Posted on by Jón Frímann

Ash cloud confirmed from Grímsfjall volcano

A eruption ash cloud has been confirmed from Grímsfjall volcano. I do not know how high it currently is. But Icelandic news is reporting that the cloud is rising fast and high (estimated 3000 – 4000 meters and rising). Explosions have been seen from good distance.

Update 1: They estimate that there are 10 to 12 hours until the glacier flood appears from this eruption. The ash cloud can be tracked with lighting map here.

News about this.

Strókur rís hátt yfir Grímsvötnum (Rúv.is, picture)
Tíu til tólf klukkutímar í hlaup (Rúv.is, new picture)
Allir viðbragðsaðilar komnir af stað vegna gossins (Vísir.is, Picture)
Mjög öflug gosstöð (mbl.is, New picture)

Updated at 19:41 UTC.
Updated at 19:53 UTC.
Updated 20:21 UTC.

212 Replies to “Ash cloud confirmed from Grímsfjall volcano”

  2. I think it MAY be what’s at the extreme left of the Jökulsarlon webcam

  4. I can see some kind of dark cloud rising to the left of Jökulsárlón cam. Plume?

  5. Seems like a powerfull blast. In 2004 clouds went up to 8km the first day, and up to 14km after a several days.
    We want footage! 😀 Where would we be able to follow this live? Any Icelandic tv with live internet-broadcast or something?

  8. The announcement on Icelandic Met Office says that the eruption is nearby Grímsvötn. It might not be in the caldera it self. But where exactly the eruption is a unknown until a visual confirmation is done.

  9. Running the latest article through Google Translate comes up with the classic “Explosions seen in Mecca”

  11. Is it possible that Jökulsárlón webcam is getting ashes over its lens?

  13. Hmm, if the first blast is what we saw and see to the extreme left in the Jökulsalón webcam, is there now a much smaller one as well, about 1/5th of the framewith to the right of the original one???

      1. The whole left side of the frame is darkened by the plume. The weather was splendid before it started.

  14. Interesting! At least it is one of the safer volcanos to erupt. Not too many people will be affected by it adversely.

    1. Don’t draw your conclusions too fast. The prevailing wind is to the south, and for the next coming days an even stronger south-east wind. Directly to Europe.

      1. How can you tell the prevailing wind patterns are going to go over Europe in the next several days…thanks

  15. It seems to me that the epicenter is not Gímsvatn but Hábunga south of Grímsvatn.

  16. I know from our shared Eyjafjallajökull experience that it is very tricky to judge, especially with the low picture quality, but it certainly does look that way Renato, doesn’t it? Could it be that this eruption is a multiple vent one in the same way that the main eruption of Lady E too started with four (or was it five?) fissures opening up under the icecap before it settled down to one main vent?

    1. As people are saying, they are yet not so sure if it happened in Grimsvötn. Everything is possible. There have been too many “ghost” quakes in Laki. Maybe they are not so fake as they seem. But the plume is huge. According to the news it may have reached 6 km height!

      1. If a fissure eruption at Laki would occur, there would be a thousand times more earthquakes, believe me. They are ghost and they are fake. Please don’t spread fear. The plume is impressive indeed, but that always has been the fact at Grimsvötn eruptions (in 2004 it reached 14km!).
        Still very exciting though. 🙂

  17. Now there *seems* to be activity about 2/5ths from the left edge of the picture and, as Renato points out, something is affecting the lens.

    1. It is still sunny in Reykjavick. So the darkness we are seeing is really from the eruption. Cool!

    1. Where is this camera located exactly? And in which direction is it positioned?

      1. Pieter:
        From my former observations it is pointed to NW. Jökusárlón is near the coast, to the SE extreme of Vatnajökull.

  19. EMSC reports a 4.6 quake in Iceland:
    2011-05-21 19:10:56.4
    1hr 00min ago
    63.91 N 18.52 W 1 4.6 ICELAND

  20. Jón, and there is another 4.2 to the SE, in the Atlantic? Also fake?

  21. As for the fissure in Grimsvotn, my guess is that it’s NW-SE, because of the earthquake alignment.

    1. This really is a regular eruption so far. The 2004 eruption had a plume which went up to 14km high.

      2. Inte riktigt – jag är inte svensk och är inte mer i Sverige heller, fast jag kan svenska for att ha bott dar i flera år. 🙂

  25. Blog post updated with new news link. I don’t have time to post them all to the blog post.

    But the ash cloud appears to big.

  26. Exciting! I hope to se someone establish a webcam so we outsiders can watch it!

  31. Holy moses, I checked this afternoon and all was quiet, crikey the place has lit up like a xmas tree

    Is everyone over there ?

  33. Jón what you think the chanses are that someone establish a webcam? Last year we had vodaphone for an example. Its a perfect marketing opportunity dont you think? 😀

    2. The money is in an advanced warning service for anyone who wants to be in the know quickly re: icelandic volcanos, such as stock brokers and holders of airlines stocks

  34. Very interesting 😀
    …
    And very very unfortunate as I booked for flying from Denmark to Umeä in Northern Sweden in 33 hours, bad timing….

  36. Just when you’re moving back to iceland, this happens. Wishing you a good trip back to where the action is.

  38. Skies are getting very dark at Jökulsárlón. I wonder if the eruption is not farther to the south. Soon we might see some ashfall, aren’t we?
    And IMO seems to have frozen from updating earthquakes, or it is that the activity has come to a halt?

