Eyjafjallajökull Caldera Eruption

Good evening, ONLY STEAM




Flight over Eyjafjallajökull 25 May 2010 at eleven o'clock. Scientists from the Institute of the Earth Sciences brought a heat sensitive camera on board and measured 300°C in the crater and 50°C in the lava field north of that. Only steam comes from the crater, no ash. The northside of the crater is stained yellow with sulfurides. Bluish fumes, sulfuric gases, ran downwind to the south and southwest. Photo and text: Gunnar B. Guðmundsson.

and some news:

Dry weather brings blown ash in South Iceland, despite dormant volcano

Posted on26 May 2010. Tags: Eyjafjallajokull, Iceland, volcano

South Iceland is being affected by volcanic ash clouds, despite the fact that Eyjafjallajokull has stopped creating ash. The dust is spreading due to the current dry and breezy weather.The road at Solheimasandur was practically impassible yesterday evening and police in Hvolsvollur are still advising against non-essential travel in the area.

The inconvenient ash fall stretches as far as the town of Hvolsvollur and will continue until all the ash has been blown away or until it rains. No injuries or accidents have been reported as a result of the ash and it is a level far below any aviation, so airports remain unaffected.


www.icenews.is...

Iceland volcano not officially over…yet

Posted on27 May 2010. Tags: Eyjafjallajokull, Iceland, science, volcano

The expected official declaration of the end of the Eyjafjallajokull volcanic eruption in South Iceland will not be made today.
Scientists and civil protection officials decided at a meeting yesterday to wait until after the weekend to be absolutely certain that the eruption has actually ended.
According to Visir.is, low level volcanic activity is still being measured at the glacier and GPS equipment continues to register small surface changes – but if no significant changes occur, the eruption will be declared over early next week.

The surface of the glacier is highly unstable and is covered in a thick layer of ash and the risk of mud floods continues, as has already happened twice to the south of the glacier since the eruption began.

www.icenews.is...

Some news about Katla:

Katla Volcano In Iceland Shows Signs Of Increased Activity

Thursday, 27 May 2010 13:19
Fears are growing that the Katla volcano in Iceland could soon erupt after volcanic activity at the site increased by over 200% in recent days.

A report from the University College London (UCL) institute for risk and disaster reduction has outlined that "An eruption in the short term is a strong possibility”.

In its initial research paper it said: "Analysis of the seismic energy released around Katla over the last decade or so is interpreted as providing evidence of a rising ... intrusive magma body on the western flank of the volcano."

Seismic readings of the volcano indicate the tremors around the area have increased substantially.

Four earthquakes were detected near Katla during a 12-hour period on May 21st, more than at any other time since the Eyjafjallajokull volcanic eruptions first occurred in March.

Three earthquakes at the Katla Volcano were reported by the Disaster and Emergency website Hisz.rsoe.hu on Sunday evening. The tremors may have been due to ice movements within Mýrdalsjökull glacier or magma movement under the volcano.

The last earthquake to take place at the volcano was recorded yesterday morning.

The eruption of the long-dormant Eyjafjallajökull volcano has prompted fears among some geophysicists that it might trigger an eruption at the larger and more dangerous Katla. In the past 1,000 years, all three known eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull have triggered subsequent Katla eruptions. The last large eruption at Katla was in 1918 but there have been small eruptions at Katla as recently as 1955.

An eruption of Katla volcano has the potential to be more devastating than the current eruption of Eyjafjallajokull. Geophysicists at Iceland’s Institute of Earth Sciences say Katla would be locally and globally damaging.

Icelandic President Ólafur Grímsson has warned Governments around Europe that a significant eruption at the volcano is ‘coming close’. He said: "We [Iceland] have prepared ... it is high time for European governments and airline authorities all over Europe and the world to start planning for the eventual Katla eruption".

Leading betting organisation Paddy Power have today cut the odds on Iceland’s Katla volcano being the next volcano to erupt with a Volcanic Explosivity Index (VEI) of 3 or greater.

www.youtube.com...

www.clareherald.com...



