Eyjafjallajökull Update for 5/13/2010: Travel snarls ease over Europe

Good morning.

Erik, it seems like the little vent with the steam is getting bigger and hotter on the FLIR, am I wrong? Thanks

At the moment the ash plume is somewhat stronger. Reykjavik radar now puts the height at 8.2km, and the top is outside the field of view of the Hvolsvöllur and Múkalot cameras.

It also looks like that little steam vent turned darker, like ash...

Haha - just went on the tremors page for the first time in a while - since I last went they've added this line of text:

Katla is NOT erupting and there are NO indications that Katla is about to erupt. Information on this page is for the Eyjafjallajökull eruption.

"...cracks in the glacier..."

Crevasses, surely?

GÃgjökull Glacier Time Lapse - 16 April 2010 to 13 May 2010 This video shows the changes that have occurred to GÃgjökull valley in the weeks since the eruption started. There are no webcam images of the glacial lake before the initial outbreak and flooding; the time lapse begins 16 April. Two days are missing: one day with no images on the vodafone server, one day with only cloud all day.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9olOWpqri0

The plume is definately reaching a higher altitude today. As for the enlarged "little vent" that you see on the FLIR image. My thoughts have been is that this is the lava flow moving through the glacier. I'm thinking that the FLIR camera can now just see more of the thermal image, whether more glacier has melted or broken away. If you look alittle furthur down the glacier towards the valley you will see a couple areas that are slightly warmer then the surroundings. I think this is where the flow has extended to.

I can't even see the top of the ash plume right now so you know it is tall. Way higher then 13,000 feet and maybe even closer to 30,000 feet, just a guess but it is pretty close. Almsot 2 months since the eruption started and it is still going strong.

Nice time lapse. Like the little puffs of steam - none in the last week though. Time to put the kettle on again?

#7 Rotterdam: thanks for that video! Shows clear what happened sinds 16.4.

a short description on how I create the Eyjafjallajökull time-lapse videos using webcams in Iceland: http://www.salzgeber.at/articles/timelapse/

The Keflavik radar gave 9.0 km as the highest level at 1430 local time, an hour ago. The current number is 5.2, which I believe is not quite right, seeing the plume.

No way it is only 5 km. that has to be a error or else the plume just got this tall again.

I think we're used to seeing the plume blowing pretty strongly away from the cameras, now it has swung more towards them - would make the plume seem larger...

There is faint black smoke coming from the lava trench, in the part where the apparent angle is about 45 degrees to the right of vertical. Hot stuff without water to boil?

OK before anyone as inept as i are, misses any more:
On the Picasa web album...if You click the magnifying glass icon and put Your screen up to 200%, You can touch and move the picture around and get so close You can almost walk under the arch....
ok... i hear You out there laughing at this old lady, but MAYBE there is someone out there that doesn't know about this. (like me; yesterday) :)
Best!motsfo

More EQs

3 EQ and the little steam plume starts to look like ash! Gets bigger.

The ash plume appears to be going straight up even if there appears to be a strong wind in the area.

It also looks bigger then yesterday.

Anyone see the dinosaur to the right of the round rock?
Anyone?
Anyone?
Looks like he's interested too!
Best!motsfo

@motsfo - you mean the TRex head at about 1 o'clock above the split stone?

Watching from the mila cams
from the Hvolsvöllur you can see a white top of the mountain.
at
thorolfsfelli cam you can see it at the right site of the eruption. the ash plume is moveing into the left back of your view, seeing from the Hvolsvöllur, so the "white ash" is more on the opposite direction of the wind ( why? )

what is the "white" that i see?
it isnt just the sun shining into the spot reflecting it.

Right, Jón, it does look larger, wider - would llke to see the base. I just got a 'server not found' when I tried to refresh Thoro & Hvol cams. Mulacam shows a big mess and a low ash cloud.. Can just barely see the top on Heklubyggð.

Dennis, it seems Eyjafjallajökull has been covered with snow overnight. It's happened several times before that an all-black mountain has been covered in thick cloud and re-emerged a pristine white. So again, there is a lot of moisture to feed the eruption. ;)

#23 Dennis: that's snow in my (humble) opinion.

@22... yeah, Kultsi, isn't that something!
hehehehe...
Best!motsfo

Quick question

Close ups of the vent seem to show spattering and small fountains like those at Stromboli which I'd always thought of as being particular to low-viscosity basaltic magmas, but the ash analysis suggests this is an andesite eruption which I'd have thought was too sticky.

