Significant Earthquake Strikes Bardarbunga System

VOLCANIC SEISMICITY
FISSURE ERUPTION
BARDARBUNGA VOLCANO
SCENARIOS 023, 017, 09, 08, 07
.

M5.1 quake occurs at northern rim of  Bardarbunga caldera: IMO

Centered at 64.675°N, 17.415°W, about 6.6km NE of Bardarbunga, the quake occurred at a depth of 5.2 km [USGS/EHP: 64.723°N 17.390°W depth=7.5km] on Sunday at 12:01:45GMT, said Iceland Met Office (IMO).

The quake was the largest to strike Bardarbunga volcanic system since a magnitude 5.4 shock on Saturday.

Meantime, a large fissure eruption continues in Holuhraun lava field, north of Vatnajokull [Glacier of Lakes.]

“A lava eruption started in Holuhraun shortly after 04 AM, on the same volcanic fissure, which erupted earlier this week. The fissure is estimated to be 1.5 km long.”

The lava extruding from the fissure was estimated at 1 km wide, 3 km long and several meters deep, oozing down in a northeasterly direction. The flow rate was about 1,000 m³ per second, said IMO.

The Aviation Color Code for Bárðarbunga has been downgraded from “red” to “orange” [because no ash has been detected] and the alert level for Askja to “yellow,” said IMO.

Related Links

• ‘Red Warning’ Issued for Iceland Volcano August 31, 2014
• MAJOR DISASTERS/ SIGNIFICANT EVENTS, Aug. 29, 2014 August 29, 2014
• Two More Significant Quakes Hit Bardarbunga Volcano August 27, 2014
• Red Alert as Bardarbunga Volcano Erupts August 23, 2014
• Thousands of tremors recorded near Bárðarbunga volcano August 20, 2014
• Seismic activity – last 48 hours + 3D Map of the Tremors
• Bárðarbunga Webcam

‘Red Warning’ Issued for Iceland Volcano

FISSURE ERUPTION
VOLCANIC SEISMICITY
BARDARBUNGA VOLCANO
SCENARIOS 023, 017, 09, 08, 07
.

New fissure eruption near Bardarbunga prompts ‘Red Alert’

Iceland has once again raised its aviation warning to the highest level after a new fissure eruption in Holuhraun lava field near Bardarbunga volcano.

Volcanologists monitoring restive Bardarbunga observed a fissure eruption at 05:15GMT on Sunday, said IMO.

“It appears that the eruptive fissure is longer than in the last eruption. It is extending north and south on the same . The eruption is a very calm lava eruption and can hardly be seen on seismometers. Visual observation confirm it is calm, but continuous.”

Currently, only lava is erupting, but no ash has been observed, added IMO.

Sunday eruption from a new fissure in Holuhraun lava field

Image via Xinhua.

Photo: Benedikt Gunnar Ófeigsson/IMO. Image may be subject to copyright

The eruption prompted IMO to raise the aviation warning code to ‘red’ for the large area that houses the Bardarbunga volcanic system.

The new fissure is located very close to the Friday’s, with the fracture extending further to the north, said a researcher.

The latest eruption is said to be far more more intense than Friday’s, with the lava flow estimated to be more than 10 times greater.

Meantime, seismicity continues on a 15-km-long region of the dyke intrusion, said IMO, “extending both into the Dyngjujökull glacier and the region north of the ice margin. Earthquakes have not migrated northwards during the last two days.”

An estimated 500 million cubic meters of lava has flowed from beneath the volcano in a long dyke since last week.

Related Links

• MAJOR DISASTERS/ SIGNIFICANT EVENTS, Aug. 29, 2014 August 29, 2014
• Two More Significant Quakes Hit Bardarbunga Volcano August 27, 2014
• Red Alert as Bardarbunga Volcano Erupts August 23, 2014
• Thousands of tremors recorded near Bárðarbunga volcano August 20, 2014
• Seismic activity – last 48 hours + 3D Map of the Tremors
• Bárðarbunga Webcam