Posted on by Jón Frímann

Sharp increase in eruption activity from El Hierro volcano

This is a short update on El Hierro volcano.

There has been a increase in harmonic tremor activity from El Hierro volcano. This suggest that new vent or vents might be opening up in El Hierro volcano. But this type of eruption pattern is to be expected from a fissure eruption. Like the one that is currently taking place in El Hierro volcano.


The harmonic tremor jump in El Hierro volcano at 16:06 UTC. Copyright of this picture belongs to IGN (Instituto Geográfico Nacional).

There are also some explosions that can be seen on this tremor chart. But they form spikes that can be spotted if looked closely. Is is now also possible to monitor the eruption via web cam located on El Hierro Island. That web cam can be found here.

450 Replies to “Sharp increase in eruption activity from El Hierro volcano”

  1. Jon I was just going to comment on that chart. Is that again resizing at the end or just a drop in tremor level. It does get me very confused.

    1. good question – it clipped “very hard” (pardon my bad english) and then came off again directly.

    2. To me it looks like a recalibration but without any scale it’s impossible to tell. The best guess possible is to compare the El Hierro signal to those from EGom and EHig to see if they all have changed consistently.

      I believe that the EHie has been re-calibrated both down and back up several times.

    3. I see no comparable change in any of the other signals so I’m gonna say recalibration. None of them showed the activity burst though, either.

    1. and my eyes are watering trying to keep up with the constant change in focus! Or is it just my poor eyes at fault?

      2. You’re not the only one with watering eyes, Newby. That particular camera has a problem with its focus, wind, somebody of something bumping against it (sudden shift upward etc.), and after almost every bigger movement the software starts buffering again.. Not really good advertising for those companies…

      3. Well it is definitely gas or water vapour being ejected as I saw it being blown away in the wind that last time.

  3. Thanks for the update Jón, things certainly picked up a bit, although “pressure” looks like it’s eased again. If anything “Bob” enjoys keeping us guessing. I was concerned about the lifting of the exclusion of La Restinga, what are the possibilities of more gas escapes ? (will check wind direction)
    (It was humorous watching the traffic flow to the cam site soar, with live stream fracturing… Almost Ddos like)

    1. The El Hierro geology map recently referenced in the ‘Eruptions’ blog is a good reference: find it here

      http://img835.imageshack.us/img835/2751/geology96.jpg

      There is a listing for ‘Mtn Puerto de Naos’ just west of Restinga. It appears to reference the large cinder cones in that area.

      The uncertainty of how this eruption will play out is one of the reasons that this event is so interesting to those of us who are not affected by it, and so unnerving for those who are. Currently, the IGN is discounting theories that other populated areas of the island are in danger.

      Note that the article you linked to is almost two months old, and a lot has occurred since then. Still, noxious gasses are among the most worrisome manifestations of this event, and are being monitored closely.

      1. the article gets frequent updates – they just don’t change the url often

        the last update on that page when I looked at 17.34 was at 17.18 today

      1. I do wish that boat wouldn’t go so close to those bubble!! It worries me as I expect to see it sink at any moment. Yacht must have been English I reckon, they seem to be most stupid people when there is a chance of getting a picture.

      2. The paparazzi never rest when they can get paid for a picture of a celebrity like ‘Bob’.

      5. But I am playing nice. 😉 I am English and I live on the South Coast of England and regularly see the lifeboats going out risking their own lives at times because some stupid fool of a ‘sailor’ had done something remarkable silly. Perhaps that was why i made the above post but it is infuriating when silly people risk others lives by their actions.

      9. There are so many ways to say it, but no word is strong enough to describe the stupidity of the people on that boat. Someone have to invent a new word, I guess… 😉

        And now the other boat is back again. Why does it go so close???

    3. Believe most of what is visible are not bubbles but rather pumice stones (their ‘piroclasts’…) floating up, then smoking for a few seconds… most are done after 10-20 secs, but some larger ones seemed to last up to a minute or so.

    4. Mirri… Congratulations, your comment has produced a torrent of conversation worthy of a forum post… A fine example of what concerns Jón and others regarding the flow and maintenance of information here on this blog. I also object to the degrading comments made by others regarding other nationals.
      (Jón good luck with the recent idea of a forum… Have you a “facebook” page or thought of starting one up, somewhere where “chat” and “likes” can go?)

      5. I do not think it is OT commenting the picture of a volcano webcam on a blog post concerning that specific volcano 🙂

      6. I believe your remarks about degrading comments about other nationals was directed at my remark about the English. Well hereby let it be know that I AM ENGLISH and have a first hand knowledge of how stupid some can be. Please don’t cause more controversy by your holier- than- thou attitude. If Jon dislikes my comments he is perfectly free to tell me so myself and i will abide by his iwshes in the matter. Jay, you however have no say in the matter. THANKFULLY. And yes I am aware I am shouting but you have just made an elderly English lady steaming mad!

