Volcanoes
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Attention

Iceland's Bardarbunga volcano: Magma moving towards new volcanic system

Rebecca Morelle
BBC News
Tue, 26 Aug 2014 08:00 UTC
monitoring volcano
The University of Cambridge is monitoring the area with 70 seismometers
The magma from Iceland's Bardarbunga volcano could be moving towards another large volcanic system.

Data recorded by a team from the University of Cambridge suggests that 50 million cubic metres of molten rock has moved in the last 24 hours.

If it continues on a northern trajectory it could feed into the Askja volcanic system, potentially triggering a large eruption.

Prof Bob White said: "It's headed straight for it."

But he cautioned that volcanoes were hard to predict.

"It's moving at about 4km a day towards Askja, and if it keeps going it will get there in a few days," he told BBC News.

"We know there is a lot of molten rock sitting under the ground beneath Askja, which is a major volcanic system. If this molten rock hits that, we know it is likely to trigger it to erupt.

"But who knows, it may just stop. It is still at 5km-depth, and it is possible it could freeze there and not a lot more will happen. That is perfectly plausible."

Comment: Click Play below to see the volcanic activity around the world map for the month of August. The Ring of Fire is active as well as the "usual suspects" in Europe:



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Attention

Major seismic event imminent? Strange glowing lights seen by pilots over part of the Pacific Ring of Fire

Jonathan O'Callaghan
Daily Mail, UK
Tue, 26 Aug 2014 13:06 UTC
Image
Strange lights have been spotted near the Russian peninsula of Kamchatka (image by Dutch pilot JPC van Heijst). The sighting was made by pilots flying from Hong Kong to Alaska. The glow came about 20 minutes after a vertical lightning bolt was seen
* Strange lights have been spotted near the Russian peninsula of Kamchatka

* The sighting was made by pilots flying from Hong Kong to Alaska

* The glow came about 20 minutes after a vertical lightning bolt was seen

* Dutch pilot van Heijst ruled out squid-fishing-boats as the origin

* He says the cause may have been an underwater volcano

* An ongoing investigation is taking place to find out what happened

A pilot and his co-pilot have spotted a mysterious orange and red glow over the Pacific Ocean.

The strange lights were spotted south of the Russian peninsula Kamchatka during the flight of a Boeing 747-8 from Hong Kong to Anchorage, Alaska.

And while no explanation has yet been given, it's thought that they may have originated from the explosion of a huge volcano under the surface of the ocean.

Comment: Note that the pilots saw "an intense flash of light like a lightning bolt, directed vertically up in the distance". While there was no thunderstorm in the area, this does not preclude some form of electrical discharge event, which can and have occurred in virtually cloudless skies. A photo of a 'blue jet', or sprite, was photographed above Australia a few days later.

What could the red blobs be then?

Note that they occurred at the same time as the string of strong earthquakes hit the western side of the Americas (California, Peru, and Chile, on August 24th). So these lights may be another form of 'earthquake lights' that appear with episodes of subterranean stress, pockets of illuminated plasma between charged layers of the atmosphere.

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Bizarro Earth

Small lava-eruption detected under Dyngju­jök­ull glacier, near Bárðarbunga


mbl.is
Sat, 23 Aug 2014 00:00 UTC
Bárðarbunga
© mbl.is/Á​rni Sæ­bergBárðarbunga
A small lava-erupti­on has been detected und­er the Dyngju­jök­ull glacier. Dyngju­jök­ull is a part Vatna­jök­ull, not far from Bárðarbunga.

The Icelandic Co­ast Guard airpla­ne TF-SIF is flying over the area with representati­ves from the Civil Protecti­on and experts from the Icelandic Met Offic and the Institu­te of Earth Sciences. Data from the equip­ment on bo­ard is expected later today.

Data from radars and webca­meras are being recei­ved, show­ing no signs of changes at the surface.

The estima­te is that 150-400 meters of ice is abo­ve the area.

The aviati­on col­or code for the Bárðarbunga volcano has been changed from orange to red.

Comment: See: Icelandic Bárðarbunga volcanic eruption begins

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Bizarro Earth

Iceland's Bardarbunga volcano erupts, airlines put on high alert


RT
Sat, 23 Aug 2014 23:04 UTC
Eyjafjallajokull volcano
© Agence France-Presse/Emmanuel DunandArchive Photo: Smoke and ash bellow from Eyjafjallajokull volcano as it is seen from Asolfsskali, Iceland, on April 23, 2010
Iceland's Bardarbunga volcano began a small volcanic eruption as lava burst out underneath the Europe's largest glacier. In response, the government closed the airspace around the volcano, triggering fears of air chaos.

