TAG Volcanic eruption

The volcanic eruption in Holuhraun has come to an end

The Scientific Advisory Board of the Icelandic Civil Protection held a meeting this morning, Saturday 28th of February 2015, and sent out the following statement: The volcanic eruption in Holuhraun, which began on August 31st 2014, has come to an end. The area continues to be closely monitored. Gas contamination is still detected around the…

Overview of the seismic activity in Bardarbunga and the volcanic eruption in Holuhraun

The Scientific Advisory Board met on Friday 30th of January 2015 and wrote this overview of the seismic activity in Bardarbunga and the volcanic eruption in Holuhraun. The document can be accessed here, with images and graphs, on pdf format. A powerful volcanic eruption is still on going in Holuhraun with a flow of lava…

Holuhraun in the first weeks of the new year

The volcanic eruption in Holuhraun continues into the new year, 2015, with similar intensity as it did in the last few weeks of the old year. Lava is still flowing in tens of qubic meters per second from the crader, building a constantly growing lava field in the sandy area north of Vatnajokull glacier. The…

The volcanic eruption in Holuhraun has lasted for 100 days

The Scientific Advisory Board of the Icelandic Civil Protection met yesterday, 8. December, as it does regularly three days a week. The scenarios, for the most likely development of the volcanic eruption in Holuhraun and the subsidence of Bardarbunga caldera, were reviewed at the meeting. As all devoted readers of our notes (published here) know,…

An overview of the activity in Bardarbunga and the volcanic eruption in Holuhraun

Today, December 3rd 2014, the Scientific Advisory Board of the Icelandic Civil Protection reviewed data about the development of events in Bardarbunga and the volcanic eruption in Holuhraun, from the beginning of the unrest until the present day. Most of the data show a decline in the subsidence of the Bardarbunga caldera and the volcanic…

High values of SO2 in North and Northwest Iceland – updated

High values of SO2 have been measured in North and Northwest Iceland this morning. Akureyri has seen over 4000µg/m³, Stykkisholmur 2700µg/m³ and Saudarkrokur over 5000 µg/m³. According to latest measurements the pollution is no longer detectable in Saudarkrokur. Information on response can be found here on our page. Information on air quality can be found…

Gas pollution will affect the northern part of Iceland today

From the Icelandic Met Office: Today (Thursday) gas pollution from the eruption will affect areas in the northern part of Iceland. Tomorrow (Friday) pollution can be expected in the areas north and east of the eruption. The Gas Dispersion Forecast can be read on this web link. On the same site, here, you can find…

Holuhraun seen from the MODIS satellite

The picture below is taken by MODIS satellite at 03:46 tonight. The red colour shows a heat deviation and the white colour maximum heat radiation. According to scientists in the field the lava flow did cross the track into Holuhraun tonight. The lava field is growing to north east. The picture is compiled and published…

FutureVolc, an Icelandic Volcanic Supersite

The Department of Civil Protection is now participating in the annual meeting of FutureVolc research project in Bifrost, Borgarfjordur, Iceland. FutureVolc is a 26-partner project funded by FP7 Environment Programme of the European Commission, addressing topic “Long-term monitoring experiment in geologically active regions of Europe prone to natural hazards: the Supersite concept”. The project started…

Sulphur dioxide from the eruption in Holuhraun

Today light southwesterly winds are expected at the eruption site in Holuhraun. Areas norheast of the eruption site can be affected by pollution. They are marked by Mt. Herðubreið in the north to Mt. Kárahnjúkar in the south. So Sulphur dioxide (SO2) concentration could become high in the eruption vicinity in Holuhraun and to the…