      8. Uh Jay, Newby’s comment was a ‘joke’. You can look it up on Wikipedia. No offense intended, but get over yourself.

        Jon has emphasized that the nature of this resource will not be changing. Part of the attraction is the real time interaction of those among us with an interest in the topics he chooses to cover as we watch a natural process unfold. If you want to direct the flow of the discourse and have a technical observation that we can comment on, throw down. We’ll be here fa yas.

      9. I can’t get the webcam at all. I appreciate the descriptions of the action.

        We griped about getting the webcam, and then when we get it, we gripe about people talking about what they see on the webcam.

        A boatful of stupid people sightseeing on top of a volcanic vent is not off topic if it is seen on the webcam, which webcam was begged for by all.

        It is tedious to keep griping about OT subjects when Jon has said that the forum is coming. It’s coming, relax. Let the people talk about what they are seeing.

      11. now doc. that is not like you to tapy like that. we all know some people just like to start s%^t . so just dont pay them any mine. and just keep teaching other & me about iceland & volcanoes around the world many thanks for what you do.

      12. Before in the afternoon, I asked Jón, if he could remove this thread, but strangely, it was just this comment of mine which was removed, not the thread…. I think abuse is really not our style!

      13. No, Jón has taken a stand for the hatemongerers.
        So comments against them is being deleted now.

        It is okay to attack those who have helped build up this forum since its inception, but for us to say our say? No way, that is not welcome.

      15. This comment, that people on the boat where stupid had its own argument that I fully accept as it is. As it is really stupid to be on a boat on active volcano vent.

        What I do not accept are many of the following replays that did come after it. So far I decided not to delete them. But that might change if the attitude does not change here.

        People views are different. I can tolerate most of them. But not all. I do not like flaming, or other people trying to run my blog as it where there own.

        I do accept comments on my blog and I fully respect what people say about my blog. Specially if what people say are can improve the quality of this blog and what it stands for (education in science, short of).

      16. @Sissel, It had to be removed. It was a sub-comment. If I had just deleted the primary comment and not the sub-comment everything would have hit the highway of problems comment wise. There was nothing wrong with your comment.

  8. I think there is more than one Bob (bobettes?)? Sometimes i see white steem at two places.

    1. looked like it was two spots to me too – maybe 5 times the length of the boat apart.

  9. For Lurking – in order to try and triangulate on a ‘budda’ that we can see in a la restinga camera – and thus improve the accuracy of any ‘error’

    there was a burst of bubbles that ended at 17.17:54 on november 14 2011

    And then in what seems like madness the boat drove straight through that area at high speed.

    1. Perhaps people in the boat are trying to get a hold of a fresh portion of ‘ejaculate’ of Bob for scientific purposes, scooping it out while racing through the upwelling. Can’t think of much else why anyone would do that.

      It would be the equivalent of walking on the crater floor of a volcano with a lava lake while the volcano is occasionaly coughing and overflowing the lake rim. Either madness or devotion, or both, as volcanologist/geologists seem to combine them more often.

  10. Sharp increase in quakes now too…

    1112487 14/11/2011 16:53:07 27.7737 -18.0471 22 2.4 4 NW FRONTERA.IHI [+]
    1112476 14/11/2011 16:06:20 27.7924 -18.0672 21 1.7 4 NW FRONTERA.IHI [+]
    1112485 14/11/2011 16:03:03 27.7718 -18.0530 23 2.7 4 NW FRONTERA.IHI [+]
    1112475 14/11/2011 16:00:30 27.7976 -18.0635 19 2.1 4 NW FRONTERA.IHI

  11. The sea on the livewebcam is going backwards could the earthquakes have something to do with this?

    1. The webcam operator sure seems to think that movement is worth documenting.

      From the satellite photos of ‘the Mancha’, that southwesterly flow would appear to be the ‘normal’ direction for currents in the La Restinga area, but it does look pretty turbulent in the current view.

      1. Probably just the waves being driven along by the breeze that is shaking the cameras. Not an actual flow as such.

    1. Has anyone given a thought about those “cracks” that seem to have appeared to seabed around bob? They look like something to worry about… I mean’t to ask about them in previous post, but never got around it.

      3. Jón, you have gone off really. You are now attacking full on those who have supported you.
        The only thing that will happen now is that the support ends. I do not think your new friends will give you any support. Those who always destroy never support.

  13. This could be interesting as being the evacuation plan for La Frontera area. Translation is mine, so pls. take this into account. Perhaps some of our Spanish speaking friends could look it through, would be nice.
    ———————————————————-

    http://www.laprovincia.es/especiales/2011/11/14/pevolca-cree-evacuar-frontera-4-horas/415513.html

    14.11.2011, 13.05

    El Pevolca cree que podría evacuar Frontera en 4 horas en caso de erupción en tierra

    Los científicos viven pegados a los sismógrafos en El Hierro para detectar si el fenómeno eruptivo evoluciona en dirección a la población de El Golfo. Los servicios de emergencias tienen todos los escenarios estudiados

    Cuatro horas. Eso es el tiempo estimado por el Plan de Emergencia Volcánica de Canarias (Pevolca) para evacuar el municipio de Frontera, en el norte de la isla, si tal como prevén los científicos se produjera una erupción en El Golfo. Eso, en el peor escenario posible del proceso eruptivo que se vive en El Hierro, es decir, que el magma rompa por algún lugar terrestre de la zona norte. Aunque esta es una posibilidad remota en estos momentos tal como evoluciona el volcán, los servicios de emergencias tienen ya perfectamente estudiada la situación para actuar en caso de emergencia extrema, con la posibilidad, incluso, de que la población tenga que ser evacuada por mar.

