Not again! Icelandic volcano set to erupt dwarfing last year's devastation, warn scientists

 

 

By Daily Mail Reporter

Last updated at 4:28 PM on 9th February 2011

 

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Scientists in Iceland are warning that another volcano on the island looks set to erupt, threatening to spew-out a blanket of dust that would dwarf last year's eruption.

Geologists detected the high risk of a new eruption after noticing an increased swarm of earthquakes around the island's second largest volcano Bárdarbunga.

Pall Einarsson, a professor of geophysics at the University of Iceland, says the area around Bárdarbunga is showing signs of increased activity, which provides 'good reason to worry'.

Last year's eruption of volcanos near Eyjafjallajokull, located in the south of the island, caused chaos around the world as hundreds of planes were grounding due to dust and ash filling the sky.

 

 

 

Eruption: Lava flows from Eyjafjallajokul sending plumes of thick black smoke high into the air in Iceland

 

Cloud: Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull volcano caused travel chaos in May last year with hundreds of planes grounded

 

Mr Einarsson told the country's national TV station 'RC:v' that a low number of seismometer measuring devices in the area is making it more difficult to determine the scale and likely outcome of the current shifts.

But he said there was 'every reason to worry' as the sustained earthquake tremors to the north-east of the remote volcano range are the strongest recorded in recent times and there was 'no doubt' the lava was rising.

 

The geologist complained that the lack of coverage from measuring devices means he cannot accurately detect the depth and exact location of the increased number of localised earth movements.

'This is the most active areas of the country if we look at the whole country together,' he told Icelandic TV News.

'There is no doubt that lava there is slowly growing, and the seismicity of the last few days is a sign of it.

 

Map: Bardarbunga is in a more central position north east from Eyjafjallajokull. The last recorded eruption of Bárdarbunga was in 1910

 

'We need better measurements because it is difficult to determine the depth of earthquakes because it is in the middle of the country and much of the area is covered with glaciers.'

Eruptions at the Eyjafjallajokull volcano thrust torrents of molten rock through the shattered ice sheets in the mountain crater, spewing a towering wall of ash, dust and steam high into the air.

Respected volcano watcher Jón Frímann, said on his volcano watch blog: 'After the

Eyjafjallajokull volcano eruption in 2010 it seems that geologists in Iceland take earthquake swarms more seriously then they did before.'

He explained the Icelandic Met Office had on Sunday warned of the increased risk of a eruption in north-west side of Vatnajökulll glacier due to the high earthquake activity in the area, and added: 'It is clear that only time is going to tell us if there is going to be a eruption in this area soon or not.'

The last recorded eruption of Bárdarbunga was in 1910, although vulcanologists believe its last major eruption occurred in 1477 when it produced a huge plume of ash and pumice and the largest known lava flow during the past 10,000 years on Earth.

It is the second largest volcano on Iceland and is directly above the mantle of molten rock.

 

Delays: Thousands of passengers whose flights were cancelled were forced to travel hundreds of miles by coach or ferry

 

 

 

Stuck: Passengers queue to board coaches for other airports, after their flights were cancelled due to the volcanic ash cloud re-entering the UK's airspace last year

 

 

 

Could this happen again? Scientists fear that the Bardabunga volcano could cause similar scenes if it erupts

 

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1355123/Icelandic-volcano-erupt-dwarfing-years-Eyjafjallajokull-devastation.html#ixzz1DU4pF95Y

 

:shrug:.

oh no :worried:

FFS not again:angry:.

"Eyjafjallajokul"

 

:laugh3:...sounds like a new mood smilie.

^ actually I think this name sounds really nice pronounced :nice:

oh no :worried:

 

Volca-no?:rolleyes:

It's all Björk's fault

It's all Björk's fault

 

Wouldn't it be Oh So Quiet then?.

Interesting. Any other papers or sites published this?

It's all Björk's fault

 

Wouldn't surprise me in the least. Her shrill warbling could definitely cause an eruption!:P

 

:shrug:.

 

Uh, climate change is all about surface stuff... volcanoes are affected by forces deep within the earth that humans have no control over. Some might say we were overdue for a few major eruptions.

 

Now how airlines respond next time, that's a different issue.

 

Volcano halts Icelandic flights

 

Iceland has closed its main international airport and cancelled domestic flights after its most active volcano, Grimsvotn, began erupting.

 

A plume of smoke has risen 20km (12 miles) into the sky from the volcano.

 

But Iceland's Meteorological Office says the eruption should not cause widespread disruption to air traffic. Last year, ash clouds from another Icelandic volcano, Eyjafjallajokul, led to the closure of a large section of European airspace.

 

Governments feared that ash particles could cause aircraft engines to fail, and the closure caused chaos to air travellers. Hjordis Gudmundsdottir, a spokeswoman for the Isavia civil aviation authority - which has imposed a flight ban of 120 nautical miles (222 km) around Grimsvotn - said: "We have closed the area until we know better what effect the ash will have."

 

Keflavik airport, the country's main hub, will remain shut for the rest of the day, the authority said. But officials say the eruption is unlikey to have the same impact as last year's. Pall Einarsson, a geophysicist at the University of Iceland, said the 2010 eruption was a rare event.

