoted at
the /Volcanism Blog/ back in 2008.
Belba Grubb II
http://eldgos.mila.is/eyjafjallajokull-fra-fimmvorduhalsi/
(Be warned, this live-action cam is also a real bandwidth eater; it's
a bit choppy even on my cable connection.)
Dr. Klemetti at /Eruptions/ has an in-depth post describing the
Hawaiian-style eruption that we're seeing here:
http://scienceblogs.com/eruptions/2010/04/hawaii_in_iceland_eruption_upd.php
I'm guessing that it's the smaller number of explosions and bombs and
such things, and the lesser degree of intensity that makes this
different from a Strombolian eruption style?
Since the second vent opened up, they don't allow people to get quite
so close any more, but it's still drawing many tourists. And
apparently there are still people getting close enough to do some
cooking and otherwise enjoying the spectacle as up close and personal
as possible. What a boon for a country that could certainly use an
economic boost right now!
Barb
-----------
"'...A man of science isn’t trying to prove anything. He’s trying to
find out what will prove itself.'
"‘But he hasn’t found out yet,’ said Father Brown.
"‘Well, I have some little notions of my own, that are not quite so
negative as most people think,’ answered the Professor, after an
instant of frowning silence...."
-- G. K. Chesterton, in /The Blast of the Book/
Belba Grubb II
It may be ongoing right now.
Sources:
http://scienceblogs.com/eruptions/2010/04/evacuations_near_eyjafjallajok.php#comments
http://www.icelandreview.com/icelandreview/daily_news/?cat_id=40764&ew_0_a_id=360688
Not much on Google News (English) yet. Authorities evacuated people
beforehand, per /Eruptions/.
Barb
Belba Grubb II
(and posting good comments at the /Eruptions/ Eyjaf threads:
http://www.simnet.is/jonfr500/earthquake/tremoren.htm
London VAAC:
http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/aviation/vaac/vaacuk.html
Barb
Graystar
Vatnajökull is much larger by many times.
It is the largest glacier in Europe and has Grimsvötn under it, and IT is
not even an "Ice Cap".
Besides, floods flush out the southern roads nearly every spring.
Most of that area is not habitable due to the frequent flooding.
The last time I was there in '76 they were talking about it even then.
The pictures & scenes were spectacular even then and still are.
Heimay was still cooling down from the eruption that improved their harbor
at that time.
While there are great pictures there to be taken, geohazards to know about
and other things,
there is WAY too much hyperbole that is being taken literally in current
science.
Get a grip people. Mean what you say and say what you mean... and learn the
fricken lingo!
"Belba Grubb II" <barb...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:db87f89f-464e-47ef...@x38g2000vbx.googlegroups.com...
http://www.USENETHOST.com 100% Uncensored , 100% Anonymous, 5$/month Only!
Belba Grubb
> Get a grip people. Mean what you say and say what you mean... and learn the
> fricken lingo!
Well, "glacier," then...jeez.
Airspace is closed over the UK, Ireland, and Norway currently -- will
see how all that goes. That and more details from
http://scienceblogs.com/eruptions/2010/04/threat_of_icelandic_ash_closes.php
Most salient quote: "In all, this is an explosive impressive event
that follows weeks of fairly passive Hawaiian-style volcanism - a
lesson in how quickly the nature of an eruption can change."
Barb
-----------
"That fire, which all things melts, should harden ice,
And ice, which is congeal'd with senseless cold,
Should kindle fire by wonderful device?
Such is the power of love in gentle mind,
That it can alter all the course of kind. "
-- From "Ice and Fire," by Edmund Spenser
John Curtis
>
> Airspace is closed over the UK, Ireland, and Norway currently -- will
>
> Most salient quote: "In all, this is an explosive impressive event
> that follows weeks of fairly passive Hawaiian-style volcanism - a
> lesson in how quickly the nature of an eruption can change."
>
of escaping primordial gases. Even shoreline location
may be unable to supply adequate amounts of water to
convert primordial gases into basalt. On contact with
atmospheric oxygen, primordial gases, mainly hydrogen,
methane and H2S explode with the formation of steam, CO2,
SO2 and ashes. Eventually, the stream of escaping primordial
gases should slow down and the lava flow should be
reestablished. John Curtis
Belba Grubb
Anyway, the Nordic Volcanological Institute has an excellent page (in
English) on this eruption:
http://www2.norvol.hi.is/page/ies_Eyjafjallajokull_eruption
Barb
----------
"I believe there is no philosophical high-road in science, with
epistemological signposts. No, we are in a jungle and find our way by
trial and error, building our road behind us as we proceed."
