Eyjafjallajökull Update for 5/11/2010

Good morning.

There is indeed steaming in the river, and it doesn't appear to be due to hot meltwater from the glacier. It's very likely just atmospheric conditions... or could it just possibly be heating from below? The EQs were trending out under the river yesterday...

Good morning and bom dia! I am glad the weather is holding out. Great views again!

On the mulakot webcam it seems that the vent is wider now or one of the two inactive vents became active again.

@2: The FLIR cam shows a hot river, maybe your theory is right?

Amazing -- the current "Wild West" flying style in Germany, with jet pilots flying by sight at altitudes of 1500m or lower.

http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/0,1518,693764,00.html

@fireman atmospheric conditions are likely but if it isn't could get interesting a new fissure/vent would change the game

There appears to be that the noise that I am seeing on my geophone is human made. It can be told by the clock. Based on when it starts and stops.

I don't know what it is that is creating this noise. But I do know now that it is human made.

Sorry for stating the obvious but since when is steam brown in colour, thats dust being driven by the wind.

I don't see any thermal anomaly in the river - otherwise I would have mentioned it!

If you compare the FLIR images from yesterday and the ones today she is without a doubt emitting more heat. The heat plume is higher before it cools down.

Would this point to a larger pressure coming from below? I dont know but it seems like if the plume reaches a bit higher than yesterday before succumbing to the wind.

@ Jón #8 Thanks for your answer, it looks that way.

On the hvolsvelli camera can anyone explain the low ground haze that surrounds the top of the volcano even on the upwind side of the crater? It seems to be slowly expanding to lower levels.

#3 Bom dia, Corporal. Still have all the children around?
#11 Yes, it seems to me the plume is going higher straight up.

I first noticed it as 2 or 3 spot sources rising close to one of the streams and their does not appear to be any thermal anomalies but that is a not for sure thing with the scaling of the image rather than a absolute temp indication

Are these old contrails here: http://www.mulakot.net/myndavelar.html

Kind of ironic if they are :)

Okay, so we got a source -> human made,
but how ? and where ? and why ? and what ?

i have nothing found that some probes are getting taken (drilling) or some work has to be done like before the 1st melt where they opend some roads, heard of nothing simillar for the last two days and it started yesterday morning. Lets see if we get a afternoon break again.

#2: Nah. Too brownish. Has to be dried-up mud. We see a lot of that here on the European side of the ridge during the summer. Glacial rivers leave sediment as they slow down. When it dries, wind whirls it up and blows it away. In really bad cases, it can leave the sky uniformly brown with visibility down to "ARRGGH! Where's a b4y radar when you need one?!?"

Definitely plume looks much higher on Múlakot cam. Windchange or pressure that is risen?

The "double plume effect" again shoing on Múlakot's
http://www.mediafire.com/imageview.php?quickkey=zz5mymnwwtt
And this shows a "schok wave" effect on clouds.
http://www.mediafire.com/imageview.php?quickkey=0eydzmrfnmd

Oi Renato, tudo bem? Yes, my 11 year old had three friends over yesterday, and they all sat around my computer watching all of the cams. She just won 1st place for a weather event in Science Olympiad Competition on Saturday, and she is now mad because she can't download the cams to her cell phone! How are you?

Been looking at the Road Works station map. They indicate rising W-ly winds of 10-15 knots and temps around 11°C. I wouldn't be surprised if the wind rose to 15-20 kts as it's funnelled into the valley that Markarfljót runs through.

@Brian (#13)

It's ash, the heavy particles that fall to ground pretty quickly.

#21 Tudo bem, Corporal. I can imagine how excited they get watching this unique show by the volcano. I'm just getting dressed to leave for work, but the volcano keeps me attached to the screen. I might be "fired" because of Eyjaf... looks like others here fear the same. But it's no use. We just keep on looking...

Hi all! To me it looks like the FLIR cam shows much higher heat than yesterday, is this true and what can we conclude?

I just saw Daniel pointed at it to. Tremor is going up too.

@23 Anna. That's what I thought but it extends to the left upwind and down the slope toward the camera. Maybe it's dust kicked up by lava bombs arriving around the vent: it's been getting pretty violent up there the last hour or so.

There is a high level jet flying to the left of the plume here: http://www.mulakot.net/myndavelar.html

You can see the contrail quite clearly!

Looking at the timing and depth between the EQ's on http://en.vedur.is/earthquakes-and-volcanism/earthquakes/myrdalsjokull/…, it looks like the only recent movement has been pretty deep.

@24 Estou muito bem, obrigado. Tenho que ligar para algums clientes hoje no Brasil. Eu falo muito melhor do que eu escrevo, lol. And please don't get fired over the volcano..I think she has many more suprises in store for us!

#8, #17: According to the Road Works map for S-Iceland, there is work in progress near the village Hella. No idea what hours they keep or if it's making enough ruckus to befuddle the geophone.

Got a link for me, please ?
a quick google search didnt get me right away what i was looking for.

#20 Renato.

The double vent seems to be the same vent just momentarily split by something. I might be wrong

And the shockwaves on the clouds..I dont think so. It simply seems to be high altitude clouds. See them sometimes here in swe and we do not have any active volcanoes..:-) What causes this effedt on the clouds is unknown to me.

Here's a pic of the jet contrail to the left of the plume ... kind of ironic :)

http://www.mediafire.com/imageview.php?quickkey=jxjzemyijm5&thumb=4

#31 @ Daniel: That sounds like a good explanation to me. In yesterday's blog there was a discussion about this "second vent",so I just wanted to show how it appeared again today. But you might be just right about it. As for the shock waves, hehe, just a teaser of my part before a long working day. I'll be back tomorrow, Icelandic time. Thank you all.

i have to sit down a minute.
i just stumbled into a thread where Bárðarbunga was being discussed. i found it by following a thread from Google. i've been reading this wonderful site by Eric and i'd quite forgotten what madness lay outside.
Let me catch me'breath.
Whew!
Best!motsfo

WHAO...Kettle's boiled.. Huge burst of activity and height of plume just now.

The plume temperature seems much higher today than yesterday according to the FLIR cam. It looks as though higher temperatures are reaching higher in altitude into the plume, assuming camera calibration has not changed.

Has the temperature scale on the FLIR camera been tweaked or is the ash plume really hotter than usual, today?

For many of us this is the first "live volcano watch". And as alot of us are so called "amateur volcanophiles" I am starting to believe we tend to overreact on the small things. :-)

In the previous post Boris Behncke wrote that judging by a video posted by Anna (i think) it seems that EF will continue in this fashion for a while yet.

I have seen some thing which has made my eyes widen more and my thoughts started spinning directly in regards to Katla, Hekla and even Grimsvötn system. These things (which made me jump) are obviously business as usual in regards to the volcanic eruption. I for one has learned thi biggest lesson so far..Dont jump to conclusions and cry wolf when she (EF) gets alittle hotter, ejects more or simply trembles abit.

But hey, I am as I said an amateur without any education in volcanism/geology and these are just my 2 cents.

PS: This blog has tought me alot though. DS. TY Erik, Boris and all who has patience enough to "teach" us. :-)

I apologize if this is a dumb question. I'm just a volcano voyeur not a scientist. :o)

Is there something changing in the eruption to cause the ash to be heavier? It just seems the "fallout" begins almost immediately. I don't recall seeing that ash "curtain" so heavy before. Thanks!

Ash plume is definitely gaining some altitude.

#37, Mr. Moho.

The temp scale does not seem to have been tweaked as the bottom of the valley still has the same colour as yesterday. The most probable reason would be that she just pushes a bit harder today.
The EQ´s from yesterday at large depth may have meant that more magma came up and now she is ejecting with bigger force. Bigger volume of ejecta through the same vent...Kind of the "Squeeze a garden hose" effect.

@Brian (26), the plume shoots up at least 1000m before it starts to bend to the wind. It's entirely possible that the wind at the surface of the glacier is blowing in a different direction.

Video, being two-dimensional, messes with your sense of depth and direction. Are you only looking at the Hvolsvöllur cam? Check the others for comparison:

http://www.vodafone.is/eldgos

http://eldgos.mila.is/eyjafjallajokull-fra-thorolfsfelli/

Katla cam: Visibility greatly reduced. Colour looks like ash.

Errrr I don't know why no-one has mentioned it, but the currently active vent is NOT the one that has been active for the last day or two! It's not even the one that produced my 'second plume'. Activity has clearly moved far to the east.

Compare Voda and Ãórólfsfelli cams right now to my double plume of two days ago:

http://www.corestore.org/3vents.jpg

(original 'two vents' shot is on the right, todays active vent is on the left)

Ãórólfsfelli

It also appears that the ash might be darker in color today but that might be a trick of the light. Will have to wait until the sun strikes it from a different angle to tell for sure. But if the material is more basaltic today, that could account for the higher temperature as I believe more basaltic magma is generally hotter.

Erik, going back to the discussion of magma compositions from yesterday: I'm sure there are analysis of the most recently erupted rhyolites, and one could plot mixing curves between those compositions and the basalts that initially erupted from Eyjafjallajökull this year. For the non-specialists, if the andesitic material being erupted now fell on the curves, that would support mixing. I can't get sidetracked into that myself right now, but maybe some other petrologists out there could give it a shot.

The folks actually doing the analyses of course will tackle this, but it may be a bit before they report any interpretations.

I see there has been some lightning detected today. Wonder what that means.
http://andvari.vedur.is/athuganir/eldingar/vikan_is.html

It certainly looks bigger and hotter today and the 'haze' which rolls away down the slope, in both directions, seemed to start yesterday afternoon. Does anyone know what it might be. I wondered at a heavier gas mixed in with ash?

#39 Janet, the only dumb question is get one that does not get asked. :)

The grain sizes produced by the explosions are larger now; I was just about to comment about it, too.

There is a nifty litter critter on the lens of the Hekla cam right now..http://www.ruv.is/hekla

Of course he flies away as soon as I hit submit lol

Haha...On saturday on one of the more popular swedish channels they will broadcast "Dante´s Peak".

Opportunism anyone?

I withdraw that second vent allegation; on closer inspection the difference in scales fooled me for a moment. Move along, nothing to see here!

I'm pretty sure that the FLIR cam only shows relative temperature, which means that it could be the surroundings that are cooler today. That's how thermal imaging usually works: It doesn't show the absolute temperature of an object, it creates an image that describes differences in temperatures within the image.

I have a new link for all of you about ash trajectories. it shows collumnar concentrations, so i guess is even better than the VAAC predictions.

http://transport.nilu.no/browser/fpv?fpp=conccol_VO_1_

Cheers!
David Calvo.

@54: I believe it can be also set up to show temperatures relative to a fixed threshold.

@55 Awesome link! Thanks David! That loop does a great job of showing the ash trajectories. You can see why places like Morocco and Turkey have had flight cancellations.

Looks like there's a rainy front about to hit Iceland's west coast.

@54: How come the surroundings are the same as yesterday then? Should be quite a big temperature difference on the non related areas if it would be a relative temp. That would mean that the temp in the valley below would plummet by many many degrees.

I might be wrong in this and would love to get a deeper analysis of the cam. Just guessing here..:-S

@59: well, they're not exactly the same. If you've seen recent timelapse videos of the FLIR cam, ground temperature drops a bit during night, then rises again during daytime. Now the weather has been clear for a few consecutive days and ground temperature is maybe a bit little higher than yesterday, not much noticeably more, though.

I think the current temperature scale has been set up to show temperature values proportional to the absolute pixel temperature, (or better, relative to a fixed threshold) rather than the hottest visible pixel. Otherwise we would be seeing colors flashing often.

But of course, I might be wrong as I'm not a FLIR cam expert.

can't wait until midnight so I can generate the new Timelapse movie of the FLIR Thermal Camera for 2010-05-11. It will be spectacular....

@ 59: You're right, and I'm a little less sure about how to interpret the image now, considering it's the same colour in the valley as yesterday. It would be interesting if someone who knows more about how to interpret thermal images could comment. I only know that it depicts relative temperature, and that makes it hard to draw any conclusions.

Certainly looks hotter today on the FLIR! Also, the base of the plume appears wider. Weather de luxe! Maybe I should go get some popcorn for tonight...

@59 and @62. Could it be smoke rather than steam? The smoke appears to be rolling down-hill and I wonder if it is now moving along the valley floor.

Is that ash that has been on the ground that is blowing at the base on the Ãórólfsfelli cam?

Have to agree with you Dan... was watching little sut devils down blowing around earlier... :)

Here you have some link about FLIR Cameras

WebViewer try analyzing and reporting tool ONLINE...
http://www.flir.com/thermography/eurasia/en/content/?id=26162

Seek the Heat
http://www.flir.com/Thermography/campaign/i5/

#63: Not too much popcorn. The forecast isn't that promising.

short link to FLIR side by side CAM : http://support.flir.com/volcano

Hi all, I just made a Chat room for all here so that there will be no need to update page all the time.

http://client14.addonchat.com/chat.php?id=467860

@69.... nice, but chatrooms are blocked by my employer's firewall :(

...reading 'Subglacial and Intraglacial volcanic formations in Iceland," watching Eyja, listening to http://www.tonlist.is/Music/Album/3830/atli_orvarsson/the_soul_of_the_g…
: )

Looking at the radar it will be curtains in 30 min.
It was nice, but we will be back to graphics for a while....