So - how common is it to see this sort of spattering from andesite eruptions?

Thanks,

Mike.

@motsfo, a shout out-hello! To a fellow Alaskan ;) And I too, am hooked on our little friend, the RSO.

As to today's current activity, I am glad to discover that some of the cams will load properly as I darned near had withdrawals yesterday ;)

For some reason, I keep expecting something else to happen-increased activity at another volcano....just a hunch, it seems likely based on the history there. A little concerned about fouride, and not too clear on which volcano/type or eruption produces it-can someone point me to a link? Thanks very much.

I watch these people up there taking pictures and I have to wonder...doesn't anyone have a decent camera any more? I mean really, if I'm going all the way there (even if from other parts of Iceland) I'm taking a good camera with good optics and multiple zoom capability. A cell phone camera wouldn't cut it for me.

DataMarket is a company that makes graphic representations of stuff. Seems they pull data from all kinds of sources, just for the sheer fun of it. Here's the earthquake story leading up to the Eyja eruption:

http://datamarket.com/is/gallery/earthquakes_and_eruptions/

5 EQ now

@AnnaReykjavik 31, I love that video - saw it somewhere a few threads back, great to re-post it - shows the patterns...interesting that there seem to be more Bardabunga area ones this time around...

While we are all "seeing things" - There was an excellent snow-on rock old Norse warriors head, walrus mustache and all, shown on the now defunct Valahnúk cam. He wandered off when it warmed up a little though. I can't see the T.Rex - however on the closeup Vodafone cam, can anyone else see a grinning man with a large nose and chin on the right next to the rock fissure?

Ecch - bad geography - wrong area - go back to hole!

Sounds like there are a lot of Redoubt watchers here and probably a few others who watched the CVO site intently during the 2004 Mount St Helens eruption, as I did. It was quite a solitary experience. I found nothing like this forum, so I spent my hours googling and reloading the seismos and cams waiting for a glimpse after days of unremitting low overcast.

Today's EQs in the crater area are all in the ~3-4 km range, close to each other. Is this a precursor to opening a new vent on the west side?

That is a lot of people on the Thoro and FLIR cams lol

Seems to be a much frequented spot for trips and outings...

#28 Mike Richards.

Mike, it´´s not unusual to have this kind of spattering on andesitic volcanoes, but for sure thay are much larger than those at Stromboli. One of the best examples is Sakurajima, where you can have in the same day vulcanian explosions and then strombolian spattering. These volcanoes can range form basaltic to andesitic. I use to work in Nicaraguan volcanoes and sometimes it´s crazy to study so much different types of eruptive processes. But if you want to go crazy you should come to Teide volcano or how to go from nearly MORB to phonolites in just 400 meters, XD

Cheers!

Someone mentioned that today is a national holiday. If i lived there, i'd pack a picnic and head out-- Didn't JonF say he was going to try and get out there today? Has anyone seen him?

Today is Ascentionday which in many countries is an official day off. And ofcourse, wenn I lived there, I would take the oppportunity to go and have a look.
I guess I'm just jalous...

@parclair #41

Do you know what Jon Friman looks like? Maybe he was one of those friendly folks waving into the camera?

Clearly, a lot more foot traffic today than the other days...

Dan @ 30 - if they are Icelanders, the eruption might not seem special enough to make lugging a big camera up a hill worthwhile.

Slight off-topic: does anyone know where I can get good shapefiles for Iceland? I'm experimenting with a GIS program.

Dinosaurs at volcanic locations are not without precedent:
http://www.volcano.si.edu/volcanoes/region04/newzeal/whiteisl/3312whi1…

I'm not there. It is quite a travel to go there. I also would not go this close to the volcano. I know too much to even try it.

Is it all possible that a hiker can place the travelocity gnome for our webcam viewings

Yes Jón , I would not go so close either,you never know what could happen, and if it happens, it happens very very fast.You could never out run it. not even on Thorolfsfjäll.

Just got back from the volcano a couple of hours ago, after heading out there on Tuesday. Activity today seems a lot higher from the ground - the plume seemed higher (we estimated it at at least 6 km altitude, when it appeared through the clouds).

Ashfall to the south was VERY heavy this afternoon - driving out on Tuesday it wasn't so bad (but hanging out in it for 2 hours to study poor Solheimajokull wasn't great fun) but today it was very dense, and when we stopped for photos a 'wall' of dense ash moved in. Visibility was pretty poor. It seemed almost as bad as when I drove through it on 17th April!