-- Max Born
Belba Grubb
Belba Grubb
are trying to get some closed EU airspace opened, saying they have
conducted test flights that went all right. This raises the question,
how much ash is "safe" to fly in? Not much, according to some
pictures taken of ash melted in a Finnish F18's engine hours before
the first restrictions were imposed:
http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2010/04/16/340727/pictures-finnish-f-18-engine-check-reveals-effects-of-volcanic.html
Information and link are from /Eruptions/ blog.
This eruption ought to give a big boost to both the ground/sea
transportation and teleconferencing industries.
Barb
----------
"The miracle is not to fly in the air, or to walk on the water, but to
walk on the earth."
-- Chinese Proverb
Belba Grubb
two linked at /Eruptions/ (which is covering other volcano news world-
wide in more recent posts). This is the best one, in that it's
noncommercial and longer, but it does require Windows Media Player:
http://http.ruv.straumar.is/static.ruv.is/vefur/20042010_myndir_omar.wmv
Shock and awe, indeed.
Of note on the eruption, it has apparently settled down into what Dr.
Klemetti calls "a pattern of strombolian-to-surtseyan explosions," and
Nordvulk notes in its most recent online update (April 21st,
http://www2.norvol.hi.is/page/ies_Eyjafjallajokull_eruption ) that the
eruption rate is an order of magnitude less than during the initial 72
hours. However, I remember what I saw in the second fissure during
the first eruption (see my April 9 post in this thread), how it was
Strombolian as well as Hawaiian style, and how the eruption there
dramatically decreased in subsequent days, just before the big second
eruption. Nordvulk also says that tremor is stable and is not
decreasing. Will this eruption taper off as did the first one, only
for there to be a third one, and if so, where? The only likely
candidate for a possible new site, given the great chemical difference
reported between this magma and that of Katla**, would seem (to an
amateur's eye anyway) to be the other crater in the summit caldera.
I don't believe that will happen -- just wouldn't rule out the second
crater's becoming active, either at the same time as this ongoing
eruption or afterwards, that's all. Eyjaf is a tricksy thing, it
seems. However sparse discussion here may be about it, it's quite
thorough and interesting in the comments threads at the relevant /
Eruptions/ posts, for example, if anyone is interested and hasn't
discovered this wonderful resource yet:
http://scienceblogs.com/eruptions/2010/04/eyjafjallajokull_chugs_along_a.php#comments
Barb
** Here's a good graphic of the two volcanic plumbing systems from
Nordvulk: http://www2.hi.is/myndir/1016292?11434
-----------
Three Laws of Thermodynamics (paraphrased):
First Law: You can't get anything without working for it.
Second Law: The most you can accomplish by work is to break even.
Third Law: You can't break even.
-- quoted at http://www.xs4all.nl/~jcdverha/scijokes/2_18.html#subindex
Belba Grubb
crater:
"North of crater a roughly 300 m long and wide depression has been
melted out in the last three days. Steam plumes rise from the
depression, especially at the margins. This is explained by lava
flowing northwards from the crater with the steam rising where lava
meets ice."
-- From daily update at http://www.earthice.hi.is/page/ies_Eyjafjallajokull_eruption
Unless it continues on out from underneath the glacier or is low
enough in silica content to break through and start fountaining,
getting samples is going to require some ingenuity and luck.
Hat tip to the Iceland Met Office at http://en.vedur.is/earthquakes-and-volcanism/articles/nr/1884
. In the entry for April 23rd, they also have a link to a very nice
satellite image of the volcano from the Canadian Space Agency.
Barb
----------
"...'Nor Envy base nor creeping Gain
Dare the Muse's walk to stain,
While bright-eyed Science watches round:
Hence, away, 'tis holy ground!'
From yonder realms of empyrean day
Bursts on my ear the indignant lay:
There sit the sainted sage, the bard divine,
The few whom genius gave to shine
Through every unborn age and undiscovered clime...
