Eyafjallajökull Photos and News, day 7

Top photo:  The ash plume as it looked 6 days ago from Lambalækur, (our farm)

mid photo:  The ash plume as seen from Búland, 4 days ago

Bottom photo:  The ash plume as it looks now, taken 2 days ago from Lambalækur

We continue to monitor the weather report and volcano reports very closely as now the wind direction may change as early as tomorrow morning!  Eman went around and taped all the windows shut with wide packing tape, as a precaution against ash in the house.  Since the ash plume has lessened quite a bit since it started, we are thinking the ash fall will be minimal and shouldn't too much cause for alarm, and tomorrow we shall see!   It has been an eye opener to see how the populace is reacting to it- all the way from denial, to resignation, to "we are Vikings and we can handle anything"... and we don't need any help!  

This type of ash is very fine, as fine as talc, so we will be wearing surgical masks outside if we need to.  I have a feeling some of those Vikings wouldn't be caught dead wearing one!!!  But I think it will be a good idea...I am sure too much of this ash is not good for anyone!  

If anyone is interested in making a live science lesson out of all of this, feel free to get in touch and I can point you to interesting links surrounding this particular volcano or maybe you give you  a tour via Skype! That would be fun!  

Go deeper into the volcano...

Here is an excellent cross section diagram showing  the volcanic areas and their relative proximity to each other.  At the moment there is little seismic activity both in Eyafjallajökull and Myrdalsjökull and no activity associated with Katla at present.  We live about 15 km from the base of Eyafjallajökull and now that lava is "splattering" as they call it and was throwing lava chunks the size of small cars up into the air for 1.5 to 3 kms, you get an idea of the force of it.  What has not occurred as of yet is lava fall where the lava runs down the side of the glacier, so we are waiting to see if this happens or not.

For now I have been studying up on the latest in volcanology and the advances made in prediction over the last few years.  Very interesting stuff!  The Icelandic Met Office has been doing a great job with more indepth reports in English which correlates with the information I have been reading elsewhere.

We had a small snow storm this evening and of course nothing could be seen over the glacier so we will not know much until the weather clears.  Oh!  and it is really amazing, the ash fall was getting closer to us today and stopped just about 1km away and never got any closer, and then it receded and went around to the north side and again never got any closer!  Must be the extra angelic protection that my sister sent me the other day!  Thanks Andrea!   The surgical masks remain unused....and DV (God willing) will remain as such!

Awesome Volcano!

(photo by Marco Fulle, Stromboli Online)
This is really the most amazing volcano photo yet, of "our" volcano of course, you can recognize it by the little streak of rock running up to the crater, (can't you see it??)  No? Never mind, you will probably eventually have every nook and cranny of Eyafjallajökull figured out by the time this is over....which at the rate things are going may be quite some time from now!.  But really we are fine and as ong as we don't read too many scary newscasts about what is happening we are fine!

 Whoever took this photo must have had one of those HUGE lenses that they take photos of space from, because the night he took this, the police were not taking any chances and they had blocked the road from exactly our road and no one could get any closer than chez nous.  I hear the lightning is totally dangerous and lots of livestock and a few people were killed in another eruption, thank the Lord not this one.  My dear husband came home tonight with the free dust masks that we will, may have to wear at some point in time.  Tonight the wind shifted to the south west so that meant that we were still pretty safe as we live north west of the volcano, whew!  We have large rolls of brown tape with which to seal the windows, just in case, having heard that this helps a lot.

 But the best news is that the volcano is slowing with all the spewing and belching and is now settling down somewhat and we have a nice little lava display right on the very top-- quite visible to the naked eye from our lookout in the bathroom.  I must say though, I hope this is not some sort of tourist signal as lava seems to be the tourist magnate par excellance.  Especially since our local breed of tourist from Reykjavik seem to be none too bright as far as safety and precaution is concerned out in the boonies of Icelandic wilderness which begins just a few miles from our house.  Sadly, 2 Icelandic people got lost while trying to watch the earlier eruption of Fimmvörðuháls and died of exposure after less than 48 hours of getting lost....and that was not on the 5 hour hike up the mountain pass like you might have expected.  There were literally hundreds of other cars all cramming into Fljótslið along with them, so how they got separated from the others and why they left their car and died several kilometres from their car is a mystery.....   For this reason I am happy that the police are not letting people wander all over the place right now.

