Posted on by Jón Frímann

Special report: Update 4 on the eruption in El Hierro, Canary Islands, Spain

Short note on comments: During the eruption in El Hierro there has been a lot of comments on this blog. Over the past 4 days (or so) there have been about ~1500 comments. If your comments is held for moderation, the blog says so. Do not try to repost your comment if that is the case. As the second comment is just going to be held in moderation as the earlier one. It takes me a little while to approve the comment and to make it appear. If your comments disappears and cannot be seen, the spam filter has eaten it. It also takes me a while to check the spam filter and restore comments that have gone there. Please do not just post comment with nothing but links, that increases the risk that the comment is going to be eaten by the spam filter.
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Short note: Please note that I am not a expert in the field of volcanism, volcanoes and earthquakes. I never claim to be one. Regardless if I am asked or not. I am a man with interest in this field. I read a lot of books and studies on volcanoes and earthquakes. But that does not make me a expert in this field. If you want to speak with a expert, go and find one. Because I am not it.

Now. About the eruption in El Hierro volcano in Canary Islands. This is going to be a short blog post about the eruption.

From what I can tell and the information that I have seen. At least two more vents have opened up on the from what I can gather on the pictures and the reports from Canary Islands. So far all the new vents are under the ocean and at depth of no less then 150 meters. So seeing them directly is quite hard for the moment. There are continues deep earthquakes under El Hierro volcano, but that suggests that new magma is flowing into El Hierro volcano.

During the weekend floating magma bombs where (or some type of magma, I do not have the exact word for it in English at the moment) floating on the ocean. But this means that at least one of the vents that started erupting in the beginning is getting close to break the surface of the ocean. If the eruption continues in that vent for a little while longer. If it gets above the surface of the ocean, it is going to form a island and a lava eruption is going to start once the ocean cannot get any more into the crater.


The harmonic tremor of the eruption in El Hierro volcano today (16 October, 2011) at 22:35 UTC. Copyright of this picture belongs to Instituto Geográfico Nacional.

There is a risk of new fissures in El Hierro opening up without warning. From what I am estimating, the area that this can happen has expanded about ~5 km or so from my original estimate that I made in few blog posts ago. The risk of new fissure opening up on land is going to remain high while this eruption is taking place. But this might well be a period of eruption activity for El Hierro. It is impossible to know for how long it is going to last, it could be weeks or it could be months and up to years of activity.

I am going to post more information on El Hierro when I know more tomorrow. I am also going to write about the earthquake activity in Hengill volcano tomorrow if I have time to do so.

230 Replies to “Special report: Update 4 on the eruption in El Hierro, Canary Islands, Spain”

    1. Ha!
      Orkjuveita has written a report saying that all is fine and nice, that they will cause more earthquakes, and that they will greatly shorten the time to the next 6M earthquake.
      And that it is all normal, and that the population in Hveragardi should enjoy the dancing furniture.
      What is hillarious that they again did not write a single word about the possibility of causing a volcanic eruption in the Hengill Volcanic System. Not a word about that they are drilling next to the intersection between the fissure and the magma-chamber.
      I would like to be a fly on the wall at that meeting. The Other Lurker or Irpsit, couldn’t you go there and ask about the increased likelyhood of an eruption occuring at either Hengill, Brennisteinsfjöll or Hromundartindur. If they deny that these volcanos are active just calmly state that the IMO has issued a report stating that Hengill and Hromundartindur had a rootfilling episode that started 1994 to 1998 with magma injecting into both volcanos. Ask them how they can be sure that a filled volcano cannot erupt. You should also point out that Hengill is capable historically of erupting 10 cubic kilometres of lava, and that the probability is high that the lava would eradicate Hveragardi. After that ask if they have done any study on how a highly SO2 rich eruption (throw in Laki) 25 kilometres from Reykjavik would affect the health of the inhabitants in the capital of Iceland. On the house. If there are others in Hveragardi, feel free to ask these questions too. Tell me how much they liked you.

      1. SO2 = Sulphuric dioxde = sulphuric gas.
        It is a highly toxic gas that acumulates in the blod-stream causing you to not be able to take up oxygen. Causes suffocation and death in very small amounts.
        It smells like rotten eggs. If you can smell it, you should run away. In larger amounts it numbs the olfactory organ (fancy way of saying nose) so you wont smell it at all.

      2. Hydrogen Sulphide H2S is what smells of rotten eggs, not SO2. Both are toxic though. Sulphur dioxide will react with the water in your eyes and mucous membranes to give sulphurous acid. Not nice.

      3. Carl, the forces that humans are submitting this volcano to are tiny compared to the natural forces in the volcano. Maybe it could impact the timing of an eruption by a couple of weeks or months. Maybe it could cause a minor eruption when there wouldn’t normally be one. But if a major eruption is going to happen, it will happen whether we are messing with the volcano or not. If it isn’t going to happen, there’s nothing we can do to cause one.
        To give you an idea of the energy involved, Mount St. Helen’s 1980 eruption involved at least 1.0×10^17 J of kinetic energy. The strongest earthquakes we’ve caused in this volcano are less than 1.0x×10^11 J. This is one millionth of the energy in a major eruption. Still think our activities are going to cause an eruption?

      4. Look at what happened in Basel / CH (project for geothermal energy production). Some years ago, no one would have thought that “human” fractionning could have significant influence on a larger scale tectonic system. Sure, the media made more out of it than they should have, and it wasn’t that dramatic, and if they went on some days they would have succeeded with their project. But we just saw that “small energies” can trigger uncontrolled developments in a bigger (and I’d nearly dare calling it chaotic, when it is about how fractioning spreads in the rock) system.
        Basicly your right. It looks like fly-farts in the pacific ocean. But you trigger reactions without having an exact idea of their evolution, and you have no break to cool things down if it goes a way you didn’t intend.
        I never commented Carl’s statements about this issue, as it’s not my beer as we say where I live, but I’m fully sharing his “cautiousness” in these matters.

      5. @Matt:
        From the “we can do to cause one”, “We’ve caused one” and the “our activities” I surmise that you work in a capacity at the IDDP project in a position that you have the right to speak for the project. Am I correct in this?

        Since I have worked with hydrothermal actitivities in such a position that I used to have the right to speak in such a capacity I will hear say that you are speaking complete hog-wash.
        First of all, Mount St Helens was one of the larger explosive eruptions during the last century, you are quite simply taking an example that has nothing close to the energy release levels akin to a tripple-junction rifting volcano. Mount St Helens is a explosive subduction volcano. You sir are comparing apples and pears here. Keap to relevant figures. A good comparison would be Grimsvötn 4e+^14 to 5e+^14. Or why not the current tripple junction volcano that is erupting, El Hierro that erupted afte 1.3e+^12.

