Posted on by Jón Frímann

Bárðarbunga volcano update 28-November-2014

This is going to be a short update.

There has been a lack of reports in the news today of the eruption in Holuhraun today. Web cameras show no major change in the eruption far as I can tell. The lava field is now getting thicker as is clear by this images (text is in Icelandic) where the lava is overflowing from older lava (1 – 3 month old). Far as I know the pulse behaviour continues, I don’t know to what extent it has been, or if it has changed from original observations of it.

141128_2140
The earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano for the past 48 hours. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Largest earthquake for the past 24 hours had the magnitude of 5,1 and happened in north-east part of the caldera. Where the most of the large earthquakes happen in recent weeks. I am not sure why that is. According to measurements that where taken yesterday the total caldera subsidence is now around 50 meters, there doesn’t seems to be any change taking place in rate of subsidence. At least that has not been covered in the news or reported far as I know. The reason why GPS signal is now longer being received is that the GPS station is now so low that it is out of line of sight for the relay station it uses to forward the signal. This also means IMO is not getting any signal from the seismometer located in the same area as the GPS station. This is according to latest report on activity in Bárðarbunga volcano. Far as I know there is nothing else to report.

Donations: Please remember to support my work with donations or by using Amazon to buy stuff for Christmas. Thanks for the support.

Moving back to Iceland: Next week I move to Iceland. This means that the last update before I move is going to be on Monday 1-December-2014. I don’t think that I have time to write update on Wednesday 3-December-2014. After that the update schedule is a bit of a mystery. Once I have my things from Denmark I am going to start regular updates as I am doing now. I don’t know for sure when I get my stuff, I hope it won’t be no later than 22-December-2014.

162 Replies to “Bárðarbunga volcano update 28-November-2014”

  1. I hope the move goes well for you Jón, and hopefully soon you can resolve all your debts and lack of money 🙂

  3. Jon . . . might you request 2-3 of our more professionally trained and/or studied members to try and carry the torch somewhat in your absence?

  4. Jón, I wish you all the best with your move. One query I have with your report above is that you state that the rate of subsidence is much the same as before. From the diagram which was posted following the surveillance flight on Wednesday it looked as though the rate of subsidence was greatly accelerated between Monday and Wednesday of this week. Of course, I may have misunderstood!

    1. It looks like they made an error with one of dates. An overall subsidence of approximately 50 meters fits with the earlier measurements and the GPS until it stopped.

      subsidence before GPS was set up, approx. 23 meters
      GPS was moved, add 1 meter
      GPS subsidence until it stopped, 25,3 meters
      =49,3 meters

      1. Probably around 50-55 meters subsidience now. Arout 0.4-0.5meter per day, for around 105 days… but larger rate in first weeks…

        If everything comes to a stop by February, then total subsidience will be around 70 meters, assuming it gradually slows down…

  5. Hi Jon, good luck with moving houses. It’s a big inconvenience. Been there, done that too many times, didn’t like it. Hope you get all your stuff back in good order and time.

    Thank you for all your time and effort on your great blog!

    1. Yeah, I know how it feels.

      I am about to move out of Iceland, so a lot of moving doing as well.
      It’s my N time moving stuff to a new house, probably the 5th time of moving to a new country, and 20th of moving to a new residence. I am really tired of moving every ….

      Moving every stuff costs money, work, planning and its overall upsetting. And not talking also about how to find a new source of income, etc…

  6. Saturday
    29.11.2014 11:19:25 64.664 -17.399 8.4 km 4.3 99.0 6.7 km ENE of Bárðarbunga

  7. Weather warning tomorrow for Iceland:

    Tomorrow, Sunday afternoon and evening, there is forecast of a particularly bad storm (“violent storm” using the words of IMO) for Iceland, with wind gusts that could reach nearly 200km/h, sustained winds of nearly 100km/h by the coast and mountains, and heavy precipitation, rain or snow.

    It’s a particularly deep low hits Iceland from the southwest, quickly dropping its pressure to 956 mb. I think it’s a good case of an explosive cyclogenesis or a metereological bomb.

    So, little earthquake detection by then, no weather for webcams, and especially a dangerous weather for travellers.

