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Iceland geology in real time


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Reykjavik has five huge cylindrical towers, several storeys high, that are a reservoir of 90C geothermally heated hot water. There's a coffee bar on top and the views form the 'Perlan' are all over the city and beyond. The plume of gas from the eruption, and smoke from burning moss and peat, is clearly seen, about 25km away.

 

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Peter,

This a  bit of a thread diversion, but stay with me, please.    I've seen videos of eruptions where violent lightning occurs in the smoke plume.   

From the war in Ukraine, many videos appear, sometimes of large explosions, as munitions are hit by opposing forces.   This particular one appears to have lightning  in the smoke plume, like an eruption!    The geological phenomenon is attributed to volcanic ash particles hitting each other as they emerge, like rain drops in a thundercloud, causing charge separation.    That obviously will occur in an explosion too, but I've never seen  lightning in a military explosion before.

The different colours make me suspect that it is an artefact!

See: 

 

Edited by john.r.davies
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14 minutes ago, john.r.davies said:

Peter,

This a  bit of a thread diversion, but stay with me, please.    I've seen videos of eruptions where violent lightning occurs in the smoke plume.   

From the war in Ukraine, many videos appear, sometimes of large explosions, as munitions are hit by opposing forces.   This particular one appears to have lightning  in the smoke plume, like an eruption!    The geological phenomenon is attributed to volcanic ash particles hitting each other as they emerge, like rain drops in a thundercloud, causing charge separation.    That obviously will occur in an explosion too, but I've never seen  lightning in a military explosion before.

The different colours make me suspect that it is an artefact!

See: 

 

John,   Tks for that, its new to me. I agree, the colours and double 'tramlines' dont to me look like normal lightning. That said, the possibilty of lightning in a hot, dusty, billowing plume of a larger military explosion seems very likely.  if you find more examples you could post on Volcano Cafe.  Peter

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Thank you for the suggestion to go to the Volcano Cafe, Peter!   I've been there. registered and logged on, but I can't find anything like a bulletin board to post my question on.    I read that to contribute, I must be registered with WordPress, which I am, but I can't see where I might use WP to post anything.  Please advise?

JOhn

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4 hours ago, john.r.davies said:

Thank you for the suggestion to go to the Volcano Cafe, Peter!   I've been there. registered and logged on, but I can't find anything like a bulletin board to post my question on.    I read that to contribute, I must be registered with WordPress, which I am, but I can't see where I might use WP to post anything.  Please advise?

JOhn

Hi John, On the home page click 'continue reading' alngside the photo. Then clcik on the top 'recent comment' on the right. That takes you to the comments in order of posting.  You just have to break into the train, as others do, in the 'leave a reply' box ( scroll down to it).

About ten years ago there was a Swedish militray explosives expert regularly contributing. You might get a detailed reply!

Peter

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  • 2 months later...

The uplift is continuing and is centred close to the Blue Lagoon. The ground has risen 50mm mostly since 27th.  The lagoon is fed by waste water from the geothermal power station.

https://en.vedur.is/about-imo/news/a-seismic-swarm-started-north-of-grindavik-last-night

Peter

 

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Many more eqs in last 24 hrs. The centre of the uplifted zone is about 1 km from the famous Blue Lagoon and its Svartsengi Power Station.

expand the map and you can see the geothermal bore hole locations and the water/steam pipes radiating form the buildings.

https://en.vedur.is/about-imo/news/a-seismic-swarm-started-north-of-grindavik-last-night

the absence of tremor suggests no rapid magma movements.

P

 

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Aviation code raised to orange. The main airport at Kevlavik is on the peninsula due north of the activity.

https://www.volcanocafe.org/thorbjorn-on-the-brink/comment-page-3/#comment-137600

https://en.vedur.is/about-imo/news/a-seismic-swarm-started-north-of-grindavik-last-night

that 4.1 earthquake was north east of the Svarsengi power station.

Blue Lagoon closed to visitors.

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Grindavik evacuated as magma probably inserting under the town.

https://icelandmonitor.mbl.is/news/news/2023/11/11/grindavik_evacuated_due_to_possible_magma_intrusion/

 

They are likening the threat to the fissure eruption on the island of Heimaey 50 years ago. Older TRers may recall watching that every evening on BBC2 in colour !

Peter

 

Edited by Peter Cobbold
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20 hours ago, john.r.davies said:

Glad you're here to comment on this, Peter!   I heard a geologist on the radio saying that Iceland has major eruptions about once a thousand years.   Are they due for another one?

I.m no expert John, but I think that geologist was referring to really BIG eruptions. 1000 years ago was the Eldja Fires which blasted out a 25km long valley 100 m  deep and almost 1 km wide. Laki 1783 was not as large but generated a 'year without summer' across Europe. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_volcanic_eruptions_in_Iceland.

By these criteria Ejaf was small.  The current eruptions on the Rekyanes peninsula are smaller still. But the proximity to habitations and infrastructure is a huge concern. Heimaey 1973 presented a similar risk when a fissure eruption took a third of the town and nearly blocked the island's harbour.

If ( when more likely) a 1000-year eruptiion occurs there will likely be months of warning signs as Icelnad is covered with instruments. But a year without a summer will be challenging.

Peter

 

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Loss of Grindavik town would be a disaster for its folk. The total populaiton of Iceland is only ca 350,000 so resources to help the town are not easily found. Let's hope they get lucky.  John's video points out the risk to Reykjavik where over half the nation lives.  Living on the region where the north side of the peninsula is on the american tectonic plateand the south side on the eurasion plate, is not a recipe for security. The plates are moving apart at ca 2 cm per year on average.

Looking on the bright side, if the magma does not erupt the power station gets a huge new supply of geothermal heat at shallow depths !!

Peter

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I went to your link above, Peter, missing where it said "Live"!  So it's  a black screen

But although it's 2230GMT and in the middle of November, this is Iceland, and one camera just caught the setting sun!

image.thumb.png.da55e80abe19255272036bf848a6b9a5.png

Edited by john.r.davies
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  • 3 weeks later...
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Tks John, Rob. 

I look for webcams and drone videos on the  Ongoing Events section on Volcanocafe:

https://www.volcanocafe.org/ongoing-events/

Most recent article from last night is here:

https://www.volcanocafe.org/late-night-icelandic-fireworks/

Peter

 

 

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