Volcano eruption is about to start in Grímfjall volcano

i keep watching cam, do u have any graphism about sismic sign?

[link to www.simnet.is]

[link to hraun.vedur.is]

Don't know what I'm looking at though. Just interested.

yes volcano is in the center...

For me it's clear that a cloud/steam/ash is rising from the center...

it seams grims is reactivating...

Reply
Jón Frímann says:
May 26, 2011 at 13:43
It is the wind. It has been going up to 17m/sec.

Reply

[link to en.vedur.is]

another quake in caldera.

is it smoke or cloud on top of hekla it seems quite dark [link to www.ruv.is]

here are some quake around hekla [link to en.vedur.is]

ok my bad it was cloud

They are around 40-50km from Hekla, looks like they are on faults. There aren't any in the immediate vicinity so I wouldn't think too much on them. If I see any on this map around Hekla then I would think different. =)
[link to en.vedur.is]

Reply
Jón Frímann says:
May 26, 2011 at 14:50
The GPS data is interesting to say the least.

[link to hraun.vedur.is]

Nother quake in Grims. [link to en.vedur.is] and either the wind's picked up again or mini tremors are happenin. o.O

Thursday
26.05.2011 15:36:03 64.294 -17.157 7.4 km 1.3 32.13 13.5 km SSE of Grímsfjall

Jón Frímann says:
May 26, 2011 at 15:59
The GPS station just shows how much the Grímsfjall has deflated during this eruption. While this is preliminary data based on automatic process it is fairly accurate.

In this case it shows that Grímsfjall did drop 250mm (about) down during this eruption. But 250mm are about 25cm. Grímsfjall did move about 250mm north during this eruption. But that means that it did deflate in that direction. I do not know how far it did move west during this eruption. Because the plot did stop at 300mm west.

Here is a good USGS article on this subject, [link to volcanoes.usgs.gov]

There is a news at the IMO website that a group hiking to Grimsvötn found near Grimsvötn eruption site ash layers with a thiknes from 10 to 130 cm.

[link to en.vedur.is]

looks like some steam on katla cam, I think.

That about wraps it up for the Grímsvötn eruption
Erik Klemetti on May 26, 2011, 1:59 PM
Alright, so the title of the post is a little cheeky, but right now it appears that the eruption of Grímsvötn that started last Saturday (May 21) is for all intents and purposes over (at least for the time being). Although there is still some minor explosive activity from 3-4 tephra cones near the crater, it appears that larger plumes (>3 km) have not been seen at Grímsvötn for over 24 hours. A group of geologists ventured to the crater region (see below) and found upwards of 130 cm of ash deposited in some places near the vent.

The IMO has posted a great collection of images from the Grímsvötn eruption - starting with the big bang on May 21 through to today - it is almost like a timelapse of the changes in the volcano over the 4-5 days of eruption. You can also get a close up of the crater itself in another IMO post. In the main image you can see the multiple tephra cones surrounded by the remains of the crater lake, suggesting the main thrust of the eruption might have been from multiple vents. There is now plenty of video as well of the eruption both when it was a towering 20 km plume producing its own lightning to the smaller surtseyan explosions of the last few days.



Ash deposits near the vent at Grímsvötn seen on May 26, 2011. Image courtesy of the IMO.

I've seen a lot of information on the atmospheric effects of the Grímsvötn eruption - including a great sequence showing how the sulfur dioxide from the plume spread across the northern latitudes as seen by the NASA Aqua satellite and how the ash plume grew during the eruption as seen by the NASA Terra satellite. I also liked the weather radar images of the ash plume during its last gasp (see below), where the thick, hot plumes sticks out through the clouds as the radar swept across southern Iceland.



Weather radar showing the last tall ash plume from Grímsvötn seen on May 25, 2011 at 2:10 AM. Image courtesy of the IMO.

As for European air travel, almost everything is back to normal. There will still be ash in the atmosphere over the North Atlantic even into the weekend as it swirls in the winds, but most air traffic has resumed. Volcan01010 does a nice job debunking any claims that the ash wasn't a threat to air travel in the region as well. Not surprisingly, the verdict is split on whether EU officials handled the ash hazard better or worse than in 2010, but it seems like more changes in the ash rules are on the way (by letting aircraft fly underneath the ash ... gulp). However, this does seem like an ideal situation to test the AVOID (Airborne Volcanic Object Identifier and Detector) system and easyJet will do just that. In Iceland, clean up and recovery has begun in the regions hardest hit by the ash and it seems that little damage was done to the tourism economy of the island nation from the flight disruptions.

