Tue Nov 2,10:49 AM ET
Posted on 11/02/2004 10:46:25 AM PST by Thinkin' Gal
Tue Nov 2,10:49 AM ET
A plane flies near clouds of dust above the volcano on Grimsvotn mountain in eastern Iceland Tuesday Nov. 2, 2004. The volcano erupted in a remote area of Iceland on Monday, setting off tremors across the area and prompting officials to warn pilots to avoid flying through gasses being emitted by the blast. (AP Photo/Ragnar Axelsson, Morgunbladid)
2 hours, 8 minutes ago Science - AFP
REYKJAVIK (AFP) - Flights over Iceland had to be rerouted to avoid clouds of black smoke and ashes from a volcanic eruption under Europe's largest glacier, officials here said.
"We had to reroute transatlantic flights because of the volcanic plume. We have a several hundred kilometre-wide danger zone between Iceland and northern Norway," Bergthor Bergthorsson, an official at the Icelandic Aviation Authority told AFP.
The subglacial eruption broke out beneath the Grimsvotn glacial lake in the western part of the Vatnajokull glacier in central Iceland at 9:50 p.m. (2150 GMT) on Monday and was preceded by a series of earthquakes, according to the Icelandic Meteorologic Institute (IMI).
So far, the smoke-spewing volcano, which is located in a sparsely populated part of the island, has not caused any damage, though police did temporarily shut down a large national highway.
The blast, which took place in the same area as a massive eruption of 1998, is the 13th subglacial eruption in the area since 1902, according to Icelandic geologists.
Monday's eruption may have been triggered by the recent draining of the Grimsvotn lake, which unleashed a glacier flood in the area, IMI seismologist Kristin Vogfjod told AFP.
"We have been following the area closely for two weeks and were quite sure that there would be an eruption," she said.
"Friday we let aviation authorities know that (an eruption) should be expected. Monday morning there were continuous earthquakes of up to 3.0 on the Richter scale, and then it was just a question of time," she added.
Air traffic controllers have had to reroute all flights over Iceland, including 10 transatlantic flights.
The wind has so far been blowing north and northeast, but if it starts blowing in a southern or western direction, at least 50 flights a day could be affected.
"I don't even want to think about that," Bergthor Bergthorsson of the Icelandic Aviation Authority in the Reykjavik flight tower told AFP.
The eruption could be seen from as far away as the town of Egilsstadir, some 130 kilometers to the northeast of the volcano, which belched smoke and ashes about 14 kilometers above the glacier in the early hours of Tuesday.
The plume still stood nine kilometers high at noon (1200 GMT) on Tuesday, scientists said.
"It is very imposing and beautiful" said Bjorn Malmquist, a local journalist in Egilsstadir.
"We had magnificent footage" agreed Logi Bergmann Eidsson, deputy news chief at Icelandic state television station RUV, which aired an extra news bulletin at noon on Tuesday dedicated to the eruption.
Not everyone thought the view of the eruption was much to write home about.
"I think it is just a small, dirty and ugly sky. It is just some bureaucratic hysteria to cancel flights. No ash has been detected here," Benedikt Vilhjalmsson, a radio operator at Egilsstadir airport, said.
Scientists believe the eruption is going to follow similar trends as previous eruptions, meaning that it could last up to two weeks.
Vatnajökull ping!
Halliburton set off the volcano to get no-bid contracts to clean up the ash.
I remember National Geographic pictures of the '98 eruption. Spectacular. Thank goodness there's nothing in that area to get broken (cept' for that po' stretch of highway which is going to be obliterated yet again).
How did Bush ever manage to do this during this important election!
In a press release the new CEO of Halliburton, Mr. Hephaestus, (pictured below) denied any involvement with the eruption.
Rove had to do it to keep all the French, Germans, and Arab terrorists from flying here to vote for Kerry.
Grimsvotn? You mean Dems are voten in Iceland, too?
