This of course was our annual April-1 breaking news. We hope you enjoyed it! This was a communal effort from the VC admins. The ideas came from a brainstorming session, the all-important images were sourced by Lughduniense and Gaz who had infiltrated ITO with a side order from AI and the text was filled in by Albert and Lughduniense. Many thanks to all our readers for letting us know that you enjoyed it. We took severe liberties with the truth, to put it mildly. RyanAir asked us to let it be known that they do not charge 395 USD for a carry-on bag – that is the fee for the landing. And ITO somewhat indignant informed us that Thor won’t open until next year. See you there! — VC
Blue Lagoon closed
Today it was announced that the Blue Lagoon has closed with immediate effect. It will not re-open.
After three close calls and four sudden closures, the continuing series of eruptions in the Reykjanes peninsula are deemed to present too great a risk to the visitors. Detailed investigations by the IMO have found that the water extraction for the Blue Lagoon is the direct cause of the sudden series of Reykjanes intrusions and eruptions. The water is pumped up from a reservoir at depth, used for geothermal power and fed into the lake. Over time this has led to notable deflation of the land by 25 cm, similar to what has been seen around the Reykjanes power plant. The emptying of the deep reservoir has allowed deeper magma to come up and fill the gap. The Blue Lagoon Company has been ordered to immediately start re-injecting the geothermal water into the deep reservoir, to end these magma intrusions and the Reykjanes eruptions. The power plant will continue to operate but the waste water is as of today no longer available for the lake.
The lake is being drained and in typical Icelandic fashion, the site has already been renamed The Blue Lagone.
The Blue Lagone – Almost devoid of water now.
The closure will have a significant impact on the economy. Twelve percent of Iceland’s GDP comes from tourism. The Blue Lagoon is by far the most popular non-free attraction in Iceland: it also accounts for the majority of touristic posters of Iceland, enticing people to come to Iceland. For every 100 tourists who arrive, 50 will visit the Blue Lagoon. They pay 50-150 US dollars per person for the two-hour (or so) experience, making it a major source of income for Iceland.
The immediate closure will reduce Iceland’s GDP by 0.5%. The recession will become much worse if it affects the number of international visitors to Iceland.
The Island Tourisk Office (ITO) has therefore already created a new series of activities. These activities are exciting, will appeal to a broad range of visitors, and (of course) are chargeable. It should be noted that the Blue Lagoon Company (a private enterprise) was strongly opposed to these plans and to the closure but was overruled by the government.
The new activities will open up to the visitors this summer. They are located in the Torfajökull caldera. The caldera is 12 kilometer wide and contains a variety of natural attractions: Icelandictimes.com calls it ‘a landscape of unparalleled natural beauty‘ and that says something in Iceland! Although called ‘jökull’, the small glacier in fact only covers a part of the rim and the caldera is ice-free. Two thirds of the caldera is taken up by a geothermal area with a large variety of hot springs and pools, including a hot clay spring!
Lakes of Torfajökull
The area is much better suited to Icelandic tourism than the Blue Lagoon ever was, since it is natural, offers a much greater choice and has a great variety of landscapes and volcanic features. It is currently very little visited because of difficulty of access. Therefore, a new road has been build. It is in part an upgrade of route 264, which departs from the southern ring road (route 1) between Hella and Hvolsvöllur, and which has been extended due east towards Torfajökull. This also allows use of the small airfield along route 264. The Icelandic government is investing in redevelopment of this airfield as an international airport: a second airport is needed as access to Keflavik could be affected by the on-going eruptions. This H264 airfield is also much more centrally located than Keflavik. (In fact the site is already earmarked for a new capital of Iceland, Hellaborg, in case Reykjavik becomes affected by eruptions.)
Two facilities have been created at Torfajökull caldera, a new lagoon and an amusement and adventure park.
