National Geographic – How Volcanoes Form
National Geographic on how volcanoes work.
Askja lake ice-free mystery deepens
A short update on Askja volcano ice-free lake.
There have been news about the tour of geologist to Askja lake this week in the news. So far the result are puzzling. It turns out that Askja lake is just 1C, but that is normal for this time of year. So why it is ice-free remains a mystery at current time. Data from GPS and seismometers. Samples of the water has been taken also for a analyze and review of weather condition’s is under way. But so far the Askja lake mystery deepens.
News about Askja volcano and new video of Askja volcano. Use Google translate in the hope to understand what is sad.
Ísleysið á Öskjuvatni er ráðgáta (Rúv.is, Pictures, Icelandic)
Loftmyndir af Öskjuvatni (Video of Askja lake, Icelandic)
Merry Christmas 2011
I wish all my readers Merry Christmas 2011. I hope that everyone have it good during the holidays.
Special report: New eruption vent (or vents) might have opened up in El Hierro volcano eruption
The current tremor data now suggests that a new vent or vents have opened or are about to open up just outside north-west coast of El Hierro volcano. The depth where the main earthquakes have been taking place is about 100 to 300 meters (but might be more). So far the largest earthquakes to take place in this area was a ML3.9 with the depth of 22 km. What is important in this is not the fact that the earthquakes are at great depth. But also the fact that a more shallow might not take place. As that was not the case when the eruption started in El Hierro on 10 October, 2011. It is unlikely that there is going to be any shallow earthquake activity before a new eruption vents opens up. As that was not the case on the 10 October, 2011 from what I can remember.
Current harmonic tremor in El Hierro. So far there has not been much change in harmonic tremor as can be seen here. But that can change without warning. Copyright of this picture belongs to Instituto Geográfico Nacional.
I am not sure how strong earthquake this area can make. But I am guessing that it might well be in the upper Mb5.5+ range. The earthquakes that are now taking place are due to magma injection. Not a tectonic one. There is a difference between the two. But this rifting in El Hierro might trigger a earthquake close to El Hierro Island in near future, that earthquake would be a tectonic one. Not a earthquake created by magma movements.
So far the new vents are still unconfirmed. But there are signs in the harmonic tremor data that new eruption vents might be opening up or have already opened up. But at this moment I am waiting for a confirmation on this actually taking place. That is going to take a few hours, given the experience so far.
Special report: Update 5 on El Hierro eruption, Canary Islands, Spain
This is a special report on the eruption in El Hierro, Canary Islands, Spain.
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From the harmonic tremor data during the current eruption in El Hierro. It seems that the eruption has dropped in strength during the past 48 hours or so. But that most likely means that the current eruption crater is closing up. But this does not mean that the eruption is over, as new fissures might open up without any warning close the El Hierro Island or on the island it self. It is impossible to know that for sure at this moment. As it currently stands it is unlikely that a new Island is going to form offshore of El Hierro island, as the current eruption crater does not seem to have the energy to break the surface of the ocean. Earthquake activity in El Hierro volcano remains about the same as it has since the eruption did start on 10 October, 2011.
Harmonic tremor in El Hierro volcano at 18 October, 2011 at 23:26 UTC. Copyright of this picture belongs to Instituto Geográfico Nacional.
For the moment, the only thing that can be done is to wait and see what happens next. But it is clear that the eruption in El Hierro is far from over from the data that I have seen so far. But this eruption might pause for days to weeks, as that is not uncommon thing for a volcano to do during a active eruption cycle.
The Katla Volcano: with english subtitles
Here is a video about Katla volcano. Made by Almannavarnir in Iceland.
New pictures of Eyjafjallajökull Gígujökull glacier lava field
Rúv News has just published new pictures of Eyjafjallajökull volcano. The pictures are from Fimmvörðuháls lava field and the lava field that is in Gígujökull glacier. But in that area a lava flow did take place during the eruption. That lava field has not been explored before. According to the news, a moss has already started to grow on the new lava on Fimmvörðuháls. The Gígjökull glacier has already started to cover the lava field that did melt it during the eruption of 2010 in Eyjafjallajökull volcano.
From Gígjökull glacier. Picture from Rúv News. Copyright holder of this picture is Rúv.
The news of this can be found here. This is in Icelandic.
News from Rúv.
Undraveröld í Gígjökli (Rúv.is, Icelandic, Picture, Video)
New video of Eyjafjallajökull volcano crater
Tonight Rúv did show a new video of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano crater area. But the Rúv News team accompanied the scientist up too the top of Eyjafjallajökull volcano in order too view the crater that is there, and the lave field that did flow from the top crater. According to the news on Rúv it is going to take many years until the glacier recovers fully from the year 2010 eruption in Eyjafjallajökull volcano. As the lava field is up too 100 meters thick due the cooling from the glacier when it did flow form the crater in the eruption.
Rúv News. Use Google translate with the hope that it might translate…or not.
Eyjafjallajökull rannsakaður (Rúv.is, Icelandic)
Vísindamenn ofan í gígum Eyjafjallajökuls (Rúv.is, Windows Media Player required, Icelandic, at the end of the news on Rúv)
Blog post updated at 15. May 2011 at 00:08 CEST. Fixed text and added extra information.
Blog post updated at 15. May 2011 at 19:20 CEST. Fixed the blog post title.
How to get Icelandic media in a case of a eruption in Iceland
When a eruption starts in Iceland. All media in Iceland covers it. Both in there news web sites and on the radio stations on the internet that publish information in english and other languages if needed. Here is a list of the main media stations in Iceland.
Radio stations:
Rúv Rás 1 – Public radio station. Needs Windows Media Audio player to listen to this radio station. It is also possible to listen to Rás 1 over satellite on 1W.
Rúv Rás 2 – Public Radio station. Needs Windows Media Audio player to listen to this radio station. It is also possible to listen to Rás 2 over satellite on 1W.
Bylgjan FM 98,9 – A radio station with news. A flash might be needed to listen to this radio station.
Tv stations:
Rúv Sjónvarpið – Can be watched on-line here. Both with flash player and Windows Media Video capable player. In Europe Rúv Sjónvarpið can also been watched over satellite on 1W if you have Conax access card to view the channel (only available in Iceland to Icelandic citizen living in Iceland, don’t ask me for it). But Teletext information is still available even if the channel is scrambled and cannot be viewed because of that.
Stöð 2 – Can be viewed on-line on the web-site Vísir.is. But at that web page only news can be viewed. Flash player is required to view it. Stöð 2 does not broadcast over satellite.
When a eruption starts in Iceland. This are the best options to get into touch with Icelandic media that broadcast live video or audio. But other news web sites are mbl.is, dv.is. But this are only news papers that don’t offer any direct and live coverage when a eruption starts in Iceland.