        The mistake you are doing is to compare the total explosive energy of a corked up explosive volcano when it is erupting.
        What you instead should be contemplating is the energy needed to TRIGGER an eruption. The eruptive energy, and the triggering energy are 2 totally different beasts. In Mount St Helens the difference was rather large. In the case of Hekla the difference is into the ridiculous since it has a cumulative seismic release of about 1e+^3, compared to the energy release during an eruption of cirka 1e+^14.

        Okay, back to reallity. You are dabbling with a rather unknown volcano, it is a a tripple junction rifting fissure volcano, which is one of the 2 most dangerous volcano types in the world. It does not explode violently like Mount St Helens. It will probably have a rather small explosive component to it, but it will mainly erupt in flood basalt with high gas content. You should know this if you had read up on the volcano.
        I do in part buy your argument that it would only shorten the time before eruption. It is the time shortened that is the interesting part.
        Let us compare with the 5 more famous rifting fissure volcanos in Iceland. With this I mean Askja, Krafla, Laki/Grimmsvötn, Bardarbunga/Veidivötn and Katla/Eldgja. When they erupt they have a filled magma-chamber, most of the time they erupt in smaller fashion, but the large flood basalts or in the case of Askja and Krafla in the “Krafla-fires” style.
        Laki/Eldgja/Veidivötn though have a different mechanism (slightly). During a rifting fissure eruption they have filled chambers (the same as in a “small” eruption), the difference during the rifting eruptions is that the the fissure is ripped apart in a rifting episode. When a fissure opens up it works as a vacuum suction pump, sucking the magma from the magma-chamber filling the fissure, pressure-load then cracks the fissure, and you have a completely different eruption. This back suction also starts a chain reaction sucking new magma into the reservoir, and you have a self-sustaining system.
        Hengill is a less well known system, but the volumes and fissure size of the larger eruptions tells us that the operating mechanism should be the same.

        Now back to shortening time to eruption. You might actually trigger an eruption a lot earlier then a month or so. Volcanos can fill up, go dormant for decades, and then decide to erupt. You could actually shorten time to eruption with decades.
        But that is not the big issue. You guys are fiddling directly with the fissure-swarm and the magma-chamber of Hengill at the same time. You are forcing it apart in a sense of it, so you instead of a small Hengill eruption with perhaps 0,5 cubic kilometre of ejecta, you get a manmade rifting fissure with 10 cubic kilometre of ejecta. I know the chance is only about 1/10 (statistically over historic data) that it would happen normally, but my concern is that you guys are changing the likelihood of it becoming a rifting fissure flood basalt eruption.
        The lavas are as you probably know of a rather gassy type, so I do think it would be a problem for the habitation. More or less we are speaking of a total evacuation of Reykjavik for the duration of the eruption. This is not alarmist, check with IMO or Almannavarnir what their plan is for a large Hengill eruption.
        In the future, keap to relevant facts when trying to abay worries.
        And, for your information, I am actually an advocate FOR the IDDP. I think it is a good idea, and that it should be pursued. It is just the location I have a big problem with since this is in an experimental stage. If it had been done at Krafla for instance I would have been on the other side, defending it. But here, I choose to take the stand against since the risk (even though perhaps not large) for the population outweighs the benefits.

      6. Matt, thanks for taking the time to explain your point of view! As Carl points out, it’s not exactly allayed fear but rather done the opposite. If that’s the inside view, then there’s cause for concern as to the scientific grounding of the project.

      7. What is the Icelandic Goverment doing? It is their responsibility to say NO STOP!

      8. Who rules the world? Governments?…or maybe money?
        On the other hand who of us occidentals would be ready to pay the “real price” of things if the ones that produce them had our salaries?
        A bit ridiculous questions, I know. But tu put it another way, we just have to be aware that good science will be less of an argument than the shining of potential economic advantages or the fear of those who have the money in their hands… Concerned people shouldn’t “wait” for anyone to do something automatically, but gather and try to exerce some pressure (on correct ways of course, according to legal possibilities) on the stakeholders. I’m afraid it’s the only thing that can be done.

      11. @ Sissel: like Lisa Simpson once sung “…they have the plant, but we have he power…” 🙂

  2. Thanks for the update, Jon!

    I’ve been off-line for a while and there are a lot of comments to read through, but I will catch up. After I have recovered from London minus the Underground or GPS.

    Hengill aside, I’m guessing that Iceland has been behaving nicely in my absence? (I can’t get onto the IMO site today.)

  3. Funny thing that SO2. Once you get used to the smell, your dead. We had a sour gas well pop the cork in South Central Mississippi back when I was a kid, they evacuated pretty much the entire county until they got a lid on it.

    Meanwhile, derived daily displacement rates for El Hierro from Sagiya’s GPS network.

    Fair warning… the sigma for the data period is larger than the displacement data, so this is pretty much useless for any decision makers… so if you are decision maker, DO NOT USE THIS PLOT.

    It’s just for rumination purposes… something to mull over.

    http://i53.tinypic.com/29aqgdc.png

    1. A bit about the making of the plot.

      This plot assumes a flexible sheet anchored at the four corners. The vertical displacement for the GPS stations then deform the flexible sheet to the amount shown. This value (in meters) is then applied to the terrain in order to get a feel for the amount of lift or depression for that location on the island.

      No compensation for rigidity/stiffness is made. This is as simple of a deformation plot you can get.

    2. Aviso… el sigma para el periodo de datos, es más grande que los datos del desplazamiento, entonces, este imagen es bastante inútil si eres un responsable que tome decisiones… pues si eres un responsable, ¡NO UTILICE ESTE GRÁFICO DE DATOS!

      2. WAIT!!!

        (I’m a bit slow)

        Thank you for putting that in a language that would make sense to any officials that I would be addressing.

        MANY THANKS!!!

      3. It’s important that such caveats are translated to Spanish. I’ve been following some of the AVCAN threads an they are always mentioning what we say here, and your plots come about quite often.
        I even tried to tranquilize people there, who were going hysterical about a possible eruption: people of all kinds, not only volcanophiles.

    3. It is very interesting.

      In effect the plot is saying that the areas round SABI and FRON have displaced vertically more than the areas around REST and PINA? Please correct me if I am wrong.

      This plot is telling the decision makers, etc, to keep an eye on activity across the whole island, not just La Restinga, at this stage.

  4. maybe im just a wee bit drunk but looking at the temor graphs all those around Hengill seem to be broke around the time of the main bulk of the last swarm.

    I will re-look in the morning and observe in the future.

  5. Thanks for all this wonderful and informative information. Just taken me 2 hours to digest the last 500 or so comments and read all the links and data . . Phew I’m pooped. With all the scaremongering on YouTube et el it is good to get back to facts and figures from you all. Wish I was more technical though thanks to you I have learnt so much over the past year. I think all the experts out there should read this blog . . Might help them more. Thanks again off to bed now as I will b up with the dawn and thinking of Dianas first coffee . . .