Volcano Update...are we allowed to relax yet?

Top photos taken tonight at around 9 pm -the cause of all the trouble in Europe starts right here!  ;)

Bottom photo, my own photo of the now defunct Fimmvörðuháls volcano

Tonight we had visitors from Reykjavik, Kalli and Adina who brought a wonderful rack of lamb for dinner.  We wondered if we should move the dining room table into the bathroom, which is where we look out eastwards to the volcano, so we could continue watching as we ate dinner.  But every so often someone would shout, "ooooh come look" and everyone ran into the bathroom to see what the volcano was doing. Mostly it was just continuing to mushroom and throw in bolts of lightning for good measure.  

You see our friends even bring food now!!! 

At least no one had to evacuate tonight, so that is good news.  Now it appears that it no longer  a question of if  Katla will erupt, but when it will erupt!  It could be 2 weeks, 2 months or 2 years....

I

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) 

Aurora Borealis over Easter Weekend in Fljótslið

Tourists and locals alike were treated to a wonderful northern lights display on Saturday night in Fljótslíð. I used to assume photos of the Auroras are touched up or enhanced but now I know that this is an untouched photo and this really is the way the Auroras look. The faster they "dance" in the sky, as they say in Icelandic, the better the chance of seeing tinges of pink and purple.  I love how the stars shine through!  Amazing that this is only a low level display garnering maybe a 2 at most on the Aurora scale.  (See link to Auroras at your right...)


We went out last night around 8PM just after sunset to look at the volcano.  The dirt road by now is quite heavily gutted by all the traffic and there was even a traffic jam as 4x4s inched past each other on a narrow mountain pass.  Scary stuff!  Even as close as we are, the trip there and back from our house takes around 3 hours! The new fissure has improved our view considerably however and for the first time we were able to see the lava descending.  I know it's crazy but I really want to go closer!  

Amazing Glorious Easter!

Herding Cats

Cat Herding

(if this clip does not load properly, you can also watch it on YouTube or on Metacafe!)

Last week, the Icelandic Prime Minister was quoted as saying that working with the Left Green Party was about as easy as herding cats. The Left Greens were not impressed but I did find this hilarious clip which illustrates the principle.

This of course has nothing to do with volcanos, I know. Our Icelandic volcano is still going strong and I read that some 25,000 people inundated our serene corner of the world last week end. N1 Hliðarendi, where Eman works, closes now at midnight!!! so they can accomodate the masses (read: make more money) Never in the history of Iceland has there ever been this many people out here. I hope I will not have to report any sad news of accidents as tourists, Icelandic or otherwise, take all sorts of risks to get as close as they can to the molten lava.

Check out this article from Iceland Review:

Master chefs from Hótel Holt in Reykjavík cooked a gourmet volcanic dinner for travelers near the crater on Fimmvörduháls in south Iceland yesterday. The menu was lobster soup and monkfish and lobster spears that were grilled on the glowing hot lava.



Photo by Páll Stefánsson.

The dinner was enjoyed outside in the chilling wind and transformed landscape on Fimmvörduháls. The volcanic restaurant will remain open in the coming days. Special guests at Hótel Holt will be invited to the meals served there as will a few lucky tourists, Fréttabladid reports.

Police and rescue services say people are far too foolhardy at the eruption site. A fence will be erected to keep travelers in a safe distance from the lava flow and prevent accidents that are waiting to happen.

Chairman of the Hella Air Ground Rescue Team, Svanur Saevar Lárusson, told Morgunbladid it is scary to observe how close people go to the flowing lava, especially photographers who seem to want to jump right in.

There are many hazards people must watch out for, Lárusson said. “The lava is flowing under the snow and then it collapses where people were just standing.” He also said it is dangerous to move too close to the edge of the Hrunagil canyon; snow banks can collapse any time.

People can now walk towards the eruption zone from the highland valley of Thórsmörk. Walkers have been asked not to go any further than to the Morinsheidi heath.

However, some people disregarded that request and went as far as Heljarkambur. On the way, walkers have to walk up a snowy slope which can crack and slide forwards. “People appear ready to risk their lives to get a little closer,” Lárusson said.