It's interesting that lightning activity has picked up again - nothing to speak of today, but on Tuesday we saw and heard a number of strikes in the plume.

I should have some photos up soon, so I'll link through to them when I do.

@45 Doug C Good catch! and You can see all of him.
:)
Best!motsfo

@Peter Cobbold - OK, you win - I contacted my alma mater which in 1999 did a geology trip to Iceland (with an optional side trip to Viking So. Greenland, afterwards.) Travel director said it is already tentatively on her list for 2012...open to non-alums as 'friends.' I will keep Erik posted, otherwise I I have no way to keep in touch especially with such an in-the-future time.

Anyone interested, start saving! Or look into a 'sooner' trip.

@47 Ryan - : ) Preferably upside down in ash....or photoshopped to riding the plume....

Thanks motsfo. I see Redoubt is still slumbering fitfully. Judging from the webcams it's going to be a cloudy summer. I like the dome-size comparisons AVO put up.

Another webcam moment

http://i42.tinypic.com/2hquuq1.jpg

Latest pic from space (aqua modis)
http://i40.tinypic.com/dcde12.jpg
James #49. Looking forward to your photos very much.

You can see it from space from Eumetsat as well

http://oiswww.eumetsat.org/IPPS/html/MSG/RGB/EVIEW/SEGMENT2/

Hi there! I can't find links for recent time-lapse video, especially FLIR. Are our generous movie producers exhausted, discouraged or simply nothing happens due to cloud curtain?

Anyway, I wish to thank any of previous contributors. Such material is very helpful for teaching petrology. So, please, donât give up! Keep on with good work!

*grmbl* The Vodafone cams need the boot. Again.

#12 Philipp -Austria
Bank stokage Vodafone:
http://extras.vodafone.is/trailers/fimmvorduhals/mx10-4-235-80/2010/

@ 57 D
http://www.youtube.com/user/astrograph#p/u
http://www.youtube.com/user/tintronix72

In just few hours, the ash type of the eruption in Eyjafjallajökull has been going on for 1 month now. With the start of a eruption in Fimmvörðuháls (part of Eyjafjallajökull) the eruption has been going on for three months from the 21st of May. Give or take the small brake between the eruptions.

I look at Hvolsvelli cam.- its just amazing how High the ash plume now rises.
has the eruption open up another vent?

@ Birdseye 51 I go with a UK university/geological soc. group this summer, under Izzy tours. Reunion of 2000 trip, but with less muscle power and fewer neurones. Hoping Eyjaf still has some life left, but not too much. Organiser is academic geologist with decades of Iceland experience, but
I guess there must be geology under/postgrads in Iceland wanting to work as expert guides?

The eruption looks very photogenic on the apron cam in MÃlakot.

GÃgjökull is absolutely pumping out steam now.

take a look at the cam Guys, something is up,.. Im not sure , but it looks like a pyroclastic flow, going on to the right!?

Wow, "E" is pumping out a slew of ash/steam. Any word on how high the ash plume is today? Looks like 20,000 ft at least!

Pitch black now in the area of the ashfall:
http://mbl.is/mm/frettir/innlent/2010/05/13/kolnidamyrkur_vid_jokulinn/

Hi guys,
Did any of you happen to see somthing (a bomb..) that appeared to be flying of Eyja at 21:55 local time, to the left, absurdly far???

@60 Thanks birdseyeUSA, I am familiar with that links. Hope for 12/05, now almost 13/05 FLIR time-lapse movies.

I was looking at the Hvolsvelli cam, and suddenly the right side of thje plume looked like it was colapsing, down the slope, is this normal?

Looking at the Hvolsvelli cam, the right hand side of the mountain does look very blurred and the ash cloud itself very very dark - After reading some of the above comments, I Google'd Pyroclastic Flow and from a video on there, it does look spookily similar! Any experts around to explain what migh tbe happening, or is it just a trick of the very low cloud?

Update from Iceland Met below. They state the plume is at 20,000 ft, with an occasional spurt up to 30,000 ft:
http://en.vedur.is/earthquakes-and-volcanism/articles/nr/1884

@thor #66 & #70

From the mulakot webcam it looks more like heavy ash fall (at least to my uneducated eyes). But as was discussed yesterday, it wouldn't be surprising if Eyjafjallajökull would throw in a few pyroclastic flows at some point. While that would be awesome to see, it would also be very dangerous to the people nearby. Therefore, let's hope she / he behaves...

hi
keep in mind that what you are observing right now on the Mila-Hvolvöllur is partly a refection of the change in the wind direction. in the recent days it has been blowing southeastwards (away from the camera). now there is very little wind, the little there is blowing south (causing heavy ashfall in the vicinity just south (right) of the mountain (2 meter visibility said one farmer on the radio just now). and it is predicted to go more into the southwesterly direction tomorow.
that being said, it looks like we got a bit more lava action than in recent days judging from the white plumes appearing to the right and what is now clearly visible in the Mila_Ãórólfell cam.