    1. I try so hard to get this images of Diana out of my mind. And then come people like you, that crash all these efforts with one line. How can you do something like that? How??? Why?????
      🙂

  6. This is the report about Hellisheidi.

    http://www.ruv.is/sites/default/files/skjol/smaskjalftar_vid_husmula-endanlegt-1.pdf

    If the Reykjavik area water supply at Gvendarbrunnar would be damaged, which is likely to happen if there would be a eruption in the Blafjoll area, then the reserve water supply is in Hellisheidi.

    All the toxic material that up with the water from the bore holes is pumped down under 800 meters, this is done to protect the surface water and help keep pressure in the geothermal wells, but this also causes a lot of earthquakes.
    It seems as if no one really knows much about whats happening at Hellisheidi, there is a lot of uncertainty, as one often sees in experiments with new ideas.

  7. Lurking, here goes your warning in Spanish…

    Aviso… el sigma para el periodo de datos, es más grande que los datos del desplazamiento, entonces, este imagen es bastante inútil si eres un responsable que tome decisiones… pues si eres un responsable, ¡NO UTILICE ESTE GRÁFICO DE DATOS! 🙂

    PS: “dedstr complot” was the captcha… deadstar complot…. woah.

  8. Those bombs were pumice stones Jon. Most of the subsea volcanoes produce them in some sort of manner when there is a lot of gas to play with and its the gas thats the problem. Loads of gas and a slightly quieter volcano. The water will saturate the column and then if its game, will rise back up into the column and blow the thing out…. subsea.

    Tsunami……..

    1. Relativity

      I keep hearing notes and murmurings about tsunamis, and the danger of a Canary island suffering a flank collapse. What exactly do you suppose it would do?

      Well, first of all, it will displace water. The displacement of water is what generated the shock wave that then traverses the open ocean and wells up on some unsuspecting shrimp boat or convertible thousands of kilometers away.

      By the very nature of how they travel… as a compression wave, they can move at astounding speed. But, despite the speed, they still are a displacement of water. How much water is involved and how rapidly it shifts, and the geometry of it’s launch go a long way in determining what you get on the far end.

      In 2004, the Sunda Megathrust quake generated a tsunami that made world headlines with it’s death and destruction. In 2011, the Tōhoku quake and tsunami literally destroyed entire segments of the Japanese coast.

      Both of these events were the result of megathrust fault systems. When they went, a huge SLAB of water was lofted skyward and then gravity took over and tried to smooth things out again.

      When a SLAB hundreds of kilometers long launches, you have an instant planar wave front. There is not much dissipation since the entire powerful wave front does not have the opportunity to spread. This is an entirely different set-up than a point source event.

      When you throw a rock into a body of water, the water displacement by that rock will generate a similar pressure/compression wave which will travel outward as an ever enlarging circle. It will not be until several wavelengths away from the source that the wave will take on the characteristics of a planar wave front. Once it does that, the energy dissipation will behave similarly to the megathrust quakes.

      Now… for comparisons sake.

      Lets suppose… for a moment, that you take the entire volume of El Hierro, and instantly submerge it under water. The whole of the island has about 158.6 cubic kilometers of volume… above sealevel.

      The 2011 Tōhoku tsunami had a displaced volume of 145.9 km^3 to 214 km^3 of water.

      If a mass wasting event happens, it’s gonna have to be one seriously messed up day for anybody nearby in order for what ever happens to come anywhere near what the Tōhoku event was. Additionally, an event in the Canary islands will spread as a point source event until about 200 km away from what ever happens… this is because of the depth of the seafloor. That directly determines the wavelength, and it will be about 10 wavelengths before the wave settles down into a planar dissipation mode. That’s 200 km of energy spreading out along the wavefront and achieving equilibrium with the other angles of travel.

      Yes, bottom contours and reflections will affect how this occurs, and only serious modeling can get half a clue as to what will happen.

      Now… about Lituya Bay. I have to go there since it’s on every @#@$ TLC/DSC tsunami program.

      Lituya Bay is a closed system. It’s essentially a bathtub with no where for the energy to dissipate. All it can do is reflect off of the walls of the tub and contribute to interference peaks and troughs in the wave as it went down the bay. In 2004, Hurricane Ivan pulled a similar stunt in Escambia Bay as the storm surge reflected off of shore line and peaked high enough in midbay to lift the interstate bridge segments off of their supports and toss them into the water. The surge wasn’t that high… but the reflecting energy contributed to the total wave heights.

      Anyway.. these are some things that you should consider whenever you hear someone talking about tsunamis.

      1. BTW.. personally, I do not buy into the tsunami … talk.

        There is nothing in the data that I have seen that even hint at that possibility.

        I have just been meaning to get this off my chest for a while and never got around to it.

      2. I don’t disagree with what you are saying however there are many natural systems that we do not fully understand and that number crunching alone cannot disprove or prove. Example current experiment being discussed on this page or giant mid ocean waves (rogue waves, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogue_wave ) now named draupner waves. Until 1995 many several scientists where ridiculed for proposing there existence (believed in sea fairing communities for hundreds of years) being told they were mathematically not possible. Further and a whole different discussion would be the current debate and implications of neutrino particles.

        It is easy to get pushed into an ‘anti’ position because of ‘ridiculously media hype’ or ‘anti scaremongering’. I’m not a number cruncher but an evidence gatherer and examiner. In this vain there is a lot of evidence proving the existence of ‘long fall landslides’ especially on shield volcano’s, particularly Hawaii. Do similar condition exist in the Canaries, yes. Is there evidence of this happening before in the Canaries yes. Is it likely to happen again, almost certainly. Is it likely in the next several hundred human generations, about as likely as being hit by a giant meteor!! So don’t forget to look up! Can anyone do anything about or plan for it !! Well I don’t think my local patch of chanterelle mushrooms could do a lot about being dug up by a JCB for a new road a couple of weeks ago, when it comes to nature people are no different, ‘sh** happens’.

        BTW think your work is awesome. Just like you felt it needed to be said mainly because of the ‘Hype’ about them.

      3. Tsunamis are a possibility, happened in the past, will happen in the future. In Canary Islands has one landslide with probable tsunami each 100,000 years. But the topic is clearly exaggerated by fearmongers , nor is there anything in this eruption that point to such a risk.

      4. I loved that one.
        You really nailed it.
        I have one thing to add.
        El Hierro has allready slid down on all 3 sides. And the safest place to be in a landslide area is where it has allready slid down.
        El Hierro needs some serious build up before it can actually slide again. In theory you could have cubic kilometre of 2 slide down, but not much more than that. So, worst case scenario, a small tsunami that will rock a boat or two that is moored at a jetty in the US. That is all.

    2. A tsunami is a possibility. However, there are tsunami warning systems in place. Most people will have time to get to high ground.

      But if you are on a beach in the Canaries and you see the sea make a sudden retreat, don’t stop to admire, tweet or photograph. Get to high ground first from where you can admire, etc., safely.

