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

An small eruption in Holuhraun

A fissure eruption started around midnight in the Holuhraun lavafield, ca. 9 kilometers north of Dyngjujokull glacier. Lava streams out of a 100 meter long fissure, in the northern part of the lava field, about 15 kilometers south of the Askja caldera. IMO has issued a ONLY orange alert for aviation (there is no danger, it is a small eruption).

The eruption seems to have started near the northern end of the magma intrusion that has been propagating northward from the Bardarbunga caldera since August 16.

Small surface crevasses were seen in the Holuhraun lava field yesterday, leading to increased interest among scientists. The possibility of an eruption migrating southwards, towards the Dyngjujokull glacier cannot be excluded at this time.

Benedikt Ofeigsson, staff member at the Icelandic Met Office is at the scene. In an interview with RUV tonight, he described the eruption as small; lava is flowing to the southeast and some small tephra mantles are coming out of the fissure.

The IMO has issued a red alert (highest) for aviation. That means that airtraffic is restricted in a large area around the eruption. The fissure lies on a northeast - southwest direction.

A live webcam of the eruption can be found at www.mila.is. Road and area restrictions that have been enforced over the last days are still in effect in the area north of the Vatnajokull glacier.

The situation is not serious and is a small eruption. There is a tour company that is already offering a tour to go see the volcano.

Source: www.ruv.is
Jóhanna & Kolla
Iceland24, August 2014