[edit on 27-5-2010 by ni91ck]

Katla Iceland's second larger volcano to erupt soon
May 27, 2010 12:37 PM EDT (Updated: May 27, 2010 12:44 PM EDT)
views: 128
Katla is another volcano in Iceland and scientists and the president of Iceland are warning it’s about to erupt. Katla is much larger Eyjafjallajökull, and if you remember the havoc it caused, this one will be far worse in terms of disruption of air traffic.

Thousands of flights were cancelled when the first volcano erupted but on April 22 for the second time, the historical pattern was for the third eruption to be Katla the bigger volcano to erupt.

There is a connecting chamber between the two volcanoes and with the eruption of Eyjafjallajökull the chances of Katla erupting go way up.

The increase of seismic energy is associated with the inflation of Katla which according to seismologists indicates that an eruption of Katla is likely, and that Katla’s failure is eminent.

If Katla erupts, which is now likely, the president of Iceland is warning airlines to make plans now. The criticism by Iceland's president is a warning that had earlier plans been made by Europe, airline delays might not have been so significant. Earthquakes can be expected as well.

news.gather.com...




Volcanic activity at Katla, the big sister of Eyjafjallajokull which has historically erupted in sequence with the smaller volcano, has increased 200% in recent days, and experts are concerned it may soon blow:

"A report from the University College London (UCL) institute for risk and disaster reduction has outlined that "An eruption in the short term is a strong possibility'. In its initial research paper it said: 'Analysis of the seismic energy released around Katla over the last decade or so is interpreted as providing evidence of a rising ... intrusive magma body on the western flank of the volcano.' Seismic readings of the volcano indicate the tremors around the area have increased substantially. Four earthquakes were detected near Katla during a 12-hour period on May 21st, more than at any other time since the Eyjafjallajokull volcanic eruptions first occurred in March. Three earthquakes at the Katla Volcano were reported by the Disaster and Emergency website Hisz.rsoe.hu on Sunday evening. The tremors may have been due to ice movements within Mýrdalsjökull glacier or magma movement under the volcano. The last earthquake to take place at the volcano was recorded yesterday morning."

Warning signs have been posted near the base of the glacier which caps the Katla volcano (top) Inset (above), the last major Katla eruption, in 1918.

In related news, NASA has observed massive phytoplankton blooms in the north Atlantic which it believes are directly related to Eyjafjallajokull's ash cloud (sorry, I misspoke about this - scientists don't believe they're related, at least not this season).
Here's their photo (see green and blue swirls in top half of image):





www.towleroad.com...

reply to post by ni91ck


Katla is not showing signs of eruption yet. It is having the normal few earthquakes that it has every week.

This report appears to have come from an Irish newspaper scaremongering as far as I can see. The 200% increase they talk about is not exactly an increase to be concerned about when it goes from 1 to 3. Now if this was 10 to 30 then I would be concerned.

Frankly until Icelandic geologists say there is something to worry about, calm down.

Before getting the panties in a twist try looking at this site first:

Katla monitoring site

Here is the one for Hekla for good measure.

Hekla monitoring site

This is yet another example of the 'Hekla Syndrome' where Hekla was supposed to be erupting according to some tweets.

Hi there: Maybe the last official report:

Eruption in Eyjafjallajökull - Status Report: 12:00 GMT, 28 May 2010
Icelandic Meteorological Office and Institute of Earth Sciences, University of Iceland

Compiled by: Ármann Höskuldsson, Hjörleifur Sveinbjörnsson, Haraldur Eiríksson, Björn Sævar Einarsson

Based on: IMO seismic monitoring; IES-IMO GPS monitoring; IMO hydrological data; web cameras, ATDnet – UK Met. Offices lightning detection system, Satellite images, web-based ash reports from the public and scientists that went to the volcano.

Eruption plume:
Height (a.s.l.): Clouds have covered the top of the mountain this morning and therefore the plume has not been seen on web-cameras. Light wind from ENE.
Tephra fallout: No reports of ashfall.
Lightning: No lightning strikes have been detected.
Noises: No reports.

Meltwater: Low discharge from Gígjökull.

