Two magnitude 3.3 earthquakes struck at Bárðarbunga volcano last night. The first hit the huge sub-glacial caldera around 3 and the second at around 5 this morning.
According to scientist at the Iceland Met Office (IMO) the quakes are not a sign of an impending eruption. Below the ground there are enormous forces at work as magma is flowing back into the magma chamber of the volcano
Scientists are closely monitoring Bárðarbunga. The large eruption in Holuhraun lava field, that lasted for 181 days (31st August 2014 to 27th February 2015) was directly connected to subsidence in the center of the caldera, located in Vatnajökull, Europe’s largest ice cap outside the arctic area.
According to IMO noticeable seismic activity has been recorded in the caldera in the last few weeks.
Bárðarbunga is at the center of a 200 km (124 mi) long volcanic system, one of the largest on the planet. The 10 km (6,2 mi) wide caldera is located underneath a 600 to 850-meter (1,968 to 2,788 ft.) thick ice cap in Vatnajökull glacier.
The eruption was in an ice free zone about 41 km (25.5 mi) north of the caldera, and it left a new lava covering 85 square km (32.8 sq. mi). For scale, imagine an area roughly 1.5 times larger than Manhattan island covered with new 7 to 30 meters (21–90 feet) thick lava.
Two magnitude 3.3 earthquakes struck at Bárðarbunga volcano last night. The first hit the huge sub-glacial caldera around 3 and the second at around 5 this morning.
According to scientist at the Iceland Met Office (IMO) the quakes are not a sign of an impending eruption. Below the ground there are enormous forces at work as magma is flowing back into the magma chamber of the volcano
Scientists are closely monitoring Bárðarbunga. The large eruption in Holuhraun lava field, that lasted for 181 days (31st August 2014 to 27th February 2015) was directly connected to subsidence in the center of the caldera, located in Vatnajökull, Europe’s largest ice cap outside the arctic area.
According to IMO noticeable seismic activity has been recorded in the caldera in the last few weeks.
Bárðarbunga is at the center of a 200 km (124 mi) long volcanic system, one of the largest on the planet. The 10 km (6,2 mi) wide caldera is located underneath a 600 to 850-meter (1,968 to 2,788 ft.) thick ice cap in Vatnajökull glacier.
The eruption was in an ice free zone about 41 km (25.5 mi) north of the caldera, and it left a new lava covering 85 square km (32.8 sq. mi). For scale, imagine an area roughly 1.5 times larger than Manhattan island covered with new 7 to 30 meters (21–90 feet) thick lava.
