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Bardabunga Caldera

Very strong earthquake: 5.5

http://baering.github.io

http://hraun.vedur.is/ja/Bardarb/BARC/b ... png?rand=0

M_B_S wrote:Bardabunga Caldera

Very strong earthquake: 5.5

http://baering.github.io

http://hraun.vedur.is/ja/Bardarb/BARC/b ... png?rand=0

The second biggest since Bardabunga started shaking again, as there was a 5.7 a few weeks back. But the quakes are getting shallower and are concentrating around the caldera rim. Some say it is deeper sources of magma on the move that is causing them, but others are not sure what they mean.

Amazing 1 minute video of eruption :
http://nautil.us/blog/the-sound-so-loud ... four-times

http://icelandreview.com/news/2014/10/0 ... st-iceland
Status Quo at Bárðarbunga and Holuhraun
BY EYGLÓ SVALA ARNARSDÓTTIR October 01, 2014 11:59

http://icelandreview.com/news/2014/10/0 ... -holuhraun

The subsidence of the Bárðarbunga caldera continues, as mentioned in the latest status report from the Department of Civil Protection and Emergency Management.

The eruption in Holuhraun continues at the same rate with the new lava field now estimated to cover more than 46 square kilometers (17.8 square miles).

Very high sulfur dioxide (SO2) pollution from the eruption in Holuhraun has been detected by Lake Mývatn in Northeast Iceland since late last night, with levels shooting up to as much as 6,000 μg/m3 at the Reykjahlíð school, measured by the Environment Agency of Iceland.

“Everyone may experience respiratory symptoms, especially individuals with underlying diseases,” the agency’s website, which is both in Icelandic and English, reads.

For those traveling in Iceland, it’s advisable to click on the different destinations on the map of Iceland on the agency’s website to observe the levels of SO2 pollution.
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Still waiting for the big bang ....

M_B_S

Update from Carl after his flu.....
Bárdarbunga – The Elevator to Hell
As we look at the eruption via webcams, or look at pictures it is easy to think that this is a small eruption. But nothing could be further from the truth; it is just that the sheer scale of the Icelandic landscape is fooling us all.

In reality this is a major eruption, not on the brutal scale of let us say the Lakí eruption, but it is still massive. By now the lava flood covers 50 square kilometers, the edges are reported to be between 6 and 10 meters high, but that is not the average depth of the lava, that is more likely to be 30 meters and that would put the total output at around 1.2 cubic kilometers if we allow for the lower edges. Now, let us start comparing with other large eruptions.

http://volcanocafe.wordpress.com/2014/1 ... r-to-hell/
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Easy math: 1,2 km³ *10 times we reach brutal Laki or in other words 1/10 th of Laki is reached.

Thanks, MBS.

Key quotes from this Nature article suggest the event to date is inconsequential: ...

http://www.nature.com/news/gas-spewing- ... ts-1.16234

...the plume is not high enough to penetrate the stratosphere and cause widespread climate perturbations. But the million tonnes of sulphur emitted so far are an unprecedented experiment in testing the effects of toxic-gas exposure, Barsotti says.

Lessons from Iceland may prove useful in understanding long-term gas exposure in other volcanic regions, such as Japan, Indonesia and Hawaii. In the early 2000s, residents around the Miyake-jima volcano in Japan were evacuated when it began erupting with roughly the same level of sulphur emissions.

In Iceland, the last similar event was a fissure eruption known as the Krafla fires that began in 1975 and lasted on and off until 1984, says Freysteinn Sigmundsson, a volcanologist at the University of Iceland and co-leader of FUTUREVOLC. If the current eruption is tapping magma deep in the c

rust, as the lava’s volume and chemistry suggest, then it, too, may continue for months or even years.

Thanks for that article, dohboi.

There is a contributor on a blog I've been following who has given an English interpretation of an interview with Icelandic volcanologist Armann Hoskuldsson. Four things about this eruption that are very interesting to the scientists following it are: the amount of lava that has erupted, the amount of S02 in the eruption, the temperature of the lava (which suggests it is coming from deep in the mantle), and the amount of earthquake activity in the volcano (usually a couple of quakes measuring above 5 every day or two).

Here is the blog - scroll down to IngeB's comments:

http://www.jonfr.com/volcano/?p=5216

Here is the actual interview with the volcanologist (in Icelandic):

http://www.visir.is/eldgosid-einstakt-a ... 4710319903

Here's an up-to-date article about Bardarbunga, in English:

http://www.visir.is/holuhraun-eruption- ... 4141039805

Update:

Bardarbunga triggers deadly air and water pollution!

http://www.satnews.com/story.php?number ... 884&menu=1

NASA...Iceland's Hot Tempered Volcano Shakes + Spreads Molten Rock to Area Larger than New York's Manhattan Island

[SatNews] The ground has shaken with more than 700 earthquakes of magnitude 3.0 or stronger; at least 60 have been above magnitude 5.0.