    A pesar de que en el municipio de Frontera hay censados más de cuatro mil habitantes, se estima que en estos momentos residen en El Golfo alrededor de 3.500 ciudadanos. Precisamente en el municipio se lleva a cabo estos días un recuento de los habitantes que existen en la actualidad, para tener todo controlado en el caso de que se tenga que llegar a esa situación extrema de la evacuación. Sin embargo, el escenario más probable tal como está el fenómeno eruptivo del norte hoy en día es que la erupción se produzca en el mar, en una zona de El Golfo donde a poco que se distancia de la costa alcanza cotas de más de mil metros de profundidad. De hecho, si la erupción se produce en esa zona, los científicos han asegurado que incluso es posible que no se produzcan muestras visibles para la población, tal como ocurre en el sur, en La Restinga, donde una gran mancha de azufre y la aparición de gran cantidad de material magmático evidencia que una erupción está en curso.

    De producirse el peor escenario posible, es decir, que el proceso volcánico logre abrir una boca eruptiva en tierra, en la zona de El Golfo, el Pevolca tiene también estudiados todos los escenarios. Teniendo en cuenta que si la erupción es en tierra no se producirían explosiones de magma, se ha establecido un perímetro de seguridad de 500 metros alrededor del lugar en el que se abra la boca eruptiva, que se podría ampliar a un kilómetro si fuera necesario.

    La zona por la que, dentro de las posibilidades escasas de que se produzca la erupción en tierra, se cree que podría evolucionar el proceso, es el pueblo de Los Llanillos. El campo de fútbol de Frontera es el lugar de encuentro previsto por el Pevolca en caso de emergencia; y si la misma se produjera precisamente por Los Llanillos, la población de esa zona (no sería necesario evacuar a todo el municipio de Frontera) podría llevarse a cabo por el túnel de Los Roquillos, ya que si se abre una boca eruptiva los terremotos cesarían casi por completo, como ha ocurrido en la zona sur.

    La segunda opción de evacuación sería a través de la carretera de montaña, mucho más complicada y que se daría en función del lugar en el que reviente la erupción. Y ya en el peor de los escenario posibles, que la erupción sea tan grande que afecte a una porción mayor de Frontera, existe incluso un plan para evacuar por mar a los ciudadanos, con la intervención de la Armada Española. Todo está previsto en El Hierro.

    Pevolca thinks they could evacuate La Frontera in 4 hours in case of an eruption on land

    The scientists are fixed on the seismographs in El Hierro to see if the eruption takes a course in direction of the population of El Golfo. The emergency units take into account all studied possibilities.

    4 hours. This is the estimated time for the evacuation plan of Pevolca (the Volcanic Emergency Commitee of the Canary Islands) concerning evacuation of the town of Frontera in the north of the island, in the case that the scientists forecast an eruption in El Golfo (area). This in the worst case possible during this eruption process in El Hierro, i.e. that the magma would emerge some place on the northern part of the island itself. Though this be a remote possibility at the moment in the light of the actual evolution of the volcano, the emergency units have very well studied the situation so as to get into action in the case of an extreme emergency including the possibility to have to evacuate the population by ship (sea).

    Despite the fact that the town of Frontera has more than 4.000 inhabitants registered, it is presumed that at this moment there are about 3.500 citicens in El Golfo area. Exactly in this community is now going on a recounting of the inhabitants being really here, so as to be able to control this in the case that this extreme evacuation situation would come up. However, the most probable scenario would be as far as it can be estimated today, is that the eruption would take place in the sea, in an area from El Golfo up to a certain distance to the coast where the sea reaches a depth of more than 1.000 m. In fact, if the eruption takes place in this zone, the scientists have said that it is possible that nothing of the eruption would be seen by the population like it is the case in the south in La Restinga, where a sulfur plume and the aparition of big quantity of magmatic material give evidence about an ongoing eruption. [Seems to be a slight contradiction here.]

    In the worst case scenario, i.e. that the volcanic process leads up to an eruptive vent opening on land [on the island itself] in the El Golfo area, Pevolca has also studied all the scenarios. Taking into account that the eruption, if it is on land won’t produce explosions of magma, there will be a security perimeter of 500 m around the place where the eruptive vent opens which could be widened to one kilometer if it will become necessary.