  9. I call to attention again a little swarm taking place just northwest of Geysir.

    This area southeast of Presthanukur central volcano (Langjokull) has been experiencing increasing swarms for the past few months. In my opinnion, we will see dike intrusions in the area, and eventually an eruption. This is my wildest guess I have for Iceland. As we know we are at a period of increased volcanic activity in Iceland. Maybe it will take place a few years or decades from now, but it seems to be to repeat the pattern of places like Kistufell and others. It’s a tectonic weak point, and as earthquakes increase, magma might move.

    Also some minor quakes took place today somewhere between Hekla and Landmannalaugar.

      1. Saturday
        29.11.2014 16:25:38 64.332 -20.529 3.6 km 0.4 90.02 11.2 km W of Geysir
        29.11.2014 15:08:04 64.336 -20.518 6.0 km 0.3 90.01 10.8 km WNW of Geysir
        29.11.2014 14:59:53 64.349 -20.513 6.4 km 0.1 90.01 11.0 km WNW of Geysir
        29.11.2014 14:55:14 64.309 -20.524 1.0 km 0.4 59.97 10.8 km W of Geysir
        29.11.2014 14:50:59 64.280 -20.494 5.4 km 0.2 58.93 10.0 km WSW of Geysir
        29.11.2014 14:49:42 64.342 -20.532 4.8 km 0.4 55.73 11.6 km WNW of Geysir
        http://en.vedur.is/earthquakes-and-volcanism/earthquakes/

      2. I seem to remember an earthquake swarm at Presthanukur a few years ago, i think Jon mentioned it here at the time (sadly i don’t remember when it was).

  10. reply to SteveG from older file: Have you heard of Statistical Process Control. If the earthquake pattern is stable, then a measure such as I propose as percentage of … say moderate earthquakes to sum of mild/moderate/severe earthquake percentage would be in state of statistical control. i.e., within baseline average pct. plus or minus 3*sigma. Say measured on a weekly basis. So if/when a weekly pct. is out of the limit, or statistically significantly in comparison to hypothesis testing terminology, a special “cause” is indicated. There are lots of applications, perhaps volcanic earthquake patterns is one of them, which I am checking out. thanks for all your feedback. But of course this model would not explain the volcanic activity 100%, just may be a useful objective, statistical indicator. Like when weekly % 5.0+ is lower than usual, etc.

    Also your response reminds me of the response I got from the Boston Celtics basketball assistant coach and some players when I tried to sell them on the idea of applying statistical tools to basketball (e.g., coaching decisions). I got a resounding NO. That was back around 1984 and now sports statistics/decision making is a growing area. And I remember programming in Fortran for SPSS users at Northwestern, back then. (like Cook and Campbell and others) and then I found out about SAS ! C & C were pioneers in stat applications to social sciences back then.

    1. Ahhhhhh yes . . . SPSS . . . I still have the software package 15 or so years old now. LOL.

      I’d think that quakes AND eruptions . . . would follow the “normal” way of earth events . . . i.e. bell curves and all that . . . with statistical anomalies certainly INDICATING A SHIFT in *something* . . . perhaps predictive . . . perhaps not.

      I hope you find some Icelandic folks who will collaborate toward such analyses.

      1. thanks to all for the welcomed feedback. I will look at this again once the next summary EQ data table is posted, or perhaps I will
        generate from the weekly EQ data files. Then compare weekly to the baseline summary percentages to see if any significant shifts, for now. I have been ahead of my time all my life! not too fun. oh well.
        psthomas01@yahoo.com is my email address for anyone interested

    2. The Brooklyn Nets and all the geologists in the world agree with your hope that prediction should be possible.

      Prediction of volcanic eruptions is a huge issue in geology. Correct predictions save lives, false predictions destroy businesses and ruin professional credibility. That is why there is such a great emphasis on instrumentation and computer modelling.

      The key problem is to identify the relevant *statistic* in each case. Once that can be done, (as agreed upon by an expert panel of geologists, because that is how science works, and no other way,) only then can the mathematical expert step in to logically enforce inductive inferences and confident prediction.

      At this stage of geological science, the identification of relevant statistical factors is in development. You may be too far ahead now, but you’ll turn out to be correct in the long run. Same with the Brooklyn Nets.

      1. It is very difficult to make predictions of volcanoes, and this is the thing that the populations and governments should know. Scientists do not have the same confidence to predict a volcano like the weather (yes, it’s much easier to predict the weather and quite accurately 3 days before). A volcano not.