While emissions of ash have been relatively modest, researchers from the University of Iceland and Icelandic Met Office estimate that 450 kilograms of sulfur dioxide (SO2) are being emitted from Holuhraun each second, or 40,000 to 60,000 tons per day. Since the start of the eruption, Holuhraun has emitted twice as much SO2 as all of industrialized Europe emits in a year, according to Nature magazine. Calm winds in recent days have allowed the SO2 to accumulate over the island and has led health officials to warn against outdoor activity, particularly for people with respiratory issues. The emissions also have scientists wondering about the long-term effects of sulfur exposure on humans, plants, and animals.
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Proof:
http://www.icelandreview.com/news/2014/ ... -pollution

Acid Snow and Dead Mice from Eruption Pollution
BY ZOË ROBERT November 11, 2014 17:10Updated: November 11, 2014 17:15

Acid snow due to toxic gases including SO2 emitted from the eruption in Holuhraun in the northeastern highlands has fallen near the eruption site.

Sigurður Reynir Gíslason, geochemist at the University of Iceland, told Morgunblaðið yesterday that the pH level of snow in the area measured pH 3.2 whereas the normal pH level of precipitation is 5.6. The pH level of the snow is 100 times that under normal conditions.

Precipitation in places as far from the eruption as Hornafjörður, Southeast Iceland, have been found to have a higher pH level.

According to Sigurður, the water from the snow once it melts could be very acidic.

Meanwhile, farmers in the Höfn area, Southeast Iceland, have found a large number of dead mice which appear to have died suddenly, ruv.is reports. It is assumed that they died due to high levels of pollution from the eruption. SO2 in the area measured 21,000 mµ/m3 in late October, a record in inhabited areas since the eruption began two months ago.

The Directorate of Health advises that at levels higher than 2,000 mµ/m3 people should stay indoors with the windows closed, the air conditioning off and the heaters on.

According to the Southeast Iceland Nature Center, the likely explanation is that the mice died from the pollution or something they ate but it is too late to perform an autopsy.
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This volcanic eruption gets ugly.

Lets hope it stops very soon.

M_B_S

UW team explores large, restless volcanic field in Chile

MADISON, Wis. —

If Brad Singer knew for sure what was happening three miles under an odd-shaped lake in the Andes, he might be less eager to spend a good part of his career investigating a volcanic field that has erupted 36 times during the last 25,000 years. As he leads a large scientific team exploring a region in the Andes called Laguna del Maule, Singer hopes the area remains quiet.

But the primary reason to expend so much effort on this area boils down to one fact: The rate of uplift is among the highest ever observed by satellite measurement for a volcano that is not actively erupting.

That uplift is almost definitely due to a large intrusion of magma — molten rock — beneath the volcanic complex. For seven years, an area larger than the city of Madison has been rising by 10 inches per year.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/ ... 120114.php

dohboi - Interesting. Reminds me of one of the conclusions as to why Mt. St. Helen erupted so violently: videos showed a major landslide of on of its flanks. Like a cork in a bottle that eight was containing the magma expansion. Once the slide eliminated that weight the chamber expanded rapidly which induced more sliding. And bang!

Wow. Classic rapid feedback!

ROCK, this story immediately made me think of your ratio of volcanologist that die in the field versus other kinds of geologists. What was that ratio, exactly, again?

dohboi - The ratio is NEFV:1.0

NEFV = Not Enough F*cking Volcanologists. Those nasty gas sniffers never get any respect. LOL.

dohboi, ROCKMAN,

Data: rhyolitic field;

25 cm uplift/yr;

Recommendation: run like hell.

.
Volcanologists are notoriously crazy , there was a French one who wanted fresh rock ejecta to analyse the gas in them
his solution was to collect them as they fell around him ,in various size ,from a few ounces to a couple of tons
a bit like doing some scrap metal collecting in the middle of an artillery barrage
a married couple wanted some sample of the waters in a volcanic lake ,
since they didn't had much funding they paddled to the middle of the lake in a rubber dingy , the "waters " were a mixture of concentrated sulphuric and Hydrochloric acid ,
the rubber dingy was dissolving under their arses but lasted just long enough for one trip .

Wow. Thanks all.

http://beforeitsnews.com/paranormal/201 ... 80468.html

How a volcanic explosion could trigger the next French Revolution
The eruption of Icelandic volcano Bardarbunga could have sweeping repercussions for the whole of Europe, and has been pencilled in as an “outrageous” risk for 2015

Yet again, an Icelandic volcano threatens to fracture the political landscape of Europe, just as one did in the 18th century.

An explosion of Bardarbunga could wreak agricultural havoc, shifting weather patterns, and leading to a doubling of grain prices.

The economic pain inflicted on already fragile France could usher in a new political era, as voters reach a tipping point.

As the volcano Bardarbunga has been “quietly” erupting for more than 100 days, it could now enter “a far more intense eruption phase”, said John Hardy, head of FX strategy at Saxo Bank.

http://beforeitsnews.com/paranormal/201 ... 80468.html