EJ explosivity 11 may http://http.ruv.straumar.is/static.ruv.is/vefur/11052010_eldgos.wmv

WOW!

The explosions seem to go every which way, and it looks some lava got expelled down the slope - at least there is a less-dense, dark haze rising.

Dumb question:
Wondering if the ash is affecting weather? Where does the ash go? Does some stay in the atmosphere and effect the tempature on the groud?
Freezing cold in NYC today!

Hi all ... what is the latest on SO2 emissions?

well, THAT last blast put the steam up downslope...

If someone can see Thoro cam and there's anything going on, please post. I had the beginning of steam but lost the cam and can only see HVOL and FLIR now.

@Dagmar 73 ..and if you pull it out to big screen, you can just catch a glimpse of the bigger steam outlet lower down on the glacier for a minute.

From Hvolsvöllur camera, the ash plume has just grown in size and reached the top of the screen.

Seems we've got lava at the front of the glacier again.

Back to glacier death watch. :-)

Re: chat - for those who come later and miss the post, and those who don't/can't chat, does the conversation automatically come back here?

Ash seems to be reach greater heights and much denser then the last few days and it looks like more lava is interacting with the glacier. I wouldn't want to be downwind of this.

@73: An extended version (03:27) of the same footage can be seen at
http://www.nrk.no/nyheter/verden/1.7120298

There are two quite spectacular ones at 2:40 and 2:50 (close-up).

Unless Dr. K gets upset with the volume of comments, I'd actually recommend keeping the conversation here: not only is it more universal for people, but it keeps all the questions (even the "dumb ones" :P) logged for people to come back and review.

The chat can, of course, be useful for people on a more immediate basis, but unless it's archived somewhere you lose all that information/resource data. Here, it's shared and available to all us folk who don't know much but are having fun following along where we can.

#78 I hava Thoro cam having just logged in for a while, and there's a lot of action... Dust in the river valley, plenty coming from main eruption column which is dropping a lot of ash, and what I think is low cloud intermingling with the steam column. Difficulty I have is that low cloud appears to be travelling very slowly in different direction from the eruption column and now obscuring steam column

@83 Thomas. Just watched the footage that was great thank you

@78 birdseye Couple of captures here.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8388935@N04/

It has been confirmed by the news that there is now more ash production going on from Eyjafjallajökli. This also means higher ash plume. But there is currently more explosive phase from 12:00 UTC.

http://www.ruv.is/frett/aukin-gjoskuframleidsla

@83 "...lava gets thrown high in the air, but that does not mean there is increased activity in the volcano." Now, that is responsible journalism.

#85: The low cloud is steam evaporated from the glacier by hot, fresh lava.

@83Thomas Nygreen Takk så mye, and the article is interesting too - 'expect to see more spectacular sights' but not because the volcano is more active, just that the way the caldera is building, we are able to see the activity better...

@birdseye: Don't give up on the cams. I close the window which stops allowing the thorolfs and hvolsvelli cams, open a new one. Repeat as each cam gets jammed.

Really nothing's changed much since 11am (thread time). In fact, it's clouding up. Pretty much of the right side of the hvols cam is covered with plume. But, It's prolly the wind conditions that are moving the plume in such a way that it looks big. The dust in the valley continues.

When I get totally jammed, I use the picasa site to get updates (as well a mulkot)

http://picasaweb.google.com/102175391233488315229?utm_source=twitterfee…

Where did the other hot spots on the FLIR go? Did they close up just as this larger ash plume rises?

Relaxed ash restrictions over the UK for aircraft. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8674704.stm

@ 93 Prolly cloud cover is dense and hiding the hot spots.

@95 You are right. I did not think that little cloud could hide the heat sources so well.

@92parclair oh, my closings and openings are busy, busy... usually one gets going and the other one jams ..no Voda in any case, realtime. : ) Glad picasa is updating during the day today, it hasn't been the past couple of days, at least in the mornings.
@Corporal_E , Clouds... Boo....

Jon Frimann;

is that wind noise on you helicorders , or is that volcanic tremor ??

Thanks
robert somerville

Jòn has the wind incresed recently, and is the recent 8 m/s enough to create some wind interference on your seismograph? I am thinking about the increase in signals during the last two hours. I have not seen the same increse in the tremor plots from Eyjafjallajökull area. If the increase in signal comes from the eruption, why does it not show up on the tremor plots?

@robert somerville, it a construction work of some type nearby. But there is wind noise there too. But it appears differently then harmonic tremors or wind noise.

Lightning was reported from the ash plume today.

Hihi. We were thinking the same thing robert :)

Thanks Jòn.

#73 and #83: Thanks for those incredible video links. It's great to be able to see what the explosive events look like from the top. Amazing and humbling.

Jón wrote that in the icelandic news today it was stated that ash production and explosivity had increased since 12.00. That would explain the increase in heat on FLIR cam as well as the height of the "hot plume" since I guess that newly ejected ash is quite hot.

Business as usual then..:-)

I would like to thank "Merlin, UK" from the previous thread who posted an excellent guide to the more "difficult to understand" phrases withing the volcanophile community. Worth reposting.

http://volcano.oregonstate.edu/glossary/1

Cudos to Merlin, UK!

@Dan 87 thanks for that post, nice of you - cams are coming back now - think it must have something to do with how many neighbors on my pathetic cable hookup are online too- and always bad once their kids get home from school lol

Can anyone say what the strange "curtain" to the left of the base of the plume is on http://www.mulakot.net/myndavelar.html ?

Here is a video of the eruption. I don't know if it has appeared here before. It has been recently been taken, but I don't know when.

http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid34830125001?bctid=84618…

At night when I go to bed I dream that I look out the window and see lava rolling down the slopes of the Cuillins.

Have I been watching this volcano for too long?

@Brian on Skye (lucky dog, was there in the '60's) - You're just seeing back in time, that's all... http://www.snh.org.uk/publications/on-line/geology/skye/roots.asp

Icelandic Met office have posted an update on activity very short I must say. Here it is:

Little changes are reported since yesterday. Shortly, a status report issued collectively by the Icelandic Meteorological Office and the Institute of Earth Sciences will be accessible on our web.

@birdseye How dare those children take up your broadband! ;)

@Daniel 105 - thank you for nice remarks but it wasn't me who posted that excellent link - so please step forward whoever it was to take your bow!

On the Mila website I can only get the Flir cam to work and on the Flir website I can only get the ordinary cam to work, so I have to keep two tabs open so I can watch both does anyone else have to do this or just me?

@JónF108,thanks. (also longer version @73) Compare with this for difference...
http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid34830125001?bctid=79060…
@parcair, beats dial up but just barely!

Aah who ordered the clouds with a side of blocked FLIR?

National Geographic HD already aired a documentary on the Eyjafjallajökull eruption on may 4, 5 and 6. Fantastic quality footage in 1280x720 resolution. For those who missed it. The documentary can be found in newsgroup alt.binaries.multimedia Link of NZB for this video can be found here:
http://www.binsearch.info/?q=iceland.volcano.eruption.720p-dhd&max=25&a…

Jón's post @88 also mentions that there were 16 earthquakes under the volcano in the(then) past hour..??? Removed form the map now? Never made the map?

Any glaciologist here who can explain what will happen to the glacier next? Summer is coming and the glacier has turned dark, but ash protects from solar irradiation as well. Or maybe ash will be washed off by the rain anyway? More melting, less melting, same melting?

Seems like the nice view will be gone for a while. It's going to snow for at least 12 hours from now, according to forecast from Norwegian weather site yr.no.

www.yr.no/place/Iceland/Su%C3%B0urland/Eyjafjallaj%C3%B6kull/hour_by_ho…

Hi guys, just saw a video clip on VG.no of the eruption.

so anyone wondering where the lava goes,it seems like it runs back to the big main crater.

paolo..

when the sun starts heating up the ash covered ice, it wil start melting, as the ash is black and it will get warmed up. se we can see some more melting trough summer.
if it starts Raining up there, we can probably get some smaller lahars /jökullaups as the depsoits will be washed away with melting water.

Can someone take a look at http://www.mulakot.net/myndavelar.html (3rd picture from above, refreshes every 2-3 sec just hit refresh) and tell me what it is I am seeing? The cam is still relatively clear and the plume seems to be somewhat chaotic.

Clarification to #122. By chaotic I mean that it seems to have widened. Not the vent or the base but the spread of the plume. Directly on the left side of the base it seems a bit erratic as well.

Ah of course..A big shipment of clouds just arrived as I wrote my previous posts. Nevermind then. :-)

@Jón: Didn't you say that something would start happening when north-south inflation got to -10? From most stations it has reached that point as of yesterday.

time-lapse from the 9th of may: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYAoVRE_Gak

@117 Peter Tibben - to adopt a phrase from Reynir - *Grmbl* - off to Google - 'what is NZB', followed by 'What is a newsreader' ; ) Getting quite the education, here....

@StarBP, #125: Since volcanoes are very different by nature and this one in the extreme all anyone can do is guess. Jón has had very accurate predictions so far but as EF starts acting more and more erratic all guesses will be just that, a qualified guess. Maybe something will happen at a later point in time or not. I dont think even the most experienced volcanologist would be able to predict this one if I understand all articles and comments correct.

Did anyone else see that lightning (or something) on Thoro cam??

At least we can still see the flow of meltwater on the Thoro cam...and as I type type this...the clouds start getting lower lol

Birdseye, educate me please, what is NZB, and how do I use it?

http://www.simnet.is/jonfr500/earthquake/tremoren.htm
Jon's Helicorders

I tried to google Airplane Noise and Helicorder Data - North America is sending some flights over Greenland or North Iceland to avoid the Ash Clud. Can your helicorder pick up change in air plane flight paths?

@Snotra

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NZB

@StarBP, It was my believe that new magma would start to push up when the north-south would reach 10mm to the south level. But it happened earlier and a lot faster then I did expect. What happens next is a good question. Besides opening up a new vents or a fissure I have no model for what might happen in terms of explosiveness of the eruption. We are just going to wait and see on that.

I hope that the cloud clear in few hours time.

@birdseyeUSA That takes too much to explain in a few words. For more information/tutorial see: http://www.binaries4all.com/
In English and Dutch

@JB US, My geophone is not able to detect the noise from air plains that flight above it. That signal is too far away, and it is too weak to be picked up.

@snotraviking - I haven't attacked it it yet - but see @ 133 & 135! My triumph for the day was getting so I can use .wmv - can only handle one major technological advance at a time! ; )
@135 Peter Tibben, thank you, I took a look, it may be more than I will ever use!

Did anyone ask for bombs? I got bombs. My friend Gummi is even crazier than I thought...

http://gummiey.posterous.com/

3rd photo down...!

#132: The best instrument to pick up the noise from aircraft at altitude is a high-quality microphone, likely a condenser type with a cardiodid pattern.

Did Mila remove the Vala cam completely? There's no longer a link to it on their English site. (Sorry if this was mentioned earlier; I haven't had time to read earlier posts)

#140: It's gone from their Icelandic side as well.

@138 Fireman ~ Great pics! I love the one where the rock melted down into the glacier.

@138 Fireman, great picture of the bombs --

I was just watching the news on RÃV and there was a very brief clip where at least 20 Nordic volcanologists were lined along this ridge by the crater, watching the action and these enormous bombs falling left right and centre.

Like flies drawn to an open flame ...

To answer the question about the ash and the weather #75.
Similar questions can be read in nearly every thread on Eruptions about Eyja. I will try to give an answer, but i think it would be better to write a blog post about the climatic effects of a volcano, so that all are able to read it and learn a little about it.

It is not the ash that has climatic impacts. Ash is absorbing light in the visible range of the light and is warming up due to this. ON the other side is ash simply not long enough present in the atmosphere. it will fall down in relative short time.
SO2 is the main gas which leads to cooling.
It reacts with oxygen to SO3. This will take up water and form very fine droplets of sulfuric acid. These do not absorb much light, but reflect and are the cause of a slight cooling after major volcanic eruptions (like Pinatubo). In order to have a measurable effect the SO2 must be injected into the stratosphere, otherwise it will not persist in the atmosphere long enough to give any effect. It simply works (like the ash) as cloud condensation nuclei and it will rain down in rather short time. In the stratosphere it may have an effect for one to three years.
Eyjafjallajökull has not enough power to produce a plume with sufficient height (with some small exceptions) to reach the stratosphere. I do not think, that it will have any effect to the climate, may be some local rainfalls, but not more. Hope this helps a little.