It definitly looks very familiar to a Pyroclastic flow,. but it can also be just strong winds over the ridge carrying the plume downwards and down the mountain slopes.
anyways I would not been near that area, cause i guess the air would be HOT down that slope!

One more question: did the SOHO and GOLA GPS station show a significant and sudden deflation or am I reading it wrong?

what is happening up there ? did she just suddenly stop?
first the part plume colapse down the slope and now she looks like she went calm? any one with any ideas , or is it because of the sunlight?

was that a lava bomb?

There's a low pressure center sitting almost on top of Eyjafjöll right now, so the ash isn't going to go far for the next day or so. I think the conditions could lead to some small pyroclastic flows caused by fountain collapse of the plume.

the steam plume is static because there is very little wind to shift it and alot of ash is falling straight down???

#77 (thor)
think not much is changing, except visibility. in the absense of wind the ash is not getting blown away in any one direction. and hence the exhaust pipe is just blending into an overall background of grey ash.

@63 Peter Cobbold Good for you! Suspect the same 'academic geologist' who led the 1999 trip will lead this one, too. Wonder if they'll add Greenland again. you can come back here and update us all on your trip! Wave from Thoro cam! (Holding ID sign, to escape comment... ; )

Let the light show begin...

A few lightning strikes were visible within the last few minutes on the Ãórólfsfell webcam. We'll see, if the lava will be visible tonight.

Hi, I was wondering: why does everybody call this volcano "she"? is it the same with every volcano? or just this one? and why? Thanks.

For those of you interested in detailed maps of the Eyjafjallajökull and Mýrdalsjökull area, I have compiled a Google Earth file containing overlays of 1:50,000 scale topographic maps of the area. Because of the large map images the file is 9.4MB in size. You can download the Google Earth file here:

http://sites.google.com/site/panojoe/Eyjafjallajokull_Eruption.kmz

The topo map images are from Landmælingar Ãslands.

With the map overlays and the Google Earth ruler tool it's quite easy to measure distances.

The file also shows the various web cam locations and includes download overlays of the latest NASA MODIS satellite images and two one-meter resolution GeoEye images.

I also created overlays of the 1:100,000 atlas sheets; the Google Earth file has my email address if anyone would like to request a copy of that file.

Time lapse from the vodafone webcam 13 May 2010http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=goIBwn_FLZc

Hoo-boy! A strike in perfect view! Oh, the glow is just beginning to show on the widescreen cam.

@ 66, 70, 75
Is the difference of the magma here as compared to the magma at the very first vent in some way connected to the absence of pyroclastic flows at the first site?
Speaking as a lay person without geology education, I suspect such spectacular phenomena would be critically dependent on tiny variables in the magma composition.

BTW, are there noticeable differences in the frequency of pyroclastic flows between the local (Iceandic) volcanoes and similar volcanoes elsewhere? I rarely hear of Icelandic volcanologists dying.

well, its a grand lady dont you think?

-remember
The most beautiful ships are named after women, in many languages, and ancient religions, the earth, nature, spring and all other natural good is also female (Demeter, Persephone, Gaia, Mother Nature, Mother Earthâ¦), Liberty is rendered as a woman, and many national personifications are female (Columbia, Britannia, Italia Turrita, Marianne..)
Maybe forces of nature get female associations because they are so powerful and inspiring, while also a little fearsome.

Hi everybody. What is up with gola and soho GPS stations? Error in measurement? They are sinking like a rock.
(http://hraun.vedur.is/ja/gps/predorb/golapred.html)
(http://hraun.vedur.is/ja/gps/predorb/sohopred.html)

Is it time now to put on the 1812 Ouverture with real cannon?

"all other natural good is also female"
well, that's also the case with lots of natural disasters: hurricanes, and now volcanoes... :-)
In fact, my question was less poetic: I do not know English very well, and I wanted to know whether it is a rule to refer to volcanoes as "she" rather than "it".

