500 earthquakes since midnight 27 aug in iceland

[pyrangello]

It appears that Bardarbunga volcano in Iceland is pretty active today 27 august. Either it's regrouping and shifting under the rock layer or its getting ready to launch. Stay tuned boys and girls .

[indigopete]

Seems like there's been some developments.

http://www.ruv.is/frett/oljost-hvort...r-hafid-vidtal

Rough translation - 6km long fissures noticed on the Dyngjujökull glacier (a tongue shaped section just to the east of Bárðarbungu) but very difficult to ascertain their nature or extent due to adverse conditions (darkness ?).

The guy (Víðir Reynisson of the Icelandic Civil Protection Unit) is asked if any increased flow in Jökulsá á Fjöllum - an arterial river which flows away from the Vatnajokull glacier to the north, but he replies that no increase in flow was evident.

He emphasises that these observations were made in adverse conditions and do not necessarily mean an eruption has commenced.

Apparently the glacial fissures have appeared further south than expected and there's now increased uncertainty over whether a potential flood will occur to the north or the south.

TF-SIF, the Icelandic survey aircraft will recommence observation flights first thing tomorrow.

EDIT: They've now got an English report up... http://www.ruv.is/frett/rifts-spotted-in-ice-cap

[Hervé]

“Hard to Explain what Happened if not Caused by an Eruption”

By Benedikt Jóhannesson August 27, 2014 22:48Updated: August 28, 2014 09:47

New fractures in Holuhraun north of Dyngjujökull. Photo: Tobias Dürig/Institute of Earth Sciences.

Fractures, about four to six kilometers long, have formed north of Vatnajökull outlet glacier Dyngjujökull, northeast of Bárðarbunga, as reported by RÚV, visir.is and the Icelandic Met Office. Small calderas (also known as lows or cauldrons) have formed in the glacier and it cannot be ruled out that an eruption has started.

According to the Civil Protection Department, there is no indication of a flood yet, but the department's director Víðir Reynisson told RÚV television just now (at 10:20 pm) that it would be hard to explain what has occurred if not caused by an eruption.

Everyone concerned is very cautious in light of the false alarm on Saturday, but the new calderas are thought to have been formed by heat from below.

Iceland Review will provide updates as soon as reports arrive from the Icelandic Met Office and others.

27.08.2014 | Possible Eruption under Bárðarbunga


27.08.2014 | Developing News: Cracks in the Glacier - Possible Eruption?


27.08.2014 | Big Earthquakes Indicate Volcanic Activity Underground


26.08.2014 | Biggest Quake to Hit Bárðarbunga so Far

************************************************************

Video of "cracks" at this page: http://www.ruv.is/frett/sprungur-i-h...ni-a-myndbandi

[spizella]

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-28977773

[Hervé]

Eruption has begun between Barðarbunga and Askja

By Robert On August 28, 2014 · Leave a Comment


An eruption described as quiet lava effusion has begun about 10 km north of Vatnajökull.

New eruption between Barðarbunga and Askja as seen on the Mila.us Bárðarbunga-2 webcam at 8:56 PM Pacific Time, August 28, 2014. (August 29 in Iceland)

According to RUV.is, the eruption is not visible on radar and is believed to be minimal ash output. Researchers in the area believe that the eruption is a few miles north of tail Dyngjujökuls.

Although there has been no significant explosive activity, the color code for the area around Bárðarbunga has been changed to red, meaning that all IFR site is prohibited.
Closures due to flooding are the same as have been the last few days.

The Meteorological Office announced eruption shortly after midnight. The first traces of the eruption on the surface were observed only on webcams around midnight (Iceland time) but it was clear that the eruption had commenced. Brightness has clearly expanded since midnight.

I took this screen shot from the Mila.is webcam, Bardabunga-2, which is located about 15 to 20 miles from the volcano.

Webcam – Bardarbunga:
http://www.livefromiceland.is/webcams/bardarbunga/


Webcam – Bardarbunga 2:
http://www.livefromiceland.is/webcams/bardarbunga-2/

http://www.ruv.is/frett/eldgos-hafid-i-holuhrauni

[seeker/reader]

Iceland is a hotspot on top of the Mid-Ocean Ridge. Double the action, double the fun.
Two sources of vulcanism, one shallow, the other deep-seated. Not surprising to have such activity there.

[Hervé]

Great photos of the eruption
First published: 29/08/2014 10:52, Last updated: 08/29/2014 11:49
Categories: Domestic, Bardarbunga

[GiggleTranslate ]

[see video at: http://www.ruv.is/frett/magnadar-myndir-af-eldgosinu]

Eruption of lava pocket. Here is one of the two tongues of lava that flow from the blowout lava. Photograph was Omar Ragnarsson and video Hjalti Stefánsson.

Hjalti Stefánsson, cameraman, was amplified images of the eruption of lava pocket this morning. The images have attracted much attention, but they show well Fissure. Magnus Tumi Gudmundsson, geophysicist, said the extra time TV news this morning that it could trigger an eruption this kind of accident.

