According to news on Rúv scientists are now on there way up to Askja volcano to see what is going on and why Askja volcano has become ice-free. But it now believed that increased hydro-thermal activity in Askja volcano is the reason why Askja lake got ice-free during middle of winter.
The tour is expected to last for around 3 to 4 days if the weather is good. GPS data is also going to be collected in this trip to Askja volcano.
Iceland news about this. Use Google translate in order to try and understand this.
Aukinn jarðhiti bræddi ís á Öskju (Rúv.is, Icelandic)
This blog is shorter then normal because the hard disk in my laptop is giving up. I am going to try and setup linux based USB stick to boot the computer up. That should resolve any major issue that I am currently having like speed, sometimes just opening up a new browser window takes up to two minutes due to how slow the hard drive is now.