iceland Bárðarbunga and Askja - Volcanic Activity

[john pike]

Eruption Pollution in Iceland’s Capital Area By Eygló Svala Arnarsdóttir October 07, 2014 09:37 Updated: October 07, 2014 10:07

SO2 gases from the Holuhraun eruption compromise air quality in different locations in Iceland. Photo: Geir Ólafsson.

The Icelandic Met Office expects sulfur dioxide (SO2) gases from Holuhraun to drift across West and Southwest Iceland today and South and Southwest Iceland tomorrow, including Reykjavík and the greater capital area, as can be seen in the Met Office’s maps.

A press release from the Reykjavík Public Health Authority states that its employees are monitoring air quality closely. A map on its website shows the location of pollution sensors and the quality of air at each given time.

Green means that the air quality is good, yellow that people suffering from asthma could experience discomfort and red that people who are sensitive should stay inside and others avoid physical activity outside.

Yesterday afternoon the concentration of SO2 reached 800 mµ/m3 in Hvalfjörðyour, north of Reykjavík, and at some point today the pollution might reach similar levels in the capital. At levels above 600 mµ/m3 people are advised against engaging in physical activity outside.

The highest level of SO2 to be measured in an inhabited area since the eruption in Holuhraun started on August 29 was nearly 6,000 mµ/m3 by Lake Mývatn in Northeast Iceland last week. The East Fjords have also been subjected to similarly high levels of SO2 pollution.

 

http://icelandreview.com/news/2014/10/07/eruption-pollution-icelands-capital-area

[john pike]

7 October 2014 11:00 - on the gas dispersion

The Icelandic Met Office provides two-day forecasts on gas dispersion from the eruptive site in Holuhraun. Most reliable are the forecast maps approved by meteorologist on duty. And although still being developed further, an automatic forecast (trial run, see disclaimer) is also available.

For advice on SO₂, please check the Environment Agency of Iceland and the Directorate of Health.

Hvalfjörðyour, west Iceland

The sulphur dioxide gas from Holuhraun was dispersed towards southwest Iceland on 6 October 2014 and for the first time, since the onset of these events, considerable pollution reached the capital region. This photo is taken in Hvalfjörðyour, West Iceland, at four o'clock in the afternoon that day. Visibility is less than usual, possibly as a result of the pollution from the volcanic eruption in eastern Iceland, quite far away. Photo: Sigurlaug Gunnlaugsdóttir.

 

 

since 19:00 yesterday almost 30 earthquakes have occurred in Bárðarbunga, thereof more than 15 since midnight. Three were larger than M4:

00:33 M4.5

03:52 M5.0

06:07 M4.0

At 22:00 last night one earthquake, M3.8 occurred.

Very few earthquakes were located in the dike. The largest one, M2.7, occurred at 19:29 last night. Strong wind was in the area and that can have increased the number of small events. Later in the night the wind has been going down.

The eruption can't be seen through webcams. Just for a short while in the night it could be seen and looked similar as last days.

Thermal clue

The lava according to field observations 2 and 4 Oct. 2014, measurements of the surface area from 4 Oktober (minimum) and a MODIS thermal image (NASA) taken early this morning (7 Oct. 03:27) which shows the most active parts within the lava field. Enlarge. Institute of Earth Sciences.

 

http://en.vedur.is/earthquakes-and-volcanism/articles/nr/2947

 

link and images from iceland met office

 

[john pike]

Tuesday

07.10.2014 10:25:37 64.627 -17.593 8.4 km 3.0 99.0 3.4 km WSW of Bárðarbunga

 

updated from just after the 5.5 (the second quake)

 

quite interesting to see a quake that lasts for a while

 

not seen too many of them

 

http://en.vedur.is/earthquakes-and-volcanism/earthquakes/vatnajokull/#view=table

     

 

[keithlucky]

Dont know if this been shown flying a drone into the erupting fissure  http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=_L6Phuwqi7Y#t=0

Edited October 7, 2014 by keithlucky

[swebby]

Tuesday

07.10.2014 10:25:37 64.627 -17.593 8.4 km 3.0 99.0 3.4 km WSW of Bárðarbunga

 

updated from just after the 5.5 (the second quake)

 

quite interesting to see a quake that lasts for a while

 

not seen too many of them

 

http://en.vedur.is/earthquakes-and-volcanism/earthquakes/vatnajokull/#view=table

 

Hi JP, looks like a cascade set off by the 5.5?  No idea what if anything that means for how the caldera collapse proceeds. 

