Iceland eruption near volcano triggers red alert

[jakeXT]

Last edited Sun Aug 31, 2014, 04:34 PM - Edit history (2)

Source: BBC

The Icelandic Met Office has raised its aviation warning level near the Bardarbunga volcano to red after an eruption began overnight.

Scientists said a fissure eruption 1km (0.6 miles) long started in a lava field north of the Vatnajokull glacier.

Civil protection officials said Icelandic Air Traffic Control had closed the airspace above the eruption up to a height of 5,000ft (1,500m).

The volcano has been hit by several recent tremors.

The fissure eruption took place between Dyngjujokull Glacier and the Askja caldera, a statement from the Department of Civil Protection said.

Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-28977773

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Aug 31, 1:30 PM EDT

Lava eruption prompts Iceland aviation alert

REYKJAVIK, Iceland (AP) -- Lava fountains danced along a lengthy volcanic fissure near Iceland's subglacial Bardarbunga volcano Sunday, prompting authorities to raise the aviation warning code to the highest level and close the surrounding airspace.

The red warning code - the highest in the country's alert system - was raised early Sunday after the eruption in the Holuhraun lava field, about five kilometers (three miles) north of the Dyngjujoekull glacier. The warning was lowered 12 hours later as visibility improved and it was clear that no volcanic ash was detected.

The country's meteorological agency said scientists were monitoring the ongoing eruption.

"Visual observation confirms it is calm, but continuous," the weather agency said on its website.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_ICELAND_VOLCANO?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-08-31-13-30-34

[NaturalHigh]

1. Is this the same volcano that caused major travel problems a few years ago?

[ColesCountyDem]

2. No, that was Eyjafjallajökull, which erupted in April 2010. n/t

[NaturalHigh]

3. Thanks for the info.

[ColesCountyDem]

4. You're welcome!

I'm a weather/earth science geek. LOL!

[Bigmack]

13. OMG!!!!!!!! You can SPELL that mutha!!!!!! nt

[AngryAmish]

15. not really

She just mashed her hand on the keyboard and we undetstand it from context clues.

An alternate spelling is e eggs rt he eff fee yh

[jakeXT]

16. The way the BBC pronounces it doesn't sound like the Icelandic way

[magical thyme]

10. no, it's a different one

a bigger one...

[WovenGems]

5. A Question

If you hit the Mid Atlantic Ridge with a meteor would the result look like Iceland?

[starroute]

6. Iceland is over a volcanic hotspot -- but they don't know why

A meteor doesn't seem to be among the likeliest explanations, since there's no sign of a crater and other major meteor craters aren't associated with volcanism. However, the second link below does mention the "impact hypothesis" as one suggested explanation of hotspots.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iceland_hotspot

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mantle_plume

[WovenGems]

11. Hot spot?

Iceland sits dead square on the Ridge so volcanism is due to plate spreading. I ask because nowhere on the Ridge is there anything close to Iceland so an easy answer doesn't quite fit. A Mantle Plume due to a reverb shock does work for Hawaii.

[jakeXT]

12. It could be both, because the ridge is not enough

Iceland's location astride the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, where the Eurasian and North American Plates are moving apart, is partly responsible for this intense volcanic activity, but an additional cause is necessary to explain why Iceland is a substantial island while the rest of the ridge mostly consists of seamounts, with peaks below sea level.

As well as being a region of higher temperature than the surrounding mantle, it is also believed to have a higher concentration of water. The presence of water in magma reduces the melting temperature, and this may also play a role in enhancing Icelandic volcanism.

Theories of causation

There is an ongoing discussion whether the hotspot is caused by a deep mantle plume or originates at a much shallower depth.[1]

Some geologists have questioned whether the Iceland hotspot has the same origin as other hotspots such as the Hawaii hotspot. While the Hawaiian island chain and the Emperor Seamounts show a clear time-progressive volcanic track caused by the movement of the Pacific Plate over the Hawaiian hotspot, no such track can be seen at Iceland.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iceland_hotspot

[Bearware]

8. You could also have an impact on the other side of the earth.

The impact would not have to be exactly antipodal because the impact angle could strongly affect where the shock waves focus on
the other side of the earth.

I know the Deccan and Siberian traps were huge eruptions but as far as I know there has never been a volcanic eruption in the history of the planet that has ejected significant mass to suborbital or even orbital altitudes. For large impacts this would seem to be routine because of the energies involved. Both the Deccan and Siberian traps are associated with extinction events with the former associated with the extinction of the dinosaurs. In other words, the largest known eruptions are likely secondary and "relatively" minor side effects of large impacts.

One important note, it is probably common for several large impacts to occur relatively close together as they may have been fragments of a common body. Most impact craters would have been in the oceans simply due to there being more ocean surface than land area. The Deccan traps are likely associated either a possible Shiva Crater, or the somewhat antipodal Chicxulub crater or a sibling fragment of the Chicxulub asteroid that impacted in the ocean at a somewhat different time which could explain the slightly different timing of the formation of the Deccan traps and Chicxulub crater

P.S. I always thought Iceland was suspiciously round.

[daleo]

9. When I studied geophysics, hotspots were thought to be due to convection

Of heat in the Earth's interior. Plumes, basically. Hawaii is over a hotspot too.

But things were pretty sketchy then. I suppose they know more now.

[Bigmack]

14. These are all FASCINATING posts! Thanks all nt