Bloomberg – by Omar R. Valdimarsson
Iceland’s Civil Protection Agency has registered hundreds of earthquakes since midnight yesterday at the site of one of its biggest volcanoes as the island braces itself for a possible eruption.
“There is a very strong indication of magma movement east of Bardarbunga caldera,” the Reykjavik-based agency said in a statement late yesterday. Around 800 earthquakes have been observed in the area since midnight Aug. 18, with the strongest one measuring 4.5 on the Richter scale, the agency said.
The Bardarbunga volcano is 25 kilometers (15.5 miles) wide and rises about 1,900 meters above sea level. It last erupted in 1996 and can spew both ash and molten lava. The volcano lies beneath Vatnajokull, Europe’s largest glacier. Roads to and from the area have been closed off and Iceland’s police commissioner has met with Prime Minister Sigmundur Gunnlaugsson and other government ministers to go over the risks, the agency said.
Ash from Iceland’s Grimsvotn volcano forced flight cancellations in Scotland, northern Englandand Germany in May 2011. An eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano in April 2010 caused the cancellation of more than 100,000 flights on concern glass-like particles formed from lava might melt in aircraft engines and clog turbines.
Orange Alert
Iceland’s Met Office yesterday raised the alert level at Bardarbunga to “orange,” indicating “heightened or escalating unrest with increased potential of eruption.” The agency continues to note that there are still no visible indications of an eruption. The closest town to the volcano is Husavik in the island’s north, with about 2,200 inhabitants, according to the Icelandic Road and Coastal Administration.
“The seismic activity around Bardarbunga is still considerable,” the Met Office said today in a statement on its website. “It slowed a little around midnight but increased again around 04:00 and has now slowed again a little. The activity therefore comes in waves.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Omar R. Valdimarsson in Reykjavik atvaldimarsson@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Jonas Bergman at jbergman@bloomberg.netTasneem Hanfi Brogger
Since 2000, volcanoes and earthquakes have been erupting all over the place every year. Never heard of so many of them happening before then. God or mother nature must be seriously angry at us. That’s what happens when you play god and mess with the weather in the skies using HAARP and who knows what else.