Eyjafjallajökull Update for 5/11/2010

@#491 #492 I watched the Keflavik radar pic yesterday when the front was rolling in. Very little of the pic resembled the conditions on the ground: the radar said clear skies, while webcams showed heavy clouds. So from now on, I take those readings with a pinch of salt.

NB: I'm not scientist nor have I played one on TV. Still, I've posted some images I shot last week while visiting - some are pretty dramatic night shots and two clearly show the lava glowing inside the glacier on May 9.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tomandcarla/sets/72157623926446015/

@Tom ~ Those are some fantastic shots!

Awesome display tonight but I've got to call it a night. If anyone is watching still, look at Hvolsvelli cam. Looks like white drifting up with the plume. Steam mixed in maybe? Probably just the lighting and my weary eyes.

Last thing, this is the third day I have noticed lightning just as dawn approaches. Doesn't seem to show any more on the web page after sun comes up. Interesting!
http://andvari.vedur.is/athuganir/eldingar/vikan_is.html

Someone please tell me that's not a pyroclastic flow going down the right flank on Hvols cam ...

@Dan #499 - good night, dream of ash plume and lava flows...

@Frito #500 - I think those are just dense ash clouds sinking to the ground. Still unpleasant to be in, but not as dangerous as pyroclastic flows (but that's just my uninformed opinion).

@Tom #497 - indeed great pictures. Makes me envious, but my next trips are booked for Germany and Austria, not Iceland. With a bit of luck I may get a few of Iceland from 30,000 feet. Unless, of course, my flights get canceled due to ash....

Wow, she is really pumping out the ash today!

@Holger #501 - I think you're right. It looked strange when it first started rolling down. Our Lady is never boring, that's for sure. She gives us something new to see each day.

@George #502

Yes, she's quite active today. That doesn't bode well for European air traffic during the next few days...

@Frito #503

One of these days she really is going to unleash some pyroclastic flows, just to prove she can. We can only hope that no scientist and other daredevils (Gummi etc.) will be close by to 'witness' the event first hand...

@ Holger ~ I shudder at the thought. We've had such great live and near-real time coverage of this volcano so we're pretty lucky but as beautiful and powerful as she is, she could be a killer. Let's hope everyone (pilots and our own Gummi Bear) stay safe.

Is it only my impression or has the eruption intensified while I was sleeping? Especially looking at the FLIR cam..

@Bea It's been about the same for the past two hours or so. I'm not sure what it was like before that, but I think it was stronger a few hours earlier judging by the comments posted here.

@Frido seems in this case I missed quite a show as I stopped watching yesterday evening when clouds came up... Someone made some screenshots?

@bea, The correct answer is that it fluctuates on hour to hour bases. Sometimes even more often then that.

But currently there are no signs of the eruption ending.

Scientists watching 'shooting rocks' from Eyjafjalajökull's Godasteinn on this video:
http://tinyurl.com/39m5g3m

ok, I posted quite a few time-lapse animations, but I think I am going to stop after seeing this one: http://vimeo.com/11673745

this is probably the best time-lapse I ever saw.

Philipp (astrograph)

Does anyone know anything about the geology of the little basin at the terminus of GÃgjökull? I ask because I was just looking at the zoomed-in Vodafone image, and it suddenly leapt out at me as looking an awful lot like an eroded phreatic crater. It's sitting on the alluvial plane of the range. Or maybe more this setting is better described as part alluvial fan, part terminal moraine. In any case, those walls just have the right look in that picture :)

Check Vodafone camera. Lava flow to the right middle of pic.
http://www.vodafone.is/eldgos/en

@514 513 I am seeing lava there on the vodacam

Not lava flow, light reflection on the camera lens.

I thought it was lava at first, but it is oval in shape and appears on pics a few days back light is reflecting on something on the lens, a bit like raindrops.

@Philipp. Please dont stop creating your Timelapses. I really enjoy them and it gives me an oppurtunity to watch the nightly lightshow which i always miss, cause i need to sleep occasionally ;). And when i read up on all the comments after getting home from work, and there was something like... lightning or whatever, i always think, shame i missed it but tomorrow i can check it on Philipps Video.

Is it just me, or are all the Mila cams down?

@512 Philipp, I agree it's an impressive time lapse video - but then, clearly, they've had more raw material to work with, and the time lapse was just one part of the total.

@Phillip I totally agree with Birgit please do not stop!

@ Philipp (astrograph) #512 Please don't give up doing your time lapses! I find them really very useful to give me a better idea of what has happened each day. It's so easy to forget how the volcano used to look!

Actually, there's an idea - how about a big long timelapse that is all your existing timelapses stitched together into one? That would be very interesting viewing!

Plume on Hvols cam just got bigger again, above screen now

There is nothing special on the helicorders right now, no bigger tremor, nothing special with the earthquakes, and still lady Eyja is blowing like there would be no tomorow.

Thanks Dee!

