Posted on by Jón Frímann

Bárðarbunga volcano update for 27-October-2014

During the weekend activity in Bárðarbunga volcano was in the same manner as it has been for the past two months. Largest earthquakes during the weekend had the magnitude of 5,2 and 5,3. Pollution was a big problem south of the eruption in Holuhraun and new record was set for SO2 pollution in populated areas in Iceland. The pollution levels did go up to 21.000 μg/m3 when they where the highest during the weekend. A emergency was declared for Höfn in Hornafirði when the worst pollution did go over the area. Currently there is a little bit less pollution, but air quality is poor in parts of south Iceland at the moment.

141027_2325
Earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano for the last 48 hours. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Largest earthquake on 27-October-2014 had the magnitude of 5,3 and happened in the south-east part of the caldera. Since it has been quiet in terms of earthquake activity. According to Icelandic Met Office this is normal and has happened before. Subsidence of the caldera happens without any earthquake activity most of the time. According to Icelandic Met Office and others (pdf file here), the caldera has now dropped some 40 meters. New cauldrons have been forming along the caldera rim and older ones (that I did not know about until today) have been getting deeper according to measurements from Friday (24-October-2014). The new and older cauldrons appear clearly on images that can be found here (text is in Icelandic). GPS data is showing minor inflation in the dyke that is currently erupting, suggesting that more magma is flowing into it then is erupting from it.

If any melt is happening in the caldera it is not appearing on the glacier yet. As for the water, it just goes down. Rock inside volcanoes leaks, a lot, so it is easy for the water to go into the crust. It doesn’t have to go anywhere else in small amounts that might be melting if the crust has warmed up enough to do so. Currently there are no evidence for that taking place, but with 850 meters of glacier on top of it is difficult to be sure. There are no other news about the eruption that I know of at the moment.

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188 Replies to “Bárðarbunga volcano update for 27-October-2014”

      2. 12.
        MOFL
        – Móflöt (64.98449 °N, 16.64970 °W, 699 m)
        Installed 186 – 5.7. 12:18
        Pick-up 238 – 26.8. 11:42
        51.97500/51.97500 days of data, recovery 100 %
        Sensor 6071 (SEIS-UK), grid north N21E, GPS G3810, firmware v.138
        Ground: sand, on the flank of hyaloclastite bank
        Burial material: sand, lava/hyaloclastite blocks
        Remarks: high-frequency noise from a river close by, sometimes electric noise

        from here:
        http://gef.nerc.ac.uk/documents/reports/822.pdf

        (Hi, Inge, I can find some papers too 🙂 )

      1. It is a big shield volcano between Álftadalur and Upptyppingar which is in your map without name, also in the map of National Land Survey, but I found it in my “Ísland Vegaatlas” book.

      3. Hi, Mafl,
        I think we have found the same 🙂 , perhaps it got some different names, because it was just set up for some projects during the summer time and then removed again. This was the case most of the time with stations near Askja, as far as I remember, due to the harsh climatic conditions in the region.

      4. As a team we are unbeatable … 🙂

        In the paper you found:
        “15.
        MOFO
        – Móflöt 2 (64.98449 °N, 16.64970 °W, 699 m) – relocated 2006 site MOFL ”
        and
        “At the site DYNG the instrument was placed in an unused seismometer vault belonging to the Icelandic Meteorological Office,”

        So they use the same points for new measurements.

  5. Volcanic haze reaches again the capital area and south Iceland. But not too much yet.

    It went up to 1500ug/m3, haze was very thick as of sunset, visibility was down to 10km, but no smell at all this time. I was a bit outdoors and it did not cause any effect on me.

    Now levels are reported below 600ug/m3 and it seems that the volcanic fog is moving more to the west part of Iceland. So tonight the event was rather minor.

    Tomorrow Reykjavik might be only slightly affected. But tomorrow evening and on Friday, a gale might cause significantly higher (and more worrying) levels of pollution for the southwest. An alert is placed in IMO website. That’s the most concerning time. I think we might get peak levels up to 2000-3000 ug/m3.

    1. I mean computer models already predict peak levels tomorrow in late morning, or around noon.

  6. Just got in from the pub and looking at the camera’s…Woah !

    Right now I feel like Russell Crowe from the film a “Beautiful Mind” and after digesting all the information, reading your comments, and viewing the tremor graphs etc… my analysis is you would need a very long stick to toast your crumpet.

    1. I agree David. I have had Mila 2 on in the background since I woke up. I have certainly never seen it as active as it is now. Particularly the vents to the right hand side. At one stage it was almost as intense as the main eruption. I am wondering if the increased pressure levels logged on Luisports link are contributing to this.

      1. Mike…there are some seriously clever people on here.
        Luisport…aka “earthquake update man” I think Bunga text’s him when a plus 4 EQ is coming. Irpsit…cool name and clearly knowledgable. Da Xin…I love her enthusiasm.

        How cool would it be if whenever this ends and the people of Iceland are all safe….if we all had dinner and discussed the events. My table would be you Mike from Oz, Da Xin, IngeB, Crosspatch, Wial (because he got hit by a brick wall and wears a cool hat), Catherine, Luisport, Scots John (because of his avatar and seems a grounded type of guy) and of course Mr Frimann at the head of the table.

        I may not say much…but I read every comment and respect everyone’s views.

      2. That is such a wonderful thought David although I am not seriously clever like those amazing people. But what a great conversation it would be around that table.
        I often hesitate to make any comments at the risk of sounding as naive on this subject as I really am although I have been paying attention to this page and have learned so much. – A little knowledge is a dangerous thing though. If you are ever in Australia come and stay on the farm.

    1. Thank you for the link, JB. I knew this link, but didn’t read the table up to now …

      Small problem with this table is that there are just mafic volcanoes indicated. They all produce basalt in different qualities. What I think would be interesting is to compare it to andesite and rhyolite producing volcanoes like Soufrière Hills or Chaitén.

      Haraldur Sigurdsson wrote once on his blog about the strong connection between volcanic materials and gasses re. the chemical analysis.

      So if there was eg. rhyolite or andesite included in the magma of Holuhraun, would this not show in a change of the gas composition?

      2. The rhyolite,dacite and andesite were all basalt originally?If Bardarbunga has rhyolite and there is no reason it would not as other similar volcanoes in Iceland do,any eruption would be driven by the large supply of basalt available in the Iceland setting.Would not an eruption start with rhyolite but quickly switch to a basalt eruption?

      3. In general any eruption is gas-driven.

        This study shows that there is a direct link between gas flux, magma volume flux, and seismicity, supporting a gas driven model whereby the balance between gas flux and gas overpressure determines whether the system will support effusive or explosive activity.

        http://geology.gsapubs.org/content/33/5/341.short

  8. hi. I trying to view maybe the best action yet but the my cams are not working . are anyone cams working

  9. At work I cant access the cams…but on wi-fi I can. Like Mike says…keep hitting the F5 button.

    (Captcha…just had to work out 6 x ? = 48. Tough when you’ve had a drink 😉

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