Eyjafjallajökull Eruption – UPDATE 22 April

Volcanic tremors continue unabated, Eyjafjallajökull ash plume stays low

The explosive activity at Eyjafjallajökull is less vigorous, with only one of two main craters in the summit caldera remaining active.

Webcam views of Eyjafjallajökull eruption recorded at 15:23UTC on April 22, 2010 – Click images to enlarge

Hvolsvelli View

Thórólfsfelli (Þórólfsfelli) View

“Eruption rate is inferred to have declined over last few days and now be an order of magnitude smaller than during the initial 72 hours of the eruption. Present eruption rate is estimated to less than 30 m3/s of magma, or 75 tonnes/s , with a large uncertainty.” The Institute of Earth Science Nordic Volcanological Center said.

The eruptive style was reported as: “Phreatomatic explosive activity” with “lava spatter” at the summit craters, with the plume height reaching 3,000 m asl.

Seismic tremor showed some fluctuations but remained mostly stable, said the Icelandic Meteorological Office. “Tremor is not decreasing and does not reflect the decline as inferred from the eruption rate.”

Freeze frame from a video of Eyjafjallajökull Eruption shot by Icelandic Coast Guard.

The Institute of Earth Science Nordic Volcanological Center said:

Tephra dispersal: local towards the south

Meltwater: minor, but what is melted flows down into Markarfljót, no signs of water accumulation in craters

GPS-measurements: indicate continuing small pressure decrease under the volcano at a similar rate.

Composition of erupted material: Samples collected April 19 show same composition as early in the explosive phase, but fluorine content is higher. Samples collected 19 April have 850 mg/kg (initially it was 25-35 mg/kg). This is due to the change in eruptive style – tephra is now not washed to the same extent by water in the eruptive plume.

Amount of erupted material: Uncertain but on the order of 100 millon cubic meters. Tephra next to craters is 20-30 m thick.

Iceland’s Civil Protection Office confirmed that the ash emissions had been considerably reduced. “The volcanic cloud is quite low and not visible on radars. The ash is not expected to reach an altitude of 20.000 feet (6 – 7 km) for the nex few days. The ashes will continue falling on the area south and south-east of the glacier today, yet the wind will turn and blow from the north-easterly today, and the ashes will start falling to the south-west tonight. The wind is expected to be mild. That, and a lessened ash emission, will cause the ashes to fall near the eruption site. There is no cause to believe that the ashes will fall on the south-western regions of Iceland.”

Relate Links:

• The Next Icelandic Volcano Likely to Erupt
• Iceland’s Bárdarbunga May Be Erupting
• Eyjafjallajökull Eruption – UPDATE 21 April
• Eyjafjallajökull Eruption Links Page

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British pilot aborts flight: “We can smell ash!”

Was volcanic ash responsible for the plane’s engine trouble?

A frightened British pilot flying a Boeing 757 to Crete to rescue stranded holidaymakers was forced to abort the flight after smelling ash on takeoff followed by engine fault.

“An audio file obtained by ‘The Sun’ reveals the conversation between the pilot and air traffic control.” Bild reported.

“We believe we’re in clear air at the moment, but we’ve definitely had the smell of the ash in the aircraft and twice one of our engine bleed airs has failed so we’re pretty sure its volcanic ash,” the Thomas Cook pilot said.

More…

The pilot reported smelling ash to air traffic control, first at 16,000 feet and then again at 20,000 feet, during the initial climb.

“In the climb, we could smell the ash. The smell stayed on for a while. Once we’d levelled at 39 [39,000 feet] we then lost one engine bleed, so we’ve taken all the required actions for volcanic ash encounter.” The pilot said.

Thomas Cook dismissed the pilot’s claim as a “minor technical fault with its air conditioning.” They said the flight was not aborted due to volcanic ash and that the plane was not in any danger.

However, according to a former pilot,  Lawrence Rayment, the problem was “uncommon,” the report said.

“It is a very uncommon fault. For it to happen as the plane flew through the ash cloud is a worry.” He said.

Related Links:

• DO NOT FLY PLANES THAT HAVE BEEN EXPOSED TO VOLCANIC ASH!