@ #11 Lavendel, Switzerland

Glad you enjoyed the video!

did u see that Big lightning filling the sky?
wow! who needs to go to florida, when you can go to Iceland for lightnigstorms,. ;)

Nice lightning.
http://www.ullinish.com/images/snap436.jpg

Were some of you looking for Volcano Gnomes earlier?

Well, I just spotted one of the elusive creatures!

http://www.fs.fed.us/gpnf/volcanocams/msh/views/static-classic.php

Don't know for how long it will be there ....

does these lightnings make any sound, I mean do they produce thunder?

Great lightning. Pity no sound effects ;-(

Also, is that a new vent opening in the snow on the right hand side of the thorolfsfelli cam?

23:43:35 camera time: I can barely believe I managed to grab a screenshot of that flash!

I mean, it'd be very loud there, but the webcam has no microphone.

Another lightning grab

http://i43.tinypic.com/ek5i8i.jpg

@Irna 84 I found out today (thanks Reynir) that in Iceland a jökull is masculine, and in a song (in English) the singer said 'Ejafjallajökull, he is always right.." So now we call 'it' Sir Ejya???

Amazing show!

@ 70
I was looking at the Hvolsvelli cam, and suddenly the right side of thje plume looked like it was colapsing, down the slope, is this normal?

Some spooky things are going one here, the pressure waves resulting from the eruption (when this is true, like i saw here -ruv.straumar.is/static.ruv.is/vefur/20042010_myndir_omar.wmv-), are creating some strange phenomenons, watched some strange cloud forming and moving.

Eyjafjallajökull is not female but male, in Icelandic.
Here how the name is pronounced and the name follow the rules of male names, females ar different.
Here is, Hér er Eyjafallajökull -The- Eyjafjallajökullinn
We talk about, um Eyjafjallajökul -The- Eyjafjallajökullinn
We kom from, frá Eyjafjallajökli -The- Eyjafjallajöklinum
We go to, til Eyjafjallajökuls -The- Eyjafjallajökulsins
Icelandic is different from English in this way and names are pronounced differently.

Dagur Bragason Iceland

a jökull(glacier) (isbre`) is a he, but the mountain eyjafjöll is a female..

so the volcano is a she, and the glacier on top is a he.

#105: Fjöll is neuter plural.

So ..we'll call her "Lady It" then? ;)

"so the volcano is a she, and the glacier on top is a he"
Quite suggestive :-)

Thank you all for this lesson in Icelandic!

...so it's not birth pangs, it's indigestion?

@ 101: Thanks at Raving. That's a great lightning!

Here is a picture of the eruption yesterday that I found online. Note the people on the picture, if you can find it.

http://omarragnarsson.blog.is/users/3b/omarragnarsson/img/p1011626.jpg

@Reynir #99 Another vampire. Sorry about that (blush)

Another lightning stroke

www.ullinish.com/images/lightning2.jpg

@Raving, Thanks for the picture. It looks great!

@Jón #111

That's quite a picture Jón. Shows how insignificant we are in the face of such forces. That must have been quite a daring trip. Did they go up by helicopter, do you know?

@Holger, They did go on cars. You can spot them on the picture.

@Jón #116

Alright, found them. I thought those were boulders or some sort of ejecta.

Jón F., great find - I have seen other photos of the scientists on that ridge, and this gives a much better idea of the scale of things - more like what I expected - thanks.

Raving and Brian - good catches!

joeu, thanks for the map link and the trouble to compile it.

(@86) Interesting looking at d9tRotterdam's time-lapse,(thanks!) you can see part of why why the plume was so squirrely-looking today - the clouds go every which way and in circles....

Now if Reynir had the correct aspect ratio.

Another souvenir here
http://i40.tinypic.com/xc7lc.jpg

What happened to the FLIR cam? THe lightening show seems to have stopped all of a sudden too...

@renee #121

Looks like dense fog or maybe even ash fall. But then it appears to affect all webcams, even the one at Hvolsvöllur, which would argue for dense fog.

Too bad, the night show had a good start, but the fog won again....

Thanks Holger I haven't checked the weather lately forgot

That only leaves one thing to say...I HATE FOG sorry I'm better now.

To tide you over, you might enjoy images from a different volcanic extreme, Dallol in the Danakil depression of Ethiopia. From what people say, there is not a more dangerous and inhospitable research location on earth. But the photos..... wow.

www.google.com/images?q=dallol

Just found this, maybe already posted. About what tourists might been missing on Iceland. There's a short video in it.
http://www.icelandreview.com/icelandreview/daily_news/?cat_id=16567&ew_…

Maybe it's not only fog after all. The sun is slowly coming up and there is a dark cloud hanging over the Markarfljot valley. Looks like the wind is bringing the ash over towards the Ãórólfsfell webcam today.

