New eruption: 60 m high lava fountains

The effusive eruption in Holuhraun that started early this morning is producing 50 - 60 meter high lava fountains, according to a volcanologist at the site. The active fissure is 1500 - 1800 meter long, considerably larger than the fissure that opened Friday morning.

According to Armann Hoskuldsson, volcanologist at the University of Iceland´s Institute of Earth Sciences, who is at the site, the lava flow from the fissure is about 10-20 times more than Friday morning. The eruption is estimated to be 10 to 20 times bigger than the one Friday morning, and looks "robust" says Dr. Hoskuldsson. He says the highest lava fountains can be seen at the southern end of the fissure, but at the northern end, they are less powerful. The southern end of the fissure is about 4 kilometres north of the Dyngjujokull outlet glacier.

The Civil Protection Agency has maintained its level of preparedness at "danger", and previous road closures and area restrictions are in effect.

This effusive fissure eruption is the third one in the area since last weekend. On Aug. 23, a small subglacial eruption occurred near the Bardarbunga caldera in Vatnajokull. The eruption was shortlived, and did not break through the glacier, but did create calderas that were spotted a few days later. Early last friday, a small fissure opened in the Holuhraun lava field, north of the Dyngjujokull outlet glacer. That eruption lasted for 3 - 4 hours.

Seismic activity has been detected in the Bardarbunga region this morning, but less intense than in recent days. Today, the weather conditions are very unfavorable north of Vatnajokull, with high wind and rain forecast for today. Here is a webcam near the eruption site, but due to fog and rain, visibility is sometimes very limited.

Eldgos hófst í Holuhrauni, norðan Vatnajökuls, rétt fyrir klukkan sex í morgun. Þetta er þriðja gosið á Bárðarbungusvæðinu á rúmri viku. Gosið er hraungos, á sömu sprungu og opnaðist aðfaranótt föstudags, en gosið nú er 10-20 sinnum stærra, að sögn Ármanns Höskuldssonar eldfjallafræðings, sem skoðaði gosstöðvarnar í návígi í morgun. Hann segir að hæstu hraunstrókarnir séu allt að 50-60 metra háir, syðst á sprungunni, en mun lægri norðar. Suðurendi sprungunnar er á sama stað og aðfaranótt föstudags, um fjóra kílómetra frá sporði Dyngjujökuls.

Source: www.ruv.is
Iceland24