Conditions at eruption site: IES expedition to the summit of Eyjafjallajökull yesterday. Tephra thickness in and around the eastern half of the crates was measured. Tephra up to 40 m thick closes to the craters. Intense steam rises up from the craters, with occasional small ashy explosions. Noise of intense boiling and or degassing from the craters. Visibility to the bottom limited due to steam. The crater rim is coated with fine ash that extends me 20 m from the edge. Strong smell of sulfur around the craters. At 20:45 the steam
plume was measured to be at the altitude of 2.8 km.

Seismic tremor: Volcanic tremor is still more than before the eruption and has been rather steady since 22nd May, but small pulses, mostly on the lowest frequency (0.5-1.0 Hz), are being detected on the earthquake stations around the volcano.

Earthquakes: Six earthquakes have been detected under the volcano today, but seven earthquakes were detected there yesterday. GPS deformation: No significant deformation at sites around Eyjafjallajökull.

Overall assessment: There is still a considerable amount of steam coming from the crater. The tremor is still higher than before the onset of the eruption, and small tremor pulses have been detected on the lowest frequency. Rain has prevented the ash to be blown up from the ground around the volcano. The volcano will continue to be monitored closely as before.

www2.norvol.hi.is...

reply to post by ni91ck
The tremor is still higher than before the onset of the eruption, and small tremor pulses have been detected on the lowest frequency.

And yet Ejay is not erupting...

Now what in the world could that mean?

reply to post by BillRose


be ready...............

reply to post by BillRose


I think she is waiting for the big comeback"maybe" together with katla????

I wait and see.

I think that Katla soon is gona blow. The president from Iceland is warning other state's from EUROPE:

Situation Update No. 2
On 28.05.2010 at 10:35 GMT+2

Katla is the second largest volcano in the country of Iceland, and Iceland's president is issuing a warning saying that the eruption of Katla is close. Icelandic president Ólafur Grímsson has warned other governments around Europe "that a significant eruption at the volcano is close." "We [Iceland] have prepared ... it is high time for European governments and airline authorities all over Europe and the world to start planning for the eventual Katla eruption," he said. Europe is still experiencing clouds of volcanic ash from Eyjafjallajokull that erupted in April. Airlines all over the world have lost significant flight time and money due to flights being cancelled as a result of the ash clouds. An eruption of Katla, the second largest volcano is Iceland, could spell even more trouble. There has been speculation about Katla since the eruption of Eyjafjallajokull. Katla is the larger of the two volcanos. The planet appears to be in a perpetual state of unrest. From today's 7.2 magnitude earthquake in Vanuatu to the pending eruption of Katla in Iceland; it seems like Mother Nature is kicking up her well worn heels

hisz.rsoe.hu...

reply to post by ni91ck


Please get your facts straight. Katla is NOT about to blow right now and activity at Katla is normal.

That warning is old news and was given in an interview to the BBC on the 20th April. Quite why RSOE have chosen to drag this out now I don't know but I suspect that it is because the MSM has got it's knickers in a twist again over nothing.

As I keep trying to tell people keep an eye on this link. When that message goes THEN you can start worrying. Quite why it is that no one will look at the information that is right in front of them, but choose to go off at an unfounded tangent I really don't understand.

If people keep on crying wolf like this then before too long no one is going to believe it when Katla does erupt.

[edit on 29/5/2010 by PuterMan]

reply to post by BillRose


Not one of the tremor graphs is higher than before the onset of the erutpion - any of them.

Here is today's full tremor graph.


This is the plot from the 14th April


This is the plot which has 31st March on it and even then you can see it was much higher than currently.


If you have information that proves otherwise then please post it.

reply to post by PuterMan


I have no info to dispute what you are saying.

I was just posting a quote from an article in a post above and asked a question about the quote.

I am a complete novice when it comes to Icelandic volcanos and vulcanisim as a whole and find the whole subject facinating. Sorry if I made it look as if I was making the statement myself.

I look forward to your posts to keep me informed.

reply to post by BillRose


My apologies BillRose, I was over reacting a little to this madness that has pervaded the MSM in the last week about Katla and I am afraid you caught the brunt of it.