        In Bardarbunga prediction was easy why?
        – bardarbunga was exhbiting increased unrest
        – as hotspot cycle peaks, scientists knew Bardarbunga would had an eruption, even a riting one
        – deep swarms affected the area in 2014 earlier, we all know that magma was on move
        – a very intense, too intense swarm started in August, and tremor, GPS showed large movements. All signs pointed to an eruption. It was just a question of days.

        Grimsvotn can also be predicted more or less based in accumulated seismic release. Hekla is hard to predict.

        Eyjafjallajokull was also rather easy to predict a few weeks before.

        For all here in these blogs, this sort of predictability is nice fun for us, and it is enough. But for governments and populations, except perhaps the Icelandic one, it puts them on the edge, because of the uncertainty degree.

        Still scientists are doing the very best they can.

  13. Regarding subsidence IMO website states: “The apparent rise 11 November, when the station had to be lifted out of snow, has been corrected for. Since 23 Nov. no signal received. The most likely explanation is that the station has subsided below the caldera rim and is therefore out of sight of the relay station in Kverkfjöll.”

  14. Offtopic.
    The severe weather warning for Iceland tomorrow continues.

    A very harsh storm with sustained winds nearing 120km/h and gusts near 200km/h. Nearly as strong as a hurricane category 1 intensity.

    News speak about a a similar repeat but not as bad, as the worst storm in 23 years, which occurred back in 1991. Definitively dangerous weather for driving, tomorrow.

    1. I gather you didn’t feel all wonderful about asking 2-3 of the more scientific of our members to fill-in as best they could during your absence in the move? Or did you not see that suggestion?

      I suppose we can muddle through well enough on our own . . . LOL.

      And, I suppose that the professionals in the Iceland government offices are all too busy to bother. . . . what about one of their spouses? Would be a chance for them to interact with an interesting and interestED group hereon.

      1. This is his personal blog site, why on earth should anyone step in for him? I’m sure we can wait a few days for him to settle in to his new home. There are other ways of keeping up to date with the events.

      2. If anyone can say what Jon says then why are you here? I’ll ask my wife to post my thoughts in future.

    2. Very useful! Been scratching my head over the drumplot names.

      Also, thank you for a great blog. I’m learning a lot!

  17. Of course he can do what he wishes with his blog.

    A few days? I understood it would be several weeks, most likely–possibly to the end of December.

    Perhaps I understood wrong.

    Perhaps it’s a difference in European vs American perspective. I’d have thought one would naturally want to ask someone to step in and fill the gap while I was gone.

    I also don’t understand why raising the issue is treated as such a sensitive thing.

    Sigh.

  18. WOW! LOL.

    Good spouses normally know a lot about their spouse’s perspective etc. and can often fill in some of the gaps in an absence. So, I thought that some of the government scientists might have such a spouse willing to try that role on.

    Yeah, we can muddle through blathering in our usual way with each other. It wouldn’t be a huge tragedy.

    I just thought it would be more interesting to have some of our more trained and knowledgeable members step up a bit more energetically to the plate than usual–maybe with some connections facilitated by Jon with other scientists–and fill in for him during the 3-4 weeks I understood he’d be off line.

    Personally, I’d be relieved that someone was minding the store in my absence.

    Sigh.

    1. Spouses in Iceland have their own professions and carreers to follow up and normally don’t have time to take over duties from their husbands, they are bankers or language teachers or geologists by themselves.

      So, yes, this could also be a small cultural difference here. 🙂

    2. Being a wife myself, I find it slightly mysogynistic to assume that all the scientists are male with wives just twiddling their thumbs and awaiting the chance to be their husband’s mouthpiece. (My husband is in hiatus between jobs, and is therefore being a househusband to me, the main breadwinner of the family at the moment!) 😉

  19. I don’t understand all this brittle prickliness.

    Is it a cultural thing or a personality thing?

  20. ACTUALLY,

    I was also trying to be a bit protective of Jon’s interests during his absence.

    There is a significant percentage of the average population in such a context that tends to leave during such a long period without identifiable leadership–AND NOT COME BACK.

    I doubt that Jon needs to lose a significant percentage of readers due to any cause.

    1. Yes, but Jón has been moving sometimes before and didn’t lose many of the followers of this blog as far as I remember.