 

Weather looks to have been poor for the past 24hrs so I think the GPS and tremor plot outputs should be treated with caution. 

[john pike]

Tuesday

07.10.2014 10:25:37 64.627 -17.593 8.4 km 4.0 99.0 3.4 km WSW of Bárðarbunga Tuesday

07.10.2014 10:25:22 64.605 -17.575 4.1 km 4.1 99.0 4.5 km SSW of Bárðarbunga

 

the quakes after the 5.5 have been adjusted upwards

 

http://en.vedur.is/earthquakes-and-volcanism/earthquakes/vatnajokull/#view=table

 

hi swebby

 

agree with you

 

while this weather is bad the readings look likely to be all over the place

 

probably why the mo are taking a little while to update

[john pike]

Tuesday

07.10.2014 16:40:05 64.680 -17.428 10.0 km 3.6 99.0 6.5 km NE of Bárðarbunga

 

http://en.vedur.is/earthquakes-and-volcanism/earthquakes/#view=table

 

also

 

interesting to see kistufell quakes increasing again and they are deep too

 

Tuesday

07.10.2014 17:10:40 64.779 -16.926 8.0 km 0.8 99.0 13.4 km E of Kistufell Tuesday

07.10.2014 17:06:25 64.806 -16.899 6.2 km 0.8 99.0 14.9 km E of Kistufell Tuesday

07.10.2014 17:05:57 64.790 -16.910 7.2 km 0.6 99.0 14.1 km E of Kistufell Tuesday

07.10.2014 17:02:18 64.842 -16.851 7.4 km 0.2 99.0 18.2 km ENE of Kistufell Tuesday

07.10.2014 16:46:45 64.840 -16.858 11.0 km 0.7 99.0 17.9 km ENE of Kistufell

 

 

Tuesday

07.10.2014 16:38:26 64.801 -16.907 7.4 km 0.3 99.0 14.4 km E of Kistufell Tuesday

07.10.2014 16:28:12 64.812 -16.884 6.5 km 0.5 99.0 15.7 km ENE of Kistufell

 

 

 

[john pike]

 

 

looks like another quake just happened

Edited October 7, 2014 by john pike

[john pike]

Tuesday
07.10.2014 18:46:11 64.676 -17.450 8.0 km 4.2 99.0 5.5 km NE of Bárðarbunga Tuesday
07.10.2014 18:45:55 64.680 -17.460 2.5 km 3.5 99.0 5.4 km NE of Bárðarbunga Tuesday
07.10.2014 18:45:03 64.676 -17.489 5.1 km 3.7 99.0 4.4 km NNE of Bárðarbunga

 

http://en.vedur.is/earthquakes-and-volcanism/earthquakes/vatnajokull/#view=table

Edited October 7, 2014 by john pike

[john pike]

7th October 2014 19:00 - from geoscientist on duty

Seismic activity around Bárðarbunga, and volcanic activity at the eruption site at Holuhraun, has been comparable to recent days.

Seismicity is low in the dyke intrusion; since the last report at 07:00 this morning around 15 earthquakes have been detected in the northern part of the dyke (less than 20 since midnight) and the strongest one was magnitude 1.1.

About 25 earthquakes have been detected around the Bárðarbunga caldera rim during the last 12 hours (40 since midnight), the strongest event there was magnitude 5.5 at 10:22 on the southeastern rim (and since midnight a 5.0 earthquake on the northwestern rim at 03:51 must be included). Additionally, eight more earthquakes exceeded magnitude 3 since 07:00 (11 since midnight).