Suffice it to say Katla is not about to blow just yet. She undoubtedly will but it could be anything up to two years before that happens.

A couple of interesting facts about Katla, and the one in my opinion that is far more dangerous, Hekla.

Katla has a very shallow magma chamber, as little as 1.5km and parts of it may even be above sea level. It is believed the capacity of magma avilable to Katla is of the order of 30 cubic kilometers. That is huge, but of course it does not mean it would all be erupted in the one incident. Katla will give warning with quake swarms and further deformation before she erupts.

Hekla on the other hand has no magma chamber and is connected directly to the plume under Iceland which if memory serves me right is 400 miles deep and 96 miles wide and contains more material than the plume under Yellowstone. Scary really if Hekla goes big time. Hekla, unlike Katla gives very little if any warning, the last eruption having only shown quakes for one hour before she erupted.

I have no seen this stated anywhere as such but my better half made the comment the other day that the reson Hekla gives no warning may be because the chamber is not there, and does not have to be filled. I think she has a very good point. Sounds logical to me since all the deformation and quakes before an eruption are to do wilh filling the waterpistol before squirting it.

You will have to forgive that I do not have a specific sources for all of this. It is an amalgamation of what I have gleaned from various sources over the past months and I have typed this from memory.

[edit on 30/5/2010 by PuterMan]

Katla's tremors go way up!!! Look here:

www.canetalk.com...

reply to post by ni91ck


not really 'way up' look at the graph over a longer time period, but yes, noticeable difference.

Originally posted by ni91ck

Katla's tremors go way up!!! Look here:

www.canetalk.com...

Way up? Try looking at some proper information

Latest full plot

Frankly I am done with all the fearmongering on this thread. I will watch and when the Icelanders tell me there is a problem I will worry, otherwise until then I am not going to discuss anything on this thread with people who just are not prepared to look at the facts but would rather twist them to suit their disaster agenda.

I would suggest that you take a look at this plot from 10:40 todat UTC


One quake at Godabunga, nothing on Katla but a worrying bunch by Hekla.

By the way just for your information only the GOD tremor monitor is on Katla and that at 50 is so far below it's eruption high point when the graph went to 3500 that you can see it is not exactly an increase.

The bottom trace HAU is the monitor closest to Hekla, but then I have told you folks all this several times and you chose to ignore it. So be it.

One parting comment for you. AS well as Hekla, why not worry about Bardabunga and the other three volcanoes under Vatnajokull? The swarm of quakes there indicates a potential for threatening activity.
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/793958ba0e9f.png[/atsimg]

This complex could make Katla look like a pussy cat. (The SW of Vatnajokull is Laki and I am sure I don't need to tell you about that.)

[edit on 31/5/2010 by PuterMan]

I will go out on a volcanic limb here and say, The show's over folks, the load has been blown and it's gone to sleep.

ni91ck

That graph with the recorders around Eyja doesn't show any significant increase in tremors.
Don't only look at the lines(green, red, blue) but also at the amplitude (numbers on the vertical side of the graph) to have an idea of an increase or decrease in activity. At some point (3 or 4 weeks ago) we had numbers there 350->500-> 1000 while we are still far below those numbers for the moment.

I don't agree with saying it's all over.
The volcano is still active and venting steam so not asleep at all. It's not as "spectacular" as past weeks while it was eruption high with a lot of ash but the little baby dragon is still awake.

We also see regularly small earthquakes and small swarms beneath the volcano. This could mean that magma from the hotspot is still rising, making his way up, and pressure could build up again in the volcano.
This kind of eruption, as already stated by the pros in Iceland, can go on for months or years. This doesn't mean that we are going to have a huge ashplume for years but more a patern like.

Ashplume eruption (couple of days or may be a couple of weeks)
calming down with a small steam vent while the pressure is building up again in the magma chamber of the volcano (weeks to couple of months)
Again ashplume eruption
and so on.

Niddy

Now the worst is over you can buy this?

www.nordicstore.net...

But the price is much to high!