The new lagoon is called La-la-goon-land. It is a direct replacement for the Blue Lagoon, making use of the large number of hot pools in the area. Sadly the intense light blue colour of the Blue Lagoon cannot be replicated in situ, due to reasons of water chemistry, but all other colours do occur here. Some of the pools even have a bright red colour. The sulphur content is higher than that of the Blue Lagoon and this is expected to continue and even improve on the medicinal effect of the defunct Blue Lagone.
The amusement and adventure park is simply called Thor. It contains many attractions, sufficient to keep everyone entertained for a full day, based around the usual roller coasters and similar amusement rides, a wildlife park complete with polar bears, various volcanic activities such as geyser boating and lava hopping, and centred around a storyline involving the full set of Icelandic magical creatures of Huldufólk (elves, in a staggering 13 varieties), trölls and tröllkanas, and of course the ogres and the 13 yule lads.
It is expected that visitors will spend 2 to 3 days in the area, making use of the hotel accommodation that is still being build. One of the biggest attractions is the waterslide that comes down from the small icecap on the southwest rim of the caldera, fed by glacial run-off. In case of emergencies, it can also run down the outer rim to provide a fast escape route.
The site will also be available as a wedding venue. One of the hot springs is being converted into a geyser, to be called New Faithful, to provide the essential volcanic background to the wedding ceremony!
Blue Lagoon Company
The Blue Lagoon Company has also announced new plans to replace the now defunct Blue Lagone. They are turning the new lava fields into the largest golf course in the world. The Sundhnúkur Adventure Golf Experience (SAGE) will challenge anyone, with especially the lava bunkers taking the game to new heights (or rather depths). There are twelve holes, with each hole ending in one of the recent eruption cones. This is a unique chance to play golf on the freshest, steamiest lava on Earth! (The draft advertisement has raised objections from ITO: it is headed ‘It takes balls to play here’.) The Blue Lagoon Company is also offering a unique caving experience, exploring the innards of the Sundhnúkur fissure, which can also be used to retrieve your golf balls.
SAGE: The new volcano golf course.
Bookings
Bookings will open shortly. Low-cost airlines are putting up new flights to Iceland this summer, starting from 10 USD return per person, plus 395 USD for your carry-on bag.
Sight seeing
In the mean time, the ITO and IMO are working together on a plan for an Askja eruption in early July, to coincide with peak tourist season. They also are working to prevent Grimsvotn to erupt since that could interfere with airline operations.
Brochure
VC has been shown the brochure for the Thor park. It sounds wonderful and has our full backing! Here is the brochure description of the main planned attractions. Note that detail may still vary from what is on offer here. In fact ITO was very interested in our suggestions for further development! We have already mentioned that Askja might be too far from the park, and that an eruption from Hekla could be more effective. The visitors would have a spectacular view from the H264 entrance road.
Please note that this is being shared with VC in confidence. We trust our VC readership to not distribute further and to keep the plans secret.
Title: Torfajökull Caldera Theme Park – A Mythical Adventure
Nestled within the vast expanse of the Torfajökull caldera in Iceland lies a spectacular theme park that seamlessly blends Icelandic mythology with natural wonders. Imagine standing at the rim of the caldera, surrounded by rugged beauty and unparalleled landscapes, seeing the amazing venue located in the remains of the massive eruption that created the caldera and formed the extensive, healing geothermal field.
Chair Lift: A sturdy chair lift carries visitors between the rim and the caldera floor, providing breathtaking views of the surrounding geothermal area and volcanic formations. The ascending and descending passengers marvel at the diverse array of hot springs and pools dotting the landscape below, interspersed with the rides and attractions, to the sounds of the excited children below
Water Slide Descent: A thrilling water slide winds its way down the slopes of the caldera, offering an exhilarating descent through the volcanic terrain. Visitors clad in swimsuits can be seen gliding down the slide, their laughter mingling with the steam rising from the geothermal springs.