Now, should we expect this to be the end of the eruption? That is an excellent question. There is still minor seismicity under the volcano, which isn't too surprising as magma moves in the magmatic system under Grímsvötn. Jon Frimann wonders how over is the eruption considering the persistent volcanic tremor that hasn't reached background levels yet, but as of right now, things are fairly quiet at Grímsvötn.

[link to bigthink.com]

Its funny.. how we are so entertained by puffs of smoke and wiggles in the ground.. Lol

Explosions are still taking place in Grímsvötn crater
Posted on May 26, 2011 by Jón Frímann
While the activity has almost stopped in Grímsfjall volcano, but there are still explosions taking place in Grímsvötn lake where the eruption took place due to magma going up, explosions take place all over the fissure at random times. That makes travelling to this area really dangerous thing to do. Ash fall is still taking place in Grímsfjall volcano when explosions take place. But the ash fall is limited to the local area in Grímsfjall volcano. Because of this, the official word is that the eruption is not yet over. Even if it just an small eruption at the moment. So far there is no data that suggests that new magma is currently flowing into Grímsfjall volcano. This is according to news in Icelandic media.

An new caldera (correct word?) has formed in the glacier close to the eruption site. But that suggests that a lot of heat is below in the glacier and is creating strong melt where this taking place. This is according to news on Rúv. But they don’t say where this glacier melt is taking place. But it can be assumed that this formation is somewhere close to the current eruption site. But when I know more about this location. I am going to update this post when I can.

Harmonic tremors pulses are still being detected from Grímsfjall volcano up to 200 km away from the volcano. Why they are still taking place while there is no eruption taking place is unknown to me. It is important to notice that currently the harmonic tremor is slowly dropping for now. But it might increase again without any warning. For now there is no way to know what this tremor means for Grímsfjall volcano.

Automatic GPS data from Icelandic Met Office tells an interesting story. According to this data (it might not be 100% accurate due to nature of GPS) Grímsfjall volcano has moved close to 320mm to the west, close to 350mm to the north, it has also lowered down about 250mm. This is major movement in Grímfjall volcano. To compare it with something, Eyjafjallajökull volcano only inflated about 60mm before it did erupt. This is many times more deflation that took place in Grímsfjall volcano then in Eyjafjallajökull volcano for example.

Earthquakes are still taking place SE and SSE of Grímsfjall volcano. There is no volcano at this location. So I am assuming that this are tectonic earthquakes taking place due to stress changes in the crust around Grímsfjall volcano. All earthquakes so far have been small but with the depth from 15 and up to 5 km.

Extra: According to new news (while I was writing this blog post). The Civil Emergency Authority in Iceland has lowered the alert level from danger level to alert level. News about that can be read here (Icelandic, mbl.is)

[link to www.jonfr.com]

Reply
Pieter says:
May 26, 2011 at 20:33
Now this is interesting:
[link to hraun.vedur.is]

Deflation seem to have stopped and inflation is already taking place on a very small scale. This is weird because:
- The volcano is still erupting (weak, but it is)
- Normally deflation continues for at least a few days after an eruption

you be entertained

i'm fecking shitting myself!

always thought we were safe here, the only hazard being getting occasionally dampened by drizzle.

then i finds out we have a fucking monster sitting 1000 miles north of us.

Jon Frimann Jonsson on May 26, 2011, 4:06 PM
@Erik and Boris, While it is currently impossible to know if the eruption in Grímsfjall volcano is going to start erupting big again or not.

But this harmonic tremor is worrying. As Grímsfjall volcano is going to gets it’s balance again after this large eruption. But I fear that balance is going to be restored in the worst possible manner. With more powerful or long eruption. When is the big question for me at the moment.

I also fear that this activity in Grímsfjall volcano is going to wake the dormant volcano Thordarhyrna SW of Grímsfjall volcano. But Thordarhyrna is inside Grímsfjall volcano fissure swarm and it did last erupt 107 years ago, in the year 1887 to the year 1889.

Whatever the case. This harmonic tremor is worth watching. But currently the tremor is dropping every 12 to 24 hours or so. But there seems also to be high spikes in this harmonic at random.

I also think that Grímsfjall volcano is currently not done. It is just on a short break at this moment.

As you can see, volcano Thordarhyrna can wake up too. The last time it was active it was by two years...

A lot of activity in Grim's webcam [link to live.mila.is]