    The zone where within the possibilities taken into account the eruption on land will take place, is believed to be in Los Llanillos. The football field of Frontera will be the meeting place prepared by Pevolca in case of an emergency; and if the same would take place exactly in Los Llanillos the population of this zone (it won’t be necessary to evacuate all the town of Frontera) could bee evacuated through the tunnel of Los Roquillos because if an eruptive vent would open, the earthquakes would stop more or less completely as has occurred in the south.

    The second option of evacuation would be by the mountain road, which is a lot more complicated and would be done depending on the place of the eruption. In the worst case scenario that the eruption would be so big that an important part of Frontera would be affected, there is also a plan to evacuate the citizens by ship by an intervention of the Spanish Marine Forces. All is prepared for El Hierro.

    [This is just my translation, no guarantees. Perhaps so. Spanish speaking could look it through and propose some corrections, if necessary. Thank you.]

      1. OT Yeah, you got that right. I’m sooo relieved! I have been waiting to hear some public information about what they plan to do. To do nothing never occurred to me.

        Well, they have a plan. To have the Spanish Marine Forces sail into the steam and fumes is a plan. I think they need helicopters flying to and from the beach and the ship(s). Maybe that’s it. And going through the tunnel will be an ETicket ride. Wow.

        I think the El Golfo bucket will fill up with CO2 in a heartbeat.

    1. Just a cloud shadow from a large cumulous passing overhead (you can see it in the zoomed out view)

      That and the suns begining to set there now 😉

  16. Forget the bubble bath!!
    2011-11-14 17:55:13,6 63,666 -19,125 2,5 3,8 90,02 6,8 km ENE of Goðabunga

    1. This is not related to any volcanic activity. Only the lower frequencies (red band) is affected by volcanic activity. Occaisionaly the high frequencies are affected when there is high geothermal activity, but this tremor anomaly has a constant spikey signature. When the band itself rises, it’s most probably weather induced.

  20. Earthquake in Katla 3.8 will be probably reduced to a 2.0. There is no spike in tremor graphs.

    But interestingly, I am seeing that, not only 3.0 earthquakes are becoming more often, but also there have been happening more deep earthquakes, indicating that magma has been moving also from the depths. Still, I am waiting for a major swarm of deep earthquakes, before the big eruption.

    1. What do you consider as deep? Occaisonal quakes ranging from 8-3km are in my eyes no sign of a new magmatic injection.

  21. Jay, Mirri’s comment about the boat was very much on topic. That boat was nearly so much “on” the “topic” (this is a volcano blog!) it was possibly about to get sunk!

    Our class (!) discussion about the behaviour of Surtseyan volcanic eruptions (refer earlier posts in the last week) has highlighted the risks posed to research vessels in collecting samples of ejecta and gases. In short: too many bubbles results in lack of buoyancy and the vessel will simply sink. (If you like: Bermuda Triangle style!) Bang goes all that research and your scientists with it. Knowing that info could be vital. I give her the A* grade.

      1. Yup, decrease the density and viscosity , the bouyancy will decrease, however the Kaiyo-maru was blasted to kingdom come by the eruption as well as the lava shrapnel showed!

      2. Alan C

        I thought it was completely unnecessary to make that point to this audience. That one they will all know (surely?!) but some may not have seen the link on the other piece of science until now as it was discussed a few days ago.

        But you are quite right: the research vessel (and any other boat) is indeed in very real danger from the swish of a ‘rooster tail’ should it arrive.

  24. Some off-topic and possible flame-ish comments where removed from here. Please note that if I have to remove a top comment, I also have to remove all sub comments due the nature of WordPress not being able to handle a deletion from a top comment and integrating the sub comments in proper order.

  25. About the Naos mountain (already mentioned above by tomski2011 at 16:42)

    Todays reports about the situation on the Naos mountain (high temperature and strong sulphur smell) are no good news. (14.11.2011 14:24 and 14:40 UTC)

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

    I would be aware of a a possible vent opening on land somewhere close to this location, about 2 km W of Restinga. It is also a place where landslides have been and you can see wide open structures in the (very) steep mountainside; old lava tubes / cuevas in my opinion. The area can be seen from a distance on this video:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=npi_KT-uBNM

    At the left side of the picture at about 1:05 minutes.

  26. Did somebody know what’s up with INVOLCAN? No news since 0:24?

    Our special friend is working in tourism again:

    (from EQ)
    Update 14/11 – 17:20 UTC :
    Alpidio Armas, president of the Cabildo de El Hierro and Verónica Montero, chief tourism of El Hierro have welcomed the cruiseship Kristina Katarina today. Aboard 100 crew and 286 Finnish tourists. This can be called an extraordinary cruise trip. Visiting the (safe) port of a volcano (La Estaca) with boiling magma underneath is certainly not an everyday experience!

    Jon, i had some problems with the site!!