The view from Hvolsvöllur confirms this idea, even if no details are visible.

There's an outside possibility that the glacier collapsed during the dark, and filled markafljot with smoke.

#104 So we were wrong about our "Lady's" gender! And all that talk about giving a name to the volcano (since it's the "volcano on the glacier Eyjaf")?

Wow, Jon #111, that photo is simply amazing. It's also amazing that people can (or choose to) be in that particular spot. What a huge adrenaline rush it must be!

#105 All right. It's a she volcano, but still no names?

Sorry - Jón!

Well time to call it a night. But not before looking at things and feeling bad for some of the people in the cams. From the looks of it the wind has shifted, radar seems to show this, and now the ash looks like it's headed for them. Mulakot looks ominous.

Presumably the rules being proposed mean that aircraft can always fly in the evening because there is no visible plume?

I'd still like to know how people can look out the window and say "yeah, that's volcanic ash." I'll agree you can do so when you have visual contact with the volcano, but what are the criteria for deciding that something is volcanic ash when you're flying?

Aargh! why do we have to sleep! Again I missed a lot of the "action".
Thanks a lot to all the people who made screenshots and time-lapses! At least with their help I am able to see them afterwards.

A nice day every-one.
*Lavendel headed to work*

Does anyone know why the valahnuk web camera hasn't come back up on the eldgos.mila. web site? I really liked that view the best. It just says that it is under maintainance.

Looks like there are some ash particles on the lens of the Vodafone cam. I guess somebody should go out there and clean the webcam. I'd like to go myself, but unfortunately I'm a bit far off...

The Mila webcam at Ãórólfsfell seems to be better off, no cleaning needed.

@missyland: the Valahnúk camera is in a currently restricted area, so they cannot get to it, for any foreseeable future. It is, AFAIK, a self-contained unit, so when the batteries ran out, no more pictures. MÃla took it off their webcam list.

Hi again,
Any chance we could find online a recording of the Hvolsvelli images from around 21:55 Iceland time yesterday? I'm still wondering what was it that I saw then, it had a clearly "balistic" trajectory.

Ash in Hvolsvöllur

http://i42.tinypic.com/29m85rc.jpg

http://www.mrietze.com/iceland10-2.htm

Top photos

Those photos are fantastic Scarlet Pumpernickel !

@Scarlet, I know the photographer (M. Rietze) but haven't yet seen those images ... they're hilarious. That looks like he and his companions got real close, let's hope they'll never be *too* close because the photos are wonderful and extremely illustrative of this type of volcanic activity, which by the looks of it should be best described as "violent Strombolian" but has also elements of Vulcanian activity.

There is some view of the valley on the Thoro cam at the moment. The meltwater has increased and there is a white line travelling to the right, slanting downwards from the top of the split rock.

@ #140: WOW (words are superfluous) !!!

Arghhhhhhh!!

I've lost the link to the Eyja/Katla history paper that someone posted a week or so back [note to self...'Save' at the time you damn eyjadiot!]

Can someone please repost it for me, there's no way I'll find it again in all these threads...thanks!!

@140 Scarlet just spectacular!

Goodmorning all! Does anyone has a timelapse of the spectacle of this night?? Seems I missed on that show!

Cancel 145...I got it!

evropusamvinna.is/Apps/WebObjects/HI.woa/swdocument/1015721/Sturkell_etal_2009b.pdf

A question about the picture Jón linked in #111:

You can see lots of dark spots against the bright cloud above the people in the picture. Is all of that rocks flying from the volcano? They are kind of everywhere, and it seems like a wonder if no one got hit, if it's all rocks!

@149 Nick, see video here:
http://tinyurl.com/39m5g3m

@Nick, #149: Yes, these are flying rocks. You can see it in the video, which is linked in #150. And this is the main reason, why this area is closed. They found really big rocks (more than 50kg in weight) as far as 1 km away from the volcano.