'Twas Milton struck the deep-toned shell,
And, as the choral warblings round him swell,
Meek Newton's self bends from his state sublime,
And nods his hoary head and listens to the rhyme."
-- Thomas Gray, from "Ode for Music"
Belba Grubb
"Additional note: The scientists at Gígjökull experienced discomfort
due to [volcanic] gas."
That's from today's Iceland Met Office/Nordvulk update on the eruption
at http://www2.norvol.hi.is/page/ies_Eyjafjallajokull_eruption
Part of Ireland's air space will be closed tomorrow from 6 a.m. to
noon, per today's /Eruptions/ blog post at
http://scienceblogs.com/eruptions/2010/05/eyjafjallajokull_update_for_53.php
which has live links and other interesting information (including the
daily update information mentioned above from Iceland).
Lava is continuing down Gígjökull and enlarging the ice canyon, this
from yesterday's Nordvulk update, and the eruption has gotten a bit
more explosive. Tremor went up last night and remains elevated but
they're not sure whether this is an effect of the lava-ice
interactions or from the lava alone.
Katla isn't even snoring in its sleep, fortunately.
Barb
---------
"Oh, that I could glow like this mountain!
Oh, that my heart bounded with the swell of the sea!
Oh, that my soul were as full of light as the stars!
Oh, that it brooded over the world like the air!
"But no...[I am] nothing but a devouring flame of thought--
But a naked, eternally restless mind!"
-- Matthew Arnold, in "Empedocles on Etna," Act 2, page 54
http://www.archive.org/stream/empedoclesonetna00arnorich#page/n7/mode/2up
Belba Grubb
"Meanwhile RUV reports a series of earthquakes under and around
Eyjafjallajokull which could signal changes to the volcanic eruption.
"According to geophysicist Steinunn Jakobsdottir, the quakes could be
a sign of a new vent about to open. The volcano already has three
vents, but only the one on the northernmost edge is still erupting."
-- From "Air Travel Normalising..." at
http://www.icenews.is/index.php/2010/05/11/air-travel-normalising-again-as-volcano-changes-behaviour
Hat tip to /Eruptions/ blog post with this and much more information
and many links at http://scienceblogs.com/eruptions/2010/05/eyjafjallajokull_update_for_51.php
. From that news, it doesn't sound as if air traffic has gotten much
back to normal just yet in Europe, at least coming into it.
Barb
--------
"The aim of science is not to open the door to infinite wisdom, but to
set a limit to infinite error."
-- Bertolt Brecht, in /The Life of Galileo/
John Curtis
>http://www.icenews.is/index.php/2010/05/11/air-travel-normalising-again-as-volcano-changes-behaviour
>
Rocks shooting out of the volcano are zero-age. They are freshly-
created
pumice (SiO2) when primordial substances from Earth's interior combine
with atmospheric oxygen. The same process as in glass-shard formation,
where pumice bubbles explode and pulverize the pumice. Primordial
roots
of pumice are hinted at in the creation of volcanic islands. Pumice
rafts
are found floating above oceans of basalt.
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=7124
John Curtis
Belba Grubb
in the ash plume, based on the UK weather service's ADTnet data:
http://andvari.vedur.is/athuganir/eldingar/index.html
I posted it in an amateur meteorology web forum and they didn't know
what it was at first (didn't help that I'd made a typo and was
gabbling on about 'lighting'); nobody has seen a lightning map like
that before.
It was linked in today's (May 12th) update at
http://en.vedur.is/earthquakes-and-volcanism/articles/nr/1884 .
Barb
-----------
Eruption of Stromboli on April 5, 2006 (music video):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LHwI62uJfk
Belba Grubb
Somebody has made time-lapse movies out of it (and others, with links
and other information via this /Eruptions/ blog post:
http://scienceblogs.com/eruptions/2010/05/eyjafjallajokull_update_for_51_1.php)
and it shows the strombolian nature of the eruption better than other
videos and time-lapse movies I've seen (which are indistinct because
of the distance and thick ash plume):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ge5-wM5abEQ
The plume has been up to 30,000 feet today, per the daily IMO update
at http://en.vedur.is/earthquakes-and-volcanism/articles/nr/1884 (nice
images, too!), but that could be just weather conditions.
Barb
----------
"I like to say, when asked why I pursue science, that it is to satisfy
my curiosity, that I am by nature a searcher trying to understand. If
you haven't found something strange during the day, it hasn't been
much of a day."