Fissure is thought to be about 1 mile long and runs northeast / southwest. The lava is thin and fast flowing southeast toward sively in milk replacers. This is the fissure eruption, which appears to be available as a multi-called dynamic operation of Dyngjujökli towards the caldera.

According to information newsroom Fissure is about five miles from the glacier and longest lava flow is about 500 meters. This saw geoscientists aboard TF - SIF about ten o'clock in the morning.

Photos: Omar Ragnarsson

Eruption struck by midnight tonight, activity increased during the first two hours and then decreased it. Magnus Tumi, says the clear was on crack, which has seen the past few days, the press has been very down the dyke and was torn completely from the night. He said the eruption appeared to have little effect on the corridor, there was still a great earthquake, and continuing to join him. "There still seems to be room for him underground."

Omar Ragnarsson, who flew over the eruption this morning along with the helmet, said the eruption site to be extremely beautiful art gallery of nature that had been created in one night while. "We are using this as pottery of all sorts of shapes and sizes. Great creativity. If it is possible to speak of ferðamannagos it is this. "

It is considered likely that the ash from the eruption of lava blowout rise up into the atmosphere and therefore the IMO decided to move the color code Bárðarbunga red into orange.

Red color code means that an eruption is imminent or even likely have thought that the ashes rise up into the atmosphere. Orange indicates, however, that the volcano shows increased or increasing functionality and the possibility of an eruption increased.

Vísindamannaráð Coordination meeting with scientists from the Icelandic Meteorological Office and Institute of Earth Sciences at eleven o'clock, according to data from the IMO.

A restricted area around the volcano in the hollow lava has been reduced from ten to three nautical miles, according to the decision of the Transport Office. The area extends even into 5,000 feet above the ground and within it is all air traffic prohibited outside scientific Coast Guard aviation.

[Hervé]

From Volcano Cafe:

Bárðarbunga reader question
Carl / 3 days ago

Richie, one of our readers emailed in a good question that is a good starting point for a brief update on Bárðarbunga.

“Could you do an article comparing this intrusion to others? Looking at the post it appears that it is almost 40 Km long but how wide is it and in terms of volume. I am not sure if any diagrams are available to give an indication of the size underground. ”

Image by Margaret E. Hartley/Thor Thordarson. Upper part shows a closed propagating dyke. The lower shows a rift open down to the mantle. The upper version draws its magma from a central volcano, the lower from the mantle. Upper alternative would give a smaller eruption than the lower.

It is hard to compare this intrusion to any other that we have instrumental data on. The main reason is that we have not seen one like this from a mantleplume volcano, nor have we seen something like this from a rift volcano.

It has a little bit of semblance from the Krafla Fires rifting episode. But I think that comparison is just too simple. First of all that was a much thinner intrusion that never reached this deep, so it was never even close to get down to the mantle. And the most obvious thing is that it kept to its own fissure swarm.

This intrusion has now been inside 3 different fissure swarms, and has the potential for more magma output when it breaks to the surface. In a way it is much closer to how the Skaftár Fires (Lakí) looked, but that eruption also seems to have stayed within its own fissure swarm.

Image by the Icelandic Met Office.

I would now say that it is a unique intrusion and that makes it all the harder to understand and potentially more dangerous.

I am not aware of any exact diagrams or plots of the intrusion, but Tom made a couple that is interesting where he compares two possible solutions for the shape.

One is a bottom closed intrusion with no mantle contact, and the second is a full Skaftár Fires version with a wedge shaped obloid intrusion open down to the mantle.

I currently think we have the first option, but that it is really close to the mantle and that it sooner or later will turn into option two. If I am right this will most likely lead to an increased risk for a flood basalt event.

The rift is now 45 km long and roughly 17.5 km high. Calculating the width is though a bit more interesting. If we take the east and west dilation between the Dyngjuháls (DYNC) and Kverkfjöll (Gengissig, GSIG) is by now 44.5cm. To get the correct values we have to take to recognize that the GPS-station are a bit far from the rift so the value is larger. Now, if we compare with the apparent dilation on further out stations we can roughly calculate that the true value is around 135cm. That would make the current volume of intruded magma into 1.05km3.

[Hervé]

Live Stream on YouTube of current data:

Started on Aug 30, 2014
This livestream is meant to redirect some of the heavy traffic on the webcam and crucial Icelandic Met Office websites.

Webcam = Mila webcam(s) bardarbunga 1/2

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=zKtGqoxV_qo

[Fairy Friend]

Thought I would show an image of way under Iceland. How 2 convection currents come up at that point. Lot of power and movement there.

[Hervé]

Let's see it better:

Iceland is sitting right on top of "Ridge"!
Red arrows indicate convective currents within the molten/"liquid" mantle.

[Hervé]

Iceland Volcano Blasts Back to Life

By Becky Oskin, Senior Writer | August 31, 2014 11:43am ET

Lava fountains during an Iceland eruption on Aug. 31. Credit: University of Iceland/Ármann Höskuldsson

A new volcanic eruption in southeast Iceland on Sunday (Aug. 31) fountained lava nearly 200 feet (60 meters) into the air.

