Another volcanic eruption outside Reykjavik (this is the THIRD time).
A state of emergency has been declared in Iceland after a volcano erupted for the fourth time since December, spewing orange lava into the air.
“Warning: An eruption began in Reykjanes,” the Icelandic Meteorological Office said on its website Saturday.
Full article, HERE.
This is truly sad for a lot of reasons, including the evacuations and damage to infrastructure, homes, and nearby towns.
But those of us who’ve been there are just hoping the Blue Lagoon survives. It’s the place we would get out to anytime we could to soak in the hot water, have a beer, and get away from work.
HERE is a link, obviously a LOT more modern than when we were there…LOL There wasn’t a hotel there, just a small ‘office’/changing rooms/little restaurant!
It was a volcanic eruptions that caused the “Little Ice Ages” in the 17th and 19th Centuries.
I hesitate to point out that the ‘historical’ novel Red Mist foretells this eruption.
Iceland is at the head of the Mid-Atlantic spreading ridge, and those shield volcanoes will erupt regularly – so long as there is an Iceland and a Mid-Atlantic spreading ridge.
Greenland, on the other side of the rock, has a MIXTURE of volcanic types from strata volcanoes to caldera (potential mega-volcanoes), but it’s more remote and more difficult to study. Ultimately the nature of the magma is dependent on the percentage of silica in the blend.
The next Ice Age is coming unless we can stop it by burning copious amounts of “fossil” fuel.
Seems to be a LOT of tectonic activity these days doesn’t it?
Wife and I live in “Zone damage two” if the New Madrid fault wakes up. That won’t be pretty. Memphis will DISAPPEAR. Our home may become unlivable.
Is there an old book that predicts all of this? 🙂
And too many disaster movies to count!
Favill- Sadly, yes.
LL- You are correct, and you actually did the science correctly, which did not surprise me at all.
GB- Probably…sigh
I was dispatching an Avro RJ (Bae 146) to BIKF yesterday, and this thing popped literally 5 minutes after we went wheels up out of YFB.
Several phone calls to Gander and Reykjavik Oceanic to ask if I should have them turn around. Turns out after the initial report, they moderated the NOTAM, and after the first SIGMET they didn’t issue another one. The ash stayed at or below FL180, so negligible impact on IFR traffic, and we were able to proceed. (The initial NOTAM called for a 120NM radius to FL500, no IFR clearances or traffic, which would probably have closed both Kef and Reykjavik.)