Scientists in the field confirmed at 18:40 that the eruption is continuing at similar rates as during the last days; there is no visibility of the eruption site on the webcams.

 

http://en.vedur.is/earthquakes-and-volcanism/articles/nr/2947

[jonboy]

Are we about to see another large quake?

http://en.vedur.is/earthquakes-and-volcanism/gps-measurements/bardarbunga/caldera/

Large uptick on the displacement graph this morning

[jonboy]

A lot of small quakes today between 1 and 2 Km down wonder whether this ice related?

[Midlands Ice Age]

Ihour ago a mag 5.2 was recorded followed 5 mins later by a slight shock mag 0.9 at ....... 0.1 Klm

That must be an icequake surely

MIA

[karyo]

Disappointing that there is still no visibility in the webcam! It is the low cloud that the easterly/northeasterly flow carries for the east part of Iceland!

On the positive side, at least the winds are not as strong and looking at the weather models there should not be stormy conditions in Iceland for the rest of the week and the weekend.

[john pike]

 

dropped off slightly but looks to be on the way up again

 

http://www.livefromiceland.is/webcams/bardarbunga/

 

cam not perfect but can see some bits now

 

interesting mo update

 

October 2014 08:45 - number of earthquakes since the onset

Earthquakes in Bárðarbunga area since 16 August

See also text below and a link to this table with more information.

A new table with the approximate number of events, and the total number of events over M3 in size, (pdf 30 Kb) since the onset of these seismic events in northwestern Vatnajökull 16 August 2014. In the whole country, at least 23,000 - 25,000 events have been detected automatically during this period, the majority in NW Vatnajökull, while in ordinary circumstances about 10,000 - 15,000 automatic events occurs per year in Iceland.

 

http://en.vedur.is/earthquakes-and-volcanism/articles/nr/2947

[john pike]

M 4.9 - NORTH OF SVALBARD - 2014-10-08 10:29:56 UTC

http://www.emsc-csem.org/Earthquake/earthquake.php?id=403308#map

 

and

 

M 5.6 - NORTHERN MID-ATLANTIC RIDGE - 2014-10-08 03:04:10 UTC

http://www.emsc-csem.org/Earthquake/earthquake.php?id=403260#map

 

this says to me the plates are pretty active at present

 

so imo this could keep ongoing for a while yet

 

interesting to see this none the less

[john pike]

http://www.livefromiceland.is/webcams/bardarbunga-2/

 

being zoomed at present

[john pike]

another quake around 3-4 but await update

[karyo]

http://www.livefromiceland.is/webcams/bardarbunga-2/

 

being zoomed at present

Thank you John! At long last we can see again :-)

[john pike]

Thank you John! At long last we can see again :-)

hi karyo

 

no probs mate

 

looking lively tonight too

 

was waiting for that

 

http://www.emsc-csem.org/Earthquake/alert/?id=pf576;SC3&date=2014-10-08

 

around 4 i reckon

 

Edited October 8, 2014 by john pike

[karyo]

hi John, I'll look forward to it on the IMO site.

 

With the webcam, it is hard to compare with previous day as it has zoomed in to the eruption.

[john pike]

http://www.livefromiceland.is/webcams/bardarbunga/

 

spooky

 

2 quakes by that and 1 around 5

[Steve C]

http://www.livefromiceland.is/webcams/bardarbunga/

 

spooky

 

2 quakes by that and 1 around 5

 

Something primeval and terrifying about it all, especially at night.  Wouldn't want to be anywhere near it at the moment.

[john pike]

Wednesday
08.10.2014 18:48:58 64.671 -17.451 0.1 km 4.6 99.0 5.0 km NE of Bárðarbunga

 

http://en.vedur.is/earthquakes-and-volcanism/earthquakes/#view=table

 

wow that was shallow

 

might need to wait incase they readjust this

Edited October 8, 2014 by john pike

[karyo]

Something primeval and terrifying about it all, especially at night.  Wouldn't want to be anywhere near it at the moment.

Oh I would!