PS: This is my first post here, so .....hello everybody from Sweden

Okay the day is over and we got again 10 hours of noise nearly same amount like yesterday.

today we had some quite strange hours between 16:15-18:19,
simmillar to these hours were noise at 14:10, 15:20, 15:30.

We had this at 9:05, 12:50, 13:37(couldnt resist) and 15:40 yesterday, also we had the break between 18:30 till 19:50.

But i can nearly interpreted everything in this picture. Its fact that it started yesterday and its really strange.

Some nice ideas till now for the source of the spooky thing, but i'm out of one.
It looks really human, cant thing for any procress inside our Big Mama that could course something like that, when it would proceed in the night time but it isnt.

After the start of that noise was the great swarm of eq's.

@144 folke ~ Hi! Would the duration of the eruption have a factor? Even if it didn't make it to the stratosphere but continued an eruption at the current rate for say a year or more. What kind of weather change could that cause if any?

@Frito Lay, #140: No wonder. The camera is positioned on Valanúk, which is a mountain behind Thórsmörk and now inside the closed area. So there is no chance for maintanence like loading or exchanging batteries.

@Peter Tibben, #140: Thats how times change. Do you know a free newsserver which has this group as well? I am not going to pay for another newsserver, which I don't need. Or a torrent...

"And now, in his rear-view mirror,"
http://www.ruv.is/frett/oskufall-i-rangarthingi

janet, it wont have any climate effect, the eruption is not big enough, But on the otherhand, the longtime effects if it last very long is that it will make some acid rainfal, and the ash produced will cause some seroiusly local effects on Iceland in general, and the economic will be hit hard specially in the Airline industry and to those living on Iceland. remember the ash falling down on iceland will only become deeper and deeper on the ground,and can in very serious eruptions burie a city and houses.. like fex pompei was.
But for this to happen Eyjafjöll needs to continue for a loong loong time or become pyroclastic.. only time will tell how this will evolve further..
whats likely now is probably that she will just continue as she has done the last month,or even open up more vents.. wonder what will happen when the main crater is freed from the ice??

For those interested in learning more about volcanoes and climate, I recommend this paper:

VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS AND CLIMATE
Alan Robock
Department of Environmental Sciences
Rutgers University
New Brunswick, New Jersey
http://climate.envsci.rutgers.edu/pdf/ROG2000.pdf

Usually only large eruptions from tropical vulcanoes have significant impact on climate. But there are exceptions in the past, and one remarkable was in Iceland, the 1783-1784 Laki eruption:

http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2006/05/current-volcanic-…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laki

Another know exception (although less dramatic) to the "tropical rule" was the eruption of Novarupta in Alaska in 1912 that weakened India's summer monsoon:
http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2006/03oct_novarup…

@Dennis, I am now fairly sure that this is human made noise from some type of construction. As it only happens during the working hours of the day.

Usually only large eruptions from tropical vulcanoes have significant impact on climate. But there are exceptions in the past, and one remarkable was in Iceland, the 1783-1784 Laki eruption:

http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2006/05/current-volcanic-…

Another exception (although less dramatic than Laki) to the "tropical rule" was the eruption of Novarupta in Alaska in 1912 that weakened India's summer monsoon:
http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2006/03oct_novarup…

@144: If there are no major new developments at Eyjafjöll, I would tend to think that it is mainly a nuisance at worst (or awesome spectacle at best). Would even Katla going off be much worse - typical Katla eruptions are 0.1-1 km^3 of tephra? The Katla eruptions that have followed EF tend to be among the smaller ones.

A pattern in the EF-Katla scene seems to be that about 10-15 years after EF, Katla has gone off really big time, at least twice. The 920 EF eruption was followed by VEI 4 at Katla but 934 Katla went off the Eldgja way (18 km^3 lava, 5 km^3 tephra). 1612 there was VEI 4 at Katla (0.2 km^3 tephra) but in 1625 an order of magnitude bigger event. On the other hand, the 1812 EF eruption was followed by only a VEI 3 event at Katla.

Eldgja is said to have released some 200+ million tonnes of SO2, about twice the Laki emissions at 1783. If something of similar scale was to happen again what would the impact be in the modern day Europe?
http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov/volcanowatch/2008/08_11_26.html
"Laki and Eldgjáâtwo good reasons to live in Hawai`i"

Guess anyone?

What country today is the cleanest country in the world?

http://tinyurl.com/36zd6v3

Marko, don't kid yourself too much about living in Hawaii, lol. Depends on what island you are on. If you are on the Big Island, Mauna Loa can be a mean character.

I loved the video from #83. Thanks Thomas. It's really cool.

I have been gone all day and when I get back, nothing! Rats! Well, I guess I can be happy I got to watch it for a couple of nights at least.

Did anything major happen today? From what I have read so far, it has increased and then lessened a bit.

@Anna and Jon, please keep us posted as to what you are seeing there and experiencing. I value your input. And that goes for the other Icelanders that post here.

Clouds clouds go away
So we can see the mountain
Blowing lava high

The biggest volcano in Iceland has not being named here.
The name is Bárðarbunga and has had a lot of EQ recently.
8500 years ago it produced 21-30 KM3 of lava 950 KM2.
Info here in Icelandic: http://www.eldgos.is/archives/15
http://eyjan.is/blog/2010/05/10/skjalftavirkni-ovenju-mikil-undir-barda…
In English: http://www.godlikeproductions.com/forum1/message1048041/pg1
http://www.volcano.si.edu/world/volcano.cfm?vnum=1703-03=
Dagur Bragason Iceland

Quiet night (or at least a sightless one) - a good time to catch up on things not done and extra sleep - might need it later!

@Chris #148: Thanks for the info. I hadn't heard that the area around the Valanúk Mila cam was completely sealed off to everyone.

Well, at least we has 2 wonderful days and nights of literally uninterrupted "E" viewing, including a wonderful lava/magma explosions, and a steady ash/steam plumes.

Now, all we can see are the raindrops on the HVO camera, hopefully skies will clear sometime tomorrow :o).

Pretty quiet day on the EQ front but it looks like Jon's geo-phone is showing a slow increase in harmonic tremors. Also, if I am not mistaken, the two latest EQ's are beneath the cryptodome. This could signal something interesting, or perhaps ominous, or maybe the start of just another series of quakes beneath the postulated dome.

Time will tell.

@ jon

so who is it ? what are they doing ?

Heklubyggð
http://www.gorge.org/iceland/sat-vik-to-hveragerdi/fullsize/DSCF4185.JPG
where is it located ?

i just wonder because i think nothing like that had happend since the eruption started and i have 1st found your Helicorder.
Now its the 2nd day with it, i cant think of a company that is sending workers out to this point.
okay @146 fair fact but i hope not.
Couldnt find the "route work for s-iceland"-link yet (@ 29)

Since everyone seems to be having a quiet night (with the possible exception of the inhabitants of Vik, you can enjoy this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GITm8J8LfWc

@Fireman #164 Great video!

And for those who have kids that don't like scary music, here's a project the whole family can enjoy - build your own Eyfalkjollkajofullohwhatshername volcano!

http://www.bgs.ac.uk/research/highlights/iceland/3dVolcanicModel.html

Slowly but slowly the weather seems to be improving. Every once in a while you can get a glimpse of the eruption (partial views only) on the Eyjafjallajökull from Ãórólfsfell webcam or at least on the FLIR, but it's changing rapidly....

@Dennis, They are building summer houses there. But I don't think that is creating this human made noise on my geophone.

Then could you please give me your clue to this "harmonic termor"?
Is there more data ?

@Fireman164 - wow - quite the nightcap! Thanks.

Hmmm, it may just be the fog or my straining eyes, but it just appeared as if there was a lot of steam rising from GÃgjökull.

Did she use the cover of darkness and fog to resume the emission of a lava flow?

Ummm -Ermmm- caught a glimpse just now on Thoro cam/Flir and the cloud on the right was moving but the brighter cloud on the left wasn't - I don't think - looks like big steam down low....in the arch area...

http://eldgos.mila.is/english/eyjafjallajokull-fra-hvolsvelli/

Looks like there has been some lightning too.

http://andvari.vedur.is/athuganir/eldingar/vikan_is.html

Well, got fooled on that one - but at least I had company! over & out!

#170 There was an episode of heavy fog not long ago when the last effusive stage. Once the fog raised, a pretty chunk of GÃgjökull was gone.

Perhaps the melting of ice by lava produces fog due to the boiling of the melting water.

@Dan #173

Yes, I just saw a clear lightning strike on the Ãórólfsfell webcam. Let's hope the opening in the cloud covers stays that way for a little bit - I need my volcano viewing fix for the evening...

Ohhh, has my beloved arch been compromised ?? It certainly does look very ominous on the glacier - very steamy/active.

When there's a break in the cloud, it appears that the dark plume extends down the lava trench. It will be interesting to watch as it reveals itself - something has happened...

Is it just me, or is the dark ash plume far more to the left of the image on Thoro now???

Well, the humidity etc. in the eruptive column must be suitable for lightning today. I've seen a number of strikes already.

And I still think there's steam rising from GÃgjökull...

@176 Holger Just after you wrote that I went back and just missed capturing a lightning shot. :(

Holger/Kathryn, - I think something huge has happened on the glacier.. looks like a massive plume rising from it.. suspense is killing me!

Couldn't stand it, still here - it's definitely steam on the upper side of the glacier on the left, I think - right-hand edge is too truncated to be a cloud or fog...??? and I think I occasionally see 'breathing ' where the cleft ought to be....do I??

>Eldgja is said to have released some 200+ million tonnes of SO2, about twice the Laki emissions at 1783. If something of similar scale was to happen again what would the impact be in the modern day Europe?

Catastrophic for the entire northern hemisphere.

From the National Acadamy of Science:

"Less confidence can be placed in large-scale surface temperature reconstructions for the period from A.D. 900 to 1600. Presently available proxy evidence indicates that temperatures at many, but not all, individual locations were higher during the past 25 years than during any period of comparable length since A.D. 900".

The Medieval Warm Period started approximately 850AD, but the period centroid is at 1000AD.

Glacier recession. Each of the Katla-Eyjaf pairwise eruptions appears to occur during these warm periods.

Finally read news reports indicating that the IES geologists have admitted we are in a period of 'unusual crustal activity' (typical Icelandic understatement).

This is why I keep pointing towards swarm activity at 'pressure responsive centers', located at Tjornes and SISZ Transform faults and Reykjanes Ridge. Probably Bardabunga / Askja centers, too.

Geothermal Shake, Rattle and Roll!

Speaking of which, when you see the meltwater river 'steaming' as was mentioned this morning, it may be either geothermal activity or it may be lava (which occurred during the Fimm vent eruptions).

Finally, the vertical tremor plots are picking up a little 'steam', too.

http://hraun.vedur.is/ja/Katla2009/gosplott.html

Perhaps the direction of the wind shifted and we got deposition of ash on the glacier and this side of the mountain? That would certainly accelerate the melting of the ice...

Yes, Helen. Huge suspense. I've missed the show the last two northern nights due to work here in Aus - 'bout time I got in on the action ;-)

Kathryn - NZ here - there's an advantage to being down under when a northern hemi volcano goes off - night shows during the day, for one :))

The mulakot webcam is still too dark to say for sure, but from what I could see the ash cloud may indeed have shifted towards the GÃgjökull / Ãórólfsfell direction.

Soon we should be able to see what happened to the glacier, arch, and valley during the foggy weather.

The 'noise' you are picking up is from HARRP.

Check out youtube info one spectral readings for the Haiti earthquake and others.

I will try to find these vids again and post a link.

I also watch the weather patterns posted on 'weather underground' channel for my area. After entering your zip code, page down to the bottom and Check out consecutive days before and after major earth events, weather or ground, and you will find strange phenomena recorded for wind direction, barometer and dew point.

Often the only stations reading on those days are the ones at airports that must report correctly for flights to take off and land.

Watch this video, a series of 5, about the Hopi prophecy...in Video 4, I think, or 5, Mt St Helens is spoken of as is the whole of the cascade range...the prophecy states that they will begin to speak once certain events come to pass.

You volcanophiles may have alot to look at in the 'not to far' future.

It is my hope that those of you with a mind to scoff, will hold your tongues.

Good luck

Hopi Prophesy Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzjgL8YAmN4&feature=related

Well, it looks like my arch lives to spew melt water for another day :)

@Helen #182 & @Kathryn #178

It's really difficult to see, but something has happened to the upper part of the glacier for sure. Not so sure about the lower end, the ice patch in front of the glacier 'mouth' still seems to be there.

With the steam and clouds rolling by it's really a big tease, isn't it?

@Helen #187: Not quite right about the night./day relationship between the N and S hemisphere. There are still quite a few people in the north who can still watch the volcano at night while it is day in their location.

MadScientist - it's ok, I wasn't claiming exclusivity! Just commenting on our location is all.

I think something isn't quite right on the 'glacier highland' left of GÃgjökull (as seen from the Ãórólfsfell webcam). A constant stream of heavy steam is rising from there.