  10. Carl you mentioned Laki which released a bucketload of SO2 (rather large bucket). It released a crapload (yes that is the scientific term) of flouride as well. Is there any indications that these two systems would release a high concentration of flouride as well? Havent read up any on these two so that´s why I asked.

    1. As far as I know the lavas at Hengill would realease fluoride too.
      If you are talking about El Hierro, trace amounts.

      If you are talking about Eldgja and Veidivötn. Well, the tooth-paste industry would go apeshit with that amount of fluoride.

      1. First off..Haha on the apeshit comment. 😀

        It was meant to be a reply to your comment regarding Hengill fracking and the release of SO2 in that area in case of an eruption.

  12. Jon, thank you for blogging. Its hard to find daily information on Iceland, the world’s largest island. I wouldnt want to live there. If Katla and Anak Krakatoa (Indonesia) both go, with others wakening, Earth is in deep trouble.

    I am including your link in both my blogs. You may get traffic from them. I thot you were a vulcanologist. My error.

    (There are 7 pages on my url of news on the 2010 Iceland ‘skull’ )

    Shalom, Pastor CJ

    1. I wouldnt worry too much about climate disruptions. First off Anak krakatoa would have to produce a hell of a bang and as far as I see nothing supports that. It has been erupting on and off for quite some time now.

      And Katla, well yes it may disrupt airtraffic if the winds are blowing unfavourably but for it to cause a serious climate effect it would also have to produce a very large bang (VEI 6+ if im not mistaken). I wouldnt be surprised if we get to see a VEI-5´ish eruption from Myrdalsjökull but not on a climatechanging scale.

    2. Krakatoa is erupting often. It erupted just weeks after my last sailing in the area. Krakatoa is at this point not ready in its cycle for a large eruption.
      Katla would not erupt in a fashion that would disturb the weather, even if it erupted bigtime. The exception of course being that she erupted in an Eldgja event. Than the combined gas-release would make for a cold winter.

      Iceland is not the worlds largest Island. That would be Greenland.

    3. Even if Katla produced now a larger-than-typical eruption (e.g. VEI5 in professional jargon), that would still be clearly outclassed by the Pinatubo 1991 eruption, which was VEI6 (6-16 km3 of ejecta), i.e. a factor of 10 larger. The Krakatoa 1883 eruption was also VEI6 (21 km3 of ejecta). And neither of those (1883 or 1991) one did not “kill the Earth”, or did they?

      If you do not know the scales you’re talking about, it very easy to start to believe all that non-sense spread by those alarmists, scaremongerers, 2012-fanatics, etc.

    4. Cheer up Pastor – live life to the full – a shame to waste all that time upsetting the easily-impressed.

      The people on this blog (Jon’s) have a scientific outlook and not a sensationalist one.

      1. To clarify my post – I checked out Pastors blog from his link – a scaremonger. I can imagine him walking the streets with an A borad suggesting the world is about to end.

      2. He should then direct his misguided energies to Thera where a repeat of the Minoan eruption would be far more “interesting”. But that perhaps is too close to home for comfort?

    5. But is the Earth going to be in deep trouble if they both erupt together? A couple of degrees of global cooling may be, depending on what is emitted during the eruptions – we have survived that in the past millenium.

      Take a look at GVP, many volcanoes are erupting at the same time.

  13. My First Coffee and something is niggling at the back of my mind concerning the activities if IDDP at Hengil.
    Here is a presentation about the latest developments of IDDP.
    http://georg.hi.is/files/IDDP%20-%20GOF.pdf
    I understand that IDDP 1 is the Krafla drilling area
    IDDP 2 is Hengil
    IDDP 3 is Reykjanes
    The video clips of failed dillings are from Krafla I think
    I know this is a presentation and really I should listen to the presenter as I may have missed some information.

    The dates seem to suggest that Krafla has been operating from September 2011.
    There seems to be little information about the Hengill operation and volcano and it’s magma “chambers”.
    I know it is a presentation and needs to be simplified. The diagrams are simple and very pretty……. But…..
    The magma is not in nice round cave like chambers. It is in very many faults, cracks, dykes, whatever you want to call them. If they really thought this is where magma is “stored” it will explain why the Krafla drill hit fresh, hot, magma, surprised everyone and stopped the drilling!!
    *I needed #2 coffee at this point…..

    I did some more reading…..
    http://iddp.is/2011/

    Make sure you click the little blue link MORE beneath this short report.

    Now can any of our Icelandic readers here verify that Krafla I has been reopened for the next stage of operations which according to reports should have happened in Setember 2011?
    Or am I being paranoid if I think they are doing this “scrubbing” stuff at Hengil instead?
    Also have they given up with drilling down into MAR at Reykjanes in search of superheated Salt water?
    I need coffee #3 because I feel slow witted 🙂

    1. Krafla IDDP one is operational, and well behaved today as far as I know. It had a rather interesting tremoring, and a few mild mannered quakes. This tells me that they have run into something else and quite unexpected at Hengill. I would guess the difference is that Hengill is a tripple-junction volcano, and Krafla is a mild mannered normal rifting fissure volcano. Also, Krafla is erupted and unfilled. Hengill is unerupted and filled.
      IDDP 3 project is not active as far as I know.

      The Hengill activity is unexpected. It should not be happening.

      1. Why not drill at Hekla while you’re at it? It’s going to erupt soon anyway, is farther from Reykjavik and would yield much more energy.
        (Sheesh…)

      2. Bizarilly you have a point actually…
        But still people around. No, I still say that the best volcano to poke is mild-mannered tourist-volcanoish Krafla. It is perfect for it really.
        After that you could poke around in Svartsengi (land part of Reykjaness, or a volcano of it’s own, the big-wigs are out on it) since it is not a tripple junction volcano, but still has a huge amount of heat stored since the last eruption. It s also rather further away from large population centers, it also has rather smaller eruption.

        So for those who wish IDDP, here is my recipé foor safe success.
        1. Close down Hengill, it is to dangerous.
        2. Do the practice runs on a highly active, but safish volcano. Krafla is really perfect, if you poke it and it doesn’t go poop, then you have increased the likelyhood of working somewhere else.
        3. Then drill the poop out of Svartsengi out on the Reykjaness peninsula. It is even safer then Krafla.
        If you do that I would feel pretty confident that the worst thing that could happen was a small explosive start to a mainly hawai’i’an eruption that would bring hoards of tourists.

    1. He thinks: That it will take a few months for everything to return to normal, but that what started out as something negative, does have a lot of positives to it and in the long run everyone wins – scientific investigators win, biodiversity in the ocean will increase and tourism will increase.

      They also reckons that the stain could end up circling the island.

