Iceland raises aviation alert to red as volcano eruption begins

a reply to: canucks555

Thanks Canucks555 , that first link to baering is particularly good for the real-time earthquake updates.

Looking at the right hand side of the link of the seismic activity I'm seeing the locations anything between 20 - 13km apart - could this mean there is a pool of magma potentially 7km worth swirling around under there ? Hope not ! But then again that would mean it's dispersed over a large area and less likely to bottle neck and blow presumably ?

a reply to: aboutface

This is what happened last time Baroarbunga went off:

They are putting a lid on the severity of this. Even the two conflicting reports last night suggests a group wanting to sound the alarm loud and clear so people can prepare and another group coming along saying, no they got it wrong, nothing to see here.

I shouldn't have watched that video above...

What is the status of Katla? Wasnt there some worries that big mama would wake up soon?
Just the name Katla is giving me shivers down my spine, mostly due to reading and watching Astrid Lindgren's "The Brothers Lionheart" as a kid. That dragon scared the crap out of me.

It doesn't look good at all....

Earthquake activity now is extremely dense. With 3 to 5 earthquakes taking place every second;
Earthquakes have increased in magnitude.
The dyke in Bárðarbunga volcano continues to get longer and wider, it is now over 40 km long.
link

originally posted by: larapa
a reply to: aboutface

This is what happened last time Baroarbunga went off:

That was an interesting bit of information thanks for posting.

Makes us think that if something like this happened today, with 7 billion people on the planet now it would be a cataclysmic disaster for sure.

Post removed. Missed that link to ytube was already posted.

So what if this one AND Katla blows thru the ice? Katla is already over due.

a reply to: glend

What specifically do you mean by dyke in the context of a volcano? I'm feeling quite dense at the moment.

originally posted by: larapa
a reply to: aboutface

This is what happened last time Baroarbunga went off:

That is not Bárðarbunga, that is Laki eruption. They are completely different volcanic system. Laki is part of Grimsvötn volcanic system, while Bárðarbunga is single system. Though they are both capable to VEI-6 eruption. Laki Erupted last time in 1784, while Bárðarbunga 1910.

5.3 just now, what the heck is going on down there?

a reply to: aboutface Thanks for the thread/warning. I live in Denmark so i just hope the wind is coming from south, lifting the ash in the Northpoles direction, then it would also cause the least damage in the nearest populated regions, maybe except for Greenland

**** WHOA! STOP THE PRESSES! STOP THE PRESSES! ****

There is some backtracking going on! Even though the mag 5+ earthquakes continue at the caldera and the total number of EQs continues to rise , a trip out there by scientists in a helicopter reveals that the ice sheet is still intact with no melting observed and no plume of smoke. THEY ARE NOW SAYING THAT ERUPTION HAS NOT YET TAKEN PLACE!

AS A RESULT, THE AIR TRAFFIC ALERT HAS BEEN DOWNGRADED TO COLOUR CODE ORANGE.

Overall assessment from the joint daily status report 240814 of the Icelandic Met Office and the University of Iceland, Institute of Earth Sciences:

There are no indications that the activity is slowing down, and therefore an eruption can not be excluded. Observations show that a sub-glacial eruption did not occur yesterday. The intense low-frequency seismic signal observed yesterday has therefore other explanations. The Icelandic Meteorological Office has decided to move the aviation colour-code from red to orange.

Well, despite there probably being red faces all over that meteorological office, it seems that we still have to wait for the eruption.

Their bulletin can be found here

Since the aviation red alert has been downgraded to orange, I would urge those who want to know what is being observed and discussed now about this event to go to this Volcano Watch thread page here

a reply to: aboutface

When lava flows through a rip between two layers of rock instead of flowing through the cone of a volcano, it is termed a dyke. I like to think of it as like a long cut on our skin, blood flows from the entire cut which then solidifies to heal the wound. But if the cut is long it can cause a lot of blood or in this case lava to flow. The same system expelled more lava than any other in last 10,000 years, said to be somewhere between 20 and 30 cubic kilometers of lava, but even that is still a baby when compared to Yellowstone (1,000 cubic kilometers) or India's Deccan traps (512,000 cubic km).

And another one

M5.7 - 116km SSE of Akureyri, Iceland 2014-08-26 01:26:08 UTC

Location 64.665°N 17.500°W depth=5.0km (3.1mi)

Nearby Cities
116km (72mi) SSE of Akureyri, Iceland
M5.7 ) ENE of Reykjavik, Iceland
221km (137mi) ENE of Kopavogur, Iceland
224km (139mi) ENE of Hafnarfjordur, Iceland
612km (380mi) WNW of Torshavn, Faroe Islands

earthquake.usgs.gov...

a reply to: Maluhia

5.7.. that's the biggest so far..

Getting a few larger 5+ earthquakes with last at mag 5.3, 2 hours ago.

At 16:19 UTC an earthquake of magnitude 5,1 occurred on the southern rim of the Bárðarbunga caldera. Events of similar magnitude have already occurred in recent days in the same area at 2-6 km depth. These events are considered to be linked to subsidence of the volcano due to volume changes in the magma reservoir underneath. Activity along the intrusion is continue's.

link

Iceland volcano: New quakes raise concern over large eruption

British and Icelandic scientists say that 50 million cubic metres of molten rock has moved in a 24 hour period.

If it continues to head north, it could link up with the Askja system and trigger a large eruption.

Scientists working in the area have said that they will be withdrawing from the exclusion zone on Wednesday after they have deployed some more instruments

Over the last 10 days, they have detected large numbers of earthquakes, which have been moving north over a distance of about 40km. They are caused as magma flows beneath the ground, cracking the rocks as it moves.

On Tuesday morning the Bardarbunga volcano was hit by a magnitude 5.7 earthquake, the largest since tremors began in the area last week.

About 350 million cubic metres of magma have moved in this period, which is about twice the amount of molten rock that was blasted into the air during Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull eruption in 2010.

Prof Simon Redfern, an earth scientist from the University of Cambridge, said: "It is a huge amount of magma, creating an enormous subterranean channel of molten rock."

He said that the dyke - the underground "plumbing system" that carries the molten rock - could join up with other underground fissures, creating a large network of magma

"But who knows, it may just stop. It is still at 5km-depth, and it is possible it could freeze there and not a lot more will happen. That is perfectly plausible."

BBC

a reply to: lurksoften

Scientists from IES and IMO on a flight to Vatnajökull tonight discovered a row of 10-15 m deep cauldrons south of the Bárðarbunga caldera. They form a 6-4 km long line. The cauldrons have been formed as a result of melting, possibly a sub-glacial eruption, uncertain when.

Link

Geologists in Britain and Iceland have said 50 million cubic metres of molten rock has moved in a 24 hour period and it could reach Askja in just a few days.

We know there is a lot of molten rock sitting under the ground beneath Askja, which is a major volcanic system. If this molten rock hits that, we know it is likely to trigger it to erupt.

link

Could be fireworks by the weekend!

originally posted by: aboutface
a reply to: glend

What specifically do you mean by dyke in the context of a volcano? I'm feeling quite dense at the moment.

It's a little late but I saw your post so thought I would share. This link explains what is going on really well. Basically one volcanic system is traveling to another, which may cause its magma to heat up. This would cause an unprecedented eruption. They are hoping this isn't happening but it looks like it is.

volcanocafe.wordpress.com...