BS: new eruption in Iceland

Subject: RE: BS: new eruption in Iceland
From: leeneia
Date: 12 Apr 21 - 10:46 AM

Jack's link goes to a site with a map of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge in Iceland. It goes right under Geldingadalir, then makes a right turn toward the center of Iceland.

Subject: RE: BS: new eruption in Iceland
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 12 Apr 21 - 08:33 AM

A mere glacier won't stop an eruption. What it will do is melt, and the meltwater may react with the rising magma to create an explosive phreatic eruption.

Subject: RE: BS: new eruption in Iceland
From: skarpi
Date: 12 Apr 21 - 06:12 AM

Jabb we are going into a new error of eruptions, glacier melded its easy way up for the lava

Subject: RE: BS: new eruption in Iceland
From: Jack Campin
Date: 12 Apr 21 - 05:48 AM

here comes Grimsvotn

Subject: RE: BS: new eruption in Iceland
From: DaveRo
Date: 08 Apr 21 - 03:13 PM

I remember travelling through Laxdalur (lax = salmon) in a bus while reading Laxdale Saga - Penguin translation by Magnus Magnusson - remember him?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laxd%C3%A6la_saga

Subject: RE: BS: new eruption in Iceland
From: leeneia
Date: 08 Apr 21 - 11:50 AM

I decided to learn some Icelandic words.

dalur = valley
klettur = cliff
fjara = beach

At our volcano site, dalur seems to become dalir, so that the eruption started in the Geldinga valley, Geldingadalir. I hope Skarpi will correct that if it's wrong.

The fissure has opened further, and lava is flowing into an adjacent valley, the Meradalir. Apparently these valley are completely uninhabited, so that's good.
==========
On YouTube, I look for footage posted by ruv.is, the official "natural-resources" agency of Iceland. One day I looked at a different source, which seemed sensationalized, and commenters said that some of the footage came from Hawaii.

Subject: RE: BS: new eruption in Iceland
From: skarpi
Date: 07 Apr 21 - 08:26 AM

Jabb the third crack has opened, and the direction is north east, and that is not good. All the best from Iceland Skarpi

Subject: RE: BS: new eruption in Iceland
From: skarpi
Date: 06 Apr 21 - 06:13 AM

Haha,ja well I think more is coming.
All the best from Iceland Skarpi

Subject: RE: BS: new eruption in Iceland
From: Jos
Date: 05 Apr 21 - 03:44 PM

Every time I go to the live camera I am offered a translation of the Icelandic below, so I decided to try it.
The English is not as good as Skarpi's. The translations range from charming to incomprehensible. Here are a few examples:

‘The night was quiet and today is well under way for a soda walk ...’

‘things have been going well, says Field Director Sigurdur Bergmann. At least he says twinkles in the air in terms of tomorrow.’

‘She builds her own bosges and since then it's been brought so much into the lava pond that the bosgeians have given themselves up and started leaking from it. It happened last night. The bosoms are at their lowest in the northwest.’

‘Bored weather is south by sea and will be through the night, but is expected to go down in the morning. But those planning a volcanic expedition tomorrow need to get ready well because it's going to be cold in the weather.’

‘no one had melded themselves from Grindavík or anywhere else by The South’

‘There was boring weather at the eruption sites today, but traffic was mostly traumatic, police said.’

‘the new crack is aluminium long and one that opened at the beginning of the eruption in Geldingadalur, and this is probably aluminium big’

Subject: RE: BS: new eruption in Iceland
From: skarpi
Date: 05 Apr 21 - 10:54 AM

Well , more cracks and more lava two
Eruptions going on, this Monday,
All the best from Iceland Skarpi

Subject: RE: BS: new eruption in Iceland
From: Jeri
Date: 03 Apr 21 - 12:56 PM

I'm thinking today's big grey nothing is fog, and not smoke. I suppose things might show up better when night comes.

Subject: RE: BS: new eruption in Iceland
From: leeneia
Date: 03 Apr 21 - 11:11 AM

Jeri, I agree.

Subject: RE: BS: new eruption in Iceland
From: keberoxu
Date: 02 Apr 21 - 04:50 PM

Thank you, o Mighty Mud-Elf.