Either we have a new lava flow going into that direction (possible), or we had quite a bit of ash being deposited in that area during the night (most likely explanation), or we had another rift opening up somewhere in that vicinity (least likely, but most exciting possibility).

It is indeed a thrilling view and great suspense.

(I'll check back in in a couple of hours - I have a class to teach at the gym.)

See you later, Holger. Hopefully you'll have a better view on your return. It really is perplexing how the main dark vent appears to be in a different place (left of original) - new opening?

The wind has changed, according to weather map, and maybe it's pushing the eruption more directly to the left, which would make it look like it moved, since it's been going more away from us - but that doesn't help with the apparent steam up on the left side 'highlands' as Holger calls it - there was one day a while back when there was a little steam coming from that area, as I recall. Any other ideas?

@197 Birdseye - I can still see a wee mushroomy-type plume coming from where the main ash plume use to come out.. but that solid dark mass now on the left of the top of the glacier is bugging me, I thought perhaps wind direction might make the plume look like it is coming from there but it just seems too dense and rising upwards to be being blown there. Just throwing ideas around like Lady Eyja throws boulders :)

@198 Helen Leggatt (North or South Island ? I went to school in Dunedin for a year..)Other times, the plume has gathered up whatever cloud might be around and made it part of the plume - also heavy ash could come around like that on a wind change maybe? Very teasing picture, for sure...she's playing with us.

I just observed lightning at the "new" plume (now farther to the left, as others have also noted). Wow. Something has definitely changed lately.

@199 birdseye - South (the best!) - living in inland Canterbury in the foothills of the Alps. Dunedin - gorgeous down there (I came to NZ from its counterpart - Edinburgh) - Otago Uni?

Hi Helen. North Island better ;) We've got the volcanoes here. (Just so long as Taupo don't go pop anytime soon)

@210 Helen Leggatt - Columba College - best friend was from Roxburgh, now living up on North Island - our home was in ChCh.

@Helen: Hehehe; the first time I was in Dunedin (NZ, not Scotland) I went with a pair of German students; as we drove into the city I asked "so when are we getting there?" and I was told "we're already here". There's not much happening in the South though (except for the occasional earthquake, or avalanches if you're in the SW) - the north has all the nice smelly geothermal areas and volcanoes, and the glow worms too. Have you been to the Vulcan Pub in Central Otago?

I give up - am thinking now that the 'steam ' up on the left is clouds hung up in the next valley - have a good day, all you Southern hemisphere folk! (Christmas at the beach was hard for a kid used to snow!)

There have been lighting in the ash plume over the last hours.

http://andvari.vedur.is/athuganir/eldingar/vikan_is.html?

Morning Jón. Tried to capture some of it earlier but my timing sucked. Saw a couple but fingers were to slow. :(

lol@ MadScientist - the south island certainly doesn't have the most "happening" towns (I'm a rural kinda gal so that's fine by me) but we do have the amazing Alps, the fantastical blue glacial lakes, Fjordland, amazing central Otago (with its haunted Vulcan hotel!) and, to top it all, there are only 1 million people on this island ;0) the other 3 million live on the other one!

Anyone want to comment with authority about all of these quakes that are happening. The last time this mother started aligning we had a vent open up, then the main show and now its creeping North/N. East and SW.

The tiger sleeps just 8 miles east.....

Too bad the fog and clouds rolled back in and we can't see much anymore.

Interestingly, Jón FrÃmann helicorder has started to show increased activity again, and this time it's too early for construction workers and it doesn't look like the 'staccato' style signal of the last two days.

My estimate still is that something happened / is happening, we just can't see what it is...

Good morning. What's that supposed to be on Ãórólfsföllur cam? Snow or ash fall?

@Renato #211

I think those are rain drops on the Ãórólfsföllur cam. I saw several of them merging. Ash particles shouldn't be able to do that.

@ Renato 211 and @Holger 212. It's ash-laden raindrop sticking to the cam lens.

What a mess it is out there. Any word on when the weather might clear?

Thanks, Holger: Neither snow nor ash. Just plain, annoying, rain that keep us from glazing at fireworks. Think time to go to bed.
Thank you all for the extraordinary footage on Eyjafjallajökull and all enlightening explanations. Be back tomorrow and hear more about the mysterious tremors.

@Marko (#156) Nice summary! Would a Katla eruption indeed be "worse" than the current Eyjafjalla eruption? Like you say, big eruptions of Katla as measured by the VEI are rare. The current Eyjafjalla eruption is already well into the VEI 4 range even if, I suspect, volcanologists probably would say it's more like a VEI 3 in explosivity even if the amount of erupted material, tephra and lava, qualifies it as a VEI 4. Throughout Iceland's settled history (Smithsonian GVP), there have only been four eruptions of Katla larger than VEI 4 - 1755, 1721, 1625, 1262.

From what I understand, the main problem with Katla is that even lesser eruptions are dangerous as she lies under a much thicker glacier. An eruption will have to be quite large for it to blast through the ice and vent most of the energy into the atmosphere as Eyjafjöll volcano is doing now. Therefore, most of the energy contained in the average Katla eruption will melt a lot of ice and cause substantial and lethal jökulhlaups. Is this why Katla is thought of as a big, mean beast of a volcano? I suspect so as there are PLENTY of volcanoes elsewhere with far more impressive records when it comes to big eruptions, VEI 5 or bigger.

http://brunnur.vedur.is/radar/rb5/eht.html

Weather seem to be clear in couple of hours, if i can read correctly this weatherradar. Nice to see, that where we are going today with this lady

@tommy ~ Thank you for that. I think your info agrees with the ground weather forecast at //en.vedur.is/weather/forecasts/areas/#station=815

It's pretty humid now but that should change soon for a few hours.

I think I've been staring at the Porolfsfell cam too long. Now that the raindrops are drying up, what's left looks like a bunch of little ash parachutes :)

Ok...now they're like.. Pacman.

Ok...now they're like ...remember looking at bacteria in a petri dish under a microscope, all crawling around and stuff? It's like that.

Who's making the coffee this morning? :)

@ Frito - coffee's on me. Can you make it to Adelaide in 15?

@Kathryn. Sure I can be there in 15 days! I'll bring the Half n Half. See then!

Ok then it looked like the Invasion of Normandy, and then it looked like a rapidly-moving solar system (it had a huge sun and everything!), and now it looks like our very own Scrubbing Bubbles are trying valiantly to clean our camera lens.

Heavens! I think we'll all need coffee to keep us awake after watching those raindrops scurry around the lens for so long.
Ah well, time to head home from work...by the time I get there, I'm hoping for a clearer view.

Oooh. Ok now that's weird. I don't know how to describe it. "Descending mushrooms" maybe?

Drive carefully Kathryn, and keep the lights on here after you get home. I'm heading to bed shortly. Well, once I know all our little water mushrooms have landed safely :)

All you funny people, amazing that you are so eager to get a glimpse that you stare at water drops on a web cam lens! :) I´ts really amusing, I like it, especially Frito´s descriptions of them.
Right now they´re sliding sideways like cabins on the way down from a mountian top. Can´t find the right word, I mean the ones that goes on cables from valley to top.

Henrik #215. I dont believe your reasoning about Katla. Read about the Vedde Ash, Eldgja and it has the capability to reach a VEI-6. You also have to take into account that it is approaching 100 years since she last blew and that was a minor eruption even though it extended the south coast of by 5 km!!!!!

Hi Snotra! Cable cars! Yes! And have you noticed sometimes they almost get to the end of their journey and then they backup? lol

All you funny people, amazing that you are so eager to get a glimpse that you stare at water drops on a web cam lens! :) I´ts really amusing, I like it, especially Frito´s descriptions of them.
Right now they´re sliding sideways like cabins on the way down from a mountian top. Can´t find the right word, I mean the ones that goes on cables from valley to top.

Can someone explain to me the chart Bruno linked to yesterday:

http://transport.nilu.no/browser/fpv?fpp=conccol_VO_1_

are the later frames based on real readings or are they a forecast? The time on the right suggests they are a forecast for the coming days (20100513 etc). If so, I wonder what rate of ash emission they are assuming because the concentration really picks up at the end of the series.

@Henrik (#215) - there's no way to say whether the next Katla eruption (which will certainly happen sooner or later) will be stronger or weaker than the current Eyjafjallajökull eruption. Katla is not giving many signs in this moment, so there's nothing that could be used for making assumptions on a future eruption. That's one of the problems with interpreting the state of a volcano, and why volcanologists are apparently often hesitating to make clear statements. We depend on what a volcano gives us. We cannot read where nothing is written.

It is true that once Katla erupts, there is a great risk of major flooding due to the melting of glaciers. I think a good example of what might happen is the 1996 (VEI 3) eruption at the Gjálp fissure under the Vatnajökull glacier. It cut through a glacier 700 m thick without being a world-shaking disaster.

About this VEI thing, it's all about volcanic explosivity, not the quantity of material erupted especially if it accumulates in a certain amount of time. Certainly if an explosive eruption expels a large volume of tephra (that is all loose, fragmented rock material produced by eruptions, like ash, lapilli, bombs, and blocks) in a short time, it merits an elevated VEI but if an eruption sputters on for decades and eventually generates a large amount of tephra - like Sakurajima in Japan, which is producing explosive activity continuously since 1955 - that's not a large VEI eruption (Sakurajima's 1955-present eruption has been assigned a VEI of 3, mostly because some of the explosions are quite powerful).

@Bruce stout #231 - their disclaimer states that their products are forecast, experimental and not to be used for aviation guidance.

I beg your pardon, it was not Bruno, it was David Calvo at #55

Time-Lapse for May 11th: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXEAHVkhvj0

@Chris #149 You can try https://www.giganews.com/signup/ for a 14 day trial subscription.

What movie does the thermal cam remind you of? ;0)

@Helen Leggatt ~ The Color Purple?

@Frito ;D

@Helen YAY! What did I win?

Time-Lapse for May 10th: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0MnsgID0V8

You win a trip to your local opticians because you'll need it after staring at those cams all day...

@Philipp ~ What a great video, as always.

@Helen ~ You owe me an adult diaper.

@Frito - new brand out "Depends for Watchers - never miss a moment"

@Helen Leggatt ~ Can't read your last post. Please re-post in a waaaay bigger font. Thalgs im afbacve ...

Here is the TimeLApse movie from the FLIR Camera for 2010-05-11

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ge5-wM5abEQ

The meteo radar pic does not agree with reality: radar shows no clouds in the south; webcams show something else - although things seem to be clearing up.

Ok I found my glasses. Who else is mesmerized by the one..no two.. no wait ..focus, focus! OK one drop on the Porolfsfell cam?

@Kultsi #247 ~ what's the link you're at?

Weather doesn't look very promissing now, a lot of low clouds (yellow color) on satelite imagery:
http://oiswww.eumetsat.org/IPPS/html/MSG/RGB/EVIEW/SEGMENT2/index.htm

But lets wait and see

@Frito Lay #250: http://brunnur.vedur.is/radar/rb5/eht.html

@TinTin #246 ~ Awesome video that clearly shows the eruption moving towards the left.

@Helen Leggatt ~ I think it's time you prepare yourself to say goodbye to your beloved arch. We're all here for you, friend (-:

@Kultsi ~ Thanks for the link. Do you think it would be more meaningful to look at cloud bottoms rather than tops?

@Lucky (#228). First, Katla is believed to have erupted since 1918. Second, a look at the eruptive history of Katla such as the one provided by the Smithsonian Global Volcanism Program should calm your fears slightly. That a volcano has produced one devastating eruption in the distant past is not a reliable guide to the nature of next eruption. Even if Katla at some point in time over the next 15,000 years or so is likely to produce a new eruption to rival the Vedde Ash in size, it is not very likely that it is going to be the very next one even if it cannot be ruled out today, on May 12th 2010. Geologic time is a funny thing, it could turn out to be next Tuesday or 25,000 years from now.

You can also look at it this way: If you and I had been around in the year 1000 AD and were to predict the upcoming eruptions and you said "Vedde Ash-size" and I said "No more than a VEI 4", how many times would you have been correct/wrong and how many times would I have been?

@Boris (#232) It's funny in a way that when it comes to the size of Katla's next eruption, I'm "less of an alarmist" than you are. ;) ;)

@Frito... I went to make a coffee and my arch disappears? Huh? Oh no.. what did I miss?? :( Or is it just that you can't see it lol

@Vince #251 ~ What a great link! Thank you.

@Helen ~ Thank you for the coffee. *sip* Umm..did you ever see the movie Aladdin? Remember the song "A Whole New World"? Start humming it.

@Lucky (#228), Henrik is perfectly right. The fact that a volcano is capable of making very large eruptions does not mean its next one will be very large. It's like thinking of us getting sick next time, there's a chance it will be some horrible disease but in all probability (hopefully) it will turn out a simple cold. If we worry all our lives about getting a horrible disease, we'll destroy our mental health.

