Rumblings from another Icelandic volcano

[GloriaSmud]

and it's a big 'un!
This time at Bárðarbunga, with over 200 earthquakes recorded so far and last night, the Icelandic Met Office raised the aviation colour code to yellow to reflect the unrest that's going on.

[AuditAngel]

No, I'm going away tomorrow. Hopefully it will wait until tomorrow afternoon

The last one caused a lot of chaos, hopefully this won't be as bad.

[IwishIwasmoreorganised]

Wow! More disruption?

Could it time its explosion for the first week of September so that delegates can't fly in for the NATO summit and our dc can return to school without interruption!!

[starburst1979]

Oh No I wish.. That's when I fly!

[Fiddlerontheroof]

I'm hearing you iwishiwasmoreorganised!!!

[GloriaSmud]

It might be a 'something or nothing' but that is an awful lot of earthquakes for it to be 'nothing.'
There are a couple of volcano blogs here and here and full of people who know what they're talking about!

[Merrylegs]

Oh no -four years ago I was stuck in the States due to volcanic ash and I'm flying again next week. I would like to be able to get there please and then am happy to be stuck.

[GloriaSmud]

Volcano cafe have done an update on their blog here and their thinking is that there might possibly be an eruption going on or about to start. They've also done an 'information page' here with all sorts of useful web page links.

[MirandaWest]

Hmm I'm going to America via Iceland in just over a months time...

[IntheYear2525]

Is it likely to cause the same issues? I thought that part of the problem four years ago was that it was a glacier on a volcano so there was a lot more debris in the atmosphere than there would otherwise have been.

[GloriaSmud]

(Not an expert but just have a general interest in Iceland and from what I've read) I think there's a little way to go before it does cause problems. For a start, the Icelandic Met Office have said at the moment that there's no sign of magma rising to the surface so in theory, it still could all die down suddenly and nothing more will happen (which following the 1000+ earthquakes that's gone on is probably unlikely.) Then there could be a glacial outburst or jökulhlaup caused by melted ice. Depending on how much water melts and which direction it takes, they could damage the hydroelectric plants that are in the area. But it is the same sort of volcano as Eyjafjallajökull so an eruption would cause the same sort of issues. And guess which way the wind is going to be blowing this week......

[IwishIwasmoreorganised]

. I hope it doesn't disrupt anyone's holidays, but I do love the way that Mother Nature can reek such havoc!

I love a good bit of disruption caused by half an inch of snow when other countries merrily carry in as usual after 5 foot of the stuff falls overnight!

[weegiemum]

[GloriaSmud]

Well, this is still a-rumbling and the IMO have just raised the Aviation Colour Code to orange for the volcano ~ "Volcano shows heightened or escalating unrest with increased potential of eruption."

[GloriaSmud]

And a written update from the IMO here.

[weegiemum]

I know they cause a lot of disruption/mayhem and death, but I just love volcanoes! I would have loved to be a vulcanologist and did Geology as part of my degree, but my maths just wasn't up to it. Which is probably good as vulcanologist shave a tendency to being a bit crazy, taking risks and dying young.

Therefore I am a keen armchair vulcanologist!

(Also I am not capable of growing the requisite wooly beard required of a geologist, and - even though I am a Geography teacher - I don't own enough corduroy or jackets with leather elbow patches!)

[weegiemum]

I would like to point out that my point that says "vulcanologist shave" is a clear typo (see wooly beard point).

[weegiemum]

And - for GloriaS - they have harmonic tremor!

[IrenetheQuaint]

Hmm, well, I love volcanoes and am all in favour of thrilling eruptions (as long as no one is hurt) but I got stuck in the US last time round and it was all v stressful.

I got the impression that cancelling all the flights last time was a bit of an over-reaction... What do you reckon, Gloria? I'm currently in Canada so rather hope history isn't going to repeat itself...

[coffeeinbed]

No!
Somebody calm it down!

[idontlikealdi]

Ooh, I'm in America at the moment and flying home on the 30th via Iceland. Get going volcano is love to stay about longer!!

[GloriaSmud]

Lol weegie ~ DD1 says that if she decides to do A-level Geography, they do a trip to Iceland as part of it. She's known for a while that I've always wanted to visit and keeps mentioning/ taunting me with it!
Someone on one of the blogs mentioned that they think that magma is on the move and it's only a matter of time before there's an eruption of some sort.

Irene ~ looking back to the Eyjafjallajökull (2010) and also Grímsvötn eruptions in 2011 (that one tends to be forgotten about but caused flights to be cancelled for a short while), it does now all seem a bit of an over reaction. At the time though, this incident was what a lot of airlines had at the back of their minds. Since then, airlines won't fly through volcanic ash (although I think from what I remember from news reports from 2010), there's been some research into how much ash a jet engine can cope with but I'm not sure how far they've got with that research. But no airline is going to risk flying through ash, no matter how small the amount, if it means losing a plane.

[IrenetheQuaint]

Thanks Gloria. On balance, I'd rather be stuck in Canada a bit longer than be a guinea pig for a 'how much volcanic ash can our engines take before they fail over the mid-Atlantic?' experiment.

[HeySoulSister]

Ooh I find this all so interesting.... Even though I don't understand it all!

[GloriaSmud]

Irene ~ as someone who isn't that great when it comes to flying anyway, I don't think I want to be in that experiment either!

There's now a webcam set up. I bet nothing will happen now I can spend all day watching check in occasionally to see if anything's happening!

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

I'm going to see tomorrow if I can dig up some of my old links about aviation. Does anyone remember the standoff between Willy Walsh and the aviation authorities over flying when Eyjaf was erupting? It got a bit tense while they reevaluated the risk and he got impatient.

This volcano is under a glacier, but if it erupts it will depend on what sort of volcano it is and the nature of the eruption.
Glad it's the school hols so I've got a bit of spare time for research :)