 

"The ash in Eyjafjallajokull was persistent or unremitting and fine-grained," he said. The ash in Grimsvotn is more coarse and not as likely to cause danger as it falls to the ground faster and doesn't stay as long in the air as in the Eyjafjallajokull eruption."

 

Icelandair pilot Thor Kristinsson told the BBC he had flown near the volcano on Saturday. "We were able to finish our flight but we did see the ash plume rise fast. We were at 38,000 feet ... and the ash was at least at 40,000 feet at that time.

 

"It looks at least as bad as the one last year and it looks like it could get worse. It's as big, if not bigger than the last ash cloud."

 

Grimsvotn lies under the the largest glacier in Europe, Vatnajokull in south-east Iceland.

 

Reuters news agency says that when it last erupted in 2004, transatlantic flights had to be re-routed south of Iceland, but no airports were closed.

 

Last year's outpouring of ash from Eyjafjallajokull led to the largest closure of European airspace since World War II. About 10 million travellers were affected and some questioned whether the shutdown was an over-reaction.

 

However, a scientific study published last month said the safety concerns had been well founded. Researchers from the University of Copenhagen and the University of Iceland said ash particles from the early part of the Eyjafjallajokull eruption were especially abrasive, posing a possible threat to aircraft engines.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-13489944

It's the beginning of the end of the world!

gr I am supposed to go on holidays by plane Next week

^Where are you going on holiday?

 

The latest article on that (from BBC World News).

 

23 May 2011 Last updated at 09:47 GMT

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-13498477

 

Iceland volcanic ash cloud set to reach UK

 

An ash cloud from the Grimsvotn volcano in Iceland is expected to reach the UK by the early hours of Tuesday morning, the Met Office has said.

 

It does not necessarily mean there will be airspace closures but makes flight disruption more likely, it said.

 

The cloud is predicted to affect parts of Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

 

The event comes a year after ash from the Eyjafjallajokull volcano spread across Europe, causing huge disruption.

 

The Met Office, which runs Europe's Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre, earlier said there was a possibility of ash moving across the UK towards the end of the week.

 

But a spokesman said the weather was much more changeable than at the time of last year's eruption and there was a lot more uncertainty.

 

'Better prepared'

 

The Civil Aviation Authority and the UK's air traffic control service Nats said they were monitoring the situation closely.

 

Foreign Secretary William Hague, speaking before a meeting EU counterparts in Brussels, said he did not expect a blanket closure of UK airspace.

 

"I think we are far better prepared and we'll have far better information and intelligence which allows us to adjust things without necessarily the blanket bans on flights which we saw last year, but of course it depends on how the situation develops," he said.

 

The Grimsvotn volcano began erupting on Saturday with ash rising to 20km (12 miles) but, although still active, is now not as powerful with a plume of 13km (8 miles).

 

By the early hours of Tuesday morning the cloud is expected to cover a vast crescent across the North Atlantic from northern Russia to the British Isles.

 

During last year's eruption UK airspace was shut down completely by the authorities as a precaution but this time airlines will make their own decisions about whether it is safe to fly.

 

The National Airspace Crisis Management Executive is meeting every six hours to assess the situation.

 

Different scale

 

Icelandic air traffic control has created a no-fly zone around the volcano and cancelled all domestic flights. The country's main international airport, Keflavik airport, has been closed.

 

The Grimsvotn volcano lies beneath the ice of the uninhabited Vatnajokull glacier in south-east Iceland. The latest eruption is its most most powerful eruption in 100 years.

 

However, University of Iceland geophysicist Pall Einarsson said the eruption was on a different scale to the one last year.

 

"It is not likely to be anything on the scale that was produced last year when the Eyjafjallajokull volcano erupted," he said.

 

"That was an unusual volcano, an unusual ash size distribution and unusual weather pattern, which all conspired together to make life difficult in Europe."

 

The ash particles from this eruption are said to be larger than last year and, as a result, fall to the ground more quickly.

 

Iceland has been badly affected by the current eruption, with ash falling across the country including the capital Reykjavik.

 

Tourists have been evacuated from the country's main national parks and farming has been hit.

right prediction but wrong volcano!

does that mean the other one could still go too?

^Let's not hope so. The answer is blowing in the wind.

Got caught out badly last year because of the last Icelandic volcano.

 

I had the option of booking a flight this week to go home. I decided ages ago to book the long haul ferry. I've outfoxed the fiery, dusty fecker...and at cut price as well!

Ash Cloud.. means lots of tourists will be held up here...

Tourists that can help in the Spanish Revolution! ;):sombrero:

meh, volcanoes erupt, might as well adapt! Perhaps this is a good thing in the long haul - gets industry to retool and redesign those jet engines to handle dusts, either make tougher turbine blades, or find some way of filtering out the dust with centrifugal separation techniques or electrostatic filters; I know the air velocity is tremendous, but who know - there might be an answer!

I guess this means everyone's going to get in a "lava" again............................. :rolleyes:

I guess this means everyone's going to get in a "lava" again............................. :rolleyes:

Only if they go with the flow!:P

Only if they go with the flow!:P

 

I think you're talking out of your ash!:P

It takes real grit to change the world - just a grain of advice. :P