    2. The colour map at the start shows the ocean currents, and its based on them they think they’l start circling the islands.

      btw I’m not scientific just speak the language

  15. I think the biologist is saying that the eruption will be having a huge impact at the moment on the habitat of marine species in the area. The SO2 and other changes in the quality and composition of the water may benefit certain bacteria, but short term it is a disaster for the fishing industry.
    Teco Peco , like you I can only get the gist and I may have not understood fully the implications of the results of the analysis of sea water samples.
    My own opinion is that once the eruption stops the new seabed will be a fertile new home, firstly for micro organisms and then the natural succession of pioneer plant and animals will colonise fairly rapidly. This is thanks to the surrounding sea currents that transport bacteria, spores and larvae.
    This is a good basic introduction to read about the colonisation of submarine volcanoes, especially the last couple of paragraphs.
    The study is of hydrothermal vents in deep water near the Marianas but the application to colonisation of vents in shallower waters such as El Hierro still applies although the mineral content and species will differ.
    Hydrothermal vents (Black smokers) seem to be more permanent than the types of transient vents on El Hierro . Because of this the fauna stays within range of one vent and tend not to colonise others. In the shallower waters around El Hierro the currents will bring into the area new larvae and also spores of plant species. Also the volcano as on land spreads nutrients into the surrounding areas via ocean currents which encourages the growth of bacteria and plankton ,the essetial base of a complicated marine food chain.
    http://www.thekermadecs.org/geology
    This is a more detailed example of Marine biological research
    http://soundwaves.usgs.gov/2004/07/

    1. Short term volcanoes usually spells disaster for people living close to it but since mother earth works in a different time schedule I bet she plans more ahead. Volcanoes are after all the bringer of destruction and life. Without them we wouldnt be here as this would be a barren unfertile rock in the vast space of the universe. 🙂

      Thanks Diana for a good post. 🙂

      1. Oh yes.
        Earth is more what it is because of “hazardous” (question of point of view…) events that because of the calm phases…

  16. Anyone know about Tambora activity? It was active in last month but I haven’t heard anything after that. They call it most dangerous volcano on planet, which is bit exaggerated. And its truly monster volcano, even though scientists say it will probably not do another monster blast like in 1815. But they have raised alert level to 3, after increased activity.

    1. Dont know really about any update on that one. Dr. Klemetti made a good post about it a while back though on the old eruptions blog.

      http://bigthink.com/ideas/39980

      Since the famous 1815 eruption which was a VEI-7 blast there has been atleast 3 smaller eruptions according to his post.

      If you want to keep track on its activity there is a link below to the official site in Indonesia. You might want to use Giggle translate to understand any of it unless you speak fluent indonesian. 😉

      http://portal.vsi.esdm.go.id/

    1. Very interesting.

      Is the magma system only under Pancho (aka Bob)? and doesn’t the African plate also move northwards?

    2. That’s a good link JonH. If everything is to scale, it’s amazing that the eruption has occurred so close to the surface

    3. Okay, we like to harp on journalists, but that was hellishly impressive work from El Mundo. For once I wanna hand out a big thumbs up. Impressive graphics explaining what is happening, why and how in a scientifically correct way.
      Absolute world class on how a newpaper should explain something this complex without getting stuck on the minutia.

  18. SO2 can still kill. It causes the membraines in the lungs to swell leading to asphyxiation. Not good.

  19. @ Matt: You are forgetting that the Mt St Helens eruption was caused by a landslip that released magma.

    Your activities may indeed cause an eruption. Too little is known about volcanic activity to say that you won’t cause an eruption. Drilling gives gas and magma a way out.

  20. Does anyone here have photos of yourselves on volcano hikes / trekking? I’ll gladly put a few links up of my treks up hengill and Katla / thorsmork..

  22. They claim that the first picture is an underwater photograph from the eruption, taken Wednesday, Oktober 12th. Anybody else seen underwater photographs so far?

    2. I am not 100% convinced this is actually from El Hierro area. Firstly nobody on the 12th Oct really knew exactly the location of the eruption.
      Secondly I am not aware that any RVO s were deployed in the area on that day. I cannot see that any human would be daft enough to dive to that depth to take photos when there is an uncertain volcanic event happening!!!
      My last concern is that this news Site is not getting it’s facts correctly. It is rather sensation seeking in it’s contents. Here is a translation to one of it’s headlines.
      “Volcano in the Canary Islands: Fears tsunami in the Atlantic
      There have been two undersea volcanic eruption at El Hierro in the Canary Islands. A major new eruptions can have dramatic consequences. “

      2. That is exactly how I feel about this site too. The site is mainly about sensational disasters. The picture is probably from a total different eruption, or even from inside a norwegian wood stove. Not one single hit (!) when I searched for “Ncuatro” who should be responsible for the picture.

  23. Can the release of the pressure in El Hierro lower the pressure in othter places, like Iceland?

    1. No. However it be increasing and for the same reasons other places might be increasing 🙂 umm mantle plume theory 😉

      1. I searched fairly hard for that info – it doesn’t look to be available online. If someone talks to a Pevolca or even Avcan member then asking them to post the lat+long for them would mean Lurking could generate more accurate/exciting plots 🙂

      3. Well done – it was well hidden – why?
        This means all I have potes in the past here on uplift and lateral separation using IGN data has been nonsense. Only the japanese data had any utility.

      5. Probably not deliberately hidden & just an oversight. If you read IGNs news on their site, their site is actually relatively new in its current format.

    2. Robert sorry, but I only know this one and I’m asking to people in the island and face avcan too and nobody know . Maybe is state secret 🙂 ttp://www.02.ign.es/ign/layoutIn/volcaDetalleEstaciones.do?codT=ANAL&codEs=CHIE&mapa=N

  26. Latest from http://earthquake-report.com/2011/09/25/el-hierro-canary-islands-spain-volcanic-risk-alert-increased-to-yellow/

    Extracts:

    “-The maritime current has changed direction and has pushed the volcanic material rich waters into the La Restinga bay.
    -The Ramon Margalef, equipped with a deep sea enabled Remote Operated Vehicle or ROV will hopefully set sail soon from Vigo to El Hierro today .
    – Tonight at 7:PM the authorities will decide when and on which conditions they will be allowed to return to their houses, Manual Santana told the press.
    -Installation of the hydrophones was terminated at 19:00 (7 PM) yesterday.” [for terminated I think you can read completed here.]

  27. I dont understand the government that they allow people to go back to their houses. The situation is very dangerous due to the surtseyan activity that has actually started. If the eruptions continue for a little while there will be strong phreatomagmatic eruptions created and that is extremely dangerous due to the short distance to the coast. They should immediately evacuate the people of La Restinga again!

    1. In addition to that, there are still earthquakes recorded from under the El Hierro volcano which means that there is more magma flowing into the magma chamber!

      1. The EQS are very deep, tiny, and at low rate. The time to take serious notice in when they get more frequent, shallower, more focussed and above the 8km upper bound. That pattern might then give more concern about magma reaching the land surface.
        No need to panic now.

