Posted on 03/20/2010 6:24:33 PM PDT by Leifur
Breaking News: A volcano just erupted in southern part of Iceland, under the glacier Eyjafjallajökull. They are starting to clear farms in the lowlands below the glacier, and ash has started to fall in the area. There has not been though much earth tremors following this.
Farmers in the area are seeing fire in the glacier and the stench is reportedly very strong. These are the most affected areas, the red is in most danger of beeing flooded with toxic water at high speed:
http://mbl.is/frimg/5/25/525555.jpg
The greatest danger following this is that the volcanic eruption will melt the glacier and a huge amount of melted glacier water will flood down the floodplaines, and the grown lands in the Southern flat lands of the country below the clacier. Some farmers have just under an hour to abandon their farms and get to safety.
Most farms are though on small hilltops, so depending on how great the eruption is, and where the meltwater will mostly flow, the devastation can be all from mostly grown land and roads to severe economic damage at a hight of an extended financial crisis extended by a impotent government and blackmailing from the EU nations especially the UK and the Netherlands.
Information from the wikipedia site:
"Eyjafjallajökull [glacier] is one of the smaller glaciers of Iceland. It is situated to the north of Skógar and to the west of the larger glacier Mýrdalsjökull.
The last eruption was from 1821 to 1823, causing a fatal glacier run. The crater of the volcano has a diameter of 3–4 km and the glacier covers an area of about 100 km². The south end of the mountain was once part of the Atlantic coastline. As the sea has since retreated some 5 km, the former coastline has left behind sheer cliffs with a multitude of beautiful waterfalls, the best known of them being Skógafoss.
In strong winds, the water of the smaller falls can even be blown up the mountain. Between 3rd and 5th of March 2010 there were measured close to 3000 earthquakes at the epicenter of the volcano. Most were very small but some could be detected in the nearby towns.[1]
These tremors were thought to be maybe a precurser of an eruption, that now is coming to fruition.
HaHa. Those hidden folk are dastardly. Our tour guide told us that every year you get a letter from Brussels complaining about all the air pollution from the New Years eve bonfires that are lit so that the hiddens can find their way in case they want to move.
He said that everyone ignores the letter as they fear the hiddens more than they do the EU.
Actually, LJ,
you are likely to be quite right.
They are worse than the camel with it’s nose in the tent. They tend to want the whole tent and then to kick out all hint of the tent’s former occupants.
The EU is also super evil and hideous . . . which would be closer to the AC? I think the EU.
Actually this could also be a rather tourist beneficial eruption, some of our eruptions have been a great spectator attraction and quite safe to travel near to. Some of those have been rather regular. So this could be bad, but could also be a great reason to come and see the nature at work.
Global warming enthusiast might also come to witness a truly massive amounts of CO2 going into the athmosphere, the numbers probably would cause all of their dreams...i.e. mean worst nightmares to come true, at least according to their models and the underlying numbers.
We could even give them a free package of kleenex tissue to weep into and some devices for self-flaggelation, given that they promise to do it somewhere where kids won´t see, as part of the fare.
But this actually will not be dangerous for anyone wanting to visit us, although some areas will be off limits for a while. These areas are sparsely populated anyway and we have a great response and surveilance system in place.
INTERESTING.
Shouldn’t it be light there before too many hours?
Will Google earth have any updated shots?
Haven’t found anything of significance on USGS yet.
Have you?
thx.
If it popped to the south, you would really have to worry about collapse issues, in the center more about lahars or whatever they call them in Iceland...lol
So right now a best case scenario as far as the volcano goes. Not saying there won't be major issues but it seems like it was the best place to explode(set a side a river on that side).
I still am paying very close attention to the SISZ though that thing is primed and there is very good evidence to suggest that it caused Eyjaf to erupt.
Hmmm . . . do you have a good map showing both of them clearly?
So sorry for all the troubles in Iceland. I have always wanted to visit, maybe one day. Take care!
Leifur, beautiful picture if you look at it from my location. Be safe!
Just a heads up, this will indeed cause frequent static lighting so if you are anywhere around the ash cloud keep that in mind!
Beautiful country.
Both of which?
So you guys are experts in geology? You have been following this from before?
I just found the first international news article about this:
“Hundreds evacuated after volcano erupts
From correspondents in Reykjavik, Iceland From: AFP March 21, 2010 2:06PM
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A VOLCANO in the area of the Eyjafallajoekull glacier in southern Iceland erupted today, forcing more 500 people in its vicinity to evacuate their homes, authorities said.
“We estimate that no one is in danger in the area but we have started an evacuation plan and between 500 and 600 people are being evacuated” Sigurgeir Gudmundsson of the Icelandic civil protections department said.
Public broadcaster RUV reported that the eruption had started shortly after midnight and that the area’s main road had been closed.
A volcano in the area of the Eyjafjallajokull glacier last erupted in 1821 and 1823.”
It is from a webpage in Australia it seems, a paper called the Herald Sun. Probably it is in the international wires already but they being the only ones awake, they are the first to post it, well bar from us. Freerepublic was the first in international language media ;)
SISZ
is.
I thought maybe it was another volcano.
Sorry.
Your:
I still am paying very close attention to the SISZ though that thing is primed and there is very good evidence to suggest that it caused [AND] Eyjaf to erupt.
Far from an expert.
I have to stretch to be an ignorant layman.
LOL.
SISZ, is Southern Iceland Seismic Zone, a major fault line caused by the North American Plate and the Eurasian Plate.
Ahhh.
THx.
Silly me.
BTW
all,
I just got what seemed like a notice from Windows that I had umpteen trojans that needed removed from my system.
I have very good antivirus antispyware . . .
Went ahead and ran the window suggesting to remove the buggers. Thought better of it within half a minute after and canceled all that with great effort—very persistent stuff.
Now doing a deep scan on my system.
All that because the only places I’ve been tonight have been the Iceland related websites and USGS.
You all might scan your systems.
Just more global warming.
Earth’s fault!
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