iceland Bárðarbunga and Askja - Volcanic Activity

[john pike]

 

looks like another reasonable size quake there

[john pike]

that is a huge jump

 

then a big drop

 

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

Edited October 15, 2014 by john pike

[john pike]

[The PIT]

Looking like the dike may now be pushing North past Askjar. Back on the Web cams the eruption seems less vigorous than some other mornings.

[john pike]

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

 

looking at that i would say about the same the pit

 

looks like a huge gas release there too

 

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

 

i noticed last night a lot of very dark smoke coming from the left hand side of the cam

 

not sure if from the dike meeting the water or cloud

 

i doubt the daylight cam will resolve it either way

[karyo]

M5.3 in Bardarbunga! That's the largest earthquake in quite a while!

 

http://en.vedur.is/earthquakes-and-volcanism/earthquakes/

 

Karyo

 

Edit: now upgraded to 5.4!

Edited October 15, 2014 by karyo

[NorthNorfolkWeather]

M5.3 in Bardarbunga! That's the largest earthquake in quite a while!

 

http://en.vedur.is/earthquakes-and-volcanism/earthquakes/

 

Karyo

 

Edit: now upgraded to 5.4!

Yep,  just looked at the IMO website awful lot of quakes not at 99%.

Edited October 15, 2014 by NorthNorfolkWeather

[karyo]

Yep,  just looked at the IMO website awful lot of quakes not at 99%.

They have been very slow at checking the quakes especially in the evening and overnight! Maybe it is due to staff shortage 

 

The webcam gives us a hazy view of the plume from time to time and lots of steaming from the river. It certainly looks cold there!

[BrickFielder]

Some earthquakes yesterday which interested me.

    Date              Time    Depth     Magnitude         Location

14.10.2014    14:18:51  0.1 km         2.2             8.4 km SSE of Bárðarbunga

14.10.2014    14:02:43  1.1 km         0.8             8.9 km NE of Bárðarbunga

14.10.2014    09:41:33   0.1 km        0.8             8.3 km N of Bárðarbunga

14.10.2014    09:01:49   0.1 km        0.9             14.8 km S of Bárðarbunga

 

Now at least a few of these look like being just outside the caldera. This suggests to me that the flow from deep under Bárðarbunga to the SE into the fissure might be close to the surface again to the south east of the caldera. I would expect some more cauldron activity to the SE as heat and gases melt more ice here.

 

I dont see much correlation between subsidence at the caldera and the wider rifting (shown up on KIDC FJOC and HAFS monitoring) episode although I suppose it takes time for rock to shift. Having said that the DYNC and VON monitoring stations still show continued crustal movement. It is hard to tell whether these movements are due to uplift/subsidence or crustal movements due to rifting.

 

I see most of the activity on the north east edge of the caldera as being related to subsidence but one or two earthquakes just outside the caldera make me wonder whether there are some wider shallower ring faults there.

 

There has been some speculation on some blogs whether Holuhraun is forming a new volcano. While I think the fissure has tapped into a deep source at around 13km which is linked to a magma chamber or feed under Bárðarbunga at about 10km deep, I don't see Holuhraun as having its own seperate magma chamber.  So my opinion would be it is not a new volcano, but more of a rifting cinder cone.

 

Others have speculated that a small eruption is actually occuring in the caldera and the subsidence is due to ice melt. Personally I think you would be likely to see caldrons form if any significant eruption was taking place in the caldera , but then what do I know.  My guess is that the Icelandic coast guard is making regular flights using there radar monitoring (TIF-SIF) which should be able to tell the difference.