Subject: RE: BS: new eruption in Iceland
From: Jeri
Date: 02 Apr 21 - 01:38 PM

I was watching a couple days ago when a couple of hiking families photo-bombed the volcano. They moved the camera, and I don't know if that's why. Personally, that "HEY - LOOK AT ME!" stuff is very annoying.

Subject: RE: BS: new eruption in Iceland
From: leeneia
Date: 02 Apr 21 - 01:22 PM

Here's an interesting article about the gases produced by volcanoes. I never knew about CO2 pockets or about gases coming out of the ground near the volcano, ground that looks perfectly innocent.

you can look but don't breathe

I saw two young children at the site yesterday. That strikes me as a very bad idea.

I wonder if the gases emitted by a given volcano are steady, or do they spike and drop in concentration over time? I read that the H2S level here is three times the legal limit, but if it might spike, there is very serious danger.

Subject: RE: BS: new eruption in Iceland
From: leeneia
Date: 02 Apr 21 - 01:08 PM

Thanks, Skarpi, for the pronunciation help.

Subject: RE: BS: new eruption in Iceland
From: Jos
Date: 01 Apr 21 - 07:26 AM

I had a look at the live stream just now and a smiling face looked in from the left of the screen - one of the people there watching.

Subject: RE: BS: new eruption in Iceland
From: skarpi
Date: 01 Apr 21 - 06:53 AM

Leeneia ok working on it, instead of like
Go....put e, say Gr but the sound should be on the e like you would say elvis   ,
So Gel-ding-ar-nes...

Nes like in nessy..try this and have fun
All the best from Iceland Skarpi

Subject: RE: BS: new eruption in Iceland
From: leeneia
Date: 31 Mar 21 - 03:51 PM

About one-third of the cone has collapsed, giving a clear view of two lava fountains. The collapse must have been quite a site. I'm sorry I missed it.

Subject: RE: BS: new eruption in Iceland
From: leeneia
Date: 31 Mar 21 - 03:48 PM

Don't go away, Skarpi. I need you to tell me how to say the name

Geldingardalir

Please just tell me which syllable is loudest.

AND as the only Icelander here, you have a special place in our hearts.
=========================
Other folks, please remember that we are entering the realm of the chthonic gods here, and we're lucky that a unhandy link is the least we might suffer.

Subject: RE: BS: new eruption in Iceland
From: skarpi
Date: 31 Mar 21 - 02:58 PM

Hallo , sorry about that uhh , have no idea what went wrong .
Thank you Jeri
all the best for now Skarpi .

Subject: RE: BS: new eruption in Iceland
From: Jeri
Date: 31 Mar 21 - 11:48 AM

Skarpi's link was very long, and link addresses aren't wrapped like other text, it buggers everything up. No text wrapping. I fixed it.

Subject: RE: BS: new eruption in Iceland
From: DaveRo
Date: 31 Mar 21 - 11:35 AM

Steve Shaw wrote: something weird's happened to the format of this thread ever since skarpie posted that huge www...

Your weird may not be the same as other people's weird. I don't see any words missing, it just widens the page - and may reduce the font size

But if someone could just delete that mega-non-link or replace it with Mr Red's version, that would probably be appreciated by anyone reading this on a small screen. :)

Subject: RE: BS: new eruption in Iceland
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 31 Mar 21 - 11:17 AM

If someone tells me I'm wrong about the positioning of the ridge in Iceland and about which volcanoes are actually on the ridge, that would be great...

Subject: RE: BS: new eruption in Iceland
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 31 Mar 21 - 09:45 AM

Er, something weird's happened to the format of this thread ever since skarpie posted that huge www...

Subject: RE: BS: new eruption in Iceland
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 31 Mar 21 - 06:24 AM

By the way, at the Villa Angela you may just meet Jim Kerr of Simple Minds fame. He owns and loves it!