BBC docudrama Yellowstone http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WF-RKzqNtz0

@Alison (#440), I don't know. Boris Behncke says that the Tjörnes Fracture Zone is like the San Andreas fault, so a volcanic origin is unlikely. However, there are underwater volcanoes reported or suspected, so volcanism can not be ruled out. Since I found this site (late Jan) there have been several localised swarms in the TFZ but none as sustained, intense nor going as shallow as this one. Dr Behncke's word is good enough for me, but I wouldn't be surprised if there were news of under-water volcanism north of Iceland. This ties in with the sustained discussion we've had with Peter Cobbold, Bruce Stout, Passerby & others about unusual seismicity all across Iceland, seismic patterns and regular oscillations, bolus propagation etc.

Oh frabjous joy, the steam indicates that the lava flow has recommenced melting the glacier at a noble if gentle rate. "Out, damn'd spot! out, I say!"

#527, Henrik: definitely more steam!

I'm glad you all stayed on the blog (and not the chat) so I could read back and see all those exciting things I missed while sleeping ( a pity that one needs that in times like these...)

#448,Dan #450 birdseye : thanks for the screenshotexplanation on a Mac! Really helpfull.

The diskussion on the VEI skala reminds me of the diskussion with hurricane-scales. There also is a need to "fine-tune" the scale so it is more clear. The subdevision that is proposed semms very logical and helpfull to me.
( but I'm a amateur).

By the way, I noticed that the "arch" formation has been slowly but constantly melting over the past two weeks. Have a look at these photos in sequence:

extras.vodafone.is/trailers/fimmvorduhals/mx10-4-235-80/2010/05/02/16/30.jpg
extras.vodafone.is/trailers/fimmvorduhals/mx10-4-235-80/2010/05/04/16/30.jpg
extras.vodafone.is/trailers/fimmvorduhals/mx10-4-235-80/2010/05/07/16/30.jpg
extras.vodafone.is/trailers/fimmvorduhals/mx10-4-235-80/2010/05/09/16/30.jpg
extras.vodafone.is/trailers/fimmvorduhals/mx10-4-235-80/2010/05/11/16/30.jpg
extras.vodafone.is/trailers/fimmvorduhals/mx10-4-235-80/2010/05/13/10/07.jpg

Oh, and probably a sure sign that I'm addicted: in my dreans tonight I had a furious diskussion with someone about the right pronunciation of "Eyafjallajökull". *g*

Ash column quite larger than yesterday

haha, Lavendel.. Eyjafjatlajökutl is the right way to say it, or just use the name of the mountain, Eyjafjäll

#526 Thanks Henrik, I'll keep watching it.

@Lavendel (#528) "The subdevision that is proposed semms very logical and helpfull to me but I'm a amateur."

That's just the point, it should be! A scale understandable only by professionals serves only one purpose - to impress everyone else with their learning and importance. A useful scale is readily understood by anyone with a modicum of education after a few minutes of reading or instruction.

Mr Moho, well spotted! Looking at it over the past few days I thought "Hasn't the arch shrunk and the hole above it, didn't it use to be round?" and then quickly shrugged it off as imagination.

Erik has put up a new post. Time to move over there?

Good morning beedragon, I don't see an Eyja post yet, just the general one that he put up yesterday..he usually announces it here & said there'd be a new Eyja one today - looks like maybe we'll be out of luck over the weekend, maybe the cams will be 'ashed out..'

Erm... don't think so as the new topic doesn't contain the parameters "Eyjafjallajökull ⢠Eyjafjöll ⢠Iceland ⢠Katla â¢" Also, I think there are people from other countries who would appreciate an "Eyjafjallajökull-free topic" so they have a chance to discuss volcanoes of greater interest to them. After more than three months of "Iceland special issues" only, I'd say we stay here out of courtesy to them. ;)

@512 - truely an amazing viedo! Great effects.

@David Calvo (#531), it certainly attains a greater altitude today, but I am not surprised with the generous supply of dihydrogen oxide available in the form of saturated clouds as evidenced by the new coat of snow.

(You must think me a boring old fa*t going on about how what seems to be an obvious and interesting increase in eruptive power is just due to the availability of water.)

@birdseye & Henrik Oops ... I'll blame that on not having had my coffee yet!

Carry on, carry on :)

Here Sir, a nice Blue Mountain one for you. ;)

Eyjafjallajökull volcano eruption 12 May 2010 vodafone webcam time lapse
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jg7H_VrcqcQ

ps moderator, this link is also in moderation queue on the newest (non-E) thread, please delete it for me, sorry for error!

#412 Henrik,

I'm afraid I'll have to correct you on the supernova scale. In fact there is no such thing as a scale defined to classify supernovae by intensity or effects. The classification is based on spectral properties of the light emitted. This gives us Type I and Type II supernovae. Type I have no signatures of hydrogen (the Balmer series) in their spectrum, Type II have. The classification then goes on to differentiate.