 

http://en.vedur.is/about-imo/news/nr/2953

http://www.lhg.is/frettirogutgafa/frettir/nr/2834

 

http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/edu/polareducation/Activities/Remote%20Sensing%20Radar/SeeingThroughtheIce_032712.pdf

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[john pike]

15 October 2014 10:00 - from geoscientist on duty

As reported yesterday, there is an increase in the number of detected earthquakes in the Bárðarbunga area. Calm weather recently, resulting in better detection of small earthquakes, is hardly enough to explain this increase anymore and probably this increase is real. During the last 24 hours, almost 130 earthquakes have been detected at Bárðabunga and about 30 in the northern part of the dike. No quakes above 5 in magnitude have been detected since 12 October, but five quakes yesterday were between 4.5 and 4.8. The eruption was clearly visible on webcams from midnight until almost 8 o‘clock this morning.

 

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

this is what the 5.4 looks like

 

Specialist remark

A M 5,4 event occurred in northern Bárðarbunga at 11:16. It was felt in Akureyri. The GPS- sensor at Bárðarbunga shows a drop of approximately 15 cm during the event.

Written by a specialist at 15 Oct 12:40 GMT

 

http://en.vedur.is/

 

[karyo]

hi John,

very interesting that the usually reserved Icelandic Met Office is talking about an increase in earthquakes!

[john pike]

hi karyo

 

i thought that as well

 

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

 

have a look to the left of there

 

there looks like magma is hitting water as that is quite a cloud and was there last night too

[karyo]

hi karyo

 

i thought that as well

 

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

 

have a look to the left of there

 

there looks like magma is hitting water as that is quite a cloud and was there last night too

Yes, there is a lot of steam from the lava-water interaction but I guess the colder weather encourages more steam to develop.

[john pike]

Scientists flew over the eruption site on Friday (10.10.2014). The lava field was measured and the grabens

(depressions) in Dyngjujokull were photographed with radar.

 

http://avd.is/en/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Factsheet_Bardarbunga_20141013.pdf

 

so they have done a fly over but not seen any pics

[swebby]

Pics of the graben would be a useful indicator of what is happening with the rifting, hopefully they'll be published by the Icelandic IoES shortly.

[karyo]

Beautiful view on the Mila webcam.

[frogesque]

Thanks John

 

you would think with the latest technology(bar the gps,plots etc),there would be a plan/lay out of barda underneath,so wished i could see barda underneath,it would put everything into more perspective and understanding of what lies beneath,BARDA  is so unpredictable,and so much has gone on that it's over a month now.

 

i agree mate

 

what i would have liked is a gps link for each corner

 

not just in the middle

 

i suppose it all comes down to money at the end of the day

nite mate

 

It would be great if the Bad caldera could be 3D laser mapped on a regular basis. This would give a much better picture of how the land deformation and twisting is taking place. Perhaps a drone could be adapted.

Edited October 15, 2014 by frogesque

[john pike]

http://en.vedur.is/media/jar/Factsheet_Bardarbunga_20141015.pdf

 

worth a quick read

[SteveB]

A 5 recorded over night

 

 

Thursday
16.10.2014 03:14:57 64.669 -17.449 4.0 km 5.0 99.0 4.9 km NE of Bárðarbunga

 

First 5 for a couple of day's...

[marksiwnc]

I'm sure there was a 5.4 yesterday mate

[jonboy]

Thursday

16.10.2014 09:25:30 64.669 -17.465 2.3 km 4.2 99.0 4.4 km NE of Bárðarbunga

Thursday

16.10.2014 03:14:57 64.669 -17.449 4.0 km 5.0 99.0 4.9 km NE of Bárðarbunga

Wednesday

15.10.2014 11:16:32 64.671 -17.449 4.3 km 5.4 99.0 5.1 km NE of Bárðarbunga

Latest one shallow at 2.3km

Edited October 16, 2014 by jonboy

[SteveB]

I'm sure there was a 5.4 yesterday mate

 

Must have missed that one....

[jonboy]

And a 3.9

Thursday

16.10.2014 12:49:47 64.669 -17.467 7.3 km 3.9 99.0 4.3 km NE of Bárðarbunga

[john pike]

Thursday

16.10.2014 16:10:35 64.668 -17.448 4.5 km 4.6 99.0 4.9 km NE of Bárðarbunga

 

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

[john pike]

was dropping

 

now going back up again