  27. Jon-The amazon.uk loadup is hanging the site during opening. Dont know what you can do abou that.

  28. Katla seems to be just noisy enough to keep some of our attention, respect for all powerful Mother nature and the name its self, Katla to me sounds dangerous. Anyway enough jabbering about folk-law, I do not know enough to jabber about such…

    El Hierro has a “The activity of the vent subsided strongly at 15:46 UTC” latest post at the Earthquake Report site. Those fans of Eyjafjallajokull 2010 remember a pause in the activity at Fimmvörðuháls, the volcano stopped but started a day later at the main volcano under the glacier of Eyjafjallajokull, the tremor did not drop if I remember correctly at EJ’, whether this is significant I do not know.

    Perhaps the tremor dropped and went back up, can anybody tell me I forgot that detail 😕

    1. Aaaand, now the site has refreshed and the -200 minimum is gone. Weird. Never mind then, sorry for the false alarm.

      1. Ursula, I have heard of that happening before, it must be really frustrating. I have found it happen with some of the Icelandic seismagraphs too. Sometimes you have to wait a little to be sure it isn’t going to change. Annoying though when you wish to ask what is happening.

    1. Are they perhaps waiting for something to happen soon? There seems to be a couple of new webcams of Hekla. Nice if we can get a good view of an eruption as it must also tell the scientists a lot for future times.

    2. Duly marked and saved . Thank you Jon:) I look forward to seeing that when it is light.

  31. Good evening,

    I have a question for you Jón. The title of this blog indicates this is about the volcanoes of Iceland but since Bob started to show signs of unrest and later eruptions most of your updates are about that…I started reading this blog because of your excellent coverage on the Icelandic volcanoes, please focus more on them here! There must be a milion topics to be written ^^. Or are you going to change the name of this awesome blog?

    //Johanna

    1. To answer your question. Yes, name change is planned for start of January 2012, but I always do major changes like that on the new year. I am planning on moving to Canary Islands after around 10 years from now (first I am going to move to Denmark and live there for the next 10 years or so). It takes me at least 10 years to fully learn (or close to it) everything about earthquakes and volcanism in Canary Islands.

      I have been studying volcanoes and earthquakes in Iceland since I was 10 years old or so. For that reason I know a lot about what is going on in Iceland.

      It is also rather quiet in Iceland at the moment. Beside Katla volcano that is. If I would not have added Canary Islands and Spain I would be having a break right now.

      You can find all the updates on what is going in about the web site here, http://icelandgeology.net/?cat=51

      I hope that this answers your question.

  32. I have seen further up that people were commenting about the boat bobbing about on Bob’s Jacuzzi.
    I was also watching earlier this afternoon here is a video I took as Bob broke wind in front of the boat….again. (I posted a similar clip on the last post threads)
    http://s186.photobucket.com/albums/x96/wildjinny/Volcanoes%20and%20Iceland/?action=view&current=bobsboat2.mp4
    Whilst I was watching the camera shook now and again. I noted a few seconds after the shake Bob Bubbled. I think the shakes are tremors.
    No need to watch the clip after the first minute as nothing much happens. In fact the camera did not shake making think even more that the shaking is not due to wind.
    There are certainly two bubbly areas one where a geysir type eruption happens directly up from the harbour mouth,
    There is another larger area to the left directly above the left harbour wall.

    Just out of interest when a heavy truck drives along the main road my small delicate plant in the greenhouse trembles. I put my stealth cam up to film the badgers at night in my little garden. A heavy truck goes past 300 m away and the film goes shaky. I do not feel these vibrations but I can see them. It is so like the movements of the cam at La Restinga I think much of the short periods of shake are from the volcano as well as the wind if that gets strong. Today the wind did not look as strong as yesterday. No white capped wavelets.

    1. Diana, may I ask you how you make videos like the one above? I’ve been searching for a program to do that for a long time, but found nothing that worked.

      1. Sissel if you are on Facebook send me a friend request. I am there as either Diana Barnes or for my page search for redmerlin777 then I can give you the link and “talk” you through how to set it up.
        It’s quite easy. 🙂

    3. The shakes looked like tremors. But interestingly they seemed to be lateral rather than vertical.

    2. This happening was also mentioned at ER today:

      Update 14/11 – 16:56 UTC :
      – A very special sea battle of presumably the Guardia Civil boat and a sailing ship who wants to be near the vent. Maybe without knowing that it sailed through a NO GO area ! (watched on the webcam and confirmed by Joke).
      – The Guardia Civil boat is now very near the vent. Looks like military people are needed to do these jobs !

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

    3. Thanks Mirri My broadband went about then so I missed it. very thoughtless and dangerous to sail so close.

    1. Hi Sam. I am pretty sure that is wind making those patterns. You can find the real time wind speeds below Jon’s helicorder recordings.
      http://www.simnet.is/jonfr500/earthquake/vedurheklaen.html
      It is pretty windy right now and looks to have been stronger a couple of hours ago.
      Always remember to look at wind conditions when reading the IMO graphs too as the winds on tops of the hills where some of the SIL stations are can be much stronger than lower down.
      I check the weather conditions every morning. It gives me a rough idea how much wind to allow for.
      http://en.vedur.is/#tab=athugun

  35. @Jay “(Jón good luck with the recent idea of a forum… Have you a “facebook” page or thought of starting one up, somewhere where “chat” and “likes” can go?)”

