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.

Excellent picture here (taken a few days ago), showing the lava that's erupted around Holuhraun.

Newbie ~ I've been following JonF's blog for a few years and he does seem to know a lot of stuff about Icelandic volcanoes. This volcano last had a big eruption in 1477 (the largest volcanic eruption in Icelandic history) so it's capable of big things, which is why the authorities are worried.
Wikipedia has regular updates for what's happened so far.
(I can't access the webcams on my tablet either but can when they're on Youtube ~ not sure why )

That lava picture is amazing Gloria, I can't get my head around that much heat being emitted. I wish I could speak Icelandic as the FB page is brilliant and posted a great load of words today of which I understand none!

If you have FB, The Iceland Weather Report is a good follow if you are into all things Iceland.

Its a blog by Icelandic journalist Alda Sigmundsdóttir; she does a lot more subjects than just volcanos (or indeed the weather as the title suggests) and is the icelandic correspondent for Associated Press and has written for the Guardian in the past.

She has translated a few bits about this eruption on FB which have been in Icelandic only elsewhere which has been very useful. She also has a more traditional blog icelandweatherreport.com/blog/ but she tends to write more on FB these days.

Brilliant! I'm a bit confined to barracks at the moment so I need to read loads to keep me from thinking. That's going to keep me occupied for ages. I've got to say I love being alive in the internet age, if you have even a slightly curious mind there is so much to learn, limitless possibilities. I'm going to find the free OU course OYBBK (I think?) referred to earlier and see if I can get up to speed before this thing blows!

crashing in for a few minutes to catch up but I'll be back this evening.
I'm not surprised about Jon Fr. reaction to the IMO. They are very used to eruptions and wild weather and tend to have very calm measured reactions to things that would be mega headline news here. If they are gravely concerned, then there is a big issue.

Remember if route 1 gets wiped out then most Icelanders have to go all the way round the Island to get across the other side. I was talking to someone in the east of the Island. She said that when route 1 was washed away in a previous eruption the only way to hospital in Reykjavik was helicopter. I asked her what happens if the weather is bad. she shrugged her shoulders and said, 'well then, I guess you die.'

Todays update on the eruption on VolcanoCafe.

The scale is astonishing. How can the glacial flood potentially reach Husavik (perhaps over 100km away?) in 5 or 6 hours. It absolutely boggles the mind.

Think he might have his calcs wrong. Its around 800m deep and with a radius of 5km that is 63 cubic km of ice, not 253 cubic km. So he is a factor of 4 out, which would come from him squaring his diameter rather than the radius. still a huge amount of water though!

Even as it is, it is becoming a rather significant event in relation to the amount of SO2 it releasing.

I emailed the dragons and magically my calcs have quietly replaced theirs.

OYBBK you are legend! .

Now, you wanna help me with my maths homework?

Sexy maths there OYBBK! I applaud you...

The DCs and I were speculating where the Icelandic people would go if they had to be evacuated. Presumably Norway, Sweden and Denmark? Difficult one :(
Off now to do the rounds of the websites and webcams.

OYBBK they are still saying 5-6 hours to reach Husavik!
Hmm, earlier today there were two earthquakes between 4 and 5 magnitude (viewing on small screen so can't see exact magnitude) only 14 seconds apart.
SO2 cloud now reached Finland and just touching on the northern edge of the Shetland Islands
Witch's hair has been found in Iceland - it feels like hair but is rock: www.visir.is/pele%27s-hair-a-fascinating-phenomenon-created-by-the-volcano/article/2014140919944
It's now the largest eruption in Iceland since the 19th century

Lava, the actual flow rate has come from official sources I think, it was just the volume that was a bit dodgy.

it's funny to see how little it is on the news when you consider how big this is.

I can't imagine them needing to evacuate all of iceland over this though. They are a resilient people.

(I am feeling quietly a teeny bit smug)

OYBBK I think you are allowed to.

OYBBK, you are so so clever and knowledgeable! I used to be a little bit in love with Pythagorus what I was at school, and really enjoyed maths, but since having my kids I can't do any mental arithmetic.

Gloriasmud, JonF does seem very knowledgeable even though I don't understand everything he says He replied on one of the comments saying he was working on an update but needed to catch up on some sleep.

Re the asthma issue, are we likely to be affected by that here in the UK? We are in the south east, and still getting to grips with managing my 6 yr old dd's asthma. She also has allergies which adds to the importance of managing it properly. Does anyone know what it might mean in terms of day to day management of asthma if so2 levels become high enough here to cause a problem? Many thanks and apologies for going slightly off topic.

Yes,,agree re feeling smug. I think most of the media don't want to be alarmist over flights or else just don't understand how big this,could be.
I was thinking of a worst case scenario with flooding, lack of power and massive air pollution. Not entirely likely, I agree.

That witches hair stuff is creepy.

Newbie, when we had the pollution last year I was taking my blue inhaler before work in the morning and then again at lunchtime but my job involves being outdoors all day and so it was going to be a bigger issue for me. When I was indoors at weekends it was less of an issue. It was manageable.

Just watched the bbc weather, and yet again no mention of anything. I thought they talked about air quality sometimes but it's like apart from on here and in iceland, no one knows about this huge thing that keeps rumbling on. It's very weird.

Thanks Lava. Was that pollution from another volcano? Sorry, I don't co actually remember that far back.

Dd seems to need the brown preventer everyday, more so in the summer, so I'm guessing she would need the blue one if the air quality was affected by this.

Thanks for your help by the way. Xxx

No, it was something to do with temperature and smog but nothing to do with a volcano if I remember rightly.
In my experience having a preventer inhaler tends to work for a while and then get less effective until you get the right one, here two different preventer ones were used for a while and then had to be changed for a different one, that happened with the orange and brown ones and the purple one then was fine and has been for three years, much longer than the other two so it seems to be right.
Off to check for volcano news. Pm me if you want to ask about asthma.

davemcgarvie.wordpress.com/2014/09/07/so-what-if-there-was-an-eruption-at-the-bardarbunga-caldera/

Latest from Jon F he seems to be very sure now that at some point that the volcano is going to erupt and finish itself off. I can't work out a better way of putting that, sorry! Subsided by 20m now.