Iceland Civil Protection Service has declared “uncertainty phase” at Mount Hekla!!! UPDATES!!!

laacher see jumping 35 degree over the last 24 hrs, all fish dead....

euro doom!

seems the world has got enough of euro tards!

[link to hisz.rsoe.hu]

Watching Hekla

Posted on March 26, 2013by Spica


Kobba informed us that the alert level at Hekla was raised to yellow:
“://www.dv.is/frettir/2013/3/26/ovissustig-vegna-jardhraering​a-i-heklu/
Somethings are up with Hekla….Alert levels raised to yellow due to “peculiar unrest” in Hekla”

“Translated: National Commissioner of Police and the Commissioner of Hvolsvöllur declare confidence level of civil eruptions of Hekla

The Icelandic Meteorological Office has informed the National Commissioner for Civil unusual Seismicity at Hekla. IMO has also increased monitoring points Hekla to yellow due to air traffic, which means that the volcano show unusual activity.

Uncertainty level civil means for increased monitoring of the actions of that at a later stage could lead to health and human safety, environmental or building will be threatened. To describe the level of uncertainty is part of the processes in the organization of civil protection to ensure formal communication and information. Uncertainty level is declared to inform the appropriate emergency and is a process in civil emergency planning and the lowest of the three.

In light of this, will the National Police Commissioner and the Commissioner of Hvolsvöllur warn people on journeys while Hekla uncertainty level is valid.”

[link to www.ruv.is] Image taken on March 18th.
■Hekluvöktun Hekla Data
■Hekla GPS
■Borehole Strain and Hekla Seimicity
■Website on Hekla ( Swedish)
■Jarðskjálftar
■Seismic stations close to Hekla

Erik Klemetti has the news too on his blog Eruptions. Alert Status Raised at Iceland’s Hekla


Icelanders photo

Icelander: “VC staff photographer has sent us this test image. Expect more of it in action, whenever that will be. Enjoy. [link to i50.tinypic.com]

Yes, these were for express use of VC and be used when Hekla became “imminent” Copyright lies with the photographer. Here is another angle from October last year.
“ [link to i49.tinypic.com] ”
[link to volcanocafe.wordpress.com]

do they have any news for El Hierro? or they already forgot it?

interesting...can you give link with details about 35 degrees jumping?

msm is reporting it here claiming this news is posted on the MET's website, I can't find it there, though.
[link to en.vedur.is]

Yellow alert to be re-evaluated tomorrow and may be dropped back to green as further analysis of seismic data provides no observable signs of increased likely-hood of imminent eruption. Efforts to be made to increasing monitoring to greater understand the activities.

P.S. There are stories from the eruption in 2000 being posted as current news today. It is old news not what is happening now.

if that was true, we would be doomed. the amount of energy needed to heat a body of water like that ONE degree is immense, 35 degrees would be bend over and kiss the brown starfish goodbye time

Stefan says:

March 26, 2013 at 22:35


A further guess from me would be, that there will be a eruption on the north-eastern part of the Hekla-Ridge. All those cindercones and lavadeposits to the Northeast of Hekla are there for a reason.

Reply


Inge B. says:

March 26, 2013 at 23:00


Some pictures from the region we are talking about: [link to flickrhivemind.net]

[link to volcanocafe.wordpress.com]

Renato Rio says:

March 27, 2013 at 03:21


02:55:03 63.906 -19.724 7.3 km 0.4 90.01 9.9 km SSW of Hekla
Reply


islander a la Hekla* says:

March 27, 2013 at 03:32


yes, but its on edge of next volcanic system, belonging Vatnafjöll, and not a Hekla quake per se. However any quake is suspicious, in that area, but there are no other clues in effect at this hour

Reply



GeoLurking says:

March 27, 2013 at 03:39


“quake is suspicious” he says.

It’s also slap dab out in the area where that wad of magma wandered off to several months ago.

Carl had me investigate an odd deflationary episode at Hekla, and from what I could tell, the magma had retreated towards the plain south of Hekla. No idea what it was up to, or if it ever re-inflated back to it’s pre movement levels.

There is an old post about it somewhere here on VC. (The observation that the area belonged to Vatnafjöll came up then also)

[link to volcanocafe.wordpress.com]

Inge B. says:

March 27, 2013 at 07:28


Carl’s post about Hekla and Vatnafjöll (a.o.): [link to volcanocafe.wordpress.com]

Inge B. says:

March 27, 2013 at 09:15


The alert level 1 (uncertainty) as well as aviation code yellow are still valid at the moment in Iceland re. Hekla. [link to www.mbl.is]
Martin Hensch, a German volcanologist working for Icelandic IMO, was interviewed yesterday by the daily newspaper Morgunblaðið. There he said, that they had taken this decision, because there had never been such a pattern of quakes at Hekla since the last eruption in 2000. And though there was not a lot of action, Hekla is so special in this. Concerning another volcano, the situation would not have been alarming. [link to www.mbl.is]
BTW: There were no less than 60.000 klicks on the MÍLA website of Hekla yesterday! [link to www.mbl.is]

inannamoon667 says:

March 27, 2013 at 11:25


2 tiny quakes near Burfell
Wednesday
27.03.2013 09:09:09 64.008 -19.989 6.7 km 0.5 99.0 13.1 km SW of Búrfellsstöð
Wednesday
27.03.2013 09:09:03 64.035 -19.961 4.5 km 0.5 99.0 9.9 km SW of Búrfellsstöð

Russian Invasion! Rather interesting to see so many of my compatriots here in a humble Island volcano thread.

Anyhow, is it me, or does this [link to www.livefromiceland.is] camera shake a lot. The mountains are hidden behind low clouds currently, but it seems it's rather windy out there, or the camera is shaking due to other reasons.