    If we have a wish list: A nice place for kids playing with mobile phones would also be fine!

  37. seems they keep coming – but get “downgraded” quite quickly. I guess this first was a 3,3.

  38. A 2.6 for Katla and it is also showing up on Jon’s helicorder. (I think as i am just an amateur)

    1. 🙂 just gone up again. looks like Jon’s famous words, “We just have to wait and see” is the answer here.

      2. Hahaha, just changed to 3.1. What strange quakes Iceland has. 😉
        I now wont believe the strength until it is there tomorrow.

  43. On thing is clear, the last couple of days has seriously hurt this little community.
    Since Jón has taken an open stand on the side of hobby policeman and a few complainers it is obvously open hunting season on us old-timers in here.

    This place is dying now, it is so much negativity in here that it is unbelievable. From being a cordial place where we helped any newcomer it has changed into a place where we who have given thousands of hours into teaching and helping all of a sudden are the targets of hatemongerers. If we pull one small joke we get a full-blown attack on us.

    This has gone to far.
    We now have to choices. Either we together take back the forum which we have contributed to, helped build up, and that de facto most of us are paying for. That will take that we do what Jón does not whish to do. Namely bash them out of here.
    The other solution is that we do a proper walk out and start our own place where WE make the rules.

    People like the one above does not add anything, people like that never help, never answer questions, people like that only cause grief. Apparantly those are the people that Jón wish to have around since he all of a sudden have decided to allow that kind of behaviour. Apparantly Jón have decided that all attempts of humour and fun is okay to harass.

    I am open to any suggestions about what WE should do to get what we used to have again.

    1. Just chill 🙂
      I personally dont care about some arguments between people about small things.

      1. I was looking at the Myrdalsjokull map and i noticed that i can draw a straight line from Fimmvorduhals to Godabunga through the quakes, but thats where we have a huge lava dome, full of magma that has been brewing for some time now.

      2. Soon Katla will blow, and many here will drop away their fights and conflicts, and focus in discussing the BIG ONE.

    2. Well, Carl, maybe you&Lurking could start another blog together and we’ll all join there (while still reading here also (although perhaps more in a lurking mode) because I do like Jon’s posts and I don’t think it’s his fault that all of a sudden there are all these weird people attacking the discussions here).

      I mean, it could be a simple wordpress site and all it would take is a new post every couple of days or so.

      Just a though…

      3. Good idea.
        There could even be some “guest-writers” helping them (Imean you an me and who knows) – think we all are able to write a (small) good story with is worth discussing.
        Biggest problem is probably the moderation.

      5. I would love reading all the input you and the other “oldtimers” make..missing it as it is now here. I rarely post anything since I am just a techer in Swedish and therefore can´t contribute with anything remotely worth reading 🙂 You have taught me alot and I do wish to do so in the future too.

    3. Carl, I don’t think that’s what Jon has said at all. The forum is a great iea, running alongside this wonderful blog. Things will always evolve, and for Jon’s sake, he needs to reach as big an audience as possible. With the separation of the blog and the forum, hopefully everyone will be much happier.

    4. Carl, for once i think you have here the wrong idea. I think the best thing is to ignore as far as possible the ones who wish to disrupt this blog and the community that has developed. Getting angry never solves a problem and only causes further problems. (OK I do know that I was steaming a bit earlier but I am after all only human. 😉 I also don’t think Jon is taking anyones side and just wishes to have a sensible approach to a growing problem. I would counsel for a wait and see approach. Sometimes change IS for the better even if us older ones sometimes find it hard to assimilate.

      2. @Carl. The blog is a bit of a victim of it’s own success. When there’s something big going on like El Hierro, lots of people will visit who wouldn’t normally. And some make nasty comments. I for one hope things get back to normal soon. Your knowledge and your comments are appreciated by me and many others, so don’t let the naysayers get to you.

      3. I appreciate your comments, and this isn’t about you, but don’t lay all the blame on older people resisting change. This has been said repeatedly, and I object. That cannot be the only reason people are sad. It was beautiful here. And now it’s not. Perhaps old people see beauty and elegance more readily, having seen ugliness and sadness so much previously in life.

        There is a phenomenon of resistance to change, but it applies to all ages.

      4. Point taken Betty, I was thinking more of myself there as I DO find change hard when it involves technology and prefer what i already know. I think the sadness is fear that we will be unable to speak freely and happily as before. I also think we will get back to that if we can ignore the disrupters who are themselves off topic anyway in pointing out others failures..

      5. Well said. That’s a nuance that needed to be brought out. But I also think that there WILL be a difference, not to the better, and it won’t be helped. It’s like leaving a quaint village for the city.

        I found out that, personally, I prefer a threaded forum where you can see several threads up and down–nested like a tree–but those are old fashioned and no longer popular. But you can visualize the whole forum well.

