Volcanic Eruption

Hm. It's working here. Maybe the server had a hiccough?




Not much to see right now, though (some faint red shine on the left).

Fireworks update from webcam Bárðarbunga 1:



Webcam Bárðarbunga 2 seems to be offline - I hope it's still okay and didn't get roasted.

Some cool pics here on the blog:
https://www.facebook.com/IcelandVolcanoAndEarthquakeBlog

RealGunner wrote:Is it still going on for 2 days?

It's still going on (and webcam Bárðarbunga 2 is up+running again):



That's a cool promo video from a helicopter company that offers flights to the volcano - they uploaded a 4min sequence of one of their flights to the current eruption: http://vimeo.com/105277259

Volcano update from Iceland. The fissure eruption is still going on.

This time webcam Bárðarbunga 1 shows the cooler pictures:

Volcano showing off in the early morning light:



Webcam Bárðarbunga 2

Here are some satellite pics of the lava flow area:
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/view.php?id=84316

Iceland Volcano still in action:

I just love to watch this:

Iceland definitely deserves to be called the land of Ice & Fire.

Impressive.

Iceland Volcano Update:

Webcam Bárðarbunga 2

Astonishing lava volumes:
The lava flows erupted since the beginning cover around 37 square km and comprise a total volume of 0.4-0.6 cubic kilometers. If compared to an explosive eruption (for which the VEI scale was designed) using the Volcanic Explosivity Index (VEI) scale, the eruption has already reached the category VEI 5. It has so far erupted about the same volume of magma as the 1980 Mt. St. Helens eruption.
The discharge rate was estimated to 250-350 cubic meters per second. For a full day (86400 seconds), this corresponds to a cube measuring approx. 300 m on its sides. It would be enough to fill a soccer field with a pile 2-3 km tall of lava!

Source: http://www.volcanodiscovery.com/bardarbunga/news/48070/Bardarbunga-volcano-update-Eruption-continues-with-steady-and-large-lava-output-rate.html

When lava starts flowing and gas comes out, it means pressure is being released... greatly decreases the chance of a bigger event (although it can happen). Much more worrisome if there was just steam and earthquakes. That would have meant something is trying to get out and hadn't found a way yet...

Well, we are talking about Iceland here - Iceland is in a very special situation unlike all the volcanoes on the Ring of Fire that sit on subduction zones where one continental plate disappears under another and thus the plate is molten, transports water underneath, too and thus the evaporated water causes magma to rise up and show up as volcanoes.

Iceland is the only location where the Mid-Atlantic Ridge is visible above the ocean and where you can observe the continental plates actually drift apart. So Iceland has in fact indefinite amounts of magma underneath as it belongs to the areas where new land is "created".

If you look at eruptions like the Laki fissure eruption in 1783, one can have eruptive processes that go on for many months and produce enormous amounts of basalt lava (around 14 cubic kilometres estimated in the Laki eruption, for example).

Moreover, in Iceland many of the volcanoes are located under some hundred metres of ice, thus there can be an enormous explosion if one of the covered volcanoes decides to blow. That was the reason why the Eyjafjallajökull eruption caused the upset in the flight traffic - it was one of the volcanos located under a glacier and the eruption was a bit stronger due to all the evaporated ice  and not really due to the amount of lava.

As I just can't get enough of cool volcano pics (my desktop background currently shows a fantastic eruption of Stromboli, by the way), here are some fresh pics captured from the webcam Bárðarbunga once more:

Night:


Dawn:


Day:



By the way, Stromboli is usually active as well, albeit not as spectaluar at the moment: http://www.ct.ingv.it/en/webcam-aeolian-islands.html

Bárðarbunga update:





I love this prediction about how the eruption will likely go on by VolcanoDiscovery.com:

"The most likely scenarios are that 1) it might go on for a while to come, gradually decrease; 2) it could result in catastrophic collapse of the caldera with a resulting potentially large explosive eruption there; 3) it could open new eruptive fissures above the intrusion, possibly under the ice and cause large floods and ash emissions. It could as well do something completely different."