Morning to all. I wondered if anyone knew of information about what is happening to the north of Iceland in the Tjörnes fracture zone? -on the met office EQ plots there has been continuing activity up there since EJ had her last lot of EQs earlier this week. I see there is an island near the location of the EQs, and on google earth looks habited with an air strip. Any thoughts on a cloudy day on the webcams?
Ems,UK

#150 Thanks, I also just watched the videos linked in #140. That clearly answers my question. From your video it seems like very few of those rocks are likely to reach the place where they are standing though. But still, there are lots of craters on the ground, suggesting that they are far from safe.

I would really love to see the volcano from that viewpoint, but it doesn't seem to be worth worth the risk. :D

Maybe my thoughts at #152 were a bit rambling - I see that the area experiences these small rumbles all the time, and occasionally larger ones - are there any correlations with the EJ eruptions and this Tjornes area? and are there any visible/underwater changes occuring in the northern region?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1278315/Iceland-volca…

Interesting article

@Christihan 138 There was an airplane/helicopter in the area shortly before that time, I was watching it - when the cameras refresh, things often zoom - I have seen a few rocket-propelled birds as well!

@Scarlet Pumpernickel 140 Those are amazing pics - but I can't get the videos to run - anyone have a suggestion? Have downloaded a player that is supposed to handle most things, but no luck with MP4.

A glimpse on Hvol cam of plume going off the top of the frame, looks like not much wind diversion.

The plum is visible on Hvols cam and it looks to be high, it goes above the screen.

Something is stirring at Popocatépetl in Mexico.

A small steam plume. Possibly weather enhanced but still interesting.
http://www.cenapred.unam.mx/popo/UltimaImagenVolcanI.html

@birdseye, the apple quicktime player works well for MP4 files, Btw the latest Met report shows tops FL240 to FL260

Technodummie again - anyone know a way to send pictures here that doesn't involve entering your birthdate (tinypic) ? Or can I just make one up? I've only sent pics by email so far.

lol I meant to say plume of course not plum I think its time I went and got some lunch :)

@161 ... plums for lunch? :)

@159Greg Thanks - just figured out i have to double-click the image - duh - they shouldn't allow people over a certain age to play with these toys...

#140 SP: awesome pictures!! THanks for posting that link.

birdseye, I would recommend VLC, which handles almost any video format without any need to install codecs or anything.

http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

That is a very tall plume. I have not seen it that vigorously off the top of the frame before.

@163,lol...I know the feeling. Those movies are awesome!!
The plums look huge on Hvol cam

Oh, I noticed you've already solved the problem. I'm very slow at posting. :D

#155 @birdseye: Dunno about @greg's suggestion re QuickTime, but if you don't want that, try VLC.

@Nick, Reynir, thanks - think my problem is loading speed - can't handle more than a few seconds at a time - have both QickTime and VLC. Sigh.

any videos of vent showing lava flow recently ???

wonder if this is a continuation of last night or just what we saw... http://andvari.vedur.is/athuganir/eldingar/vikan_is.html?t...

sorry, take the extras off the end of the .html

@birdseye: At least on Firefox browser the videos got downloaded first, then QuickTime started and the videos ran really well. Maybe that's 'cause QT is not a plugin in Firefox, i.e. not integrated seamlessly with/into the browser.

#166: The plume is now dropping ash in areas SW-NW from the eruption - right into milk country - all the way to ReykjavÃk.

Ash rain in Hvolsvöllur. Windows Media video shot by the police there:

http://www.visir.is/oskurigning-a-hvolsvelli---myndskeid/article/201095…

A nice movie with music from Jonsi: http://www.good.is/post/intermission-iceland-s-eyjafjallajoekull-volcan…

@birdseye: about last night, most weird was that it looked like a bomb and it had a bomb-like trajectory (you know what's said about "what looks like an elephant"?) and it went off the screen to the left. After seing the film posted earlier with the insane people standing in front of the volcano, I'm pretty sure it was indeed a bomb - you will hear latter of a volcanic rock that reached 20km to the NW of Eyja ;)

About the videos, try a site called keepvid.com. It should allow you to download the videos and than watch them offline.

@Cristihan,Kultsi, thanks - will try the keepvid solution.
Ref. animals, here's what I was concerned about last week, for sheep in lambing time...
from Visir.is today... " (increasing) lamb mortality in sheep on Volcanic Ash areas and veterinarians closely monitor progress. There is no evidence that fluoride poisoning is a cause of death lamb, but is large and growing congestion [pneumonia] in sheep to blame, because you can not allow ewes and lambs out of the houses, as usual.

Field agents and veterinarians will visit all towns in the region and survey the situation."

Looking at the Mulakot cams you can see where ash fell on a couple of them. And may be raining in the first one right now.

