A New Volcano!

This morning we awoke to a new volcano with steam and ash plumes going up to 22,000 feet, much much higher than the previous one which petered out a few days ago.  The fissure that this one has created is right on top of the glacier so fear of flash floods was great.  We we NOT evacuated this time, because our area is not in danger of flooding but many of our friends from the area of Buland and Kross were evacuated and are at the elementary school in Hvolsvöllur awaiting news of when they can return home.  I have invited them all for dinner and a sleep over if they cannot go home, which is nicer than hanging out in a school all night long.  The visibility has been very poor over the glacier today, except for early this morning so as I write this we have no way to access what is happening except for the odd break in the clouds where you can see the white steam clouds billowing up before your eyes.

We could see however, from our windows the glacial river Markafljót rising in the distance, shimmering in the sun and making its way slowly out to sea, and passing Seljalandsfoss.

Below is the report from the Icelandic Meterological Office which says it all very well:

Eyjafjallajökull ice-cap seen from the northwest, 11th September 1992. The caldera is auspicious at the top. The glacier which runs from the caldera towards the north and onto lowland is named Gígjökull, see lagoon in front. Photo: Oddur Sigurðsson.

New eruption in Eyjafjallajökul

After a few days of quiet in Eyjafjallajökull volcano, a new and much more forceful eruption has begun west of Fimmvörðuháls, under the ice-cap.

The eruption is below the highest peak of Eyjafjallajökull, at the southern rim of the caldera.

A plume rises at least 8 km into the air. No lava is seen yet but melt-water flows both north and south of the mountain.

See time and magnitude of earthquakes near Mýrdalsjökull (which is the larger ice-cap east of active Eyjafjallajökull) on another map.

Above is an aerial photograph of Eyjafjallajökull since 1992. Great flows of melt-water are now flowing along Gígjökull, the glacier which runs down to low ground.

p.s In the photo you can see the glacial tongue with the lagoon at the bottom....which is where we went with Emma and Brandt.

top photo:  flooding at the turn off to Seljalandsfoss, (10 kms from us)