Subject: RE: BS: new eruption in Iceland
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 31 Mar 21 - 05:59 AM

The Mid-Atlantic Ridge passes through the middle of Iceland and much of Iceland's volcanic activity is along it, but there's a kind of subsidiary area to the west that isn't quite on the ridge, as leeneia intimates, and that's where this latest eruption is. There are some enigmatic features of Iceland's vulcanicity that science has yet to resolve. The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is where two plates are diverging and where magma is upwelling. So far so good, but why is Iceland there at all, when other excrescences along the ridge are overwhelmingly mere seamounts? Hotspots tend to be stationary, in effect, whilst plates move over them, resulting in strings of volcanoes (as, famously, in Yellowstone). No such phenomenon can be discerned in Iceland. Is Iceland the result of a large magma plume, or is there even a plume at all? It goes to show that, even in a place which is the subject of the most intense investigation, the answers are obstinately difficult to elicit. I like that. Unlike with religion, we just keep looking.

In the last six years I've spent two separate weeks at the same hotel with the most amazing view of Etna from the room terrace, 20km away from the volcano. It's been my bad luck both times to be there when the giant was slumbering, especially in light of the fact that Etna has been especially restless in the last few years. Tsk. I'll have to go back. By the way, it's the best hotel I've ever stayed in, it's called the Villa Angela, just outside Taormina, and I'm not connected. It's not hyper-expensive either. The sun sets over Etna from there, and there's always something puffing away out of the top...If you go there, there's a fabulous restaurant just up the road with the same view from its open-air roof terrace. Give my love to Alfio Puglia, the owner. He'll remember me, as I was there the night Liverpool won the Champions League, and he made a Very Big Thing of it... :-)

Subject: RE: BS: new eruption in Iceland
From: Mr Red
Date: 31 Mar 21 - 03:05 AM

Skarpi's map of Iceland's volcanoes - link

Subject: RE: BS: new eruption in Iceland
From: leeneia
Date: 30 Mar 21 - 11:04 PM

Here's a site with information on where the lava is coming from.

https://www.volcanocafe.org/the-reykjanes-eruption-a-look-underground/

I've been wondering about the source of the lava, since the Mid-Atlantic Ridge is to the east. So is this new volcano the result of a hot spot, or what? The article explains.

The DH and I have been to north central Iceland, where tiny cinder cones about 15 feet high dot the landscape. It is an eerie place. In that place, Iceland is being split apart by the Mid-ATlantic spreading center.

Subject: RE: BS: new eruption in Iceland
From: keberoxu
Date: 30 Mar 21 - 09:55 PM

Skarpi,
what the heck happened with your post?
When you posted it, the sentences wrapped around in such a way
that it chopped entire words out ...

Subject: RE: BS: new eruption in Iceland
From: leeneia
Date: 30 Mar 21 - 04:43 PM

Hello, Skarpi. It's nice to hear from you. I'm sorry that eruption was so close in 1973.

Subject: RE: BS: new eruption in Iceland
From: skarpi
Date: 30 Mar 21 - 04:21 PM

Right , DaveRo , just for the record Hekla is NOT the biggest volcano in Iceland , the biggest one in Iceland is Öræfajökull ( Öræfa Glacier witch is in the Vatnajökull Glacier ) here is a map :Katla is bigger than Hekla , and all though this lava eruption is small , we should remember what Laki eruption did to the world in the 1793 , so we could have a problem here in Iceland , why well , Hekla and Katla is on time about to erupt , along with the Biggest one witch started to meld the ice on it two years ago , and also there is another volcano in Vatnajökull glacier witch erupts more than others , if those mountain start , then all flight ´s are off. we have this thread along with Covid and all that follows . If Öræfa jökull volcano starts ,it will wipe out all life in 20 km radius I heard said , if thats right then god help us . well there are about 20 thousand people witch has watch the lavaeruption , some of them has hurt them self and that eruption is not over could go on for month´s , as Icelander I am used to earthquakes and eruption s , I fled VestmannIsland eruption in 1973 , it started only 900 mtr from our house , we lost everything so I know how it is to loose every thing . please take care of you self and you r family , all the best from Iceland . on this site you can watch our earthquakes and eruptions https://en.vedur.is/earthquakes-and-volcanism/earthquakes

---

Skarpi's link. I changed it to html, because a mile-long link will force the text to not wrap. -Mod

Subject: RE: BS: new eruption in Iceland
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 30 Mar 21 - 03:23 PM