• “Thank God men cannot as yet fly and lay waste the sky as well as the earth!”
• How many are up there polluting our skies?
• Eyjafjallajökull Eruption Links Page

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Deepwater Horizon Still Burning – UPDATE

Image of the Day:

BP-Operated Oil Rig Still Ablaze 2 Days after Exploding

The explosion occurred on Deepwater Horizon, a BP-operated offshore oil-drilling platform 66km (41 miles) southeast of Venice, Louisiana, at about 10 p.m. (ET) Tuesday.

Fire boat response crews fight the massive blaze that destroyed the huge offshore oil rig Deepwater Horizon, Wednesday April 21, 2010. The platform was still burning early Thursday. Photo Credit: US Coast Guard.

Seventeen people were injured, 4 of them critically, as a result of the explosion that set the oil rig ablaze, sources said. Eleven others are missing, the worst may be presumed.

The ‘state-of-the-art’ oil platform owned by Transocean was built in South Korea in 2001. Measuring about 121 x 78 meters (41m deep), it was designed to operate in water to the depth of about 2,440 meters  ( 8,000 feet), drilling  9,144 meters deep. The rig was a semisubmersible platform which accommodated a crew of 130.

Some 858 fires and explosions have occurred in the Gulf of Mexico since 2001, resulting in 69 offshore deaths and 1,349 injuries, the federal Minerals Management Service said.

Related Links:

• Offshore Oil Rig Explodes
• Disasters Caused by Oil and gas Drilling, Oil Spills, Leaks, Land, Water and Air Pollution
• Want a Mandate to Kill Life on the Planet?
• Chevron-BP Pipeline leaks Oil into Louisiana Wildlife Refuge
• Oil Refinery Explodes in Washington State
• Obama: A Serious Self-Hater

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The Next Icelandic Volcano Likely to Erupt

A Probability Analysis of the Icelandic Volcano Most Likely to Erupt Next

The pattern of seismicity in Iceland has remained almost unchanged from two days ago, while the eruption at Eyjafjallajökull has become less explosive.

Loads of magma seem to be flowing under the land of Ice and Fire [Iceland,] but where is it all going?

In Iceland’s Bárdarbunga May Be Erupting posted on April 20,2010, Fire Earth Moderators said they believed Iceland’s Bárdarbunga May Be Erupting or is about to Erupt.

Seismic events occurring between Apr 18 – 20,2010

Source: Iceland Met Office. © Veðurstofa Íslands

Seismic events occurring between Apr 20 – 22,2010

Source: Iceland Met Office. © Veðurstofa Íslands

The moderators have now allocated the following probabilities of eruption to each of the volcanoes/volcano groups previously listed:

1. Probability of a second Icelandic volcano erupting this year: > 80 percent
2. Kolbeinsey ridge (Last erupted: 1999) or a new submarine fissure in its vicinity – probability of eruption: 80 percent
   
3. Krafla (1984)/ Theistareykjarbunga (< 1000 BC)/ Tjörnes fracture zone (1868) – probability of eruption: 52percent
4. Askja (1961) – probability of eruption: 66 percent
5. Bárðarbunga (1903) and neighboring Grímsvötn (2004) – probability of eruption: 84 percent
6. Grímsnes (> 3500 BC) – 40 percent
   
7. Reykjanes (1879) – 50 percent
   
8. Eyjafjallajökull – probability that the current round of eruption would last more than 30 days: 34 percent
   
9. Katla – probability of eruption: 64 percent
10. Other Icelandic volcanoes not mentioned on this list: probability of eruption: less than 40 percent

A Map of Iceland Volcanoes. Click image to enlarge.

Bárdarbunga, one of the most active volcanoes in Iceland, is a massive volcano with a  700-m-deep caldera which lies beneath the NW Vatnajökull icecap.  A fissure eruption at Thjorsarhraun produced about 21 km³ of lava, the largest known Holocene lava flow on the planet.

Powerful eruptions may occur among the volcanoes lying along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. The plate tectonics could also translate into increased seismicity along the divergent plate boundary and boundaries of neighboring plates.

Related Links

• Iceland’s Bárdarbunga May Be Erupting
• Eyjafjallajökull Eruption – UPDATE 21 April
• Eyjafjallajökull Eruption Links Page

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‘I fight for Merkel’

Submitted by a reader

Quotes of the Week:

“Why are we fighting in Afghanistan?”