  21. I have no wife these days- Thank god!! I really enjoy the conversation here and the contributions. Having followed this page since the beginning, I have gained a great deal of knowledge, Made a few facebook friends along the way.
    I say, Give Jon and his page his due. Share thoughts, ideas and contributions. Don’t put anyone down- All of us, even retired linehaul truck drivers will eventually learn and be able to give informed observations.
    The real issue is a grand volcanic event is happening and the mainstream media has ignored it, Rather focused on a dribble of lava knocking down a cow shed in Hawaii. Please let us all play on the same team from now on.

      1. Oh yes, Hawaii is like a walk in the park compared to Holuhraun.

        Holuhraun is on the way to erupt as much in a few months as Hawaii in many decades.

        James come to Iceland if you want to see some really big lava action.

    2. A walk in the park? Tell that to the people who live there whose homes are in danger of being swallowed up by the ‘dribble’.

  24. Da Xin, you can get all info from two Bardarbunga FB pages during Jon’s absence, with government reports. Jon is just doing a summary of the different sources with light interpretations. It is not scientific that blog, it’s impossible to predict anything, everything just relies on observations and their careful interpretation. As Jon adds often at the end, he does not know what happens. IMO doing the same, with their constant three scenarios of what might happen. One thing would be that Jon blogs at least once a week, so that the comments can go on, and the blogs guests can stay informed between themselves.

  25. Of course, it is for Jón to deal with the situation in the manner he chooses. Thus, there is no ‘should’ implied in the suggestion I an going to make. It is my understanding that the threads can continue for 14 days. Might it be possible for Jón, or a person appointed by him) to facilitate a new thread after 14 days. I am not suggesting a report requiring any of Jón’s usual complex analysis just something like “Personal update, computer expected on…” Comments could continue and such a post could be sent from something other than Jón’s usual computer, or by a trusted appointee.

  26. I understand what you were suggesting Da Xin, and seemed sensible to me.
    For an 80 year man (hope you dont mind me saying that), I have always found your posts worth reading and I admire your enthusiasm and passion for this historic event.

    1. THANKS THANKS FOR YOUR KIND AND UNDERSTANDING COMMENTS.

      A slight correction . . . LOL . . . you have me around 11 years older than I am. Sorry for the confusion on that score. LOL. Most folks say I look 15 years younger than I am. PTL.

      Understanding–rather being UNDERSTOOD–is one of the more treasured and not always common experiences in my atypical life. THANK YOU.

      Jon has now commented so that’s helpful.

  27. Maybe. we can out of respect for his work Jon just wait until his next action. jon’d like to help?
    donate or promote him. that can help promote him to increase his network so that the donation is more likely. If we bloggers on this site alone quite simple write a piece on facebook. indicates that almost all whole avalanche of even more who are interested in Europe and beyond

    Jon but I have one tip give you a good work gezicht.Een face makes it even more personal and more likely to give donations

    (NL)
    Misschien . kunnen we uit respect voor Jon zijn werk gewoon even wachten tot zijn volgende actie. wil je graag jon helpen?
    doneer of promoot hem. dat promoten kan hem helpen om zijn netwerk te vergroten zodat de donaties meer kans heeft. Als wij bloggers van deze site alleen al heel simpel een stukje op facebook schrijft. geeft dat zowat al gehele stortvloed van nog meer geintreseerden over europa en verder

    Maar jon heb ik nog 1 tip geef jou goede werk een gezicht.Een gezicht maakt het nog meer persoonlijker en geef meer kans op donaties .

    1. perhaps it is better also to make their own site under your own profile and name.
      The advantage is that you can be found directly by search engines.
      you remain ijslandenzo.nl do the same thing you’re doing now. but that part of your work you can just deep linking so that the work can be seen in places.
      and you can always iceland so also promote back again so they are going to get more visitors. So win = win, situation

  28. We have around 50 comments in this thread. I have seen it with 1000 comments, so here is always a place to share interesting things around BB and Iceland, while Jon moves. And afterwards he is able to give us an update.
    Keep calm and don’t troll (and don’t feed them).

    So I wish you, Jon, the best for the next days and weeks.

    2. The situation has not changed greatly lately,so there is not a lot to update,so this thread could suffice for sometime,having said that it maybe that the current situation is quite a deceptive indicator of the reality.Just remember this is a volcano blog and keep on topic.