-- John A Wheeler
May 11th at APOD was, therefore, a very good day:
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap100511.html
Graystar
"Belba Grubb" <trungsi...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
http://www.USENETHOST.com 100% Uncensored , 100% Anonymous, 5$/month Only!
Jack Campin - bogus address
> in the ash plume, based on the UK weather service's ADTnet data:
> http://andvari.vedur.is/athuganir/eldingar/index.html
>
> I posted it in an amateur meteorology web forum and they didn't know
> what it was at first (didn't help that I'd made a typo and was
> gabbling on about 'lighting'); nobody has seen a lightning map like
> that before.
How far has this got?
I'm just back from Croatia and Bosnia and they were having
unseasonably humungous thunderstorms in Mostar and Dubrovnik,
14-15 May. I didn't think the ash cloud was particularly thick
round there (no flight problems).
Or is ash cloud lightning unrelated to precipitation?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
e m a i l : j a c k @ c a m p i n . m e . u k
Jack Campin, 11 Third Street, Newtongrange, Midlothian EH22 4PU, Scotland
mobile 07800 739 557 <http://www.campin.me.uk> Twitter: JackCampin
Belba Grubb
Graystar
"Jack Campin - bogus address" <bo...@purr.demon.co.uk> wrote in message
Ash cloud lightning over the volcano is unrelated to precipitation downwind
as far as you are. It's local to the volcano's vicinity.
Molten lava spewed into the air crystallizes and those crystals have a lot
of unresolved charges associated with them as they form; plus there is the
microclimate that the plumes set up with temp differentials, so... no, that
type of localized electrical disruption doesn't tend to go very far. The
charges get resolved rather quickly in our atmosphere.
The -SO2 and dust clouds can cause lots of dramatic weather because it
reflects sunlight that cools the part of the Earth where the clouds are.
Similar cooling happens with solar eclipses and can cause 20+ degree drops
in local temps.
Of course ash clouds last longer than eclipses, hence more weather impacts,
plus chemical effects: both above and below the cloud.
The Ash clouds can cause cold fronts to form and travel out into the global
circulation eventually getting absorbed and dissipated with distance and
time <usually with the same predictable effects associated with cold fronts
but adding some chemical effects.>. Weather impacts downwind last at least
as long as the eruption clouds are present, and local effects to the volcano
are more dramatic depending on the composition of the magma, and water & gas
content.
In any case, eruptions of massively greater magnetude have happened over and
over as recorded by the geologic record [PBS has some nice DVDs on the
subject], so while they are geologically temporary and they may affect us
for years; it is a property of our planet wholly consistant with it's
formation and "life". Human activity in it's current design is incapable of
impacting the Earth in any meaningful way.
Drive your SUV with pride. <grin>
Belba Grubb
<bo...@purr.demon.co.uk> wrote:
> How far has this got?
>
> I'm just back from Croatia and Bosnia and they were having
> unseasonably humungous thunderstorms in Mostar and Dubrovnik,
> 14-15 May. I didn't think the ash cloud was particularly thick
> round there (no flight problems).
This high-bandwidth animated graphic (hat tip, once again to /
Eruptions/ blog) currently includes both the ash and those remarkable
storms over Croatia and Bosnia: http://brunnur.vedur.is/pub/bolli/btd/
Those really were some powerful storms -- they blew up out of a
southwest wind from the Mediterranean, though, it looks like, while
the ash itself was much further off to the north, in a completely
different circulation pattern.
>
> Or is ash cloud lightning unrelated to precipitation?
Don't know how far south and east the volcanic lightning might extend;
the Icelandic Met Office graphic is limited. I'm still looking to see
how they put that together from the UK Met data, in particular, how
they factor out "regular" lightning.
As far as weather, ash particles by themselves (without the energy
injection locally in the close vicinity of the eruption) could act as
condensation nuclei, of course, and in some situations I imagine it
would increase precipitation that was already happening or perhaps
even trigger some in a marginally favorable atmospheric situation, but
it wouldn't cause thunderstorms -- those require a complex of special
conditions like atmospheric instability, varying wind directions,
moisture, temperature, and all that other good stuff.
Barb
--------------
Pinatubo versus Yunya, 1991:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGCA7qgrAzc
Pinatubo "won," but the heavy rainfall really increased the human
costs of the event.