As four more German soldiers are killed, and five others critically injured in Afghanistan last week, the German troops are asking their leader, “why are we fighting in Afghanistan?”

Some troops are now wearing a badge that reads:

‘I fight for Merkel’

At least 43 German troops have been killed and dozens more maimed/injured since they joined the foreign occupation forces in Afghanistan in 2002.

‘I fight for Merkel’ badge worn by some of the German troops in Afghanistan to protest their presence in that country.  Source:

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and her husband, posing with the War-Racketeer-in-Chief President B.O. and his spouse in Rathouse, Baden-Baden, Germany.

Germany’s National Zeitgeist: 80 percent of Germans want their troops to exit Obama’s War on Afghanistan

Some other  related quotes:

Bild Zeitung, Germany’s largest daily:

“They want the Chancellor, their ultimate boss, to finally find the clear words to put the war against the Taliban into black and white.”

My party has “growing doubts” about German presence in Afghanistan, said Ottmar Schreiner, a member of the opposition Social Democratic Party (SPD). “If things haven’t improved in Afghanistan by next year then I don’t see where a majority for a new extension of the mandate is going to come from.”

The Financial Times Deutschland:

“With every dead German soldier in Afghanistan, the calls for an immediate withdrawal grow louder. This reflex shows that the German public is still not clear about the character of the mission.

“The politicians are largely to blame. Since the beginning of the mission eight years ago they suppressed a realistic description of the situation… Deaths, injuries, battles and heavy weaponry — none of these suit the picture that was painted back then.”

Germany’s Berliner Zeitung:

“Why are German soldiers in Afghanistan at all? As the chancellor and her government are still sticking to the military mission there it is their duty to explain it. But she has failed to do so.

“This can be explained by her basic attitude – it is only worth talking about problems when they become virulent.

“In the case of Afghanistan this is particularly catastrophic. Because the government has failed to make its case in what is the biggest foreign policy and security policy challenge in the history of the Federal Republic of Germany.”

Germany is finally at war with its conscience. Obama’s America is yet to look up the word in a dictionary.

Related Links:

• Merkel: A “Neocon,” Or A Lucky Woman?
• How do you say you’re a “hypocrite” without calling yourself…
• Disaster Calendar 2010
• April 2010 Disaster Calendar

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Mudslide Buries Chemical Factory in China

Landslide Kills at least 8 People in Jiande City China

Initial reports of how and when the two female and six male workers were killed are conflicting. In fact the number of the victims could be higher.

The following bulletins were broadcast by the official Xinhua news agency.  The worrying aspect of their reporting is the change in the cause of deaths:

Seven killed in east China landslide

English.news.cn 2010-04-21 00:27:00
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/china/2010-04/21/c_13260201.htm

HANGZHOU, April 20 (Xinhua) — Seven people were killed in a landslide in east China’s Zhejiang Province Tuesday, local authorities said.

The landslide buried part of a factory at 2:30 p.m. in Daciyan town, Jiande city, trapping six men and two women workers, said Yan Weihua, of the publicity department of Jiande Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China.

The seven died during medical treatment.

One worker, who was pulled from the debris late Tuesday, was still receiving emergency treatment in hospital.

The workers were employed in Jinkai Chemical Fiber Co., Ltd., which was located at the foot of a hill.  Editor: yan

And a later bulletin read:

Eight confirmed dead in east China landslide

English.news.cn 2010-04-21 08:50:56
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/china/2010-04/21/c_13260635.htm

HANGZHOU, April 21 (Xinhua) — The eight people buried in a landslide in east China’s Zhejiang Province Tuesday have been confirmed dead, a doctor said Wednesday morning.

The doctor with the No.3 People’s Hospital in Jiande City told Xinhua that all of the eight people had been already dead when they were sent to hospital, with their mouths full of mud and sand.

The landslide buried part of a factory at 2:30 p.m. in Daciyan Town, Jiande City, trapping six men and two women workers, said Yan Weihua, of the publicity department of Jiande Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China.

The workers were employed by Jinkai Chemical Fiber Co., Ltd., which was located at the foot of a hill.  Editor: Lin Zhi

Related Links:

• Landslides [Index page for landslides and related links]

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