Type I is divided in a, b and c, again on spectral properties. Ia got some ionized silicon, Ib has non ionized helium and Ic doesn't show helium strongly or not at all. Even the progenitor stars are not common in Type I supernovae. a Type Ia is caused by a white dwarf (basically left over cores of sun-like stars - which aren't heavy enough to go supernova on their own) accreting matter from a companion star and blowing itself apart when it becomes too heavy to stay stable. Type Ib and Ic are core collapse supernovae of heavy stars which have blown away their outer layers at the end of their lives (google Wolf-Rayet stars if you want to know more).

Type II is divided in P and L classes, unlike Type I not on spectrum but light curve. The P stands for plateau, which means that after fading from peak brightness, it will slow it's fading rate dramatically compared to the L type, which fades away linearly (L). Both stem also from core collapse by a heavy star, but the star (partly) retained it's outer H layer.

For Type Ia brightness only varies little between supernovae, as the star needs to pass the Chandrasekhar limit to detonate. Hence their use to measure distance across the universe. The core collapse supernovae vary a lot more because of variations in mass and asymmetry in the explosion.

Sorry for getting slightly off-topic, but the amateur astronomer in me got carried away...

@ 512.

That was a great video, but I've seen some of your time lapses, and like the others have said, don't stop doing them!!

In reference to the video you linked to, I found another one on that same website, showing the lava eruption of Eyjafjallajökull that I found interesting, with some wonderful close up shots too! (Still can't believe I have to copy/paste the name of this volcano lol. There's no way I'd get it anywhere near right otherwise!)

http://vimeo.com/10548285

Well now, here's an interesting little item - http://www.icelandreview.com/icelandreview/daily_news/?cat_id=29314&ew_…

..and for your listening pleasure (and pronunciation practice...)
http://www.icelandreview.com/icelandreview/upload/files/audio/eliza-eyj…
Interesting that I think (not sure) that the Mt. is a 'he..' AnnaReykjavik or anyone ? True?

#546: Yes, the word 'jökull' is masculine.

Hmm... the cameras on Ãórólfsfell are finally getting a glimpse of the plume's root.

#448: Done the PrintScreen-and-crop often enough (it's a WinXP box) to find it routine. Looks like WMP does some DirectX stuff that evades capture that way, so trying to get snaps off Katla currently falls under Epic Fail.

@Philipp, Another vote for You to continue the timelapse.
His was verywell done but i found it frustrating and a little non informative. Yours gives us more information and a better feel for what's really going on. i hope they aren't too difficult for You... (i don't believe in doing things that are too difficult ;)
Best! and Thanks for All Your contributions.
motsfo

@549 Try viewing Katla ruv.is site and then full screen and capture. You must be looking at it using the pop up wmv player.

http://www.ruv.is/katla

#551: Tried that, too. Same non-result. Foo... WMP10 ya jackass!

Yes, another grateful support vote here for continued community service to this blog (and very likely to IES and other experts, too) through your kind provision of daily time-lapsed webcam movie - Philipp, TinTin and others.

Joy. Yet another 'phone home and ask them to capture a pic' group.

Speaking of timlapse videos, here is a short 1-hour timelapse I made from the vodafone camera monday morning:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cuPwPvr3Uec&fmt=22

@549 Reynir, screen capture of the RUV feed works right well for me - I have M$ Vista, but that is not so much different. I always use to capture the active window.

You can also open the feed directly on M$ Media Player as an URL, mms://213.167.158.211/katla/ if you want a larger picture.

Duh! The Blog system ate up Alt-PrintScreen in less than - larger than bracketing.

I tried to say "I always use Alt-PrintScreen to capture the active window."

Another mobile phone user on the Voda cam! "Hi honey - I'm on the volcano!"

#557,562: Found a workaround (on the 'pedia): Turn down acceleration until DirectX stuff is off. Incidentally, that fixes WMP's gamma issues. Looks like hardware overlays are a bit of a bother on my machine.

Koen v G (#549). Very good summary, sorry if I abbreviated it too much. Since we share an interest here, did you light upon the recent news about Type Ia SN which throws doubt upon the use of Type Ia as standard candles?
www.skyandtelescope.com/community/skyblog/newsblog/84771852.html
Or the PISN-type supernova?
www.skyandtelescope.com/news/78344612.html

New Iceland-related post for those interested:

http://scienceblogs.com/eruptions/2010/05/eyjafjallajokull_update_for_5…

Some pretty interesting shaking going on at Vatnajökull.
Any thoughts to what might be going on there and any connections to Eyja?

Who wouldn't be interested in a new Iceland post? :)

..and off we go to the new post...

#549, Henrik,

Thanks, I left out the PISN, as well as some other exotic supernova types, too keep my story shorter. ;) It's all very intriguing but a complex matter. Astronomers still have many open questions there, even in areas which they once thought to understand quite well, like Type Ia SNs. There are some problems with their use as standard candle (asymmetry and super-Chandrasekhar explosions), but the results obtained by them, most notably dark energy, have been verified with other methods.

But maybe we're straying a bit too off-topic now...

@417 Henrik, that makes so much sense. I hope someone adopts it officially.