In Stöð 2 (Channel 2) news this evening was a short news segment about four minor eruptions that took place in the time between the dyke intrusion starting (16-August-2014) in Bárðarbunga volcano and until the eruption in Holuhraun (second link here) started (29-August-2014). The second small Holuhraun eruption, that lasted only for few hours (link 1 here [images, 2014], second link here [images, 2014]).
Those eruptions where small, didn’t break the glacier surface, but they did create small cauldrons. Three of those eruptions took place above the dyke on its path to Holuhraun eruption site. One of the eruption took place in side of Bárðarbunga volcano, south of the caldera (red circles on the map in the news). The mystery of what happened to all the melt-water has been mostly solved. Following this eruptions a rift episode took place (ongoing) and that formed cracks in the surface, allowing the water to go underground and not flowing into the nearby glacier rivers.
Magnús Tumi, the geologist spoken with at Earth Science at University of Iceland doesn’t think Bárðarbunga volcano is preparing for a new eruption. I disagree with his assessment. I base my assessment on earlier documented history, far as that goes and also the fact that rifting is currently taking place in this area and such events never do things quietly, even if no eruption happens, earthquakes do (and a lot of them).
Vísir / Stöð 2 news segment in Icelandic
Fjögur önnur eldgos urðu í Vatnajökli frá Bárðarbungu (Visir.is, Icelandic, video, images)
Article updated at 00:50 UTC on 04-March-2016. Error fixes.
Article updated at 21:16 UTC on 05-March-2016. Error fixes.
Some interesting google translations: á umbrotunum í Bárðarbungu, the metabolism of the caldera.
Water going underground?sounds like a convenient explanation,where there is none?I guess the the cracks are on the ring fault,so the melt water went down the ring fault?
No, the cracks formed in the crust above the dyke where most of this eruptions took place.
They are huge. You can see images of them here (image 6 is good), http://jardvis.hi.is/bardarbunga_2014_0
Oh,ok…,I thought they were talking about in the Calder under the glacier.
I talked about this at the time. There was one confirmed eruption… which looked like it had been preceded by several others:
http://www.corestore.org/bb6.jpg
So the charts have been pretty accurate then.