    1. Hi Inge,
      I’m doing this course (…heavy stuff… 🙂 ).
      I have seen your post there…

    2. Course blurb says: “controlled laboratory conditions for experimental volcanology are transforming the study of volcanoes from a chiefly observational discipline where eruptive mechanisms were developed via theoretical analysis of such observations, into a fully modern scientific discipline where such theoretical approaches are either verified or rejected, by the experimental picture”

      1. They sound too clever for me!How do you do a controlled experiment on an uncontrollable sequence of events?

  30. Promoting is an excellent idea and is something which could be of real tangible benefit concerning donations etc. I am not the most knowledgeable when it comes to promoting. However, if others share their ideas concerning this, I will gladly play my part in the promotion! I think being without the reports for a time will give us a greater appreciation of them, though!

  31. Dear everyone,
    As Jón in almost every post mentions when he is about to take a short break or is relocating, is that if something major happens, he will write an extra post (if he has access to a computer!).
    I trust he will do so with Barda!

    Henk Weijerstrass
    ZWAAG (Holland)

  32. Jon’ place is valuable not only for sharing ideas but also serving as a human library source. As the thorough scientific approach of what is going on could prove us all wrong and don’t worry, it will, that mere feature will remain.
    So this blog as a Centro de Interpretación in good english could continue on for years.

    1. I’m sure that Jon’s blog is not going to lose a thing, just because of a few weeks of absense. People still want to discuss Bardarbunga.

      1. Yes, gratitude for the mighty volcano is in place, for without volcanos there wouldn’t be no life on earth. I wish we had one in The Netherlands, but not in my backyard ofcourse unless you have a serious distorted mind.

      4. @Porsche9028.
        Actually, there is a real volcano in the backyard of The Netherlands – and in one of the most populated regions of Germany. Only at the moment, it is sleeping. Ehm – sleep well and for a long time, Laacher See!

  33. I will write a article if anything major happens (more on this on Monday). May laptop is however seven years old and falling apart (battery long, long dead) so it is difficult to work with it even if I have kept it going for all this time. I hope to buy a new laptop sometimes later next year after I have paid my debt with the bank.

    There are going to be times where I don’t have any access to the internet for few hours during the day. I will post more details on Monday as this looks now.

    I don’t want other people to write articles here, since this is not that type of website. I don’t have a office and I don’t have a company to do such a thing. I’m not saying that in the future there won’t be (new website), but for now there isn’t one and while that is the fact I am just going to continue to write those updates here. I am also not sure if there is any economic basis for such a website due to low traffic during the quiet times in Iceland.

    When I try to do something I try to do so properly and pay people for there work, since people need to eat and pay the bills. I can’t pay people now and I don’t ask anyone to work for free. Since writing is a lot of work, far more work than most people imagine.

    I hope everyone understand what I am saying.

    1. Jon,

      In the USA, at BestBuy, one can get a Chromebook . . . HP or ASUS or ACER or some such . . . for around $200USD. I’d be willing to contribute a 1/8 to 1/4 of that IF we can get others to complete the price donation. That would allow you at least net functionality. It’s a decent machine–just with cloud storage vs on the machine. Is there such available where you are at a similar price?

    2. BTW, I think it is admirable and commendable re your policy of paying folks to help you. A workman is worthy his hire as The Book says.

      HOWEVER, THERE IS ALSO A TIME to receive, in humility, voluntary, freely given loving care and help just because folks love and care for you. It seems to me that such a move might be such a time. They receive a blessing in giving as you receive in receiving. No need to rob them or you of such a blessing.

      Just a thought from my usual brazen candor.

    3. I think that there is a USB memory stick option for such machines. IIRC, there’s at least one USB slot externally.

    1. It is. The bad weather is and will be esp. first over the south and southwest of the country and later on the northwest.
      A lot of events, concerts and so on have yet been cancelled for this afternoon and evening due to the extremely bad weather forecast.
      There have yet been wind gusts of up to 30 m/sec. under Esja on the peninsula of Kjalarnes, north of Reykjavík http://www.vegagerdin.is/ferdaupplysingar/faerd-og-vedur/sudvesturland/linurit/st036.html . The latest news say, that in many parts of South and Southwest Iceland, the rescue teams are at work to fasten roof parts and also because windows have been broken due to the storm. The last happens when the storm throws stones against the window glass.