Henrik (#255), hahahaha and I guess everybody here knows (and I fear some even dislike) that I'm really not much of an alarmist. Frankly, I am not worried about Katla, as little as I am worried about Yellowstone, I am worried about a lot of things which are not only likely to happen in the short term, quite a few do already happen and that's what we should be concerned about.

At the same time we MUST absolutely think about bad things that might happen but that must be done calmly and in a practicaly way - like we here at Etna are trying to educate the population to be ready for a disruptive and destructive eruption of our volcano, which inevitably one day will happen again. It's not enought telling people that something bad may happen, they need to understand what they will have to do once they occur, like having a list of things they want to take with them once the're ordered to evacuate, and all their important personal documents in a drawer, and so on.

Okay this is my first and last trip to fun World of Haiku:

Life through a camera
Four cute little amoebas
I need strong coffee

@Henrik (#215) Nice summary - I agree with you on the relative merits of a Katla vs an Eyjafjallajokull eruption. Katla does not need to have an explosive eruption to be destructive (and the 92-year gap does not immediately mean that the next one will be explosive), but any significant eruption, even if not enormously explosive, will produce a lot of floodwater. It's unlikely to cause any more loss of life either, unless the floodwater goes in an unusual direction (nobody lives on Myrdalssandur!), although Vik would probably be evacuated.
Additionally, most of Katla's tephras are basaltic, including all the historic tephras originating from the central volcano. You get large volumes of tephra because of the interaction with meltwater, but the tephra tends to be coarser than a corresponding andesitic or rhyolitic tephra. Large basaltic tephras are unusual outside Iceland because of the glacier-volcano mix. My guess would be that a Katla plume of the same explosivity as the Eyjafjallajokull one would cause less international disruption as the coarser tephra would travel less far and fall from the atmosphere more readily. And of course little disruption if the wind takes the tephra north!

Boris, do you have any update on Etna? Have there been any more signs of unrest? (We're (cough) flying down next Saturday.)

Update on activity from the IMO
Eruption in Eyjafjallajökull, Iceland
Conditions - 11 May 2010 18:45

The grey eruption plume is heading southsoutheast and its height is similar to previous days. Observations from air and web cameras show similar activity to yesterday. In the afternoon there was an increase in explosive activity, giving darker and slightly higher plume.

No major changes are seen in the activity, but small variation can still be expected. Presently there are no indications that the eruption is about to end.

@Boris #259
"It's not enought telling people that something bad may happen, they need to understand what they will have to do once they occur, like having a list of things they want to take with them once the're ordered to evacuate, and all their important personal documents in a drawer, and so on."

That's practical advice for any emergency where one would have to evacuate their home.

12 May 2010 ... One hundred and five passengers and crew are dead after their Libyan plane
arriving from South Africa crashed at Tripoli airport.

I read yesterday that the Ash cloud was over Africa any connection do you think. It is really awful there was only one survivor a Dutch child.

@Frito Lay, #160: You tend to forget sometimes, that not all the news is spread worldwide :-) On the track to Thórsmörk some 6km of road are missing since the floodings.

@Peter Tibben, #236: Thanks for the link.

motto of story, always take your own bridge.

@Chris #266 - I thought I would have heard about the demise of one of our three beloved Mila cams here first :) Thank you for the information.

@Ruby #265 ~ That's horrible. I hope the Dutch child hasn't been orphaned (: As far as ash between South Africa and Tripoli affecting the flight, it's highly unlikely.

Re #269 the (: should be a ):

Just checked the plot of tremors on vedur.is and the EQ map. It looks like the volcano has taken a little nap behind the clouds. Or is it just because I have no view in the cams, that I get this impression? Is the eruption still going strong behind the clouds?

Question for experienced volcanologists; how can one see when/if the eruption is declining, in graphs and EQ and so on? Are there any signs to look for?

@ snotra viking, sweden 271

Perhaps it is wise, to never turn one's back on a volcano which now seems to be "behaving" a little better - she might just be sulking and then give you a greater "outburst" than before! (Aka Redoubt!)

@La Kat
I´m not so familiar with the Redoubt story, I have grasped that the volcano had an eruption nobody predicted. Am I right? Was it similiar to this, an ongoing eruption, that suddenly went to "BIG"?

Good morning snotra viking see here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Redoubt
for some Redoubt info. There was a link posted in a previous thread to an interview with Bernard Chouet, very nice. I'll try to find it after I get some coffee....
We will now take up 'raindrop watch' here so that Kathryn and Helen can get some sleep!
Thanks Boris, Henrik et al for the discussion.

@ snotra viking, sweden 274

From my reading:

There are often precursory signs but I understand that each volcano has its own seismic signature; moreover, each particular eruption is at least going to be slightly different to its previous one making it harder to predict yet it would seem that loose patterns do seem to emerge for some.

After an eruption, the height, shape and composition of that particular volcano has changed (sometimes a little but sometimes dramatically) so obviously any subsequent eruption will reflect this to some extent.

Re: Redoubt

Bernard Chouet did predict one eruption (more?) and she did go quiet and had her alert status reduced just before a big one!

Loads of links available but you can access some here:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Redoubt

#271 @snotra viking

Ash column still there, but maybe a bit weaker than yesterday at the same time. But I'm not entirely sure about that.
Satellite comparison: http://img143.yfrog.com/img143/3446/ashz.jpg

@Helen #242, @Frito Lay #248
This tiny, free software reduces screen related eye strain. Highly recommended for volcano gazing and reading. :D
http://www.stereopsis.com/flux/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcjBb1QUy94

Enjoy :)

@ snotra viking,sweden 273

Here is a nice one for you; it is called: "Predicting eruptions the scientific way"! I think I may have posted it before...

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/volcano/chouet.html

Enjoy!

@snotra viking (#273) the story about Redoubt is that the eruption was expected very well, but the volcano decided to wait another two months until it finally let loose. This happened in January-March 2009. It has to be noted that at the end of January 2009 Redoubt produced pretty much the same signals that it had shown the day before it erupted in 1989. It looked nearly exactly the same. In 1989 it erupted the next day, as forecast. In 2009 it waited another two months. So again, it's not the volcanologists who are wrong when they don't predict (or forecast) an eruption precisely enough. It's that a volcano gives only so much clear warning, and - like Redoubt in 2009 - it may decide to change its plans in the very last moment. We can't say for sure any more than a volcano allows us to say, and that's often very little.

whats the little cross with triangle at the bottom doing ?

@Philipp 241 thanks for the FLIR
Seems to me if you keep an eye on the hot spot, it stays the same - I still think it was a wind change blowing the plume to the left.
Waiting for a view!
@La Kat thanks for finding that and reposting.

Cloud cover lifted a bit in Thoro cam.

There is new meltwater

@sunday 283, also it has been raining, but definitely more water. The little (not so in reality, probably) runoff stream to the right of split rock is visible again

@ Boris Behncke 280

And what about Costa Rica's Turrialba (our "persistent and unpleasant degasser")? Noone is likely to want to predict what she is going to do, anytime soon. Sulky and truculent behaviour indeed from the look of her seismicity. I'd like to rename her: "Miss Mercurial".

Link for anyone who is interested:

http://www.ovsicori.una.ac.cr/vulcanologia/videoturri.html

#281: Hunting for hot spots.

Am I looking at the thermals right? is the ground hotter than the Mt.

Clouds shield the mountain hot areas, foreground is showing warmer, always does- see FLIR time-lapse@241 or 246 for an idea of how it goes..

@ La Kat (#285), you name it. But it's not that no one wants to predict, no one has enough data to predict. That's a slight difference :

I don't know what happend to my previous comment. It should have continued somewhat like this:

Of Turrialba we can say what we know, which is that most of its eruptions have been small to modest-sized events, a VEI 3 in the 1860s that produced small pyroclastic flows and mudflows without apparently causing damage. A VEI 4 event occurred about 2000 years ago and a still larger eruption more than 9000 years ago. Most probably the ongoing eruptive episode will culminate in something similar to the 1860s eruption - but that's all that can be said with the data that are available. If a volcano gives us only so much information, we can say only so much.

Talking about Latin American volcanoes. At Villarrica volcano in Chile, the level of alert has been raised after an increase in the intracrater lava lake activity. Yes, Villarrica has an active lava lake, since more than 20 years, which shows strong fluctuations in its level. There are some really nice photos on my friend Werner Keller's POVI website: www.povi.cl/villarrica.html

@ Boris Behncke 289

I think that is what gets us all so hooked - the unpredictable behaviour that volcanoes exhibit. (Will she/won't she?!)

To "expect the unexpected" is what makes it all so exciting!

You just have to hope that humans have enough warning to be far enough away from harm at the time that one erupts.

looks like we still might be getting lightning up there? saw a blink on HVOL cam & Jón F's link I think shows it too - ? Jón?
http://andvari.vedur.is/athuganir/eldingar/vikan_is.html?

Hello all! I just got back yesterday from 13 days in the UK, and there were no delays due to volcanic ash in both the outbound and return flights. I was more worried about the weather in Calgary on the day I left for Manchester on April 28, as there was a blizzard at the time. Not an unusual occurrence there even in the spring, partly due to Calgary's altitude. But I had heard there were delay concerns in some UK airports yesterday and the day before that prior to me leaving the UK, including Gatwick.

On my return flight home to Edmonton yesterday from Gatwick, the captain on the Thomas Cook A330 made an announcement that he had to put the aircraft on a more northerly course than normal obviously due to Eyjaf. As the A330 was going over Iceland, I could see Eyjaf's gray eruption plume way off in the distance on the horizon. The plane was likely going just north of the Vatnajokull Glacier, because I did see a lot of blindingly white ice between me and Eyjaf.

Looks like it will clear up in 2-3 hours.

http://www.vedur.is/vedur/spar/stadaspar/sudurland/

Ashfall continues and the ash is turning into black sludge in the rain.

New satellite photo from the plume above the clouds
http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/realtime/single.php?A101321310

Detail from the above mentioned pic (aqua modis nasa)
http://i40.tinypic.com/xn595g.jpg

Those wishing to follow up Passerby's comment #184 about
'unusual crustal activity' might find these EQ maps useful:
All-Iceland monthly map from 2009 onwards:
http://hraun.vedur.is/ja/viku/2009/
Weekly map since 1995:
http://hraun.vedur.is/ja/viku/

And, for anyone wishing to make the definitive 3D movie, every EQ recorded in Iceland since 1995: time, co-ordinates, magnitude, depth:
http://hraun.vedur.is/ja/viku/svenni_listi

Anyone else watching Flir, clouds have cleared and you can see the thing really smoking now. Is it normal for the forground to be the same temp as the ash coming from the top? I leave for Paris june 4th from Boston, never been to Europe. This and now the Katla talk is making me mental

Future ash outlook for UK doesn't look good.

http://transport.nilu.no/browser/fpv?fpp=conccol_VO_1_

15.20-5 GMT (New Thorolfsfelli cam). It looks as if the crevasse has widened and that there are some "cratering" about half-way up on the lefthand (E) side of the GÃgjökull glacier. There definitely is much more steam activity along the lava flow compared with the last few days. The eruption column looks not as tall and a bit more intermittent. Mind you, it is hard to make reliable observations under the prevailing conditions with just a small gap in the clouds where the sun shines through.

Also, to judge by the thermal camera there is a more continuous lava flow than on preceeding days. There ia a caveat though - it seems the temperature scale has been readjusted a fair bit, which could give a false imprssion of change.

@henrik 299 With the plume blowing hot to the left all night, maybe the increased steam and melt is just from plume contact with previously 'untouched' ice at crater edge...might have dropped a few bombs further down the glacier, too, what think you?

Makes no sense. Surely not a fissure opening on the valley floor?

You refer to the big "white" thermal print where the end of GÃgjökull and the little lake used to be, Raving?

Yes. I would expect steam and I would have to assume the pink is sunlight. Still the hot FLIR image. Really doesn't make sense though.

@Raving - eh? If you're looking at FLIR only, radiant heat from sun thru cloud gaps, I think. Nothing else on other cams.Thermal spotter just desperate for something to do.

Normalization blues. :)

You can watch the plume "life" here:
http://www.sat24.nl/Eyjafjallajokull-volcano.aspx

BirdseyeUSA (#302). Could very well be. Could also be a combination of a renewed lava flow and rain collecting in the chasm cutting a path below the "untouched" glacier to theleft and a subsequent collapse (as happened at the start of the main eruption). Or the "cratering" may just have been an optical illusion caused by steam, cloud, ice and sunlight. Hopefully the weather will clear enough for us to get a better look soon!

@307 Ah-good one -

Boris Vereor Eyjafjallajökull....Vereor Yellowstone....Vereor Etna;)

Also I have lots of good poems and and literature to use when Etna blows....Etna was a very popular place for Romantic writers and Age Of Reason scientists....it seems like they all had something to say about Etna:)

@Raving #304

The hottest spots in the FLIR image at the present represent the meltwater. It's perhaps 10-20 C hot, much hotter than the flanks of the mountain or the icecap.