Source: http://www.volcanodiscovery.com/bardarbunga/news/48262/Bardarbunga-volcano-update-no-significant-changes-in-ongoing-eruption.html

Looks like finally the weather has cleared and/or someone cleaned the webcams - here are some fresh pics of the still ongoing eruption that doesn't really show any signs of slowing down.

Webcam Bárðarbunga 1:


Webcam Bárðarbunga 2:


"The eruption continues from the Holuhraun fissure with an amazing lava output at approx. 350 cubic meters per second. [...] The lava flow field continues to expand mainly to the north and east and cover now more than 55 square kilometers, with an estimated volume of approx. 0.77 cubic km." o_O

Source: http://www.volcanodiscovery.com/bardarbunga/news.html

"The volcanic eruption in Holuhraun continues at similar rate, and has now been going on for more than 50 days. The erupted lava flow volume approaches 1 cubic kilometers and the lava flows now cover over 63 square km. A large lava lake above the central section of the fissure vent has formed and feeds a wide river of lava."

Source: http://www.volcanodiscovery.com/bardarbunga/news/48556/Bardarbunga-volcano-update-Eruption-continues-with-large-lava-flows-increasing-seismic-activity-at-c.html

I was just about to complain that the Bárðarbunga webcams were stuck full of snow all the last time and I couldn't watch the cool fissure eruption anymore, when I saw that finally they were delivering pictures again today!

Webcam Bárðarbunga 1:


Webcam Bárðarbunga 2:

VolcanoDiscovery.com wrote:Nov 6: The Holuhraun fissure eruption continues with amazing stability. By now, more than 1 cubic kilometers of magma has been erupted and covers almost 70 square km (which implies an average thickness of 15 meters).

http://www.volcanodiscovery.com/bardarbunga/news/48888/Bardarbunga-volcano-update-Eruption-has-produced-over-1-cubic-km-of-lava.html

VolcanoDiscovery.com wrote:Nov 9: The volcanic eruption at Holuhraun gives no signs of weakening and continues to eject an impressive lava fountain from the central Baugur crater at a rate similar to the past few weeks. This record-breaking eruption started on the 31st of August 2014 and formed a more than 17 km long lava flow. Using the successive outlines of this lava flow as drawn on a radar image from the Icelandic Coast Guard, researchers from the Institute of Earth Sciences estimated that by now the lava has covered an area of 70 km².

Source: http://www.volcanodiscovery.com/bardarbunga/news/48951/Bardarbunga-volcano-update-Continuing-eruption-formed-a-70-km-lava-flow-and-caused-44-m-of-caldera-s.html


Morning view:

Webcam Bárðarbunga 1:


Webcam Bárðarbunga 2:


Just wow: http://vimeo.com/111344670

Webcam Bárðarbunga 2:

Continues to look cool


Update 2014/11/23:
Here are some pics from the webcams at noon:

Webcam Bárðarbunga 1:


Webcam Bárðarbunga 2:

More GeoPorn

Webcam Bárðarbunga 1:


Webcam Bárðarbunga 2:

Will it ever end

Well, one day it will end - in the worst case it will take until the Iceland plume ends up elsewhere due to plate tectonics ^^

Cool video from a flight over the Holuhraun fissure eruption in the end of November 2014:

Spoiler:

Older footage from September 2014:

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

Another beautiful video taken from a flight over the volcano yesterday:
https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=376433082517621

This eruption in Iceland has by now created the largest lava flow on earth since the Laki fissure eruption in 1783.

Looks like Modor

You know that Iceland has trolls and elves? They even have an officially assigned person for the matters of trolls and elves.

Webcam Bárðarbunga 2:


For those who wondered (or not) - the eruption of Bárðabunga in Iceland is still going on without break. By now the lava field is covering more than 84 square kilometers.

Source: http://www.volcanodiscovery.com/bardarbunga.html