      2. Peter, a slight modification here.
        The small and tiny quakes are business as usual, those are telltale signs that magma is still moving up the bottom feeder tube.
        Normally I would agree that we should see earthquakes if a new part of the fissure swarm was opening. Problem is just that it didn’t happen the last 3 times around, so why should it now?
        There was intense quaking as the fissure opened up, sucked in magma through the vacum created, but after that it should be rather seismically inert. Becuase by now we know that this is a full blown fissure eruption on a rift. And those are normally dead after the fissure has opened up. All that opens up after the initial underground fissure has been created are just the top cover over the magma opening, and that just seems to give tremor spikes for this volcano. The same exactly that happened at Krafla really.
        So, I would be surprised if a new part of the top of the fissure opened up with a lot of quaking. The thing to watch out for is heavy tremoring.

      2. Even if you use a mac you have more than one button you … you… you turnip (!!)

      3. What??? Has there been a development in the Macinstosh computer world?
        😉

        Turnips are tasty, so you see me as a soft yummy vegetable that is nice with BBQ:ed sheep? I have been called much worse 🙂

        *joking*

  31. @ robert somerville
    Yes, in a german blog you can read that volcanologists say that it is the first period of a surtseyan eruption (http://vulkane.net/blogmobil/?p=3169). The vent opened in a very shallow depth of 150 m. That means that the magma can form pillow lava so that the “building” soon reaches the surface and then continues with phreatomagmatic eruptions.

    1. Great video Maria – how interesting to see a much darker colour to the sea now. The shape of the ‘bubble’ suggests that the eruption can’t be far below the surface.

      1. thanks Jim , Peter I don’t know. I have been asking to the people of the face of avcan and other friends on island but nobody knows anything about the topic or they don’t want to say anything. It is difficult to have all the information, they don’t give all the information, personally I consider it a cultural, intellectual delay. By the way this name EldfjallþessierþekktursemBob. seems to me easier to pronounce that Pancho, or at least more fun 🙂

      2. The only clue on the video that the activity might be pulsatile is that the disturbed water is circular. If the gases were arrivng continuously I think we’d see a whiter plume extending away from the focus, especially if it carries white pumice.

    2. Maria
      There was local report of pancho releasing gasses every 15 minutes – is that still true, or is it continuos. Cant tell from the video.
      Peter

    3. This must be the “circle with bubbles” they were talking about. The water has got much more brownish, the spot is much bigger than it was.
      Does anybody know what the pure white, drifting stuff is (not new today)?

      1. Having turned the zoom right up to 400%, my guess is that it is gas bubbles, “steam” from hot pumice or dead fish, or, most likely, a combination of all three.

        I am now off to take a sea-sickness tablet!

    4. Hmm…….very interesting. Pancho seemed to be quite close to the surface and La Restinga did not seem to be safe distance.

    5. Nice video María!
      Thank you for the digging 🙂

      Yes, little EldfjallþessierþekktursemBob is starting to grow up. My estimate is that we are just a day or two away from it starting phase two on the way to becoming a truly surtseyan volcano.
      Since it is behaving like Surtsey it should have an Icelandic name, EldfjallþessierþekktursemBob, feels more right than Pancho.

      1. This is getting more & more like Blackadder – Carl’s Bob (Gabrielle Glaister – mmmmmm) and now we’ve Tor Hogne with turnips (Baldrick’s dream veggie)!!!

  33. Wow great video Maria is that the start of new island birth? Looks like maybe 2 forming right now?

  34. I’m still singing the same tune here:

    Magma coming up into chamber under El Golfo; forcing its way up in different routes through the impermeable layer and out the other side, south; also pushing up the north side, with inflation nearer to the source of the magma.

    Now I’d be very happy to be proved wrong, so please tell me why this is not a plausible scenario.

    Many thanks

    1. I am looking for a patttern that embraces all of:
      more frequent EQS
      more focussed into one spot
      shallower than the 8km sedimentary rock layer (which might not be impermeable- it might be so fractured as to be seismically silent)
      larger than m1 0r 2 – which are tiny in their individual impact on the mass of El Hierro. (We worked out earthquakes’ energy as tons og TNT for Ejyaf – where are you Henrik? )
      signs of fumarolic activity at surface.
      I’m not an expert but that is what I would be doing if magma was suspected to be moving at home.

      2. Hi Henrik,
        No oscillations I can see – yet?

        Did you convert EQ magnitude to TNT?
        That might put these min quakes into perspective
        Peter

      3. Actual or theoretical as;
        (Actual)
        The total amount of energy released in the reaction is called the heat of explosion. It can be calculated by comparing the heats of formation before and after the reaction ΔE =Δ Ef(reactants) – ΔEf (products).

        Finding the heat of explosion for TNT.
        Before:ΔEf = -54.4 kJ/mol

        After:ΔEf = 6(-111.8) + 5/2(0) + 3/2(0) + 1(0) = -670.8 kJ/mol

        ΔE = (-54.4) + 670.8 – = 616.4 kJ/mol,
        Since ΔE > 0, the reaction is exothermic, and the heat of explosion is +616.4 kJ/mol.
        Expressed on a mass basis, TNT releases
        kJ/mol)(1000 J/1 kJ)(1 mol/227 g) = 2175 J/g.
        1 kg of TNT releases 2.175 x 106 J of energy.

        Since most of the energy release comes from oxidation reactions, the amount of oxygen available is a critical factor. If there is insufficient oxygen to react with the available carbon and hydrogen, the explosive is considered to be oxygen deficient. The converse is considered oxygen rich. A quantitative measure of this is called the oxygen balance. But that s for another day!! 😉
        Standardised unit of energy for TNT is (as said) 1 kg TNT = 4.184 MJ

      8. Peter, you are absolutly correct in everything you say, but this is a rifting fissure volcano. The hydromechanics (magmamechanics?) is a bit different in them.
        It works more like a vacum tube when you draw blood. First the fissure opens underground, magma is sucked in, then the pressure pops the lid. The fissure can open for a really long distance, and then it breaks where it is weakest, not closest.

        The first Laki fissure opened for 120 km underground, but it did not open ontop for that distance, it opened sequentially due to abillity to take pressure in various places.

        This behavious would then give insane harmonic tremoring as magma is being sucked into the empty underground fissure (tube), then as soon as you get a vent opening up, the tremoring drops as the suction instantenously decreases.
        The underground fissure of Laki (tube, dyke, sill, call it what you wish) was on average at a depth of 3 kilometres, between 5 and 30 metres wide, and between 100 and 1000 metres high, but the depth of the tube varied greatly due to hove the fault plane of the tube was. In the places of eruption “the roof” was only between 100 and 300 metres.