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Two cauldrons above an erupting fissure beneath the Vatnajökull glacier, located in Central Iceland. An eruption started beneath the glacier during the evening of September 30. When this image was taken on October 1, part of the glacier's surface had subsided to form two cauldrons, each about 1-2 km wide. This part of the glacier, located on the north flank of Grímsvötn volcano, was about 400-600 m thick before the eruption. A 4-km-long fissure eruption beneath the glacier quickly melted the ice; the resulting meltwater drained into the Grímsvötn caldera. During one 4-hour period, scientists observed the surface subside by about 50 m! Note the many fractures in the ice on the margins of the cauldrons. |
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View of eruption crater and ash-covered Vatnajökull glacier about 36 hours after the eruption had broken through the ice. By this time, the area of subsidence had grown to about 9 km long and 2-3 km wide. The eruption continued for about another 10 days, and meltwater from the glacier flowed into the Grímsvötn caldera. On October 1, water level in the caldera's subglacial lake was about 1410 m; by October 16, the water level had risen to 1504 m, an increase of 94 m! According to scientists monitoring the activity, lava erupting from the fissure was piled up on the ground beneath the glacier, "forming a mountain ridge which in places is expected to be 200 m high." On October 16, scientists stated that the meltwater, which had been accumulating under the ice shelf in the Grímsvötn caldera lake, could begin draining at any time to trigger a jökulhlaup (glacial outburst flood). On November 5 the expected jökulhlaup began. |
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Two cauldrons above an erupting fissure beneath the Vatnajökull glacier, located in Central Iceland. An eruption started beneath the glacier during the evening of September 30. When this image was taken on October 1, part of the glacier's surface had subsided to form two cauldrons, each about 1-2 km wide. This part of the glacier, located on the north flank of Grímsvötn volcano, was about 400-600 m thick before the eruption. A 4-km-long fissure eruption beneath the glacier quickly melted the ice; the resulting meltwater drained into the Grímsvötn caldera. During one 4-hour period, scientists observed the surface subside by about 50 m! Note the many fractures in the ice on the margins of the cauldrons. |
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View of eruption crater and ash-covered Vatnajökull glacier about 36 hours after the eruption had broken through the ice. By this time, the area of subsidence had grown to about 9 km long and 2-3 km wide. The eruption continued for about another 10 days, and meltwater from the glacier flowed into the Grímsvötn caldera. On October 1, water level in the caldera's subglacial lake was about 1410 m; by October 16, the water level had risen to 1504 m, an increase of 94 m! According to scientists monitoring the activity, lava erupting from the fissure was piled up on the ground beneath the glacier, "forming a mountain ridge which in places is expected to be 200 m high." On October 16, scientists stated that the meltwater, which had been accumulating under the ice shelf in the Grímsvötn caldera lake, could begin draining at any time to trigger a jökulhlaup (glacial outburst flood). On November 5 the expected jökulhlaup began. |
Some photo!
Great pics! (earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, maybe hell's making room for Arafat?)
"If any of you ever get a chance to travel there I highly reccomend it. It is a very beautiful country."
I have been there for photography adn travel several times in the last few years and it is by far my favorite outdoors destination anywhere.
between the geology and the not-terrible climate (for its latitude, anyway), the extreme day/night length, northern lights, topography (ropy lava fields included), I think there is no place like it on earth.
Did you ever get to Greenland? I haven't been but would really like to go..
Greenland is quite an extreme place. I have been to the Qaanaaq area, back in the late 90's. It was for a hunting trip. We stayed with some Inuits and ran a dog sled and did some kayaking. We traveled to a few different settelments. It was quite amazing. This kind of adventure entertainment is not for everyone.
We passed through that stretch this summer, when we drove the ring road around the island. What bizarro scenery, even for Iceland. It looks like a layer of smooth lava silt, littered with rocks of various sizes. It was similar to the pictures we see of Mars, only in a darker color. The fine lava sand also blows across the road, often quickly cutting visibility down to nothing. Fortunately it wasn't too windy when we drove through, so these "blind spots" disappeared almost as quickly as they developed.
Neat! Thanks.
The main reason I haven't gone to greenland yet is language and mobility concerns....how much english was spoken where you were?
As I understand it, the only way to get around between inhabited regions is fly or float (boat)...I'd love to go at some point.
Sea floor spreading strikes again.
Just as I suspected!
It wouldn't suprise me if Karl Rove put them up to it.
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