Viking Ship Attraction: An impressive Viking longship serves as a centerpiece attraction within the theme park. Visitors can embark on simulated voyages across imaginary seas, immersing themselves with aid of virtual reality headsets in the rich history and culture of Iceland’s seafaring and lavasurfing ancestors.
Hot Springs and Geothermal Pools: Two-thirds of the caldera is occupied by a geothermal area, where visitors can explore a multitude of hot springs and pools. From bubbling mud pots to soothing clay springs, the landscape is alive with the natural energy of Iceland’s geothermal activity. The park is run entirely on the geothermal renewable energy!
Fun rides: A large variety of fun rides are scattered throughout the park. These make use of the many volcanic features. The roller coaster runs around the rim of a recent crater. Some rides have a subterranean section which passes through the fissure of the 1477 eruptions. One ride even passes through the IMO eruption prediction centre! In the pre-season testing, this was found to be the scariest ride of all.
Arctic Bears Preservation Area: Within the park, an area is dedicated to the preservation and reintroduction of arctic bears. Visitors can observe them as they roam freely within their summer enclosure. Visitors can also spend a day with the bear keepers (an extra charge applies) inside the enclosure to see the work at close hand and to help hand-feed the bears. In the winter the bears are taken to the sea ice north of Iceland, where they spend the next months in their natural environment, before being brought back at the start of spring.
Mythological Creatures: Scattered throughout the park are living statues depicting figures from Icelandic mythology. Loki, the cunning trickster god, is portrayed in a moment of mischief, while Yggdrasil, the legendary World Tree, casts its branches towards the sky. Visitors can also encounter statues of trolls and other mythical beings, each telling their own story as people approach. At night, some of these statues come alive! For extra excitement, visitors can camp out in the park overnight – but beware, do not leave the tent as there will be no one to help you, as all the staff have refused to be in the area after dark.
An area next to Thor is being developed for people who want even more excitement. This part is called Loki. However, the opening has been postponed as all attractions being build here immediately broke down, and the slide is going nowhere. IMO has reported strong inflation at the centre of Loki. This is considered to be measurement error.
The Loki slide
postscript It has just become known that Marvel Studios has sued Iceland. They claim infringement of their worldwide trademark on the name “Thor™”.
Volcanocafe, 1 April 2024
Took me a minute..
Carefully crafted so that only the dumbest person could reach the end (or even 10% through) without realisation.
I have to say Albert has missed his calling as a copywriter, all parts are brilliant.
Lets be real. Blue Lagoon isn’t ending operations until *after* it has been buried under 10 meters of liquid rock. Probably will still be labeled as a low-risk zone on the map though at that point. This unfortunately breaks my suspension of disbelief…
https://qph.cf2.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-b50abc4e24f76a7ba9c6df8beb2cbdef-lq
And albert forgot the live gene breed dinosaur additions .. ready to eat any disbehaving drunk tourists, The parks Dinosaurs while looking normal are extremely gene modifyed with infused rat, opossum, whale, worm, mushroom, oak, fish, horse, cow and sea cucumber DNA to enchance some of their hardyness. Live feeding of icelandic horses is held every week for rexy
We also have horses and sheeps infused with DNA from frogs, oaks, willow, babobab, snake, cactus and orca DNA sequences, friendlier than the dinosaurs the ” tame zoo park” open for everyone
I hope they are fed a sustainable diet of silly American tourists who ignore the signs about staying on the path and not poking the animals.
And dont forget our gene edited llamas thats been infused with gene DNA parts from spruce trees, pitbull dogs, humpback whales, lions, and a sequence from the bulldog ant.
My pengiuns are not present yet but maybe soon
Jesper, I’ll ask you to stop posting pictures of my family members.
How rude.
I have been falsely accused of being the source of deception. I have to strongly deny. This is a communal effort by the VC admins
Thx for that!
The gods of AI answered to the simple request ‘volcano cafe’ with …
Have one of these!
The VC admins are now fighting over this one coffee!
If it wasn’t today I would have so disappointed with this news report. Very good indeed.
