Iceland raises Bardarbunga volcano alert to orange

[longknife]

Just one of 1,500 active volcanoes around the world. And, here's where to see how many and where @ Which volcanoes are erupting? - List & map of active volcanoes erupting at present


Read BBC story @ BBC News - Iceland raises Bardarbunga volcano alert to orange

 

[Old Rocks]

Unless it is at least Pinatubo sized, no problem.

 

[longknife]

Remember the mess it created just by spewing ash.

 

[longknife]

She's about to blow! Iceland volcano eruption could ground British holidaymakers


Airlines preparing for repeat of the chaos seen when Eyjafjallajokull blew

All roads leading to the region near Bardarbunga volcano are blocked

Police say a quick evacuation would not be possible if the volcano erupts

Nearly 300 earthquakes were detected in the area on Wednesday


Read @ Iceland volcano eruption could ground British holidaymakers | Mail Online

 

[mamooth]

About 10% of the area of Iceland is under a mandatory evacuation order, though it's a rural 10%, so it's not that many people. Due to the expected floods from melting glaciers, they're disconnecting some of the bridge roadbeds from the bridge piers. That way, the roadbed washes away, but the piers stay intact, making the bridge much easier to rebuild.

The lava, it's still traveling laterally, making earthquakes as it goes. It could quiet down, but odds are it will eventually break upwards and surface, with the scale and duration of the eruption being another question mark.

 

[mamooth]

It's officially erupting now, starting with a small lava eruption under the glacier, which hasn't broken through the glacier yet. Since the eruption spot is near the glacier edge, that will reduce flooding.

Starting small doesn't mean it will stay small. The normal pattern for the Icelandic volcanoes is for eruptions to start small, and then get a lot worse.

 

[longknife]

Alerts are already being sent out that ash clouds could serious disrupt trans-Atlantic flights.

 

[mamooth]

The first eruption fizzled out, but ridiculous amounts of magma are still moving underground. Ballpark estimate, about the same amount of lava that Kilauea puts out in a year. The earthquakes, and thus the magma, are moving steadily northeast. On this map, the red circles are the more recent earthquakes. You can see it's moved past the glacier, and is heading for the Askja caldera, which is just off the map to the northeast.

A lot of the Icelandic volcanoes are interconnected. The whole island is fissured, being on part of the mid-Atlantic ridge that's pulling apart. Askja blew up big in 1875, sending a lot of Icelanders to migrate to Canada (The Gimli, Manitoba area).

 

[mamooth]

The magma tongue moving towards Askja first stalled, but has slowly started moving again. Aircraft have spotted a section of 500m thick glacier collapsing, indicating major melt beneath. The Bardabunga cauldron is shaking again. The earthquakes are so constant that it's hard to pick any signal out of the noise. Everything and nothing is happening. It could end up as a tourist eruption like Krafla in 1975, or a global disaster like Laki in 1783.

Hence, a musical interlude.

That's great, it starts with an earthquake,
Birds and snakes, an aeroplane,
Lenny Bruce is not afraid.
Eye of a hurricane, listen to yourself churn ...
...

 

[mamooth]

Big lava breakthrough, with 60m lava fountains. The lava rift in this vid is about 1.5 km long.



In the short term, that eruption was the best thing that could have happened. No ash or toxic gases, remote area, not under the glacier (so no floods), and enough lava pouring out to lower the pressure in the system. However, it's just the start, and things will be happening for months.

And one more thing ... the name is Bárðarbunga, not Bardabunga. The norse "ð" symbol may look kind of like "d", but makes the "th" sound, so pronunciation is something like "Barthaboonga". At least it's easier to pronounce than Eyjafjallajökull.

 

[longknife]

Big lava breakthrough, with 60m lava fountains. The lava rift in this vid is about 1.5 km long.

And one more thing ... the name is Bárðarbunga, not Bardabunga. The norse "ð" symbol may look kind of like "d", but makes the "th" sound, so pronunciation is something like "Barthaboonga". At least it's easier to pronounce than Eyjafjallajökull.

No matter how you say it, it's still one heck of a difficult mouthful.