iceland Bárðarbunga and Askja - Volcanic Activity

[karyo]

The winds appears to have dropped and the smoke is rising higher!

[Dancerwithwings]

the glowing lava in front

 

because its getting dark - and can now see it ? and its stuff that has been expelled

 

but then against that - it seems to have some "height" ?

Yes just thinking that, just below the main stuff is the lava flows.... with it getting darker the heights seem to be bigger or are they just getting bigger anyway

[john pike]

http://www.ruv.is/frett/eruption-continues-at-full-force-video

Not sure if posted yet

[Buckster]

ah I can see more clearly what the "height" on the forefront lava is now (I think)

 

I think its the sides of a slope, with the lava flowing down it

 

the "heights" are bits where the lava is flowing down the slope in rivers down to the lava pool at bottom

[Rustynailer]

On the you tube feed there appeared to be at least 5 lights at one stage so I guess there are a fair few teams out there. Are they on the southern slope of Askja or a bit further south than that? Someone asked if they were EQ lights, which is not actually that silly a question if you are unaware of the teams driving around in 4x4's.

 

BBC vid gives an idea of the fissure size http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-29003031

 

Edit - it also gives an idea of just how strong the winds are at the mo.

The Cambridge team says it was not them and they don't know who it was.

 

The pahoehoe lava out flow is now 3 Km²  

 

​The gas is deadly sulfur dioxide  there is no smoke just gas, silly people trespassing in a danger zone could die quickly as the gas turns to acid in lungs.... The eruption is showing on satellite  https://earthdata.nasa.gov/labs/worldview/  File 2

 

Breaking out further North File 3 Its not showing on the main IMO site yet but to the NE of Askja there was this today 

2014-08-31 11:04:46 -16.375 65.114 3.0 4.5 qu

 qu is checked manually  File 4 the star is the Mag 3   Map of where I refer too file 4 Top right ghastly long Icelandic name beginning with H LOL

Edited August 31, 2014 by Rustynailer

[john pike]

http://webcams.volcanodiscovery.com/bardarbunga

Useful at a glance link

[Buckster]

camera seems much more stable now

[Shell Rawcliffe]

is it just me or are the EQ'S now becoming more concentrated on 3 areas.

 

1) the caldera itself

 

2) in the extrusion to the north of the glacier

 

3) at the northern edge of the dyke.

 

with No3, could it be a result of less pressure in  the dyke as the magma now has an exit route, or that there could still be magma extending the dyke making it longer.

 

Just noticed when looking at the 3d bulge maps for the last 16hrs.

[Sainsbo]

The eruption looks beuatiful on the livestream now that it's dark.

 

[Dancerwithwings]

The eruption looks beuatiful on the livestream now that it's dark.

 

 

Yes! some would say it's hell on earth, but not me with the wibbly wobbly cam that seems to of calm down it looks great

 

Edited August 31, 2014 by Dancerwithwings

[Shell Rawcliffe]

Gisli Olafsson â€@gislio  1h

Scientists warn that this cycle of eruptions can last until next year or longer.

 

Looks like observers could be in it for the long haul.

provide a great opportunity to study and learn from this eruption and events preceding this.

[Shell Rawcliffe]

there's that orange speck from last night again. 

[NorthNorfolkWeather]

there's that orange speck from last night again. 

It was a white speck last night 

 

Seriously, some cracking shots taken today and if there are any people in there that don't have gas masks, more fool them

[Buriedundersnow]

anyone wanting to check for any ash cloud especially seen as its dark can use this

 

http://volcano.ssec.wisc.edu/imagery/view/

[Buriedundersnow]

is it just me or are the EQ'S now becoming more concentrated on 3 areas.

 

1) the caldera itself

 

2) in the extrusion to the north of the glacier

 

3) at the northern edge of the dyke.

 

with No3, could it be a result of less pressure in  the dyke as the magma now has an exit route, or that there could still be magma extending the dyke making it longer.

 

Just noticed when looking at the 3d bulge maps for the last 16hrs.

 

 

the ones in the caldera will be from the magma chamber breathing as such think of a lung it will be taking in magma (breathing in) then ejecting it along the dyke to the fissure (breathing out) and we should get periodic earthquakes as the chamber empties into dyke which is bount to be fracturing the caldera roof as it does this.

 

to the north of the glacier and that will partly be the fissure still working open and from the flow of magma and the force of it leaving the fissure.

 

the more important bit to be watching is to the northeast of ASKJA this is a separate fissure and where we have EQ activity earlier in the year and there could be a chance that magma is coming up through the whole system from BARDARBUNGA right up past ASKJA just its finding it harder in the ASKJA area now if these two fissure systems link and come open it will blow ASKJA as well.