They should’ve opened a rollercoaster at Katla! I’d be the first to ride.
Waterslide.
World’s highest flow rate, natch.
🙂
Well done!!
Very, very nicely done! I love the coloured pools – had me chuckling! Thanks!
ROFLMAO !!!
My Compliments to your team !!
And, yes, I’m old enough to remember the BBC’s infamous ‘Spaghetti Tree’ spoof, which apparently led to garden-centres being besieged by would-be buyers…
Since today volcanoes in Germany are allowed to make hashish plumes. If next Eifel cannabis eruption is strong enough, the bankers in Frankfurt will feel good: https://apnews.com/article/cannabis-marijuana-legalization-decriminalization-germany-26e6a5ec254cfa69d063ec352036dfd8
At the same time the Central Bank of Iceland has failed to protect Iceland against inflation (f.e. Askja). Iceland’s government will has to ask Biden how to do an Inflation Reduction Act.
Loki = Yggrdasil according to the latest Marvel series. Their lawyers will be all over this.
Excellent ! Félicitations, je me suis bien amusé.
Merci!
Well writ Alfred. Continues a great tradition.
prompt: Astrophysics professor creating AI images for Icelandic theme park
Looks more like an older version of myself rather than Albert… which is valid considering I was one of the dragons that helped generate them. Full credit goes to Lughduniense for the vast majority of them as I ran out of time and was back on Dad duty.
Looks uncannily like you, Gaz.. Anyway, completely correct. I produced some of the text, but the idea, the images and some of the text came from the others. Most of the images were from Lughduniense
The pictures were most professionally done.
Must have been a photoshop montage, which is very hard to do to this standard.
Very good! Almost wish you’d stopped at the ‘news’ of the Blue Lagoon closure to make it sound more plausible. But the parody would likely be lost on most prompting the disappointed and unsuspecting to cancel their trips until Iceland tourism really did collapse.
Just watching Isak’s stream. The visible lava river is getting quite short and there is no incandescence further down. Wondering where the lava is flowing beneath the surface and how far it is getting. Third vent is dead and it appears the eruption rate is subdued, feels like the eruption hasn’t got long left. Nothing like the dream I had last night where a sudden lava flood bursts through the wall and goes right through town and somehow fills in the entire harbour instantly! 🤷
It does look like the lava is spreading out near the vent right now. The main vent still looks strong, it has raised up so the vent itself is probably umderneath a lava pond, whivh potentially could lead to fountaining like in 2021.
The flow field is probably inflating now, and might continue to do so for a while with how flat it is nearby. But with this comes the risk of it breaking out suddenly with much higher flow rate than at the vents. An ocean entry is still very much possible in that situation.
There isnt very much uplift detected, the vent seems to be very open now and the reduction seen is probably a combination of the vents centralizing and the depth of the flow field making it easier to just flow under the crust than on the surface, same as at Holuhraun. The fact it is probably fresh deep magma like in 2021 rather than stored and slightly evolved magma as every other eruption is probably an important detail.
For people enjoying stories like this, I can recommend Carl’s account of the discovery of the Etna deception. He has been in hiding ever since: https://www.volcanocafe.org/the-sicilian-affair/
That was a classic. It still makes me chuckle.
I like how the AI Loki has six toes and the people floating in the river have their legs on backwards, at least some of the legs.
Or does Loki have six toes per foot by tradition?
Or the guy with a double golf club, or the typos on the closed sign. It is all Loki, I’m afraid. Or Lokai, as he is now known.
GeologyHub seems to be keeping to the VC tradition on April 1.
He is funnier than I expected.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vesuvius,_Virginia
https://www.youtube.com/live/FZmN2daZW9g?si=UxhQjckYaGywhewv
It is probably the camera settings in part but the lava is looking very bright orange in daylight not the sort of pinkish colour of before. Seems like there is some very hot lava erupting now, it looks a lot like in 2021.