      Also all internal flights have been cancelled.
      http://ruv.is/frett/bjorgunarsveitir-vida-kalladar-ut-0

  36. I hope the web cameras that view Holuhraun can withstand this bad weather, since there is a real chance they might not do so and get damaged by the weather.

    1. This will not least depend on the special weather conditions at the eruption site. They can be very different from one part of Iceland to the other and from one valley to the other. Also the weather forecast seems to be worst for the southwest and west of the country – which would exclude Holuhraun.

    2. I’d think, Jon, that getting it through Amazon might leave you a portion of the price as well. Not sure how to work out the logistics of all that economically . . . unless by paypal. Maybe we’d need to phone someone to arrange the partial payments into one purchase.

      1. Silly me . . . just doing it the usual way would work . . . leaving you to do the final purchase through Amazon. {gives self a face-palm}

    3. Complete blackout at BB2 🙁
      BB1 is still broadcasting, but shows nothing but dark pixels for reasons unknown.

      2. The weather forecast shows currently clear weather for the area of the two BB webcams. This can of course change quickly with these kind of winds. Anyway, clouds don’t usually “hang” when it’s blowing 20+m/s.

      3. … But you are correct, Enno! Glimpses of the Holuhraun eruption are now showing through the barrier of bad weather.

  37. I think Cam1 is stable mounted on the green container. But around an hour ago, an first stormfield arrived in Vadalda … I have never before seen her shaken. Snow and the smoke from Baugur crawled over the earth.

  38. Hi Jon,
    you say in your report: “Far as I know the pulse behaviour continues, I don’t know to what extent it has been, or if it has changed from original observations of it.”
    It has started in the early morning of 20. Nov. 2014 with an frequency of 9-10 times a hour. It is all the time been clearly visible on the webcam until 28. Nov. with the same frequency. Then it stopped, or reduces its intensity so much, that it was no longer visible on the webcam.

    2. Interesting, I didn’t feel anything here in Warsaw. But I guess this man-made quake was from the mining area near Kattowice in the south of Poland. I live since 9 years in Poland now (originally from Bodensee in Germany), and a natural EQ would be a real speciality here. No volcano here as far as I can think 🙁

  40. Jon, I just purchased a new ASUS laptop, 1.8 GHz Intel processor, 4 GB ram, 500 G hard drive, running Win 8.1 for about $350. They are getting more affordable…

    1. Could we collaborate together in a specific one time directed CHRISTmas gift TO Jon donation toward the $350 ASUS {I consulted with them in Taipei–they were a good company} or the Chromebook????

      Not trying to twist anyone’s check writing hand . . . it just seems like this many people could make that a relatively easy and painless thing to do for Jon at a critical time without great stress on any one of us???

      I’ll lobby for this for a day or two then drop it, if there’s not sufficient interest.

      If there is, please, let’s speak up and get this done.

    2. Laptops are more expensive in Iceland than in the U.S or Europe. The laptop that I want to buy later next year, after I have paid my debt up costs $686,13 / 550,16€ / 84.950 ISK on current exchange that is just Acer Aspire E5-551 and the cheapest laptop that I could find that I consider to have usable cpu, memory and hard drive, anything less today is not something that I can use.

      Before people start donation to me to support me in order to buy a new laptop please keep in mind that I have not yet moved my Paypal to Iceland. That is going to happen in late December or in January-2015, as things currently look I am going to close down my current Paypal account (that is set for Denmark) and open a new one in January-2015 (that is going to be set for Iceland).

      I am also going to be focusing on paying down my debt before I buy a new laptop. I can keep the one I now have going for few more days (I hope).

      1. So, IF I understand you, correctly . . . by inference . . . you are not interested in trying to use a Chromebook with cloud storage plus say a 64GB memory stick as a temporary/backup unit?

      2. I don’t trust Google for any advanced service beyond email. There social network has been deemed a failure (Google+) in my view.

        Cloud service also depends on constant internet connection and in parts of Iceland I am not going to have that due to landscape or distance from closest transmitter and that signal might only be a GSM coverage, only parts of Iceland have 3G/LTE service. You can forget WLAN, that is just for homes and such things. I plan on getting me a hot spot GSM/3G/LTE connection box for WLAN internet when I am travelling and use it with my laptop. When that happens I am not sure yet.