Thanks for those pics, Dave. We know and love most of your places, having spent two weeks just outside Taormina, up the big hill towards Castelmola, a week in Siracusa (we stayed just over the bridge in Ortigia), where we saw the Greek and Roman amphitheatres, as well as our stay on Lipari. We "did" Etna (obligatory). We caught the bus one day from Siracusa to Noto (fabulous) which had to negotiate flash floods in a thunderstorm but the driver wasn't going to take any prisoners. By the time we arrived it was quite a nice day. We both love Sicily and we're far from done with it yet (though having been frustrated this year). I have lots of photos of the view from Vulcano and I noticed that you didn't have the same clear atmosphere that we had - it was the only day we had without the haze and that was courtesy of a huge windstorm the day before with a force ten gale in 30-degree heat...

Subject: RE: BS: new eruption in Iceland
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 30 Mar 21 - 01:00 PM

"Do they have the same life expectancy as other people?"

Not in Pompei they didn't... ;-)

Steve, I know you followed it with a wink, but. . .
Life expectancy in Pompeii was much the same as the rest of the country. It's just that the expectancy was proved wrong ;)

Subject: RE: BS: new eruption in Iceland
From: DaveRo
Date: 30 Mar 21 - 08:33 AM

Steve Shaw wrote: Lipari town is the fleshpot centre on Lipari

Yes - we moored next to this boat: Booze Cruise

Quite a few pictures of the Aeolian Isles, and later Etna, in that album if to page to and fro.

Subject: RE: BS: new eruption in Iceland
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 30 Mar 21 - 06:47 AM

They are indeed beautiful though there's a touch of tourist blight (contributed to by me, he added hastily...) on Lipari, Vulcano, Stromboli and Panarea. We stayed on Lipari for a week but for several days windy conditions prevented our visiting all the islands. We missed out on Alicudi, Filicudi and, sadly, Salina, which, as you suggest, is a world apart. Apart from walking up the volcano on Vulcano (got it right this time...) there isn't much else on that somewhat tatty island. Lipari town is the fleshpot centre on Lipari, but the island is big enough to get away from the hordes. Panarea is the fashionable and expensivo place to go for the jet set, and Stromboli has a tatty town and probably a lot that we must have missed on our two-hour stopoff. The best thing is to go on a trip on a small boat from Marina Corta on Lipari from which you get the most amazing island scenery - don't forget to indulge in the best granita and cannoli in Italy before and after. The other best thing is the walk up to the crater on Vulcano, an hour's dusty slog which rewards you with some of the best views you'll ever see as long as you can choose a day without that pesky Mediterranean haze.

Subject: RE: BS: new eruption in Iceland
From: DaveRo
Date: 30 Mar 21 - 03:48 AM

Steve Shaw wrote: I'll tell her what a beautiful island it truly is but I won't mention the volcano just yet...

Actually there's not much there apart from the volcano. We were stormbound there for a week. There's an excellent volcano museum in the village perched on the rim.

The Aeolians Isles are much nicer. Particularly Salina: no volcano, but a great harbour, good walks, and excellent wine - which they don't export.

Subject: RE: BS: new eruption in Iceland
From: robomatic
Date: 29 Mar 21 - 07:39 PM

Let us not forget the tourist who accidentally fell into an acidic hot spring at Yellowstone and died and dissolved before recovery could be effected.

Subject: RE: BS: new eruption in Iceland
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 29 Mar 21 - 06:07 PM

Dave, the only Greek place I've ever been to is Kefalonia. Whilst I know about the catastrophic Minoan eruption, I must confess I didn't know about Nisyros (but I do now!). I fear that Mrs Steve has got volcano fatigue, brought on by my over-enthusiastic advocacy of visiting these elemental forces of nature, but, once this horrid lockdown finally melts away we'll be off on our travels again. I'll tell her what a beautiful island it truly is but I won't mention the volcano just yet...

Subject: RE: BS: new eruption in Iceland
From: DaveRo
Date: 29 Mar 21 - 05:33 PM

Very different types volcano, different types of eruption. The lava from this Icelandic eruption is thick and slow moving. White Island was an explosive eruption.

Interesting that the area is closed due to gas. Hekla, Iceland's biggest volcano, is notorious for emitting flourine which poisoned sheep over a wide area.