Lava is spewing from the same crack as a small eruption that occurred Friday (Aug. 29). The fissure slices through the 200-year-old Holuhraun lava field, between Bardarbunga volcano and Askja volcano.

The "calm" eruption is 50 times more powerful than Friday's outburst, according to the Iceland Met Office. Lava was streaming from the fissure at 15.9 million gallons per minute (1,000 cubic meters per second) at 7 a.m. local time (3 a.m. ET) on Sunday, three hours after the flare-up began. The basalt flow was almost 0.6 miles wide by 1.9 miles long (1 kilometer by 3 kilometers) by mid-morning local time. The crack feeding the lava flow has also expanded to the north and south, and is now almost 1 mile (1.5 km) long. [Gallery: Beautiful Images of Bardarbunga's Volcanic Eruption]

The eruption can be seen on live webcams here and here, though a storm severely lowered visibility Sunday.

Emergency officials briefly raised the aviation alert warning to red, but no commercial flights have been affected.

The volcanic activity kicked off Aug. 16, when thousands of small earthquakes underneath the Bardarbunga volcano signaled fresh magma (molten rock) was burrowing underground. After a few days, the tremors showed the magma push off toward the northeast, forming a long channel called a dike. This narrow magma intrusion is now more than 28 miles (45 km) long.

On Aug. 29, the dike punched through to the surface in the Holuhraun lava field, an older lava flow that erupted in 1797. Lava briefly erupted just after midnight local time (8 p.m. ET) for three to four hours. A small amount of molten rock streamed from an old fissure some 2,000 feet (600 m) long, jetting clouds of steam. The Holuhraun lava field sits at the toe of Dyngjujokull glacier, between Bardarbunga volcano and Askja volcano. Askja volcano is located 30 miles (50 km) northeast of Bardarbunga. Fissures from earlier eruptions fractured the remote and rugged terrain. As the dike tunneled underground and neared the surface there, it shifted the ground, opening new cracks and widening older fractures, scientists with the University of Iceland reported.

New cracks in the glacier covering Bardarbunga volcano also hint at unrest beneath the ice.

Bardarbunga volcano is buried under an ice cap 1,310 to 1,970 feet (400 to 600 m) thick. Three circular crevasses, described as ice cauldrons, were discovered in the ice cap during a reconnaissance flight Aug. 27, the Met Office said. Each pit is about 32 to 50 feet (10 to 15 m) deep. The pits indicate either an eruption or geothermal heating that is melting ice deep below the glacier's surface, according to the Met Office.

Scientists can only detect a subglacial eruption at Bardarbunga by watching for melting and "listening" for the seismic signals of lava melting ice.

[Fairy Friend]

I am watching the live stream video and what are those objects floating above, they look like little lights. At first I thought they were perhaps volcanic boulders/rocks being blown up but they seem to be hovering. Are they simply lights from the other side showing through the smoke?

Edit: now they are not there I don't know what I was seeing.

[Hervé]

More pictures at: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/tr...-disaster.html

[Hervé]

Posted by Fairy Friend (here)
I am watching the live stream video and what are those objects floating above, they look like little lights. At first I thought they were perhaps volcanic boulders/rocks being blown up but they seem to be hovering. Are they simply lights from the other side showing through the smoke?

Edit: now they are not there I don't know what I was seeing.

From Volcano Cafe:

Last night many readers got enthusiastic because lights were visible on the webcams provided by Mila. The scientists driving around had a good laugh. They fooled us. What was visible were only cars:

[Hervé]

New fissure and lava fountains at the Hawaii of North Atlantic...

... check the video at this site: http://www.ruv.is/frett/i-sigdalnum-...ra-dyngjujokli

[Hervé]

Tornado of hot gas caught emerging from fiery volcano

18:26 05 September 2014 by Paul Marks
Picture of the day

(Image: nicarnicaaviation)

This is pretty hot stuff. A swirling 1-kilometre-high tornado of gas has been caught emerging from the lava pouring out of a fissure on Iceland's Bardarbunga volcano.

The image was captured on 3 September by an infrared camera designed for aircraft, to let pilots see volcanic ash clouds.

It is not entirely clear what is causing the tornado, says Fred Prata, inventor of the ash camera at Nicarnica Aviation in Kjeller, Norway.

"The generation mechanism is probably the same as that for dust devils, but in this case the tornado funnel is most likely filled with sulphur dioxide, gas and volcanic ash."

Seismic activity and eruptions around Bardabunga have been occurring since mid-August, but the Icelandic Met Office says the "effusive lava eruptions and fire fountains" – see picture below – currently present no threat to flights.

Bardabunga lava fountains

[Hervé]

Warming up...

More there: http://mashable.com/2014/09/11/icela...campaign=daily

[Hervé]

...

Published on Sep 20, 2014
Holuhraun volcan eruption, Iceland.

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=zGMHD6-aV34

[Hervé]

A quiet, yet spectacularly beautiful... bleeding:

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=lR6p_zuPx9Q