[Rustynailer]

Amazing how its lighting up the night sky.     Yes those are 4X4's again I think.

 

I wonder is there going to be a further fissure here at some stage:- File 2 NE of Askja. Herdbreidartogl O lordy I hope the newscasters don't have to say that one 

 

Askja has been busy with signals tonight;_ file 3 line abbreviated as "ask" seems to be the center of attention.

 

Bada 2 view presently:- File 4

Edited August 31, 2014 by Rustynailer

[Buriedundersnow]

 

 

I wonder is there going to be a further fissure here at some stage:- File 2 NE of Askja.

 

 

 

 

strong possibility as there are already fissure systems running through there that end not too far from the current fissure

[Rustynailer]

strong possibility as there are already fissure systems running through there that end not too far from the current fissure

If it does that would make the fissure eruption over 70Km's long:- File 1

Solved tonight's lights:- File 2

All manually checked quakes since 16th, 31/08/2014 in red. :- File 3

Mila Bada 1 00;38z uk:- File 4

 

All yesterdays EQ's at Bada and the erupting fissure :- File 5

Edited September 1, 2014 by Rustynailer

[Filski]

Another one under Bard - around 4.

[ivy]

The web cam is looking good

Edited September 1, 2014 by ivy

[lorenzo]

Hourly 3+ earthquakes in or around Bárðarbunga overnight.

 

 

IMO update

 

01st September 2014 06:45 - from geoscientist on duty

The activity around Bárðarbunga from midnight 1. September until 06:50:

Volcanic activity in Holuhraun:

The fissure eruption is continuing at a stable level. No explosive activity is observed, the eruption remains an effusive lava eruption. Visual observation by webcam and low level volcanic tremor on seismometers do not show any obvious changes since evening. More detailled information will soon follow from scientists in the field.

Seismic activity:

Around 250 earthquakes have been automatically detected until now. Most of them are located in the northern part of the magma intrusion, between the eruption site and south to about 10 km into Dynjujökull. Strongest events were up to around magnitude 2. The rate of events has decreased as a result of pressure release due to the eruption, but there is still ongoing continuous seismicity.

Several events have occurred around the Bárðarbunga caldera rim, strongest events were M4.2 at 03:09 on the southern rim and M4.5 at 04:59 on the northern rim.  See maps.

In the broader Askja region, most events were located at Herðubreiðartögl, the strongest event there was M2.9 at 02:56. This area is a quite common place for seismic activity, the activity now is not necessarily caused by increased stress due to the intrusion (the tip of the intrusion is about 25 km SW of this cluster). Askja volcano itself was seismically quiet..

[NorthNorfolkWeather]

Hourly 3+ earthquakes in or around Bárðarbunga overnight.

 

Capture.PNG

 

Hi L,

 

I noticed that as well.  The cauldera is getting well shaken up.  I just wonder what that is doing to the magma chamber.  We still have hundreds of metres of ice above the mountain adding to whatever the pressure on the surrounding rock is.

 

Every quake increases the chance of Bunda going bang

[The PIT]

The swarm north east of Askja is interesting. Even more so considering the intrusion isn't supposed to have traveled that far. We may have two eurptions to look at soon. You can see the clustering here. http://baering.github.io/

[lorenzo]

Hi L,

 

I noticed that as well.  The cauldera is getting well shaken up.  I just wonder what that is doing to the magma chamber.  We still have hundreds of metres of ice above the mountain adding to whatever the pressure on the surrounding rock is.

 

Every quake increases the chance of Bunda going bang

 

Wish I knew NNW, and from what I have read around the net from various sources it appears to be uncharted territory for many scientists who study Iceland.

 

The general theme is that this could rumble along until next year, with fissure out flow. You really wonder though given the mass of EQ activity since the 16 August that something just has to give either at Bada or Askja. The historical tracker shows this well, that Ice cap must be considerably weaker.

 

 

Could be that we still have this rumbling along as we go through Autumn and Winter !

[Shell Rawcliffe]

the ones in the caldera will be from the magma chamber breathing as such think of a lung it will be taking in magma (breathing in) then ejecting it along the dyke to the fissure (breathing out) and we should get periodic earthquakes as the chamber empties into dyke which is bount to be fracturing the caldera roof as it does this.

 

to the north of the glacier and that will partly be the fissure still working open and from the flow of magma and the force of it leaving the fissure.

 

the more important bit to be watching is to the northeast of ASKJA this is a separate fissure and where we have EQ activity earlier in the year and there could be a chance that magma is coming up through the whole system from BARDARBUNGA right up past ASKJA just its finding it harder in the ASKJA area now if these two fissure systems link and come open it will blow ASKJA as well.

 

 

Thanks for the reply,

 

This thread is great for improving my understanding of the complex and dynamic things going on.