Here is a new video of the eruption. It was taken yesterday.

http://http.ruv.straumar.is/static.ruv.is/vefur/11052010omargos.wmv

@ Daniel 105

@ Merlin UK 113

Re: Volcano glossary

Thanks (both)for your kind comments - glad you liked the link!

With such complex terms, I found it rather a good system to have a 'hover/quick reminder' of a term in addition to a 'click for more in-depth info' facility.

Thanks from me,too, to all those others who post such helpful or fascinating info, and superb videas/photos etc. at this site.

And above all, thanks to Erik, our host, for his guidance and for making it happen.

i've spent a lot of long winter nights watching the seismic readout of Redoubt. If You think EJ is mesmorizing; just watch the readouts for a volcano out Your window,in the dark, minus temps, perhaps teatering on the brink of oblivion. You think long hours wax poetic? Well i got a crush on RSO, one of the observation stations very near the
top of Redoubt. i came to rely on the little buddie and since the AVO (Alaska Volcanic Observatory) had a live person sitting up around the clock we'd occasionly share thoughts. When the readouts stopped from RSO i emailed the AVO attendent and said..."i feel like i've lost a friend!"
Friends become very dear in the cold and the dark. We comisserated, and when, long afterwards, RSO was recovered
and revived.... The public got the message.."The RSO unit was reworked and is now back on line.... MY message from the
AVO people was..."RSO LIVES!!!"
And we both felt a friend was brought back from the dead.

Was this post too 'touchy-feely' for You...
Sorry.
here's a little volcano info..
My daughter who got a lot of ash last time lost her snow
first and she'd gotten lots more snow than i did.
Best!motsfo
ps... @279 La Kat .. i really enjoyed the story from the other end... all i got originally was...'some guy told us our volcano was erupting, from down south!'

Icelandic and Swiss geo-scientists plus a TV crew from Switzerland watch bombs fly!

(video link in #312)

@ Anna, you were right-- like moths to a flame. I'd be there if I could--

@AnnaReyk. But can't I see the river winding its way thru the lagoon outlet, looking sort of red, between the warmer hills?
@Jón F -RE: video ...!!

#312 amazing video. Thanks for posting!

@317 ... much of that warm area (white) you are referring too is located on the right hand moraine (above the water flow) so I don't think warm water is causing it. As you point out you can see the river flowing through the channel in dark red/orange.

17.06 GMT Eruption plume visible from Hvolsvöllur - same-ish height as on previous days.

...and on FLir looks like it's still blowing pretty hard to the left.

@ Jón312: the Godasteinn seems to be a popular viewing spot; I'm going to try to make it there on my next trip, weather and volcanism permitting!

Strange pinks in the wide field camera. Yesterday's earthquake(s) were spurious too.

Yes, it's nonsense and mildly intriguing and I am ignorant and speculative.

Monday
10.05.201023:42:0163.689-19.5830.8 km1.590.015.2 km WNW of Básar

i44.tinypic.com/jg1dhc.jpg

@Fireman, That area is closed off. You are going to need a permission from the authorities. I am sure that you won't get it.

I'm sure his "mad friend" Gummie(?) will introduce Mike as his "co-driver & engineer" to the scientific teams Gummie regularly take up there, isn't this true? ;)

I have today watched picasa pictures (the big ones) from 17.4 to 11.5 and focused the left side (E)of voda pics.

I have noticed that the melting have increased huge on that side. What is causing the flows?

Could it be possible that EJ is digging out road to the old crater (orange lined in pdf) between current and the first errupt? That's only a thought...?

http://www2.norvol.hi.is/Apps/WebObjects/HI.woa/swdocument/1015819/Kort…

@Jon #317

This FLIR image is kind of perplexing, you don't know what the temperature range is for one thing.

The meltwater that's now running in rivers or rivulets over the moraine is most certainly warm, even hot.

But the river that's closest to the camera can't be hot (it's not meltwater coming from Eyja, or at least I don't think so), yet it has shown up white on the FLIR cam as well. So I don't know what to think.

Either you need to be some sort of expert to interpret these FLIR images or the info is so general it doesn't tell you much.

OK, I've been pondering asking this for a couple of days - who would/could organize a field trip (might have to run in several sessions!) on Icelandic vulcanism for, say a year or two from now, for some of Erik's less knowledgeable but nevertheless devoted Ejya followers, including those who are not quite so able to run up and down mountains as they once were ...? Combined with a crash course on Icelandic history and culture, meaning National Museum and Folk Museum and art/literature... : )

@328 Drool. Wish. Dream. ... Harðfiskur

Hi everybody,
I'm not sure if I'm slow in seeing this, but I just noticed on the Voda cam that there's a white creepy face peeping out of The Crack.

"There is no such thing as a stupid question"... unless I am doing the asking.

So, here it goes.

On the earthquake reports, the depth that is listed, is it reference to mean sea level or to the ground surface at that location?

I ask since I have dropped the data set for the terrain on and around the volcano(Eyjafjallajökull) in with my depth plots in an effort to get a clearer view of that 6.9º slope line of quakes that I mentioned a while back. If the depth is referenced to MSL, then there really is no alarm (as far as I can tell) in the alignment... just a likely sill forming. On the other hand, if they are referenced to the local ground elevation... it might be worrisome.

Thanks in advance.

#328 count me in.. lol :)

Found this video on a Dutch site.

http://www.dumpert.nl/mediabase/945861/1c63f52d/eyjafjallaj_klul.html

@330 Anita After I stared at it long enough I saw it too. But then again, I see rabbits in cloud formations also. LOL

@Nancy 333 Pretty nice. Thanks for the post;)

Am laughing here.. Whilst I was watching the plume above the cloud on the Hvol cam my 15 yr old autistic daughter is sitting beside me singing 'cloud, cloud go away come again another day'..

Not so funny you may think? Well! once she starts up a chant she'll do it constantly for a few days.. Oh well, it's a change from 'cup of tea, cup of tea'...

I hope the clouds are listening..

@Lurking 331 On http://en.vedur.is/about-imo/news/2010 there's a 'contact' link - busy people, but someone might know offhand if no-one here answers...

@birdseyeUSA [337]

Thanks, I had to break anonymity but I shot them a mail. I'm pretty sure I won't be getting any viagra advertisements from them.

@Timo 326 Mebbe so but I would think there would have been a lot more runoff than seems to be evident? The river flow records would tell that tale - looks right now as thought heat from the plume might work on a connection, but plume still seems to originate to the old spot.

Hi everybody: Don´t know about the wind regime today, but it seems activity today is quite explosive, at least what i can see through Hvolsvelli cam....

I can hardly wait for the rest of the clouds to get out of the way on the Hvol cam. The rest of the view is great.

Hmm-- ignorance here, was just going to say I thought it looked less lumpy and 'wrinklier' and therefore maybe less explosive?? or different sort of explosive?

Interesting link!

11. May 2010 - 08:33 Jóna Ann Pétursdóttir

http://www.pressan.is/News/ReadIcela...upt-in-iceland

David, It's a bit deceptive as the wind carries the plume almost straight away (WSW) as seen from Hvolsvöllur. On the Vodafone or Thorolfsfelli cameras, you can see that the plume does not rise particularly high before it's swept away to the left (east). But if you zoom in on the Vodafone cam, you can see the occasional "bomb" being ejected, so yes, it is explosive (Strombolian rather than Vulcanian today?).

new IMO update - http://en.vedur.is/earthquakes-and-volcanism/articles/nr/1884

#343 I aplologise for the broken link. Here is what the article says:

11. May 2010 - 08:33 Jóna Ann Pétursdóttir
http://www.pressan.is/News/ReadIcela...upt-in-iceland

Seismic activity under Bardarbunga has scientists speculating about a possible eruption.
Seismic activity has been ongoing in Bardarbunga in Vatnajökull for several weeks now. Bardarbunga is the largest volcano in Iceland, located in the country's largest glacier, Vatnajökull. This activity, scientists say, could suggest that the volcano is about to erupt or volcanos in that area.
Ever since Eyjafjallajökull erupted in April there have been speculations about the volcano Katla. After an eruption in Eyjafjallajökull Katla has usually followed. There are, however, no signs that Katla is about to erupt.
Bardarbunga in Vatnajökull on the other hand, has been showing seismic activity for over five weeks. Ari Trausti Gudmundsson geologist says that over one hundred small earthquakes have been measured under Bardarbunga and the reason could be a possible magma intrusion deep under the volcano. Ari has given the Department of Civil Protection and Emergency Management his findings. Gudrun Johannesdottir a project manager with the department told Pressan.is that scientists are following the activity in Bardarbunga closely.
Omar Ragnarsson, a keen volcano enthusiast and former reporter, has also been following the activity closely and says in his blog on 12 March:
An eruption in the northeastern part of Vatnajökull could have greater ramifications than an eruption in Eyjafjallajökull since it could lead
to catastrophic flooding. The axle Bardarbunga-Grimsvötn is the center of the volcanic belt that runs from the southwest to the northwest of Iceland and the center of the mantle plume which is under Iceland. This mantle plume is one of the two largest in the world. The other one is
under Hawaii. The largest earthquakes recorded this year at Bardarbunga are 3,3 and 4,0 on the Richter scale, the largest recorded since 2002. The volcano at Bardarbunga is estimated to be around 200 kilometers long and up to
25 kilometers wide. It is covered in ice. Bardarbunga has never erupted in historic times but the largest lava flow in the world stems from Bardarbunga when it erupted 8500 years ago.
Steinunn S. Jakobsdottir, project manager with the Icelandic Met Office says the activity has been considerable in the area all this year and the IMO is keeping a close watch on the situation although there is no reason to fear an eruption just yet. However the activity shows that Bardarbunga is alive and kicking.
There have been eruptions in that area every five years, in Gjálp 1996 and Grimsvötn 1998 and 2004. Even though there is seismic activity under Bardarbunga that doesn´t necessarily mean that Bardarbunga will erupt.
When Gjálp erupted in 1996, for example, seismic activity had been right under Bardarbunga for some time before.

@ Jón - I'm a fireman, a hazardous material technician, a geologist, and a Scotsman! I wouldn't bet on it either way ;-)

#346, #343 Here is the Jóna Ann Pétursdóttir article.

tinyurl.com/283j7qf

@346 There is a new EQ for that area at http://en.vedur.is/earthquakes-and-volcanism/earthquakes/vatnajokull/

The Katla-cam is almost literally black and white.

In case no one has posted this here before, check this out: http://www.dumpert.nl/mediabase/945861/1c63f52d/eyjafjallaj_klul.html

How an eruption can provide material for artistic expression...

@birdseye #339 Thanks for you comment:) I have also woundered the runoff. Looking the web cam pic's, I have zoomed 100->400% and it can be a lot of think that what is really goinig on (clouds, sun position...) so it is all my speculatin and the zooming can falls all you think you are seeing.....

I'm sure that my experience is not enought of thease things, but it has been really interest of what should be the next point...

@ 346 and 348/9

Re: Bardarbunga Earthquakes

You might like to read this article:

http://rses.anu.edu.au/~hrvoje/Bardarbunga.html

Anyone else seeing a hot spot in Thoro, dark in visible light, to the right of the glacier that seems to be giving grey-blue smoke?

@327 ... Anna ... I guess all one can say is that it was warmer according to the flIR ... why? Who knows :) I wish it would warm up where I live!

hey guys. Been lurking here for a few weeks,and always got beaten to the punch when I have seen something that might be significant. But looking at the vodafone cam, is there a steam plume rising from the area of the Steinsholtsjokull glacier (far left)?

False alarm. Never mind. It's rock.

Looks like Iceland is getting the full load of Ash tomorrow

http://www.yr.no/verkart/1.7103434

#353 La Kat : the link isn't working for me...

# 328 : *dream*. That would be wonderfull. I think I will start saving right away!

The Hvols cam looks amazing.

Has action increased?

@353 ...La Kat...Thanks for the link. Big glacier, eh?

As a member of a weather forum, I'd be very interested in knowing what eruption-based changes lead to the electrification of the plume again earlier today.

Might it be that there is now a different ash composition in the plume, allowing for charge separation? I'm assuming that the initial electrification (14-18 April) was caused by the charge separation across water and ash nucleii.

Might we have now have a hotter vent surface, adding additional vigour to the updaft? This is not manifested by the height of the plume, although this is also as a result of less explosiveness as there is less magma/water interaction.

I'd welcome some expert opinion on this phenomenom please.

#362: Earlier today? I'm quite certain I saw one more on the widescreen cam a few minutes ago.

Good evening! I've just made my tour of cams and earthquakes. It's so amazing this unceasing activity! it seems I'll never get tired of it.

#356: Yes. That cloud has not moved in half an hour.

@Lavendel (#359)
"La Kat : the link isn't working for me..."

I experienced the same when using Firefox, but there was no problem when I tried google chrome or IE8...