The GPS are all basically sitting level, the eruption is at equilibrium with the deep supply. If nothing changes then this might well create a small lava shield. I would expect the balance to be precarious though and episodic fountaining could start up, and possibly having this vent exist for so long now even if the eruption stops the next one might just immediately go here instead of opening the whole fissure line.
Although the eruption(s) of Grindavik have been different to Fagradalsfjall, I’ve noticed some similarities:
2021 the first eruption of Fagradalsfjall consisted of several episodes. They had no dormant breaks between the episodes, but they were in fact several stages inside the same whole longterm eruption. The 1st episode was Gelindagadlir in March, the 2nd the occurence of multiple fissures in April and the 3rd a concentration of the eruption on the main vent in May. Maybe we could identify one more additional stage/episode inside Fagradalsfjall’s 2021 eruption.
The Grindavik Fires have begun with three distinct fissure eruptions on changing locations that remind to Fagradalsfjall’s whole 2nd stage in April 2021. The 4th episode of Grindavik reminds to the development from May 2021 on at Fagradalsfjall. This is the stage when the eruption has found its place and stays there for the whole eruption until the magmatic support is exhausted. Fagradalsfjall kept the eruption on the “central vent” alive for four months from May to September. If Grindavik’s Fires is going to stay in the same time frame like Fagradalsfjall 2021, it will erupt there from March to July. In the end the whole sequence of Grindavik Fires from December 2023 until (?) July (?) 2024 could be seen as the first eruption of Svartsengi like 2021 it was the first eruption for Fagradalsfjall. Maybe with one or more aftermath episodes after the main current episode.
I have noticed today that significant outgassing is still occurring north of the cones which seems to indicate things are still hot and volatile close to the surface along the fissure lineament.
Comments about this eruption’s dying down may have to be revised. In the last few hours the main vent is spewing more and higher, and the smaller vent has returned to life.
The large cone is beginning to develop a cap, sort of like the main vent #4 of Fagradalsfjall did during July and August. I am sure that collapses of the top part of the cone, back into the central lave pond will occur, but we’ll just have to wait and see what happens.
I think any such cap is only a very temporary structure with this level of activity,
It hasn’t changed visibly in my view. Here we can watch the eruption from some distance, but with a wide coverage of the main active lava flow inside the “Hraun”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAQzsB9ev9Q
This Webcam is on Thorbjörn and looks over Sundhnukur towards Fagradalsfjall. It shows the main 2021 cone in the background above the Fagra plateau.
Large 7.5 at Taiwan, significant damage
The same place that had a 6.9 in ’22.
I have a close friend who experienced that quake in 2022, its different when it affects someone you know 🙁
so far only 9 reported dead – which is pretty impressive, I hope it stays at those low numbers
Breaking News, 09:13:
In an announcement earlier this morning, the name of the new adventure park, Torfajokull Crater Theme Park has been changed to reflect the greater healing properties of the water. The word theme has been dropped from the title and the new TCP offers enhanced cleaning of any wounds, vastly improving the visitor experience.
The base of the Sundhnukur volcano is around 75m above sea level. The summit of the active cone is more than 16m above the old ground. It could reach to 100m above sea level. That’s much deeper than Fagradalsfjall’s cones that rose to 300m:
It just says more than 16, I have been seeing a lot of reports on the livestream chats that the biggest cone is between 30 and 40 meters tall now, slowly we are getting to watch the formation of Grindafell right before our eyes 🙂
It is also possible now that if this eruption does stop and the episodic fissure eruptions resume, that lava wont be able to flow south into Grindavik unless a fissure actually opens within the cones or to their south, otherwise lava will be directed east towards Fiskidalsfjall and Fagradalsfjall which is a dead end topographic basin. That being said it is also not unreasonable to expect future eruptions to be biased to the area of the current cones in that scenario too, probably building a large fountain cone cut by repeated fissures, maybe looking a little like the two cinder cones in Mauna Loas caldera that have now seen 5 successive curtains of fire cut through them.