Iceland has issued aviation red alerts for Bardarbunga and authorities have evacuated the remote area 320 kilometers (200 miles) east of the capital of Reykjavik.

Following conflicting reports, the Icelandic Met Office confirmed the eruption under the Dyngjujökull glacier icecap in the northern part of Vatnajökull glacier.

The local authorities are keeping the country's airspace open, but have declared a no-fly zone of 100 nautical miles by 140 nautical miles around the eruption zone.

But, the no-fly zone could be expanded if the eruption melts the ice and spews volcanic ash.

Comment: This is the latest data point showing an intensification geological activity all over our Big Blue Marble:
  • Earthquake 'swarm' observed at remote Aleutian volcano - 5 volcanoes in Alaska are now simultaneously active
  • Authorities report volcanic eruptions and earthquakes intensifying in Kamchatka
  • Russian volcano Klyuchevskoy sends pillar of fire 1,000 meters into the air
  • Underwater Antarctic Volcanoes Discovered in the Southern Ocean
You can also check out earthquakes and volcanic activity over the past year below:



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Bizarro Earth

Icelandic Bárðarbunga volcanic eruption begins

Anthony Watts
WattsUpWithThat
Sat, 23 Aug 2014 13:59 UTC
From the Icelandic Met Office

It is believed that a small subglacial lava-eruption has begun under the Dyngjujökull glacier. The aviation color code for the Bárðarbunga volcano has been changed from orange to red. Image follows.

Volcanic Eruption
© Icelandic Met Office
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Blue Planet

Iceland's Bardarbunga volcano alert raised to red after signs of eruption

Haukur Holm
Agence France-Presse
Sat, 23 Aug 2014 10:56 UTC
Image
© AFPMap showing Iceland where residents close to the Bardarbunga volcano have been evacuated after warnings of a possible eruption
Iceland raised its alert over the nation's largest volcano to red on Saturday, banning all air traffic in the area, after detecting a small eruption.

A major explosion at the Bardarbunga volcano could signal a replay of the global travel chaos triggered when another peak blew four years ago, creating a massive ash cloud across Europe.

"There is an ongoing eruption beneath the glacial surface, probably a small eruption which has not been able to melt the ice cap," Met Office official Theodor Hervasson said.

The authorities earlier this week evacuated tourists and hikers from the area around Bardarbunga, which kicked into seismic action on Monday with the biggest earthquake registered since 1996.

Comment: We'll find out soon enough... Gigantic Icelandic Volcano Could Plunge Europe Into Immediate Ice Age...

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Alarm Clock

Iceland evacuates area near Bardarbunga volcano amid eruption fears


RT
Thu, 21 Aug 2014 06:30 UTC
Bardarbunga volcano
© Reuters / Sigtryggur JohannssonA warning sign blocks the road to Bardarbunga volcano, some 20 kilometres (12.5 miles) away, in the north-west region of the Vatnajokull glacier August 19, 2014
Tourists were evacuated from around Iceland's Bardarbunga volcano, as seismic activity has increased in the area. The possibility of the volcano waking up has evoked memories of the 2010 aviation chaos, caused by another eruption in Iceland.

Seismic activity in the Bardarbunga vicinity has not been decreasing, the Icelandic Meteorological Office reported on Thursday.

"The highest magnitude during the last 24 hours was about 3.8, measured at 23:38 last night (20th August)", the agency's statement said.

There were around 1,000 small earthquakes detected in the area Wednesday that prompted the evacuation of about 300 tourists.

"The area is now closed and has been evacuated," Iceland's Civil Protection Authority said on its website. "These actions were taken following seismic activity around the Bardarbunga caldera in the last few days."

The agency also said it would carry out further air patrols over the volcano to make sure no one was left there.

If the volcano doe start to erupt, it would lead to the Vatnajokull glacier which sits over it melting.
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Umbrella

Bárðarbunga volcano getting ready to erupt? 1000 earthquakes as magma moves into ice covered caldera

Anthony Watts
Wattsupwiththat.com
Wed, 20 Aug 2014 05:47 UTC
From the Icelandic Meteorological Office:

A summary of seismic activity, written Tuesday evening 19th August 2014 at 20:00
Image
© Wattsupwiththat.com
Around 1.000 small earthquakes were detected in the Bárðarbunga region from midnight (18/19) until Tuesday evening 19th August at 20:00. All of them were smaller than magnitude 3 and most were located in the cluster east of Bárðarbunga.