#149 video

Are those people on the rim, is that Martin in the pics I posted :P

@Reynir,Chris,Anna - translation for 'kolniður? ' (Jónsi) - can't find one...only references say that the translations with the release are 'very wrong.'

New post:

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

Photos from my trip out there, mostly from Tuesday but the last three are from yesterday (Thursday). I had to work on Solheimajokull glacier on Tuesday afternoon, which at the time was right in the heavy tephra fall area. Not a huge amount of fun. I was as that glacier maybe a month ago and it was beautiful and white, but now it looks like the Moon out there!

There's an interesting shot of the tephra fall that I took near Thorvaldseyri, too (near the THEY GPS station). It's amazing how much stuff has fallen! There's a very visible thick, dark layer representing the first phreatomagmatic-Plinian phase, and then alternating bands of lighter-coloured tephra above it from more recent phases. Pretty interesting stuff. There were some hard layers part-way down from rainfall mixing with the tephra, but the stuff on the surface was loose.

Here's the Flickr album:

www.flickr.com/photos/10738332@N00/sets/72157623934563325/detail/

Click the photos for a bigger version.

I took some video footage which I'll try to upload soon, too. My internet connection is being funny though...

@birdseye

Kolniður is a made up compound word, that's why you won't find it in dictionaries.

Kol means coal
Niður means din (or the kind of sound a river makes for example, not entirely sure what the English word would be)

So Kolniður means coal-din or even black din.

Popocatépetl isn't doing anything more than it has for the last two months...frequent daily exhalations.

Good view of the looming ash billowing over low clouds, Mulakot webcam.

Icelandic authorities will have to consider moving livestock from the affected areas near Eyjaf to summer pasturage elsewhere. The eruption isn't showing signs of stopping soon.

This relocation is essential because the sheep, horses and cattle will suffer immune depression from a lack of sunlight, will suffer from micronutrient deficiency from a lack of minerals and PUFAs (essential fatty acids) in hay (versus new spring grass) and are still prone to fine ash health effects even when kept in barns.

Locating sympathetic farm owners outside of the ash-deposition zone, willing to provide fenced pasture access and to keep an eye on the animals between animal owners visits, and matching them to number/type of animals from affected farms near Eyjaf would be a Good Thing.

#182: I usually see 'kolniður' in the context 'kolniðamyrkur' (extreme darkness), so I suspect that 'kolniður' is something very dark to look at.

#182 Reynir, Anna, birdseye: pitch black, coal black? Birdseye, you need to give the word in context; translating is much more than knowing the words...

@James (#184), Great pics, some of the links seem to be broken though. My internet connection has been funny today too.

@Passerby (#186), a lot of farmers from all over the country have been in contact with the Farmers' Association to offer their assistance -- housing, grazing fields etc. Thing is, the farmers in the affected areas have been reluctant to take drastic measures, I guess they're hoping the eruption will stop or slow down. But things have been going from bad to worse for them ...

@Reynir (#182) Then the word ought to be Kolnið, grammatically speaking :)

@Kultsi (#188), Kolniður is a song title, there is no context.

Nið (n) darkness (new moon)
Niður (n) din
Niður (adv) down

Maybe Jónsi means "coal-down"? I guess somebody needs to give him a call and demand an explanation.

@Anna, Yes. I suspected that affected farmers wouldn't be keen on this drastic step. Large animal vets may need to encourage affected farm owners using animal welfare-health advisories.

@Kultsi 188, this started when I was trying to find out about the song that accompanied the eruption time-lapse video that made Philipp feel bad...see@177 Think we have a good understanding now about it. ;)
re:sheep, the biggest reluctance I guess aside from inconvenience (and the fact that you'd be moving pregnant ewes and newborns) would be moving animals onto possibly scrapie-carying grass, or farmers with clean farms receiving possibly scrapie-carrying animals - Chris mentioned this a few threads back. But it's also a big loss to lose wool and lambs for a whole year, and maybe your ewes too. Being shut up without good ventilation is really bad for sheep. Big problem, I guess there are a lot of sheep farms in that area.

Looks like there is lava flows left of the current lava flow, complete with 2 black steam small plume and one small steam plume. I wonder how this will evolve.

@Summer, Canada - we both goofed this time, everyone is over on the other string!

Alot of earthquakes. Most of them deeper than 20km in the past hour.

weather over volcano http://theweatherland.com/index.php?&show=4&all=1&lon=-19.62&hpl=6&lat=…

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