Belba Grubb II
blog and are perhaps not at the professional level but still
interested in learning some science, Dr. K is starting a summer-long
look at basic aspects of volcanology, and the first entry is a close-
up look at the Eyjaf ash, samples of which were mailed to him by a
watcher close to the scene: http://scienceblogs.com/eruptions/2010/05/a_closer_look_at_the_eyjafjall.php
Barb
------------
"Learning without thought is labor lost."
-- Confucius
Belba Grubb
post has lots of live links):
"...this evening the Icelandic Met Office released a statement
(Icelandic) saying that a small explosion of gas and ash did occur
today. The update is only available (so far) on the Icelandic version
of the IMO website - so I had to work through a Google Translate
version of the story - but it appears that the combination of
increased tremor and these renewed "throat-clearing" events (most
likely very little new material in these explosions) might herald a
new period of activity at Eyjafjallajökull - or it could just be a
blip during the waning of the system."
- From "Small explosions at Eyjafjallajökull..." at
http://scienceblogs.com/eruptions/2010/06/small_explosions_at_eyjafjalla.php
I didn't see any update past June 1st at the Icelandic Met's English-
language Web page at http://en.vedur.is/earthquakes-and-volcanism/articles/nr/1884.
Nordvulk does have a June 4th update in English currently online at
http://www.earthice.hi.is/page/ies_Eyjafjallajokull_eruption?137,32 ,
but it doesn't mention the small explosion on that date and perhaps
was published before the event. Regular web cams don't show any
activity just now (it is summertime, and the daylight lasts late into
the night), but the FLIR cam shows some activity, yet not enough to
really stand out against the sun's heating effect on the
landscape...just steam, perhaps: http://eldgos.mila.is/eyjafjallajokull-fra-thorolfsfelli/
If the tremor wasn't staying so high, I'd guess it was indeed "the
waning of the system." But it is high, and who knows what will happen
next.
Barb
-------------------
"In the crater area solfatara is steaming out with a noise like that
from a hight temperature geothermal drill hole."
- From Nordvulk's June 4 update on Eyjaf.
The fumaroles of Solfatara (Italian):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DFjb1ppfRI
Belba Grubb
the 11th, in today's Icelandic Met Office report:
http://en.vedur.is/earthquakes-and-volcanism/articles/nr/1884
Per the status report, there is hardly any tremor detected recently.
Going...back.....to.........sleep.......
Barb
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Eyjafjallajokull Skies:
http://www.atoptics.co.uk/fz419.htm (hat tip to APOD commentary on
April 28, 2010)
John Curtis
>
> There's a lovely picture of Eyjaf's new crater lake, first reported on
> the 11th, in today's Icelandic Met Office report:
http://en.vedur.is/earthquakes-and-volcanism/articles/nr/1884
>
changes as seen at Mt. Saint Helens, slide 33
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/05/mount_st_helens_30_years_ago.html
or Lake Voui:
http://www.ulb.ac.be/sciences/cvl/aoba/Ambae1.html
During production of SO2, some SO3 is also formed.
On contact with water, SO3 becomes sulfuric acid,
which leaches primordial (ferrous) iron from basaltic
rocks: olivine, pyroxene, ilmenite... The combination
of ferrous iron and sulfuric acid leads to the formation
of ferrous sulfate, which imparts its blue color to
the lake. In a few months, the blue color of iron
sulfate rusts into the red color of hematite, which
eventually settles out. John Curtis
Belba Grubb
beauty of Eyjaf's crater lake:
"The level of water in the crater lake only rose about 1 – 2 meters
over the weekend. Several days or weeks are therefore likely to pass
before the crater has filled with water, and up to months if the
melting
slows down. It is important that the water level be checked regularly.
The water volume is now less than 0.5 million cubic meters. If the
water level rises 20 meters, the volume will be 3 million cubic
meters.
The resulting flood would flow to the north, down the Gígjökull valley
glacier, and could reach a maximum of 1500-2000 cubic meters per
second."
-- This per the latest status report (June 15th) at
http://en.vedur.is/media/jar/Eyjafjallajokull_status_2010-06-15_IES_IMO.pdf
(PDF file)
Barb
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"Safety means first aid to the uninjured."
-- Author Unknown