While the northern cluster close to Kistufell has calmed down significantly following the M4.5 earthquake on early Monday morning, event rates in the eastern cluster are still high. Similar to recent days, two pulses of comparably strong seismic activity have been measured between 04:00 and 08:00 this morning, as well as 16:00 and 18:30 in the afternoon. The cluster east of Bárðarbunga continued to slowly migrate northeastwards today. Events are still located at around 5-12 km depths, no signs of upwards migration has been seen so far.

Below is a summary map of all manually revised earthquakes since the onset of the swarm, which illustrates the migration of earthquake activity during the last days. Earthquakes in the map are colour coded by time, dark blue dots show the onset of the swarm on Saturday, orange dots Tuesday's events until 19:00, light blue and yellow are the days in between. The time scale is days since the onset of the swarm.
Image
© Gunnar B. Guðmundsson, Icelandic Meteorological Office.
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Dominoes

Volcano eruption off Japan could cause tsunami


3 News
Wed, 20 Aug 2014 05:00 UTC
new volcano japan
© vyagers.comAn undersea volcano has created a new Japanese island 620 miles south of Tokyo. The eruption took place 500 meters from the uninhabited Nishinoshima Island.
An erupting volcanic island that is expanding off Japan could trigger a tsunami if its freshly-formed lava slopes collapse into the sea, scientists say.

The small, but growing, island appeared last year and quickly engulfed the already-existing island of Nishinoshima, around 1000 kilometres south of Tokyo.

It now covers 1.26 square kilometres.

The island's craters are currently spewing out 200,000 cubic metres of lava every day - enough to fill 80 Olympic swimming pools - which is accumulating in its east, scientists said.

"If lava continues to mount on the eastern area, part of the island's slopes could collapse and cause a tsunami," warned Fukashi Maeno, assistant professor of the Earthquake Research Institute at the University of Tokyo.

Chichijima island Japan
© www.japan-guide.comChichijima, in the path of a possible tsunami.
He said a rockfall of 12 million cubic metres of lava would generate a one metre tsunami that could travel faster than a bullet train, hitting the island of Chichijima - 130kms away - in around 18 minutes.

Chichijima, home to about 2000 people, is the largest island in the Ogasawara archipelago, a wild and remote chain that is administratively part of Tokyo.

Comment: Big things can start out in small packages. As the earth opens up more and more each day, the potential for disaster lurks, for some, only 18 minutes away. Have you been monitoring earth changes around you and have they motivated you to become more alert, observant, conscious and aware?

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Bizarro Earth

Iceland tells airlines Bardarbunga volcano under glacier may erupt, raises alert to orange

Omar R. Valdimarsson
Bloomberg
Mon, 18 Aug 2014 08:37 UTC
Bardarbunga
File photo: Bardarbunga, 7 November 1996
Seismic activity has been detected at Bardarbunga, including a strong earthquake
Iceland warned airlines that there may be an eruption at one of the island's largest volcanoes located underneath Vatnajokull, Europe's biggest glacier.

The alert level at Bardarbunga was raised to "orange," indicating "heightened or escalating unrest with increased potential of eruption," the Reykjavik-based Met Office said in a statement on its website. Over 250 tremors have been measured in the area since midnight. The agency said there are still no visible indications of an eruption.

The volcano is 25 kilometers (15.5 miles) wide and rises about 1,900 meters above sea level. Bardarbunga, which last erupted in 1996, can spew both ash and molten lava.

Comment: Given the news, this quote from an article that we published in 2011 seems timely and pertinent:
Bardarbunga's last major eruption was horrendous. It changed the weather pattern in northern Europe and darkened the skies for months during 1477. That gigantic eruption generated the largest lava flow in 10,000 years and significantly expanded Iceland's land mass.

Grim experts concede that if the volcano's current activity culminates in an eruption equal to that of 1477, all of Scandinavia and much of northern Russia and Europe will be left reeling.The UK will be slammed by choking volcanic dust, grit and poisonous superheated gases. Commerce will grind to a halt, the skies will blacken for weeks, perhaps months, and agriculture would be severely affected.

The late Cornell University professor, astronomer Carl Sagan, used the consequences of large volcanic eruptions impact on global cooling as part of his theoretical model for the frightening prospect of a nuclear winter.

Ken Caldeira, an earth scientist at Stanford University, California, and member of Britain's prestigious Royal Society working group on geo-engineering, explained that "dust sprayed into the stratosphere in volcanic eruptions is known to cool the Earth by reflecting light back into space."

That simple process has led to the starvation of whole nations in the past. Volcanic gases and dust suspended in the atmosphere cool the Earth to a point where the growing seasons significantly shrink and crops cannot reach maturity.


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