#366: No wonder. Firefox sees all the text on the page text as commented out.

good night everybody

i given up these cloud

and wish you good peeking

Thank you sunday.
Anybody else see it?
Anybody got an opinion/analysis? re post 356?

@144 Agree with your post as there are a variety of reasons why eruptions affect climate; first they have to reach the stratosphere, hence volcanoes nearer the equator tend to have greater global impact in this respect (but not always). Eruptions north of 30 degrees ted to circulate at that latitude rather than spread globally.

Large eruptions that can reach through the troposphere and into the stratosphere affect climate through scattering, transmission, and absorption of radiation as well as by acting as cloud condensation nuclei. Particulates with a long atmospheric residence time scatter red wavelengths creating beautiful sunsets in the short term.

Cooling is also caused by âsulphur hazeâ, SO2 etc rises into the stratosphere and mixes with water vapour to form a haze of tiny droplets of sulphuric acid. They reflect incoming sunlight due to their pale colour. They do eventually fall to Earth as Acid Rain but this can take months or years due to the dryness of the Stratosphere.

I am In Awe,. wow, look at the plume,.

eyjafjöll reminds me more and more about the volcano In the movie Dantes Peak,. look at that.. There is no words really..

what`s next this Lady have in store for us?

#366, Kenneth : thank you. That could be the problem, as I use Firefox as my standard browser.
I don't have IE, but I'll try another one.

@359, @366:

Page contains HTML errors. I'm mirroring a corrected copy, click on my name below for the link.

@356,369 About midnight ET there was all kinds of activity including, two of us thought, behind the upper Gigj. left ridge - Steinholts is one valley further over,though,by my map...but hard to determine then because of heavy clouds and low ceiling - I have been wondering about a possible detour to Steinholts for a while, but the big river doesn't seem much different (except normal melt and rain runoff.) There's one cloud over there that can be tricky, that valley seems to generate its own clouds. Got me a few threads ago...I haven't been on for a bit so didn't see what you're referring to just now, sorry.

@373: Link corrected... (sigh!) Click my name below for a mirror of the Bardarbunga page.

People trying to access the Bardabunga article - try http://www.bssaonline.org/ and search for the title there, might work better?

@348, 349 & 353

Many thanks!

@374 in regards to @356, 369. I see it as well. If you pull up the Vodafon cam and change the hour to 19 and minutes to 39, you'll see a great capture of what appears to be a steam cloud. I though at first it was a regular cloud formed by condensation, but that shot at 19:39, makes it truly appear like a pretty thick cloud of steam rising directly from the glaciar. Though it could all just be the clouds and lights playing with the optics, but let's get a few more opinions. For anyone else, the voda site is: http://www.vodafone.is/eldgos/en

@374. Thanks for that. I thought about that for a while, but thought wind speed was a bit too high for that amount of cloud to be generated, and it was very fixed to one place.
Something to puzzle on, as it's now completely obscured by current conditions.
Thanks again for input, birdseyeUSA.

This You tube link has footage of the volcano:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSvP588LvsE&feature=player_embedded#!

It is saying there was a ufo at the volcano yesterday. Could this be ball lightning generated by the ash cloud?

@378. Thanks Andrew. Confirm that is what I saw.

#314 Motsfo,

nice story!!

@379 Airplane/helicopter in my opinion.

Re #356, 369, 374. If you go back to 19h25m and take it fwd 1m at a time to 19h55m, it looks as if its a cloud bank that dissolves and reforms. Why this should be so and how it could reform first and then remain in that exact position, giving an appearance of the glacier "venting", I've no idea to offer except "local topography".

Don't you hate hitting ^F4 (close frame) when you intended to hit ^R (refresh)?

Looks like we got an outbreak of evening sun on the Katla cam.

I understand the possible uses of the Chatroom, but it lacks the historical record that this page provides. I think there has been a drop in activity on this page since the chatroom was introduced, but perhaps that is just proportional to the height of the plume?

So thats why the traffic is down so much today - a chatroom! (OK, that might not be the only reason). Just one request - please continue to post links to interesting articles and such here. That way, I can use them in posts and we can all enjoy the fruits of your web searching.

And I have no problem with you all posting 500, 100, 10000 comments here either - heck, it pays my bills!

@379 - I'm sure I saw that go into the plume at one stage ??? *Shrug*

Anyhow, the plume is reaching the top of the screen on Hvolsvelli cam yet it still seems quite windy, so looks like the eruption has become a little more stronger. Perhaps?

Erik - I'm here to stay. Not a big fan of chat rooms. :)

Maybe not. The chat looks as empty as my moneybag.

Pays the Bills?
Great! That sweeps away the guilt!
And Thanks for putting up with us!
i plan to leave the dance with the guy who brought me.
;)

Best!motsfo

The other *volcano* underwater in the golf. Video from the oil crater
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYFYVNvgg-A

@ 387 Erik!

This is purely to keep Erik's coffers happy...

A little volcano trivia for you all:

You know all the fun we've had from reading Google's translation of icelandic words for eruptions etc (i.e. "cocktails" on the slopes of a volcano and "fizzy drinks"!), well, the word for volcano in Syrian Arabic is apparently: "berkaan"! Cheers!!

Hi Erik and all

The cloud seems very high and big now http://eldgos.mila.is/eyjafjallajokull-fra-hvolsvelli/

I am having a lot of trouble getting on in here today

There is a rather large steam ploom just to the left of the main ash plume, you can just see the top of it over the clouds.

Re: absences...think everyone was just taking a fog/rain break - as Renato said (much) earlier, " Just plain, annoying, rain that keep us from glazing at fireworks... '" - our eyeballs and brains are glazing over....but - tonite we'll all be ^R, and ready for more Science, right?

Whats that little light left to the plume?

No chat for me, I'm here. That way I can read back. I think a lot of us, myself included, just sit quietly unless someone brings something up, or something appears to be happening. And maybe haiku's have run their course too. LOL

BTW, my wife took some of these haiku's and limerick's to her school where she happened to be teaching haiku to her 3rd grade class. Good timing. :)

I'm still here :) I haven't posted much yesterday or today because it's been very busy at work and I have to arm wrestle my family for pc time at night!

I hope that the clouds clear so we can see some fireworks tonight!

yep,. :) we are so ready for more science,..

someone tell me, doesnt the ash column seem thicker and wider than it did just a few days ago?
and whats with the vhalanuk cam, was up earlier and poof gone again,..
and I am seeing the same little plume kyle,.
and now for another question.. ashplumes can create weather right like fex thunderstorms..?

Hvolsvellian magic mushroom

i44.tinypic.com/25u0j1d.jpg

Oh, I definitely wasn't trying to guilt anyone into staying - but the discussion over the last few months here has been amazing - even if it was overlapping with the end of the semester.

Anyway, new (non-Iceland) post if you want to wander there. I'll have a new Iceland post tomorrow now that finals are done.

http://scienceblogs.com/eruptions/2010/05/usgssi_weekly_volcanic_activi…

I'm not a big fan of chatrooms either so this place will do me very nicely.. :)

#379 I saw that too.. it appeared to fly in and out of the plume quite a few times..???

I see that Aer Lingus (Irish airline) and others are screaming to have a relaxation of the rules regarding flights near ash clouds. http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/transpo…

Today the maps of the ash cloud show no connection with the volcano, even though the plume is visible on the cam, and appears quite high.

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/aviation/vaac/data/VAG_1273683706.png

I'd be unhappy to be flying any time soon. I just don't trust those in high positions to make the right decisions when billions are at stake.

I've now watched a few times, the fabulous aerial video posted yesterday. I think I spotted the cinder cone which had been previously discussed. If it's where I think it is, it seems to be somewhat precariously placed at the top of Gigjokull. Is there a chance that the volcano could blow out the side of this cone? If so, what would the consequences be?

#374 I pick one of pic of voda (see the left side on it).
I still have a stupid question - where are all the meltwarer etc coming? Not from the 1. erruption and not from current? Can anyone confirm where it is coming??

http://picasaweb.google.com/102175391233488315229/EyjafjallajokullVolca…

#396 @BirdseyeUSA: Hehe! Hey there! I think I meant "gazing" but you just made it sound so poetic that I'll get the copyright! But still think there's much to be seen over the clouds from the Lady.

Another question: I just tried opening the Valahnuk cam (no luck), but, in the map at the bottom of the screen they have the camera pointing at Steinholtjokull. Has it always been facing here, or is Mila placing the cam for future possibilities?

Feh. Chats are for folk whose attention span ends at the Top-Of-Screen.

Aside: Japan Times thinks Sakura-jima will make a record number of eruptions this year, maybe over 1000.

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20100512a9.html?utm_source=fee…)

#408: It was placed to monitor Fimmvörðuháls while the eruption was there, but with all roads in the area closed or impassable, maintenance is likely impossible - anyway, MÃla's delisted it.

@Reynir Mila still has Valahnuk listed here:

http://eldgos.mila.is/eyjafjallajokull-fra-hvolsvelli/

@Boris (#232) Re VEI. It's not a very reliable scale is it since the time factor isn't consistently taken into account? Already, Wikipedia lists this eruption as the example of a VEI 4 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volcanic_Explosivity_Index - even though the plume has barely grazed the lower limit of 10km and most of the time actually been in the high VEI 2 (1-5km) to low VEI 3 (3-15km) range. Wouldn't it be fair to say that interpreting the E of VEI as Eruptive instead of Explosive is more accurate, especially when it comes to eruptions in the past?

Let's assume that a thousand years from now, our current records have been lost and someone investigates the eruptive history of Eyjafjallajökull. Using radioisotopes and tephrochronology, the eruption is dated to 2015 +/-10 years. The amount erupted is calculated as 0.58 +/-0.10 cu km. The eruption is then assigned a VEI 4, but this figure is thought much too low by some authorities based on the fact that ash conclusively proven to come from it have been found as far away as Norway, the UK and Spain.

In astronomy, supernovae are classified as type I-V with subgroups being lettered a, b etc which gives astronomers a pretty good descriptive tool. Looking at such a system, the VEI could be retained as a measure of the total amount of DRE emitted and a Roman numeral indicating time in which, say, 67% of the DRE was ejected (I - inside 36 hours, II - up to a week, III - up to six weeks, IV - up to 18 months, V - longer than 18 months). A "t"(troposheric) or "s" (stratospheric) could be added to indicate the maximum height of the plume if so desired. With such a system, the current Eyjafjalla erution could be classified as VEI 4(IV)t. As a comparison, the 79AD Vesuvius eruption would be VEI 5(I)s (?) and Sakurajima 1953-present VEI 5(V)t (?), clearly illustrating the difference in explosivity between them.

Sorry for the ramble, but to me the current VEI seems totally inadequate as a communicator of explosivity of volcanic eruptions. Especially when explaining to the uninitiated such as decision makers or the general public.

#406: Most of what looks like meltwater on that picture is mud. There is a trickle of water, probably from the east side of the valley. The rewas a stream of water from the west side today, but I suspect that was mainly rainwater.

#411: Nope. That cam is in the village Hvolsvöllur.

@Reynir

Sorry, you misunderstood me. The link to the Valahnuk cam is still listed in the sidebar on the Hvolsvell webcam page that I linked to.

I've checked both the Icelandic and the English pages for the Hvolsvöllur cam. The Valahnúkur link is definitely gone.

#412 Sorry, missed Kilauea, Reunion etc. Add an "E" - Kilauea 1983-present VEI 5(V)E.

@ beedragon 415 - no it isn't, if you refresh the page you'll see the link is gone.

I was just "wikipediing" on volcanoes and picked this from Stromboli on the Mediterranean: "For at least the last 20,000 years, the same pattern of eruption has been maintained"... just wondering if something close to that would be possible for a certain volcano in Iceland. How many threads and chat rooms it would take? If so, Dr. Klementti, you wouldn't have to worry about the future for generations to come... :)

Btw. The quakes near GrÃmsey in the Tjörnes Fracture Zone are getting shallow according to the preliminary report - three of the latest at 1.1 km depth.

@412 - Henrik, I like it. That formula or something similar sounds like it could work better than the current VEI scale.

#413 Thanks Reynir, I've probably looked too much pics today and I think (or see threats too much). Let see more care the east side however. Hope everything is (or looks) better tomorrow:)

#412 @Henrik

I agree with you. And the Wikipedia VEI-4 information comes from a trusted source (Smithsonian Institution) but goes back to April 22, so that information maybe worth little now:

Wikipedia source citation:

«A firm number won't be assigned for some time, but so far, about 110 million cubic meters of tephra have been ejected during this eruption, and the plume has gone about nine kilometers into the air, so thatâs a VEI of 4»

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/91838474.html#ixzz0nl6nEOlm

the Valahnúk cam it`s gone yup, but I swear i was up earlier today.
Any who, whats with the clouds?? grr. please be gone..

and Now something really of topic,..
Erik..
If someone had the equipment, could someone make theyr own Volcano ,lets say if they drilled or mined deep enough?
I have been thinking of this since many mines reach pretty deep and some mines are pretty hot.
how far can we drill and blast before things could turn ugly?
and I have heard about a manmade volcano of mud?