Michael Ross says:

March 27, 2013 at 11:23


Iceland is fascinating.

I was recently reading about the 2011 Grimsvotn eruption. Apparently it marked a bigger development that I realised.

The area was analysis of thorium content.

The general picture is that apparently, ever since Laki, thorium content of magmas erupted in that area has been steadily increasing, up to and including the 2004 eruption. This is interpreted as being due to fractional crystalisation processes concentrating Th over time; it seems that even as late as 2004, the system was still erupting the last dregs of the ‘Laki’ pulse of magma!

That all changed in 2011; the products of that eruption contained much less thorium than any eruption since Laki (if I’m remembering what I read correctly). This implies a new source of fresh magma, straight from the mantle. The rapid inflation prior to the eruption, the size of the eruption, and the immediate and rapid reflation starting immediately after eruption ceased tend to confirm that – and, perhaps, bode ill for the next few decades.

I wonder what the chances are of another Laki-type event?

I was aware of discussions in these general terms before, but I hadn’t previously seen the evidence of the thorium. I’ll see if I can dig up the reference.

Reply


Irpsit in Hekla mode says:

March 27, 2013 at 12:12


That is extremely interesting. That confirms that Laki was triggered by a large hotspot pulse. That eruption pushed a lot of old magma together with new one.

A similar pulse seems to have occurred sometime around the 1720s.

Another pulse seems to have occurred around 1860-1900: many large eruptions around Vatnajokull.

It could be that the 2011 eruption was triggered by one such pulse.

We do not know how long do those pulses occur, and when before such a large eruption. But eruption frequency increases after those episodes, for several decades.


Inge B. says:

March 27, 2013 at 13:00


Some interesting material on Hekla tephra:
- Thor Thordarson (Icelandic geochemist working at Edinburgh University): Chapman conference field trip 2012 – Trjavidarlaekur (sorry, no link)
- G. Sverrisdóttir, Selsund Pumice (abstract) [link to www.raunvis.hi.is]

[link to volcanocafe.wordpress.com]

Irpsit in Hekla mode says:

March 27, 2013 at 12:15


One is a ghost. There is only one quake. Or perhaps a longer quake. Anyways, it seems too much coincidence happening now. It could be located nearer to Hekla than it shows in the map. Or perhaps it starts to trigger movements, tectonic or magmatic further west of Hekla. There seems to be a lot of unusual quakes happening. This could be a prelude to a different sort of eruption in or around Hekla, in my opinnion a fissure with a larger voluem of magma erupting, probably basalt.

islander a la Hekla* says:

March 27, 2013 at 14:35


IMO Specialist remark – [link to en.vedur.is]
“No seismicity has been detected northeast of Hekla since the weekend. One small earthquake occured 8km south of Hekla last night, which is no unusual spot for seismicity. The aviation colour-code for Hekla is still ‘yellow’. The uncertainty level declared by the Icelandic Civil Defence is still valid. No obvious signs of an imminent eruption are detected.”

Inge B. says:

March 27, 2013 at 14:29


BTw: There is also pronounced uplift to be found at some stations lately: [link to strokkur.raunvis.hi.is] (HAUKADALUR); [link to strokkur.raunvis.hi.is] (ISAKOT); whereas at others it went down or stayed in place – the magma?

islander a la Hekla* says:

March 27, 2013 at 14:34


new quak (!) in Torfajökull area. a 2,2 – this indicates renewed activity in area.
[link to en.vedur.is]

Hekla strain change? [link to hraun.vedur.is]

What's going on here?

I was hoping you could answer that question.

islander a la Hekla* says:

March 27, 2013 at 16:24


just got a chilling thought, is “the rubber band” stretching ?? since this graph was put up, this steady down trend is rather unusual, as is the linear decent as is happening now at HEK.
The Hekla alert can be regarded appropriate cover for any other largish coming from the area´s east of Hekla and across the rubber towards Laki. [link to hraun.vedur.is]

[link to www.wikihow.com]

and strain continues to sliding down... [link to hraun.vedur.is]

Bruce Stout says:

March 27, 2013 at 17:25


If I remember correctly, wasn’t there a similar sudden reversal in GPS movement as well shortly before one of the Icelandic eruptions? I can’t remember which one it was, maybe Hekla, but I remember discussing it in the run-up to Eyjafjallajoküll. This looks really similar.

Inge B. says:

March 27, 2013 at 19:10


Are it just my eyes or is there an upwards GPS trend to the west of Hekla: [link to strokkur.raunvis.hi.is]

Inge B. says:

March 27, 2013 at 19:35


And while all eyes are concentrated on Hekla, Bárdarbunga is rather lively too: [link to hraun.vedur.is]

Updated: Wednesday, 27 March, 2013 at 04:05 UTC
Description
The Police in Hvolsvollur and the Civil Defense department have expressed concern over increased seismic activity around Hekla volcano in the past few days. Seven tremors have been measured in the last two weeks, a frequency which has never been matched since Hekla's previous eruption. According to geologists at the Icelandic Meteorological Office, the seven earthquakes were measured some 5 km from the top of the volcano and at a depth of 11 to 12 km. However, no magma movement has been measured. The volcano is being closely monitored at the moment by geologists who decided to alert authorities as Hekla eruption usually happen with very little warning, and the mountain itself is a popular hike among locals and tourists alike. The warning issued is the lowest out of three and is raised in order to initiate an appropriate and rapid emergency response in the case of an eruption. Internet users can monitor the activity around the volcano themselves with a live webcam of Hekla. Quite reassuringly, what looks like smoke at the top of the volcano is in fact just a cloud (at least for the moment).
[link to hisz.rsoe.hu]

Aren't there some homes that sit almost at the base? Thanks for the updates.