        I do think you are right on the sedimentary rock being seismically dead. But there wont be any large eq’s, the roof is to shallow for that being needed. I seriously doubt that the sedimentary bedrock would be impermeable since it is proven to have been pierced allready in many many historic eruptions (cough).

      9. Carl
        So the mistake I make is to assume that fissure opening generates earthquakes? From what I’ve read rifting eruptions area feature of El Hierro – so old fissures could open up silently, before gas/magma motion reveals itself as tremor rather late in the eruptive process?
        Peter

      10. Peter, no that was not what I tried to say.
        Hm… I must try to explain better.
        What I meant was that the last enormous surge in earthquakes seen in the graph below was when the horizontal underground fissure (tube, dyke, sill) opened for quite a long stretch without being opened to the surface. This “fissure” was connected to the magma-reservoir, that caused magma to be sucked into the fissure at tremendous negative pressure (think vacume tube when giving a blood sample). This high speed injection caused all that initial insane tremoring.
        That quake wave also probably knocked a lot of gasses out of the magma, and that gas moved faster (gas is after all more fluid then magma) so it created a gas pressure wave that in turn cracked the rough of the “fissure”.

        I think the confusion is about the word fissure. I think you see the word fissure as “fissure vent”, while I mean fissure as in fissure swarm that runs underground.
        So, the roof of this many kilometre long underground fissure can collaps at many places as the eruption progresses.

        Quake storm as the “fissure” ripped open (underground) is the huge jump up. It was a 4,3 with hundreds of small (3+) quakes within minutes. Note that the quakes almost stoped totally after that. Why? After that the highway of magma is open, and any more opening would probably be very tiny quakewise.
        http://www.02.ign.es/ign/resources/volcanologia/html/energiaHierro.html

      11. Carl,
        The problem I have is not on following your explanantion but in seeing the fissuring earthqakes that preceeded the openening of the vent. There’s no linear sequence of Eqs from the 8km depth of the main swarm here:
        http://www.ign.es/ign/resources/volcanologia/html/eventosHierro.html
        -and where are the hundreds of EQs that caused that jump is accumulated energy ( see the plot you gave) recorded here?:
        http://www.ign.es/ign/layoutIn/volcaListadoTerremotos.do?zona=2&cantidad_dias=10

        I remain puzzled, not with the mechansim you describe but with the data supporting it.
        Peter

      12. First of all. What the hork happened to the quakelist??? The entire quake-swarm that caused that jump is gone… The 4.0 that it began with is there, but the rest of them up and untill the 4.3 is just gone. It only shows now as that large jump on the seismic release map.

        Actually, I have been scratching my noggin’ a bit over that too why there was no trace from 8 and upwards.
        A bit of guesswork here. I guess your sedimentary rock either had a crack in it, or is seismically dead as you pointed out the possibility of.

    1. That certainly looks interesting as the other stations in the area don’t seem to be affected to the same extent. Mind you, the Grimsjall station must be pretty exposed to any tremor. Hope Jon or one of the other more experienced posters can give us an answer.

      2. WarningA strong gale (more than 20 m/s) is expected for most parts until tonight. Valid to 18.10.2011 18:00

        Weather warning from IMO so there will be wierd patterns on the tremor graphs however I agree that is a bit extreme at Grimsvoten. I think more than wind…..indigestion!

      3. @ Jon
        Not being difficult, but why only affecting Grimsfjall, or is it because much greater elevation there than other locations around Vatnajokull?

  36. SO2 LC50 (Human)= 3000 parts per million/5minutes. SO2, (Sulphur Dioxide) has a pungent odor like a burnt match and quickly combines with water forming H2SO4, Sulphuric Acid, on the mucous membranes of your nose, throat and lungs (as Allison mentioned above). When that happens there’s a bitter, metallic taste.

    H2S LC50 (Human)= 800 parts per million/5 minutes. H2S, (Hydrogen Sulfide) or sour gas, has an odor of stinky eggs/cabbage. Human detection is less than 1ppm. Over 100ppm and detection is lost due to olfactory nerve desensitivity.

    LC50= Lethal concentration in air (or water) that kills 50% of subjects during the test time.

    1. Very nasty combinations as I have worked with many of these especially in the acidic state.

      Also Hydrochloric acid (HCl) & Hydrogen fluoride (HF) which are even more deadlier if inhaled as a gas or ingested through the body I guess all these react with the air & become more potent when released!

    1. He is probably employed by IGN as he too has not put a legend under his diagram.

  38. Extract from Iceland Review today – English version
    See attached for article
    http://www.icelandreview.com/icelandreview/daily_news/Hveragerdi_Residents_Angry_about_Manmade_Quakes_0_383317.news.aspx
    Hveragerdi Residents Angry about Manmade Quakes
    Mayor of Hveragerdi Aldís Hafsteinsdóttir said it is unacceptable that townspeople have to live with manmade earthquakes; on Saturday seismic activity caused when water was pumped into the ground by Reykjavík Energy (OR) on Hellisheidi could easily be felt in the town.

    From Hellisheidi. Photo by Páll Stefánsson.

    Yesterday, approximately 1,900 minor tremors had been picked up by sensors in the Hengill area since the series of manmade earthquakes began on September 8. On Saturday the largest quakes were of a magnitude of 3.7 and 3.8 on the Richter scale, Fréttabladid reports.

    According to the National Energy Authority, the seismic activity will decrease with the continued pumping of water. Pressure in holes that are under observation has increased and might increase a little more but eventually reach a balance.

    “Tension caused by movements in the earth’s crust will continue to build up and come loose with earthquakes every now and then. These earthquakes may possibly increase in number but have a lower strength than without the pumping,” the National Energy Authority reports.

    “Specialists in this field can say with some guarantee that the pumping does not increase the likelihood of larger earthquakes. […] However, the relocation of tension could speed up larger earthquakes that are coming up anyway,” the report concludes.

    According to ruv.is, the National Energy Authority will look into whether it is necessary to carry out a special risk assessment when water is pumped into the ground for the harnessing of geothermal energy close to inhabited areas.

    Representatives of OR and the National Energy Authority have invited Hveragerdi inhabitants to discuss the matter at a civic meeting

    2. NEA cannot make those guarantees; no-one can. I hope that the statement that NEA “will look into whether it is necessary to carry out a special risk assessment when water is pumped into the ground for the harnessing of geothermal energy close to inhabited areas” is an error made by Google. Because if NEA has not done such a risk assessment it is guilty of gross negligence.

      1. ‘gross negligence’ ! – even more expensive lawyers….
        They’ll soon be on the plane from UK touting for business.

    3. I am an expert in the field.
      First of all, the decrease they believe will happen as they pump in more water is not certain. They cannot say that with certainty, especially since all data points the other way.
      “Specialists in this field can say with some guarantee that the pumping does not increase the likelihood of larger earthquakes”, no real expert could promise that, there is no knowledge of how a tripple junction will behave. You experiment to get knowledge, not the other way around.