  42. Heklubyggð geophone is not updating due the storm. Can be anything from loss power of to the mast being gone due to the wind. I don’t know at the moment. I don’t know when it is going to be up again.

    1. Its very violent storm at the moment.
      But some IM weather stations stop updating and then returned again…

  43. Quite a violent storm here. It is just like a hurricane. Wind noise is very strong. Gusts are sometimes crazy. Trees already broke down, and house shakes ocasionally. Quite a deadly weather indeed.

      1. It´s pretty strong here too. The lights flickered a little bit a moment ago. Let´s hope we don´t have power outs.

      2. Fabulous! It reminds me of when we watch hurricanes approach us. Thanks for the great link. I just learned how to do that. (Now I need to learn how to use Facebook and Twitter, but I don’t even have a cell phone, so I’m more than a little behind…)

      3. Is that low pressure off the coast of Greenland a permanent feature? It seems not to move.

    1. Jon, just a short question. It might be trivial but is there a function on this blog to inform me by email if somebody replied to my comments? So I would not have to search through old blogs for some replies. Thanks for your help!

      2. If you register you can check under “settings” if it allows you to see new comments. That function is available on administrative level. I don’t know about normal user level since I haven’t checked.

      1. Mila 2 camera seems to be on a bucking bronco at the moment. Even I am having great difficulty watching it.

        Mila 1 has some interesting light effects as the clouds chase each other coming directly towards the camera. the eruption column looks as if it is going straight up, but this could be because it is blowing towards the camera.

  45. Understandable choices on the computer and connections, Jon.

    Guess I’m fresh out of ideas to help bridge the gap in net connection and computer wise. Sorry.

    Do you have a guesstimate as to how many Icelandic government types read your blog here?

    How many do you KNOW read it?

    How many have signed on as members?

    Maybe some of the latter will write more between now and 1 Jan or whenever such.

    1. Why the hell should scientist or officials from government read this blog? 90% of the information provided by Jon and the contributors here comes from Iceland government websites?

      3. @JR ,they may read it to see is some bright spark like you has figured out what they are thinking instead of what they are saying,lol

    2. I think the scientists think they have seen their first Icelandic black swan and it should not exist,so they say it is a black puffin with a long neck?

  47. Uhhhhhh . . . were I in such a role . . . I’d like to think that . . .

    I would be delighted with such a blog.

    It would afford a great opportunity to dialogue with a variety of folks from around the globe about a major historic event under my Icelandic government purview.

    I could get a more accurate feel for how the whole event was coming across around the globe.

    I could use such observations and comments to better refine how I presented my governmental scientific data.

    I could use such observations and comments to better refine how I used the whole event to further Iceland’s image and status around the globe.

    I could use such observations and comments to better refine what I emphasized and de-emphasized in terms of the priorities I assigned to my tasks, time and energy.

    . . . assuming . . . of course . . . that I cared that much . . . about Iceland . . . and how well I did my job.

    1. Couldn’t you please start discussing volcanism or seismology instead of the pointless whining of last days? You seem to know a lot about the subjects in question, and I’d happily take part of on-topic ideas/theories/suggestions/answers/whatever coming from you. Just please stop ranting. Jon didn’t ask to have you as his self-proclaimed frigging coach or counselor.

      1. If it were I,I,think I would have used I eleven times as I have always considered I,a useful proclamation of myself and I,that’s what I think,I used I 11 times in this sentence I think

    4. The internet is a big place, if you feel like something is missing you can always start your own place somewhere on it. Nothing guarantees that you are going to be read, but you can always write.

  49. Good news and offtopic. Yesterday storm although powerful was not damaging as feared.
    Wind gusts were also not as high as predicted, but sustained winds still reached 41m/s in places (146km/h or 90 mph). Earthquake detection should return in soon, as winds calm down.

      1. For baseline period summary EQ table thru Oct. 21, 2014, 228 of 723 (31.5%) were 4.0 to 4.9 out of total 3.0+

        Last 48 hrs, 12 of 15 are 4.0 to 4.9 or 80%. This is statistically significant, or above Upper Control Limit (3 sigma) for binomial p=.315 with N=15.

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