Erupting cones like this are always prone to collapses. Therefore it’s impossible to predict which height is the correct height of the cone. It may rise and fall again.
The different altitude of the volcanic base is another difference between the current Sundhnukur “volcano” and Fagradalsfjall. While the base of Sundhnukur is around 75m, Fagradalsfjall has around 200m. This shows on the one hand the trend of the Peninsula of higher altitudes towards the east. On the other hand it shows that Fagradalsfjall’s magma had to rise higher to make an eruption than the Sundhnukur magma. If the base of Fagradalsfjall were close to sea level, the eruptions 2021-2023 would have been much more spectacular.
The conduit of the vent is open now. But it can change in strength and behaviour. It’s possible that we get weeks with minor activity and days with high spectacular activity. The solid location of the eruption facilitates the emergency tasks around the volcano. But it’s difficult to predict future lava flows. Sooner or later one will reach to Grindavik and the harbour.
Its going to change height a bit with collapses but not a lot, that 16 meter cutoff on the map is probably just because the only part deeper than that will be the cones which would be too small to resolve well on that scale. Several tens of meters is still a likely height, the summit is almost certainly well over 100 meters elevation now.
Im not sure if Fagradalsfjall being a mauntain means too much for eruption intensity, it was a direct eruption from the start where all the Svartsengi eruptions up to this one were fed by magma that stored in the crust and built up such pressure to be able to erupt much higher than the supply rate. If Fagradalsfjall formed some sort of magma storage before 2021 it likely would have begun with similar high intensity.
I have noticed just now but there are definitely times where the spattering stops completely for a few seconds and then a powerful burst happens. This might be a sign of weakness but after 2021 and with this likely also erupting fresh primitive magma I wonder if it is about to go into lava geyser mode soon.
If a tube forms, Katie bar the door. A lot depends on topography (brilliant deduction on my part!), there’s a sweet spot where too steep of a slope causes flows to turn into a’a’, and too flat of an area tends to cause flows to back up and rupture any tubes that may try to start.
Also, it seems that Icelanders are pretty mercenary about implementing barriers in order to save property when in comparison to Hawaiians who are content to let Tutu Pele take what is hers. If a tube-fed flow gets close to Grindavik, Icelanders will start looking around for an airplane that can hold some reasonably-sized bombs!
The problem in Hawai’i is that if USGS authorizes deflection of the lava flow, they become liable for any damage the deflected flow does. They can’t take that risk. In fact earth dams have been used in Hawai’i with some success, but by private land owners. And I guess they were very lucky the lava did not take the neighbour’s house instead.
They tried it in 1960, but the eruption was eventually able to overcome them. That being said the 1960 eruption of Kilauea was about double the volume of all of the lava erupted on Reykjanes in this cycle so far, in about a month…
Surprised it isnt brought up a bit more actually, that eruption erupted about the same volume of lava in a month as the whole Krafla rifting series, or all of the last 4 eruptions of Hekla combined, it was of a similar intensity to 2018 and Holuhraun and had way taller lava fountains, it just didnt erupt for as long.
And it was 900 meters from a town people still lived in while it was going on and which was recorded in colour video way back almost 70 years ago, which is quite incredible in hindsight.
It was done in Pahoa in the lava flow from some ten years ago which overran a cemetery or some such, and which threatened some houses. One of the houses put up a barrier which actually worked
The new lava thickness map means that they have done a new photogrammetry survey on March 27. Heading over to IMO to check… Yes! The average flow of lava from the craters in the period 20 – 27 March was estimated at 7.8 ± 0.7 m3/s. A new flight, planned to take place in the next few days, will give more information about how the eruption is progressing. They also comment that the flow rate 7.8m3/s is very similar to the first phase of Fagradalsfjall 2021, and that it seems like the flow of magma is now in balance with Svartsengi as no inflation can currently be detected.
