Eyjafjallajökull Eruption Closes Down Main UK Airports

Ash cloud grounds at least 1,000 flights

Large Plume of Volcanic Ash Forces Closure of Heathrow and Gatwick Airports, Britain’s busiest

Volcanic ash cloud is now drifting further south, threatening more chaos in the UK and European flights paths.

A no-fly zone has been imposed for at least a six-hour period between 01:00 BST and 07:00 BST (24:00 to 6:00UTC) by the UK Civil Aviation Authority shutting down Heathrow, Gatwick and London City airports.

There are currently no flights in parts of Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Volcanic Ash Advisory from London – Issued graphics

Photos, charts, maps and all other images issued by the European governments may be subject to copyright. See FEWW Fair USE Notice. Click image to enlarge.

Eruption Update – 16 May 2010 19:15UTC

The eruption plume is reaching a maximum height of  about 9 km (30,000 ft), about 15 percent higher than yesterday.  The ash cloud is currently drifting in a southeast to east-southeasterly direction, Icelandic Met Office (IMO) said.

Ash fall was detected southeast of Eyjafjallajökull.

For other details of eruption see status report.

A view of Eyjafjallajökull Eruption from Thórólfsfelli Webcam

Earthquakes

At least 3 earthquakes measuring 5.1 to 5.4Mw have occurred in the Norwegian Sea about 590km to the northeast of Jan Mayen volcano which sits on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, the divergent tectonic plate boundary located along the floor of the Atlantic Ocean , which also runs through Iceland.

The section of the ridge that includes  Iceland is called Reykjanes Ridge.

Fire-Earth is currently working on an update for its earlier statistical forecast of volcanic eruptions in and around Iceland.

Original Caption:  Map showing the Mid-Atlantic Ridge splitting Iceland and separating the North American and Eurasian Plates. The map also shows Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland, the Thingvellir area, and the locations of some of Iceland’s active volcanoes (red triangles), including Krafla. Source: USGS.

Original Caption: Aerial view of the area around Thingvellir, Iceland, showing a fissure zone (in shadow) that is an on-land exposure of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Right of the fissure, the North American Plate is pulling westward away from the Eurasian Plate (left of fissure). This photograph encompasses the historical tourist area of Thingvellir, the site of Iceland’s first parliament, called the Althing, founded around the year A.D. 930. Large building (upper center) is a hotel for visitors. (Photograph by Oddur Sigurdsson, National Energy Authority, Iceland. Source: USGS.

Related Links:

• Eyjafjallajökull Eruption Gradually Intensifying
• Eyjafjallajökull Eruption – MISR Satellite Image
• Eyjafjallajökull Volcano: Unending Eruption
• 2010 Year of Super Volcanoes?
• Eyjafjallajökull Eruption Links Page [This page contains a comprehensive index of links to resources on Eyjafjallajökull including additional satellite images.]
• Eyjafjallajökull Eruption rendering by Sean Stiegemeier

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Iceland’s Bárdarbunga May Be Erupting

Fire Earth Moderators Believe Iceland’s Bárdarbunga May Be Erupting or is about to Erupt.

If our long-distance assessment is correct, the next eruption at Bárdarbunga/ Grímsvötn or any of the other 6 volcanoes listed below could spell a major disaster for Iceland.

Iceland seismic record for the past 48 hours shows 7  separate cluster of quakes in the vicinity of the following volcanoes (See image below)

1. Kolbeinsey ridge (Last erupted: 1999)
   
2. Krafla (1984)/ Theistareykjarbunga (< 1000 BC)/ Tjörnes fracture zone (1868)
3. Askja (1961)
4. Bárðarbunga (1903) and neighboring Grímsvötn (2004)
5. Grímsnes (> 3500 BC)
6. Reykjanes (1879)
7. Eyjafjallajökull (Currently ongoing)

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.

Source: Iceland Met Office. © Veðurstofa Íslands

Original Caption:  Map showing the Mid-Atlantic Ridge splitting Iceland and separating the North American and Eurasian Plates. The map also shows Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland, the Thingvellir area, and the locations of some of Iceland’s active volcanoes (red triangles), including Krafla.

The consequences of plate movement are easy to see around Krafla Volcano, in the northeastern part of Iceland. Here, existing ground cracks have widened and new ones appear every few months. From 1975 to 1984, numerous episodes of rifting (surface cracking) took place along the Krafla fissure zone. Some of these rifting events were accompanied by volcanic activity; the ground would gradually rise 1-2 m before abruptly dropping, signaling an impending eruption. Between 1975 and 1984, the displacements caused by rifting totaled about 7 m.  Source: USGS.

Original Caption: Aerial view of the area around Thingvellir, Iceland, showing a fissure zone (in shadow) that is an on-land exposure of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Right of the fissure, the North American Plate is pulling westward away from the Eurasian Plate (left of fissure). This photograph encompasses the historical tourist area of Thingvellir, the site of Iceland’s first parliament, called the Althing, founded around the year A.D. 930. Large building (upper center) is a hotel for visitors. (Photograph by Oddur Sigurdsson, National Energy Authority, Iceland. Source: USGS.

Continued …

Related Links – Fire-Earth entries on Eyjafjallajökull and other useful  sources:

• Eyjafjallajökull Eruption Links Page
  

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