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Eruption Of Iceland's Bardarbunga Raises Travel Alert to Red
The eruption of the Bardarbunga volcano in central Iceland, which appeared a strong possibility after a series of earthquakes, is currently underway, beneath the ice of the Dyngjujokull glacier. The BBC reports that Iceland has raised its air travel alert to red, its higest level, but that for now all of Iceland's airports remain open. CNN notes that "the underground activity did not immediately result in changes to volcanic activity on the surface ... Because of a pressure from the glacier cap it is uncertain whether the eruption will stay sub-glacial or not, Iceland 2 TV said."
They really should not name things by letting a cat walk on a keyboard.
"Bardabunga" sounds like it was named by Bart Simpson.
I once flew in a helicopter over Mauna Loa. It looked nothing like the Iceland volcanoes in the news. There was very little smoke, an no ash. Just red hot lava flowing down the mountain. So when I got back home I did some research. It turns out there are different types of volcanoes. Mauna Loa is a shield volcano, while Iceland has stratovolcanoes. Shield volcanoes erupt continuously over long periods, produce relatively little ash, and have heavy low viscosity lava that flows quickly and spreads out. Stratovolcanoes erupt in explosive bursts, producing lots of smoke and ash, and have lighter, high viscosity lava, containing high levels of silicates, which tends to ooze like honey rather than flowing like water.
Btw, the helicopter ride over Mauna Loa cost about $200/person and was definitely worth it. It was the high point of our vacation. If you are on the Big Island, you should go.
Why is it that when a thing like this happens (supposedly), we're directed to the misguided BBC, and to cowardous CNN? Doesn't Iceland have some kind of geologic society or meteorlogic society that issues reports based on adequate, current, hot-off-the-volcano scientific data?
The icelandic met office has a site that tracks seismic activity (read: earthquakes), they have an english website: http://en.vedur.is/#tab=skjalf...
The University of Iceland's institute of earth sciences has a news page in english: http://earthice.hi.is/bardarbu...
They have also set up a number of webcams:
http://www.livefromiceland.is/... (Vaðalda, north of Vatnajökull, towards Bárðabunga)
http://vedur2.mogt.is/grimsfja... (Grímsfjall)
http://vedur2.mogt.is/kverkfjo... (Kverkfjöll)
Not very spectacular sites but the content is a bit better than most of the bullshit you are likely to get from the corporate media.