Yes, it’s interesting that after the different start the eruption begins to align to Fagradalsfjall’s eruption rate 2021. It will likely continue until the magma support is exhausted, as Fagradalsfjall was exhausted in September 2021. 2023-2024 is the “birth year” of the Grindavik Fires. Future eruptions may be different.
According to the Catalogue, Svartsengi historically paused longer than Fagradalsfjall between the eruptions inside the Fires. After the current Sundhnukur eruption, the next one may let us wait for two to twelve years: “During these Fires (1210-1240), at least six discrete eruptions occurred at 2 to 12 year intervals.”
The supply seems higher this time. The eruptions that happened at intervals of years in the previous fires are now happening at 1-month intervals. Chemistry is also changed.
Nearly a first! Figures related to confidence.
Not the only too common 7.8318651908 m3/sec…
So happy ….
It’s interesting that the northeastern portion of the Sundhnukur swarm has not been affected by intrusions or eruptions. During the fires 2000 years ago, the dikes spanned the whole swarm. But this time, all dikes have propagated southwest. Most likely it’s Fagradalsfjall’s doing, putting pressure in the NE part of Sundhnukur.
The Grindavik Fires will likely last for decades. If I understand the system correctly, the sill below Sundhnukur acts like a central volcano (f.e. Krafla’s or Bardarbunga’s central volcano). Since March 16th the eruption has stayed on this central volcano. Like other Icelandic volcanoes, this system will probably both do eruptions on the central volcano and the fissure swarm. Future intrusions and eruptions can occur randomly along the fissure swarm, also towards the NE. The map layers of prehistorical lavas show that 6km NW of Keilir was the most northern eruption of Svartsengi.
Maybe last time the longer intervals allowed for larger intrusions that went further, the November dike was very intense but the degree of ground cracking in the old lava fields on the northern side of Reykjanes particularly inland of Vogar suggests much larger intrusions than the November event have happened.
After looking over the maps too really we still havent seen close to the largest eruptions possible here. Sundhnjukshraun and Eldvorp, and Arnarseturshraun, all of those are sizable eruptions or series of eruptions reaching into the hundreds of millions of m3. But they are completely dwarfed by the lava flows at Krysuvik. Skollahraun and Afstaphraun are on opposite coasts of the peninsula but seem to have come from the same eruption in a single event, although not immediately at the same time it has some comparisons to what is happening right now at Svartsengi but with much higher intensity to flow 13 km over flat ground. I mapped the fissures of this eruption and it is something like 15 km long. The same is true of the eruptions there in the 1150s, there seem to have been several rounds of rifting there between 900 AD and just before the Reykjanesrhyggur/Eldey eruptions but the two in 1151-52 were huge, probably comparable to what Mauna Loa did in 2022 in both cases. Hengill might even go a step further again, 1900 years ago making a double curtain of fire 10 km both directions down the fissure swarm and erupting probably around 1 km3 of lava. If those persistent recurring quakes on the east side of Hengill near the road are a precursor to something like that then Reykjavik actually could be in trouble, its a very slim chance though.
Apparently lava samples were taken on the 22nd, so should be getting data on that soon. My bet is the lava is basically identical to the 2021 lava in all the important ways.
1210-1240 during the Reykjanes/Svartsengi Fires there were breaks of 2-12 years. The intervals can be much longer than Fagradalsfjall. They can be close to the average of the Icelandic volcanic breaks (f.e. like the break between Hekla 2000 and Grimsvötn 2004)
Afstaphraun was the first Medieval eruption on the Reykjanes Peninsula 900 AD. It happened centuries before the real Krysuvik Fires around 1151. It’s possible that there were several cycles of eruptions over the Peninsula.
Have to say – The Loki slide looks way cool!