    1. Earthquakes normally stop when the magma has gone up to the surface. But if there is any magma breaking up in new areas there might be new earthquakes. But if the system is swamped. It delays the IMO web page for few moments.

  40. Thanks for all the links to websites, pictures and webcams. I can’t access them now, but they will keep till tomorrow. And i can still follow the news here.
    (why does this happen as I wanted to go sleep early?)

  42. I just connect, almost without warning, so it was quiet you can not trust

  44. How easy is it to get to Grimsvotn? Would it be dangerous to try and visit and see the eruption?

    1. That would be dangerous. It is at the center of the largest icecap in Europe. Under normal conditions 4×4 trucks can ride on the glacier, but during an eruption they can’t get very close because the ice is weakened and instable. I do expect some nice air-footage though, since the weather is perfect.

  45. Summary of all links so far:

    http://andvari.vedur.is/athuganir/eldingar/vikan_is.html? > Lightning map
    http://live.mila.is/jokulsarlon/ > Webcam of Jökulsarlon
    http://wolken.buienradar.nl/default.aspx?region&i=1&ir=true > Sattelite images of the evolving ash cloud over europe

    News + photo’s:

    http://www.mbl.is/frettir/innlent/2011/05/21/mjog_oflug_gosstod/
    http://www.ruv.is/flokkar/innlendar-frettir
    http://www.visir.is/allir-vidbragdsadilar-komnir-af-stad-vegna-gossins-/article/2011110529818

  46. How we tell if the prevailing wind patterns are going to go over Europe in the next several days…thanks

      1. Thank Pieter, I should have seen that…been there before. Thanks for being all over the links and the evolution of this eruption.

  47. Received FVXX01 at 21:01 UTC, 21/05/11 from EGRR
    VA ADVISORY
    DTG: 20110521/1900Z
    VAAC: LONDON
    VOLCANO: GRIMSVOTN 1703-01
    PSN: N6425 W01720
    AREA: ICELAND
    SUMMIT ELEV: 1725M
    ADVISORY NR: 20110521002
    INFO SOURCE: ICELANDIC MET OFFICE
    AVIATION COLOUR CODE: UNKNOWN
    ERUPTION DETAILS: IMO REPORTED CONFIRMED ERUPTION OF
    GRIMSVOTN 20110521 1900Z. PLUME HEIGHT ESTIMATED BY RADAR
    15000M. 2045Z CONFIRMATION FROM AIRCRAFT PLUME HEIGHT
    12KM OR HIGHER.
    OBS VA DTG: 21/1900Z
    OBS VA CLD: NO VA EXPECTED N5819 W10756 – N5725 W09705 –
    N5438 W09934 – N5411 W10905 – N5719 W11208 – N5719 W11145
    – N5819 W10756
    FCST VA CLD +6HR: 22/0100Z SFC/FL200 N6419 W01918 – N6420
    W01703 – N6315 W01514 – N6316 W01958 – N6419 W01918
    FL200/FL350 N6422 W01855 – N6517 W01710 – N6408 W01302 –
    N6315 W01514 – N6319 W01832 – N6422 W01855 FL350/FL550
    N6415 W01816 – N6534 W01656 – N6449 W01550 – N6347 W01703
    – N6415 W01816
    FCST VA CLD +12HR: 22/0700Z SFC/FL200 N6421 W02057 –
    N6422 W01702 – N6400 W01604 – N6529 W01405 – N6528 W01204
    – N6229 W01504 – N6203 W01835 – N6347 W02230 – N6421
    W02057 FL200/FL350 N6413 W02112 – N6425 W01758 – N6638
    W01657 – N6635 W01011 – N6252 W01428 – N6311 W02102 –
    N6344 W02225 – N6413 W02112 FL350/FL550 N6419 W01906 –
    N6424 W01808 – N6638 W01647 – N6616 W01523 – N6441 W01601
    – N6352 W01714 – N6402 W01928 – N6419 W01906
    FCST VA CLD +18HR: 22/1300Z SFC/FL200 N6408 W01816 –
    N6410 W01930 – N6445 W02030 – N6616 W01405 – N6552 W01205
    – N6127 W01530 – N6144 W01955 – N6419 W02537 – N6424
    W02205 – N6342 W01947 – N6344 W01734 – N6408 W01816
    FL200/FL350 N6404 W01809 – N6428 W02023 – N6740 W01947 –
    N6834 W00826 – N6230 W01758 – N6251 W02216 – N6421 W02516
    – N6404 W02205 – N6404 W01809 FL350/FL550 N6512 W01802 –

    Received FVXX01 at 21:01 UTC, 21/05/11 from EGRR
    N6743 W01858 – N6750 W01605 – N6622 W01509 – N6505 W01641
    – N6512 W01802
    RMK: PLUME VISIBLE ON SATELLITE IMAGERY BOTH IR AND ASH
    WITH SFERIC ACTIVITY.
    NXT ADVISORY: 2011052203Z=

    Ash cloud has now risen to over 12 km high! Almost as tall as the last eruption but it only took 2 hours to get this high instead of 2 days.

    1. Yes, sky at the Jokulsarlon camera is now completely stuffed with the black ash cloud!

  49. 15km high is a lot. But that is probably also caused by the fact that there is hardly any wind.

  50. I’m getting the feeling that this might be a VEI 4 rather than a VEI 3. But we’ll see how this develops.

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