Rescue services assisted close to 20 cold and exhausted hikers on Fimmvörduháls yesterday. They seemed not to have realized how long and difficult the hike is.

It is assumed that a large number of people will travel to see the eruption during the upcoming Easter weekend.

The travel association Útivist will lead hikes from different locations in cooperation with Reykjavík Excursions, which brings travelers to the starting points. Both longer and shorter hikes will be on offer; two include spending a night at a cabin on Fimmvörduháls.

In Thórsmörk the Icelandic Touring Association will guide, advise and accommodate travelers. There will be scheduled hikes to three locations with a view of the eruption.

Additionally, sightseeing can be undertaken by helicopter (see nordurflug.is and helicopter.is), ski-doo (snow.is) and bus (re.is). Customized tours are also a possibility (nordicvisitor.com).

For prospective eruption travelers it is important to prepare, follow weather forecasts and news about the eruption closely. For further information visit icesar.com, vedur.is and almannavarnir.is.

According to visir.is, the eruption is just as powerful as it was yesterday.

Volcano Party last night!

This is just to give you a glimpse of what was happening yesterday!  This is taken from the south side, the Skogarfoss side of the volcano where you can see much more that you can from our side!  I think is was minus 18C yesterday with the wind chill factor so it was cold up there! But if you have the right vehicle you can do this...I think ours would pass.  So.....maybe we will do this trip one of these days.  Meantime, we had literally thousands  of people come out from Reykjavik and pass right by the house....where was my coffee and waffles and cream set up for these people????   I went out there last night, the northside of the volcano, with Finnur, Bjartur, Matthew, ET, Victor, Lisa, and Kalli.  It took 3 hours to get there and back in our Musso (which is a jeep) and did just fine but I let Finnur drive since I still find it really scary to ford rivers in a car!   There were kms and kms of cars going in! Some regular cars who should not have been trying to cross the river did so and had engine trouble afterwards!  Crazy! But it was fun.  We borrowed the super binoculars from Matthew and could see the lava very well, spouting up over the mountain.  This was at the very same place that Lena and I helped with a sheep round up last fall and we got a bit stuck in the mud since I didn't have a clue how to put the car into 4 wheel drive and do some stuff to the tires.....but the farmers chasing sheep helped us out.  Why didn't my husband teach me how to so this, hey? Ok it's not really his fault.  But cars are his domain, since I already do all the handy man stuff around the house, do I have to learn about cars as well????  Ok if we do the Fimmvöduháls trip I will learn how to drive the jeep properly.....but only if there are no guys with us!

Taking reservations for private volcano tours at the Valgardsson Family Bed and Breakfast.........who will be first?
p.s I did not take the above photo!  I have not yet gone that close!

Spennandi! (exciting!)

This is one of the best videos I have seen, taken yesterday, March 24, 2010. There does not appear to be any imminent danger of the volcano spreading into Eyafjallajökull and thereby causing massive flooding. We are on the hills above the floodplain so it is unlikely that our house would be swept away in a flood. However, we would be evaucated right away if there was even a chance of flooding and would not be watching it from our windows!

Our house stands about 15 miles from the eruption and so we are not in any danger whatsoever from the lava flow. There is in fact no one living in the immediate area of the volcano,but there are a few farms within a certain radius of it and they are the ones who were not able to return home until Monday.

I would like to underscore the fact that the FOX news reports on the volcano with their interview with a volcanologist was entirely misleading and not to be trusted. BBC and Reuters have, by contrast, been very accurate and free of hype. OK, well one BBC report did quote a certain teacher who lives near us as saying that there was so much ash that they couldn't open their car door, and I hope to be able to get to the bottom of that one.

They estimate that there are 30 million cubic metres of magma under Eyafjallajðkull which is what is feeding the Fimmvörðuháls eruption. If the fissure widens into the glacier then that is where is could start getting dangerous, so everyone is keeping a close eye on it.

Here is a link to mila.is http://mila.is/um-milu/vefmyndavelar/eyjafjallajokull-fra-thorolfsfelli/ which has set up a live webcam of the eruption, at a very safe distance. It should be very beautiful to watch this coming Saturday as the weather should be sunny and clear. If you tune in around 8:30 PM Iceland time, as the sun sets it could be quite a beautiful view of the eruption around that time.