      This is a PR disaster. First of all, I am very much in favour of the IDDP as a research and energy project. But you need to take care of Public Relations, not pee people in the face like this. It is so very amateurish. Second of all, you find a place that is as safe as possible. You do not take a particularly dangerous place for it.
      I recommended when I was still in the loop that it should be done first at Krafla untill enough knowledge had been collected, and then it should be taken to Svartsengi/Reykjaness. For some reason I cannot understand they went for Hengill instead, which should be the last possible place really since it is such a complicated place both volcanically and tectonically.

      OR and NEA is actually killing the IDDP, which is very sad, due to their inabillity to actually listen to people combined with this heavy-handed “tough up and shut up” attitude.
      Please, impose a moratorium, then go through the data carefully. Then use that data to try to refine the process, then you try again, with a bit of greater safety.

      1. As a matter of interest, why didn’t they do a risk assessment FIRST particularly as this could be a (is) very dangerous ‘experiment’?

      2. I do not have a clue.
        I really do not know.
        There is a big difference between Iceland and EU in this. In a way Iceland is like most countries inside the EU where 30 or more years ago in regard to safety and environmental concerns. 30 – 40 years ago that was how the large companes behaved in Sweden for instance. Today they are much better at both informing the population, and doing risk managament analyzis before doing anything.
        Sometimes I feeel like I am strangled by the EU, but at times like this I acknowledge the need for the strictness of the regulations.

  39. I dont know if this is true, but both canarias7.es and laprovincia.es are writing that people now are seeing “columnas de vapor de 100 metros de altura” (100m high vapor columns) “similar to a geyser”. I am going to try to look for some more sources and/or photos now.

    2. Looks like a false rumor:

      «20:37 Desde el punto de observación de la mancha provocada por la erupción submarina en El Hierro, un testigo presencial ha señalado a CANARIAS7 a las 20.17 horas que no se aprecia géiser alguno. Esta tarde circuló la versión de que el volcán entraba en una nueva fase, con grandes columnas de vapor en el mar. Fuentes oficiales de la investigación lo desmienten.»

    3. Both canarias7.es and laprovincia.es are taking it back again now, saying there is no change…

      1. Scientifics are on the way to the area now, to see if there are any truth in the rumors of vapor columns (laprovincia.es)

  40. Posted on todogeologia.com:

    “just say in antenna Canary 3 which has begun the second phase of the eruption, it is a column of about 100 m tall water vapour.”

    “lack official confirmation”

    Do you not think that will be true this would evolve quite faster than people think?

    1. If indicated depths are correct, more than 150 meters, it would take some time to get to that stage, I think

  41. Wow – thats a cool video!

    lets hope it goes along for another week or two (doing this, and not migrating onshore) to make another small tourist paradise down there ^^

  42. @8930a1.talbot.shared.1984.is is quoted in this article:

    http://earthquake-report.com/2011/09/25/el-hierro-canary-islands-spain-volcanic-risk-alert-increased-to-yellow/

    “Update 17/10 – 17:29 UTC : The volcano discussion panel @ jonfr.com is expecting that we are in the stage of a surtseyan eruption. The vent opened in a very shallow depth of 150 m. That means that the magma can form pillow lava so that the “building” soon reaches the surface and then continues with phreatomagmatic eruptions.
    A Surtseyan eruption is a type of volcanic eruption that takes place in shallow seas or lakes. It is named after the island of Surtsey off the southern coast of Iceland. These eruptions are commonly phreatomagmatic eruptions, representing violent explosions caused by rising basaltic or andesitic magma coming into contact with abundant, shallow groundwater or surface water. Tuff rings, pyroclastic cones of primarily ash, are built by explosive disruption of rapidly cooled magma.
    Phreatomagmatic eruptions are defined as juvenile forming eruptions as a result of interaction between water and magma. They are different from magmatic and phreatic eruptions. The products of phreatomagmatic eruptions contain juvenile clasts, unlike phreatic eruptions, and are the result of interaction between magma and water, unlike magmatic eruptions. It is very common for a large explosive eruption to have magmatic and phreatomagmatic components. (descriptions courtesy Wikipedia.com).
    Those among you who want to see a similar videotaped eruption can click here. Please jump to the middle of the recording for the action.”

      1. One can see very well the phreatomagmatic eruptions on the second one of these videos.

      2. Sorry – just copied and pasted the whole update, fogetting the link.

        When you follow the link “click here” you get ” Kavachi: The Birth of an Island” – the second of your links above.

    1. Yes, it seems to be.

      There were also placed some links to youtube videos of the birth of Kavachi in this blog.

    1. It does not look to me to be a continuous disturbance Its circular, not elongated by surface current/wind.
      How often does it happen?
      Is it appearing more frequently?
      Does the area/duration of each disturbance change?
      Geyser-like behaviour???
      No sign of periodicty in the tremor plot so that separates tremor from the ‘geysering’.
      Would be good to have the geophones’ signals on line.

  48. Just a humble tip from me – I know Wikipedia is always to read with a critical eye (like most of the texts in the internet – except this blog of course :)) -, but if you are looking for scientifc literature on Icelandic volcanoes, there often is a lot more of it in German Wikipedia (mostly in English) than in the English version (see: “Wissenschaftliche Artikel zu …”, e.g. http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vatnaj%C3%B6kull#Wissenschaftl._Artikel)..

    1. I really don’t think I would be going back if I lived in La Restinga at the moment. But then I am exceptionally cautious. 🙂

    2. AVCAN says a possible explosion:

      Algo está cambiando en la erupción, durante la última hora el tremor ha aumentado considerablemente, se ha vuelto inestable y más variable y de hecho se nota una posible explosion 19:47 UTC. Puede que la erupción esté entrando en una nueva fase o que se haya abierto otra boca, sea lo que sea el tremor está registrando cambios y la sismicidad ha aumentado algo, sobre todo en frecuencia.(Enrique)

      Something is changing in the eruption, during the last hour the tremor has increased considerably, became instable and more variable and we note a possible explosion at 19:47 UTC. It could be that the eruption is entering a new phase or that another vent has opened, but whatever it is, there are changes in the tremor and the seismicity has increased, most notably the frequency (Enrique).

      1. Does seem to be an EQ as not focused enough on the spectrogram.
        http://www.ign.es/ign/head/volcaSenalesDiasAnterioresHora.do?nombreFichero=CHIE_2011-10-17_19-20&estacion=CHIE&Anio=2011&Mes=10&Dia=17&tipo=2&hora=19-20

        Not an expert but possibly a new opening in the fissure, widening of the fissure and / or an increase in the amount of magma emitted. Or may be that the magma is now high enough for water pressure not to be enough to contain it?

        What are the experts views?

      2. Im not an expert at all, but i also think that the possible explosion widened the fissure, so that the eruptions got a little stronger, because the tremor stabilized now but on a higher level than before.

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