Erik I wouldn't think about going to a chat instead of here...If I were to go to a chat then I couldn't upset you or Boris....sorry but that would just take all of the fun out it for me;)

#424: The mud 'volcano' is in Indonesia, I think.

http://www.thetechherald.com/article.php/200926/3919/Scientists-give-gr…

Looks like it...

yes it is, and that is a man made event,thanks Reynir but could a thing like that happen with lava?..

Thank you for your support Dylan, Vince! What really raised my hackles was that final VEI obviously is assigned by a committé - the most inefficient, inaccurate and inept of all human decision-making processes.

In my opinion, where possible, John and Jane Doe should be able to evaluate the information after a minimum of tuition and come up with "the correct answer". That way, the maximum number of people will be informed which makes it easier for everyone to communicate efficiently, especially in a crisis.

On the Katla cam: A cloud resembling a horsehead or a chess knight.

Unfortunately I failed to capture it, due to lack of cap software.

@406Timo glad Reynir answered -I don't know if you have looked back through the vodphone Picasa albums, but if you go back to mid-April, you will see LOTS of water - now there is almost nothing, by comparison, so nobody gets excited - yet!
http://picasaweb.google.com/102175391233488315229?utm_source=twitterfee…

#416 #418 #424 When you use the direct link the page is stil there.
http://eldgos.mila.is/eyjafjallajokull-fra-valahnjuk/

No chat rooms for me either. I'm trying to read through all the posts to see what I've missed today as I haven't had much time to get on:)

#433: It'll probably be reinserted into the main site once the camera has been repaired - whenever that happens.

A few moments ago (ca. 23:35 UT) I just managed to spot the plume through a cloud gap on the Hvolsvöllur camera. Didn't look like it had lowered a pixel.

Was it cloud? It goes down unlike the others in the sky...

@ Nancy 433: Yes it is, but it's an orphaned page not linked from anywhere at the moment - which was the original point.

Every page relating to the webcams on Mila's site has the link tot he Vala cam for me, and yes i have cleared my cache.

http://www.vedur.is/vedur/athuganir/vefmyndavelar/surtsey/

I can't say for certain that the cloud from mid-image to the right edge is the plume, but it looks like the right altitude.

@420 Henrik, I've been watching that, do you think there is something going to happen up there?

New depth record for a earthquake from Eyjafjallajökull. But at 00:37 11.05.2010 there was a earthquake with the depth of 32.9km, the size was ML1.9.

This is the deepest earthquake so far that I have seen.

@Jón I also see that they upgraded one of the earthquakes to a 3.0 (the bottom one on the table).

@Jón FrÃmann 441 Earlier today Lurking 331 was asking if those quakes are measured from sea level or from ground-on-which-the-meter-is-placed...don't know that he got an answer...could you answer here please? I'm curious, but he is working on a problem..

This is certainly more informative than any chat room could be - I'm staying. And as others have commented, the difference in time zone makes chat track-backs impossible. I've just caught up on all comments that have come in over our Australian night and, as I don't have to work today other than to do 'woman's work' :-), I'm ready for a day of 'volcano watch'.
BTW.... I'm also 'in' for any planned Iceland field-trip!

@birdseyeUSA, I don't know if this answers the question or not, but from the Iceland Met office seismicity page:

Earthquake table
The table displays the map and graph data in tabulated form. The first two columns denote the date and GMT time of the earthquake, respectively. Columns 3 and 4 detail the location of the epicentre in decimal units of latitude and longitude. Columns 5 and 6 approximate the focal depth (the distance from the hypocenter to the epicentre) and the magnitude of the earthquake, respectively. Column 7 contains a measure of earthquake âqualityâ, based on several calculated parameters. The higher the quality value, the more accurate the positioning of the epicentre. Lastly, column 8 describes the location of the epicentre in relation to a nearby landmark.

@beedragon 445 - which sent me off looking up several other things, ;) but I guess the answer is that the standard is 'from sea level.' Thanks, I had missed the EQ page more detailed info (meaning I probably didn't go looking for it since it's not a strong poinit! ; ) )
I can see that the proposed trip is going to have to include a reading list ahead of time!

I just managed to catch a couple of minutes on the Thorolfsfell cam where I was able to see a little bit of Strombolian activity between the clouds. So, she's still going on without us :)

(I'm not trying to monopolize the board, just doing my bit to get Erik up to 500 posts today :)))

@731 Reynir To capture go full screen then print screen. Then paste into paint program, as long as you're using Windows. If using MAC then:
# Hold down Apple key â + Shift + 3 and release all
# then use your mouse to click on the screen
# Done. You will see a picture file in at your desktop. Thatâs the screen capture picture.

@ Birdseye 328 Try Izzy Tours, Birmingham UK. They specialise in geologically focussed groups for schools univs.

@448...or for people on Mac, you can refine the process and do a targeted capture by using Apple key + Shift + 4 and click/drag the crosshairs - release takes the picture (and after a spectacular night, thumb starts to quiver as you hold down 'click' until the right moment...)

Nice show on Thoro cam between the clouds.. It may be a trick of the light but do I see a dark plume rising from the bottom of the LHS of the glacier.. Flur cam quite interesting too.. Lower hot spot sure has grown today..

@Peter Cobbold - ME??? nuh uh, no experience in that line,(willing to help) but it's a thought for some Univ. person or someone with a relative in the tour business,Iceland or elsewhere, maybe...it was just an idea...and I was thinking there ought to be some Icelanders involved...all pie in the sky on my part because there are so many interested people here at Chez Erik that it seems a shame not to have a followthrough.

@451 Shelly That area always looks like that. I think it's part of the glacier tongue (could be wrong there though). Look back at the Picasa pictures and you can see it in various lighting.

Dan, just a while back I saw a bright light down there and thought OMG! Lava has broken through then saw the bright light split in two and drive away.. I guess there were two Jeeps down there tonight. lol

I'm a lurker, love to read and learn. Have been away for about 4 hours and just came to read up on the latest news. I just viewed the Ãórólfsfelli cam...........is another volcano erupting in the background? or that the April earth fissure that had opened up....and is now blowing her bowels again?

lightening in plume on Thoro cam..

Just for grins :o) Our favorite volcano has officially made it to the "Real UFOs" site. LOL! I was searching on google for volcano videos and found this.

http://www.realufos.net/2010/05/strange-little-orb-over-icelands.html

Nice lightning now.
I also saw the two jeeps. must have been in the lake bed.

@455 Mary-Lou It's erupting in basically the same place as before. Look back at some off the pictures on the Picasa site and you'll see what I mean.
Nice occasional fireworks. I keep missing the lightning, but I am watching two vehicles driving down the river bed right now (or ET).

For any new people, click on my name and it will take you to where I have posted some links.

#432 birdseyeUSA,Reynir I have checked all the picasa pics so far they where published on the site.
I have noticed that the melting has been increased from the first pic(16.4).

Only I like to know: Is the mud/ash flow causing to the left (E) by Eyja current crater/erruption.
I don't belive that Fimmvörðuháls cause any that kind of efects any more?

The meltwater runaway would be easy to figure of increase of rivers flow on pics but the mud/ash is more difficult.

So do EF cause thease flows also to the left jökull (I dont'n know that one's jökull's name ) or what is the reason of the happening. I know there is an other crater between current and the started eruption.

I think all my todays "research" was caused that I was looking this time-lapsed video over and over and I was hang-upped of it...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXEAHVkhvj0

ploom on the Hvol cam is now out the top of the frame.

For the FLIR watchers. I havent been looking at that lately because I have been busy at the airport here in Mempho.... But, is it just me or are the hills suddenly a lot warmer over all?

I had done a screen capture like three days ago when this thing was getting burpy. And then I looked tonight, Jeeeez that thing looks warmer. It could be ash deposits, but its on the sides and not so much on the upper reaches which has been and is already warm.

Boris, Randall, Jon, Erik... Anyone noted this besides me?

Very active at the moment, but I doubt that the occupants of the jeep/s have the excellent view that we have. Wonder what they are checking/looking for....

@Timo 459 -aha- NOW I see what you were looking at - it's not mud, it is the face of the glacier receiving the sun over a time-lapse - but it certainly does look like a giant mud flow in that clip! The camera is not very good resolution,so things look less sharp than they might (or rather, the resolution is OK but the is a technical problem in sending.) So - all is OK - just a somewhat shiny skirt on the lady.

Thank-you Dan, nice list of links to explore. Excuse my premature post. The low lying clouds gave me the illusion that something new and very big was erupting, but further back in the distance. I guess this quick spontaneous post of mine has shown me something interesting, and that is just how excited I am to be viewing and learning hear on your blog. That being said, it's back lurking!

M. Randolph Kruger I don't really know anything about the FLIR...It just looks like something out of my wild misspent college days....Actually looking at it right now makes me want to put on the Doors and turn it up really loud.

@464 Mary-Lou I've been watching this thing for a while now, like many others. It's kind of like watching hurricanes, which I do closely when they hit the Gulf of Mexico. Every little jog, turn, increase, etc gets scrutinized on the weather blog where my links are posted. Same thing can happen with the volcano, but that's half the fun. :) Tricks of light, clouds seemingly appearing out of nowhere, lights appearing suddenly (our own UFO), make it fun to try figuring out what's going on. Yea, I'm hooked.

@beedragon445- did my homework, went to the earthquakes page, see that there ARE tables but can't get to them...??? All I can see is the map and time/magnitude chart, & I'm feeling blind & stupid, but can't find a table link...
@M.Randolph Kruger 461, the FLIR is confusing because it's always relative to what it's seeing right in the moment, there are no absolute color values or reference points for colors other than relative values in the given screen at a given time - it's just a tool for looking for the warmest place, and in this case the moraines hold the heat of the day longer, but those colors are only the 'color of the day.' At least that's how I understand it...

@467 birdseye (might want to change your name) LOL

Right above the map are two tabs map and table. Or go here:
http://en.vedur.is/earthquakes-and-volcanism/earthquakes/myrdalsjokull/…

#463 Thanks birdseye, I run that video a lot and then I went take look the picasa pics to closer checking.
It's wery difficult to examine pic when you enlarge wiew 100->400% and I was also thinkin that the pics are fooling me:(
This is a great blog and I'm hooked it. Very sory for false information!!!
More eyes are better when they sleep little rest (local 05:00) and should last be go to bed before the sun rise!!

Mila cams down. Mulakot only one I can see right now. Plume above the clouds.

@Dan 468 - bangs head on nearest hard object, crawls into nearest hole....

I'm looking at the Hvolsvelli cam....and it looks like someone needs to go wake up Erik and Boris;)

Plume altitude is up there with first light.

Mila cams are back for me. And what a show! Glad I have the day off....coffee in hand, slippers on feet.....where are you, Frito? I have cream....bring cookies :-)

Somebody grab a screen shot if you can.

Big ash column on the Hvolsvelli cam. Looks explosive, see occasional lightning flashes in the images. Impressive!

May be an all nighter for me if this keeps up. :)
Too slow to catch the lightning though. But great show, couple of big ones.

Vertical tremor plots on the slow upswing. Plume column mixing height appears to be rising.

Plume height, anyone?

I managed to see one small lightning flash and a few eruptions. It will be interesting to see what the lava channel looks like after the mist/clouds disappear - it sure is steaming a lot!

WOW what she are now going to do! Great webcam shots, is she moving to east?!! hot hot is coming...

WOW. "E" is putting on an AWESOME show. Seen several lightning flashes, lots of magma bombs, just beautiful :O)

Could Hvolsvelli please zoom out a bit, or aim the camera a bit more up, or both? The plume's getting too high to see.

@483 StarBP: I said that right before Hvolsvelli disconnected... maybe they're doing what I asked? (wishful thinking, I know)

Helen will be happy to see that there is a change to the top of 'her' arch :) Big dark split there now, where there was a much smaller bird-shaped one this morning.

Hvolsvelli back up... no apparent change in aim

@486 StarBP I was just about to blame you for the cam going down. ;)

re. my post 485 I guess I was psyched out by mud ... the black crow is still there.

It seems that we have now at least second cylinder to go!

http://eldgos.mila.is/eyjafjallajokull-fra-thorolfsfelli/

Interesting, the steam plume that's emanating from the GÃgjökull glacier is blowing into a different direction than the ash plume from the main eruption. Clearly, different wind directions at different altitudes.

Too bad I missed the night show (lightning and lava bombs), but work didn't allow many distractions today...

Reykjavik radar says the plume is about 5.2km high.

Or about 16,500 feet tall. Sure seems taller than that!

I would have guessed much higher than that.

I brought the cookies
Kathryn's coffee is great
Fuzzy pink slippers

*yawns*

Holy Vodafone!

And Helen's arch is still there!