The seismic activity in Bárðarbunga subglacial volcano has transferred mostly to a single line heading northeast. If a volcanic eruption were to occur in that area it would likely cause a fissure eruption underneath the glacier.
A fissure eruption, as reported by visir.is, would cause melted ice to flow from the glacier and cause a flood in the river Jökulsá á Fjöllum. A flood-damage prevention group with the Icelandic MetOffice suspects that the size of the glacial flood would be around 5,000 – 20,000 cubed meters per second. Based on that estimation, it would take the flood 7-hours to travel down to the river Jökulsá á Fjöllum, past Grímsstaðir, but approximately 9-hours down the 160 km (99.4 mi) to Ásbyrgi canyon.
The seismic activity in Bárðarbunga subglacial volcano has transferred mostly to a single line heading northeast. If a volcanic eruption were to occur in that area it would likely cause a fissure eruption underneath the glacier.
A fissure eruption, as reported by visir.is, would cause melted ice to flow from the glacier and cause a flood in the river Jökulsá á Fjöllum. A flood-damage prevention group with the Icelandic MetOffice suspects that the size of the glacial flood would be around 5,000 – 20,000 cubed meters per second. Based on that estimation, it would take the flood 7-hours to travel down to the river Jökulsá á Fjöllum, past Grímsstaðir, but approximately 9-hours down the 160 km (99.4 mi) to Ásbyrgi canyon.