        No one system is perfect, but I don’t like having to click in and out. I like the coffee circle approach. But, I also understand that perhaps the box approach will work better for images and ads. One thing’s for sure, no forum will please everyone.

        While everyone was arguing, in the background
        El Hierro was heating up, creating new
        Bob’s, with boats in peril and mountains brewing new stinky airs. And we missed a lot of it. Now, that’s what I call a successful blog attack.

    5. Carl, I set the policy here. Not you. I did read the comment you complained about. I found it far and in good order (as 99,98% of comments here are). I did not find your comment however fair and in good order. But I did not want to delete it. So I just told you to stop this mini-wars that you are trying to start here on your own.

      What you do next is up to you. I am however going to continue to attend to my passion. That is volcano, earthquake and writing about that (and other things). What comes out of it is up to the world, not me, as I am just doing what I love and do good. It never has been any other way then that.

      1. Jón, sorry about the hard words.
        It is not the forum that makes me sad you know. For all, you might be completely right and I totally wrong on the forum issue.
        But, what is making me really sad is that things are changing in the place it should not. And that is that this has been a place where a bit (mind I say a bit, I know we went to far a couple of times) of joking and silliness was okay. That someone all of a sudden attacked over one of our silly jokes (that was not OT really since it was over the boat in question on the webcam) kind of said something about the changing feeling in here.
        And that makes me sad, and as most people I do not handle sad and sorrow that well, and even I can get a bit angry then. I am normally as you know not the first person to blow my hat off. I think I have a point really though.
        What has made your blog unique was the atmosphere, and that atmosphere should be what you should try to protect with all you’ve got. Your forum-idea might be a really good way to retain a place for our more silly antics, but untill that comes into place, please help with keaping the feeling of the place. You can only win on that. Think about it, I know that you are very intelligent, so if you just give it a bit of thought I know you will agree that a bit of fun (fairly ontopic fun) would be in the best interest of all.

        Of course you set the policy, but I think we have the right to say our meaning, even if we as I did, get angry for the first time in soon 2 years time.

      2. …This is a typical conflict between a web 1.0 format in a web 2.0 environment… Just saying.

        A forum would, actually, reduce this conflict.

      3. It is not a forum that made me sad 🙂
        It is the other thing. For all I know a web 3.0 site would be even better 😉
        Forums are though very web 1.0, they have been around since before the web was the web.
        The first forum I was a member of was called The Well. Feel free to google it. I roamed it with some really funky dudes like the founder of Wired and B. Dahmer (inventor of GUI) and that lunatic ilk. The little “Inormation wants to be free”-manifesto was written in there. What I am trying to say is that a forum is an old thing, and I was there when it all began.

        What I am after is the little thing that The Well had, and this place had. Being a place where highly intelligent people can have fun, be themselves, and at the same time entertain and educate people.
        The format is not the important thing, it is the content.

    6. I would be really happy to go to another place, without people with scaring attitudes. It used to be interesting AND pleasant here, like it should be – that is my opinion. Now we have people screaming OT! if we say “sleep well”. I could mention more things but they have already been said so I won’t.

      1. That is not the case. But this off-topic chat is a problem when there are 400 comments about it in a 600 comment about in a blog post.

        What people needs to release that the good atmosphere that you describe here was when people where on topic. Not off-topic. This large amount off-topic chat also annoys others readers, that might not comment here at all.

        In order to make a balance to all this. I decided to create a forum for this type of chat. Not to make all the observation about the Icelandic sheep go away from here. But rather to give people the choose to chat about other things in the right place.

        This blog what it is and I am not going to change that. As it is the best and the most effective way to get information to people about what is going on in Iceland, Canary Island and Spain in terms of volcanoes and earthquakes. A forum not nearly as good as that. It is good at other things, like exchanging summer vacation stories, ask questions that cannot be answered here and so on.

      2. As I said, it is not the format. Yes, I have a couple of things against the format of a forum, but that is not the important thing. Technology is not important, it is what you do with it that is. The same goes here, the platform is really not important as long as is is really simple to use. What is important are the harder things, the content and the mood of a place. I just wish you would do a bit about keaping up the mood and the friendliness of the place.

      3. I think it’s here like we all have something like a “kater” in german words. I read all the diskussions. I like it. And I don’t think the people here will stop in being OT .
        But some times we must take a big breath to start again. I trust the people here to hold this place at good at it is.
        And as i am someone who must work in the early morning, i see often that the interesting things will be discussed while i’m sleeping. So i didn’t comment so often. But all of you nightcommenters can make it the place it is.

      6. I am too new to really say stuff, I suppose, but I just wanted to say that the Icelandic sheep ARE going to go away, and people will no longer bid each other to sleep well. Not on the blog.

        What attracted me to this blog (volcano aside) was the OT chat about things I had never heard of before, and the fact that so many different nationalities came together to share information. The easy way people talked to one another, in an uncaring world, this was wonderful.