Last night I was watching the Langihryggur camera and noticed two dull red spots north of the two cones in the recently emplaced lava flows. One area is steaming today, you can see it on the Sundhnukar2 camera in the background between the 2 cones. So there is definitely live lava north of the cones, my best guess is from intrusion from the large lava pond which seems to still be increasing in height. Then this morning around 7:14 am Iceland time, I saw a man with a headlamp, like a miner’s cap, walking right next to the edge of the lava not too far from the left cone. I was curious to know what was going on.
NASA published a new satellite image of the current eruption (taken on March 30th) with a nice infrared view of the lava flow:
The full article can be found here:
https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/152631/fresh-flows-spread-across-iceland
Lava breakout to the East immediately below the main vent
In my haste to post I got my East and West wrong.
As long as it is not up and down..
At 16:19, the bank of the flow broke out to the west. Big overflow…
Some of the more vigorous fountains are reaching twice the height of the crater rim:
From the mbl.is Hagafell cam
https://livefromiceland.is/webcams/langihryggur shows breakouts to the north close to midnight tonight (Thur/Fri) through a somewhat foggy evening.
Kilauea starting to get pretty lively again, continuous quakes at the start of the SWRZ connector which seem to be tracking down the connector now too. Still probably a few weeks before there is a likely chance of a new intrusion but that isnt all that long really, and with the strong uplift at the summit there seems to be quite a robust supply at present.
There is also the nearly permanent cluster of quakes going on inland of Apua point. This area is south of the ERZ but east of where the connector there ends and inflation on the ERZ connector has been weak, so much so I am not even sure it is real and might just be distal effects from the summit. I think the quakes are from SWRZ flank movement trying to push the south flank eastwards. Maybe that is why eruptions on the connector seem to be only lower down on it, where the flank can just move right out to sea unobstructed.
Sundhnukar Webcam:
Looks like the main crater is about to break open: small fumaroles are coming out of the rim.
And, BTW: big thanks to all of you for the fine insight you give.
There have been a few interesting quakes under and around Hekla in the last 48h (soon disappearing from the main IMO page). They were all tiny (<M0.5), but located at a depth of around 10km, which is roughly where the magma chamber is thought to be.
Today there is a line of earthquakes over the whole island/Iceland from RVZ to Grimsey. Sometimes they look as if they’re linked to “Makro” movement of the continental plates.
Interesting are the Bardarbunga quakes. Bardarbunga was recently more active than Grimsvötn. Is the the central volcano able to become active again after Holohraun? The most common eruption of Bardarbunga is a VEI 3-4 Tephra eruption like Grimsvötn usually does. 1910 was the last explosive eruption of Bardarbunga.
In the larger scale of things, the quakes are of course linked to movement of the tectonic plates, but in the short term, any apparent synchronization along the entire length is purely by coincidence. Also, the weather plays a role. On a calm day it’s easier to detect quakes, so it looks like they are happening everywhere.
Bardarbunga is interesting. It’s currently recovering from the Holuhraun eruption. During the eruption, the roof above the magma chamber dropped like a piston, slipping along a well established ring fault, generating M5+ earthquakes. Pushing it back up as the chamber refills is a bit different. It might slip along the same fault, but it could also generate cone sheet intrusions. Either way, pushing the plug up, lifting the roof, can expose a pathway for magma to reach the surface to erupt along a part of the caldera rim. These eruptions are probably the most common eruptions from Bardarbunga. In the last 1000 years, 22 basaltic phreatomagmatic eruptions are known and of those only one in four have been large enough to leave a tephra layer outside the Vatnajökull ice cap.
Bardarbunga will keep making earthquakes and constantly remind us of its existence, but it’s not likely to do something large anytime soon.
Etna is smoking something funny. Perhaps inspiration for Iceland new entertainment?
https://twitter.com/etnaboris/status/1776285207823323215
Wow, that’s remarkable indeed! 😀
It has been at it for 3 days now!
https://twitter.com/etnaboris/status/1775973860908675279
New post is up!
https://www.volcanocafe.org/icelands-subglacial-skaftar-sized-events/