I visited Iceland decades ago and climbed up Krafla. We walked across 'recent' lava - still hot a few centimetres down. The guide told us where we could walk without falling though. Terrible midges!

Steve: been to Nisyros?

Subject: RE: BS: new eruption in Iceland
From: Donuel
Date: 29 Mar 21 - 05:03 PM

The joys of lava cooking by scientists cooking sausages in Iceland sounds tasty.

Subject: RE: BS: new eruption in Iceland
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 29 Mar 21 - 04:48 PM

If you're talking about White Island, yes I did. As I understand it, warnings were ignored...

Subject: RE: BS: new eruption in Iceland
From: leeneia
Date: 29 Mar 21 - 12:05 PM

Dead tourists, Steve? Didn't you hear the reports from New Zealand?
=========
Take a look at this pair:

https://grapevine.is/news/2021/03/22/eruption-area-temporarily-closed-due-to-gas-emissions/

They obviously are not aware that the roots of that turf they are on can be on fire while the top looks normal.

Subject: RE: BS: new eruption in Iceland
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 26 Mar 21 - 04:39 PM

It's what you do. We stood feet - inches - away from vicious fumaroles in Campi Flegrei. I still have a pair of sandals with a patch of melted rubber on the sole. I remember jumping around to escape the heat from the ground. We were gassed by sulphureous fumes. We walked over fields of sulphur and deadly gases on Vulcano. You visit a volcano and doing these things is part of your essential experience, especially if you live, like I do, in one of the most un-volcanic places on Earth. Don't knock it. You can't tell from photos how close people really were. When you can give me lists of dead tourists, I'll accept that you've proven me wrong. Otherwise, let's let each other spice our awe of nature with a bit of danger. Not too much. Just a bit.

Subject: RE: BS: new eruption in Iceland
From: Mr Red
Date: 26 Mar 21 - 03:27 PM

I was amazed by a video showing sight-seeing.

Lots of people were standing pretty close, but some were amazingly close to creeping cherry red lava.

Subject: RE: BS: new eruption in Iceland
From: DaveRo
Date: 26 Mar 21 - 07:43 AM

As far as I can gather the eruption is in a valley - Geldingadalur (dalur = valley as in 'dale') - south of Fagradalsfjall (fjall = mountain, or 'fell') where the webcam is. Fagradalsfjall is an old shield volcano, 385m (1200') at it's highest point.

I think the hills in the picture are all lavas similar, perhaps contemporaneous, with Fagradalsfjall. The one opposite appears to have two layers, a harder top and a softer bottom in which rain has cut deeper crevices.

The pictures of sightseers give a better idea of scale:
https://grapevine.is/
(scroll down to the bottom articles)

Subject: RE: BS: new eruption in Iceland
From: leeneia
Date: 26 Mar 21 - 01:07 AM

Scientists discover a new energy source:

lava sausage

Howard, that's an interesting observation about the land surface.

It intriques me that the hills surrounding the new volcano look nothing like it. The DH (geologist) thinks they were formed by ash.

Subject: RE: BS: new eruption in Iceland
From: Howard Jones
Date: 25 Mar 21 - 08:30 AM

I'm mesmerised watching the live webcam. It appears to be more active at night, although maybe that's just because it looks more spectacular after dark. As well as the lava flows extending further each day, what started as a small vent has recently become a second cone, nearly as big as the main one. Fascinating.

Watching people close to the lava flow, it intrigues me to think that the surface they were walking on will not see light again for millions of years.

Subject: RE: BS: new eruption in Iceland
From: Jack Campin
Date: 24 Mar 21 - 09:09 PM

Nat Geo story

I have a distant family connection to the author. If he's right the show will be getting re-runs for decades.

Subject: RE: BS: new eruption in Iceland
From: Jos
Date: 24 Mar 21 - 01:35 PM

I had never heard of a ten-yard dumpster, never mind being familiar with it, but I know how long a yard is and I am assuming it means it is ten cubic yards. I have been trying to visualise it. The area of a double bed is three square yards. Therefore it would be a bit more than the area that would be covered by three double beds side by side, and a yard high. Is that about right?