Iceland Issues Aviation Red Alert
The Iceland Met Office reports that a small subglacial lava-eruption has begun under the Dyngjujokull glacier. There are yet no signs of an eruption at the surface. The eruption is overlain by 150-400 meters of ice.
Little is known of the eruptive behavior of the volcano and some have reasoned that since the eruptive location is not underneath the center of the volcano the eruption would not be as intense as 2010 eruption of Iceland's Eyjafjallajokul volcano.
The next question is whether or not the eruption melts the overlaying ice, and if that does occur there will likely be an explosive eruption of some magnitude. Met Office vulcanologist Melissa Pfeffer has said the size of any surface eruption is yet unknown. The more ice that there is above the eruption the more explosive a surface eruption is likely to be.
A live webcam of the Bardarbunga volcano is available here.
Aug 20, 2014
Iceland's Bardarbunga Volcano is rumbling and the World Waits
Travel disruption
Not so long ago we were all reminded of just how restless the earth is and how earth's inhabitants can be impacted. The 2010 eruption of Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull volcano shut down much of Europe's airspace traffic for six days, affecting more than 10 million people. Now we are anticipating a possible eruption of another Iceland volcano,"Bardarbunga".
Bardarbunga eruption threat is high
Scientists are not sure that an eruption is imminent, though they are concerned enough to raise the threat level to aviation to "orange". On a scale of 1 to 5, "orange" puts Bardarbunga at a 4. As of Wednesday morning the volcano has witnessed over 2,000 earthquakes described as a "swarm" by volcanologists and a sign that we should take notice. The depth of the earthquakes are at 5-10 km, a depth a which movement of magma and an associated eruption appears likely. The Icelandic Met Office describes the activity as "intense earthquake swarms".
Useful Bardarbunga Volcano links
Not so long ago we were all reminded of just how restless the earth is and how earth's inhabitants can be impacted. The 2010 eruption of Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull volcano shut down much of Europe's airspace traffic for six days, affecting more than 10 million people. Now we are anticipating a possible eruption of another Iceland volcano,"Bardarbunga".
Bardarbunga eruption threat is high
Scientists are not sure that an eruption is imminent, though they are concerned enough to raise the threat level to aviation to "orange". On a scale of 1 to 5, "orange" puts Bardarbunga at a 4. As of Wednesday morning the volcano has witnessed over 2,000 earthquakes described as a "swarm" by volcanologists and a sign that we should take notice. The depth of the earthquakes are at 5-10 km, a depth a which movement of magma and an associated eruption appears likely. The Icelandic Met Office describes the activity as "intense earthquake swarms".
Useful Bardarbunga Volcano links
- The Icelandic Met Office reports eruptions on a map here. The Site also lists the earthquakes in a table here.
- 3D activity under the volcano here.
- The Icelandic National Broadcasting Service has provided a live webcam of the Bardarbunga volcano here. The Site shows still images updated every few minutes.
- Volcanologist Dave McGarvie discusses eruption scenarios here
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