        The science is fun. It’s a great puzzle that a lot of people enjoy solving. So, I get it about the blog being for science, this is not a life experience blog, but no one is going to comment on silent Bob.

        I am interested in El Hierro. Since this blog was talking about El Hierro, I thought it was okay to visit this blog. Now, people are not even happy with the title of the blog. It is just insane.

    7. I have been away for a couple of days. Not only are Katla and Hierro hotting up, but there seems to be some stress here too. I guess we are all a bit worried about the people on El Hierro and at Vik. A bit of friendly banter would be helpful.

      I like Jon’s summaries / updates. He does not need to do them more than once a day, unless something really big happens. He also does not need to a post every day either. But it is up to him when he does them.

      But what I would really like is a search option. I don’t know whether one would be feasible.

      It is good news that the authorities are working on / making public evacuation plans. You do wonder whether 4 hours to evacuate Frontera, although very impressive, could be cutting it too fine.

      1. See Karen, that’s exactly the problem: every time in the last 2 days when anyone starts some friendly banter around here, some new people show up screaming off topic, off topic, we can not read all these comments on the mobile phones, etc. So the nice atmosphere has gone somewhat sour in the last 48h. 🙁

        Jon is planning to provide a solution through a separate forum for the banter, but many people here are not convinced that that would work.

      3. Jón, I have the idea that you say this because someone else told you to. You are not the author of the phrase “off-topic-chat”. You know it never was like that. And I’m very disappointed that you not listen to them with good intentions who try to communicate with you and repair that what has been broken.

      4. I know Jon, I’m just sad that it’s come to the point in the last two days where there are people arguing all the time (which also increases the number of OT comments). Anyway, like Diana says below, tomorrow is another day and maybe people will calm down a bit. 🙂 Good night.

      5. @Sissel, you might be right but Jon has a good blog that he wants to maintain. We should probably support him in this.

  44. Hi, I’m from Boston area in the states, I find the humour refreshing amidst all the technical information….very comforting to me. I read the posts and am amazed at the enormous amount of information presented here. Please keep this going and as in real life, ignore those few that bark the loudest.
    Thank-you,
    Sitting on the sidelines : )

    1. Sidelines are probably the best place to sit at the moment. 😉
      Welcome and enjoy, as I expect you realise it isn’t usually this heated.
      I also have learned an awful lot from this blog and wont leave even if I have to just lurk to avoid being off topic. 🙂

      1. Thanks Newby for the welcome! Volcanoes/earthquakes are very intriguing to me and I adore the passion for them on here as well as the compassion for those possibly in harm’s way. People are people, no matter where they are from; the key is to not allow some of them to affect you intellectually nor emotionally.

        There’s a great deal of warm undertones on this blog with posters from all over the world generally getting along. That is what makes it grand! If there was an “ignore” option that would be perfect.

  45. It has definately changed the last 48 hours – the polite, easygoing and fun tone is kind of gone… let me know what happens..

    1. Same for me from France … just like volcanoes.
      I hope it will be better tomorrow !

      But just because nothing extraordinary in El Hierro or Iceland ….
      and people have to speak.

      Have a good night !

  47. Just what Katla needs, when everybody’s back is turned she will strike 😆
    I think Katla is up to something.

    2. You might be right; she clearly wants more green stars.

      Monday
      14.11.2011 22:36:33 63.619 -19.189 1.1 km 2.4 90.01 3.8 km SE of Goðabunga
      Monday
      14.11.2011 21:29:13 63.668 -19.132 1.1 km 0.7 90.01 6.6 km ENE of Goðabunga
      Monday
      14.11.2011 21:02:31 63.661 -19.187 0.7 km 3.1 99.0 3.9 km NE of Goðabunga
      Monday
      14.11.2011 21:02:20 63.667 -19.180 0.8 km 1.4 90.01 4.6 km NE of Goðabunga

  48. There are some interesting things ahead, like Katla, Hekla and most likely more deep drilling and fracking, possibly in the Reykjanes area.
    I guess the reason why we are seeing this tension here on this blog is because there is not much happening right now.

  49. There is a storm warning for central area of Iceland tonight.
    “Warning Storm warning (more than 20m/s) in the central area tonight. Valid to 16.11.2011 00:00”
    So the SIL graphs may show some odd readings.
    It’s bed time here. Tomorrow is another day.

    1. There are also flash storm that can happen without warning taking place in Iceland, with winds above 20m/s. It is due the heat Iceland is getting this time of year. It is messing things up.

      1. Oooch! Sounds unpleasant Jon. I see your storms on our weather maps and forecasts.

        By the way I have just popped over to EB and there is a little chat window there.. It’s very good 🙂 I just had a chat to Renato 🙂 and Pieter. Go and have a look. 🙂 but I guess a forum would be more organised and more useful for informative posts with pictures and stuff

  50. I see the lines of closely spaced Hekla strain, although the scale have risen to 500, I mean follow the same pattern of peaks, this what I’m noticing that occurs from time to time but it’s getting longer period of time ranging all together, not if I have explained

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