Iceland Volcano Bardarbunga: 1,000 Earthquakes Detected Near Volcano, Adding To Fears Of A Potential

By Maria Gallucci@mariagallucci[email protected]
on August 20 2014 10:45 AM

An intense earthquake swarm continues to rattle Iceland’s Bardarbunga volcano, adding to fears that a potential eruption could disrupt the region’s air traffic. Weather officials say they detected about 1,000 small quakes through Tuesday night, which were triggered by an unusually strong earthquake on Monday. The tremors are tied to the increasing movement of magma underground.

“Similar to recent days, two pulses of comparably strong seismic activity have been measured between 04:00 (GMT) and 08:00 this morning, as well as 16:00 and 18:30 in the afternoon,” the Icelandic Met Office wrote on Tuesday night, according to a post published this morning.

Met officials this week issued an “orange” aviation warning – the fourth-highest on a five-grade scale – following a magnitude-4.0 earthquake on Monday, the strongest in the region since 1996. The warning indicates “heightened or escalating unrest with increased potential of eruption.” The Bardarbunga last erupted in 1910, though according to the Met Office, seismic activity has been gradually increasing around the volcano over the past seven years.
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www.ibtimes.com...

Although this news is very troubling I am afraid this is not the worse that can happen, and that's what I wanted to mention.

Some of you might have seen me mention in other threads how the Sun, and magnetism, among other factors can cause earthquakes. Some of the research that corroborates this premise include.

Strong earthquakes and geomagnetic jerks: a cause-effect relationship?

ABSTRACT Secular variation of the geomagnetic field observed at the Earth's surface has been found to undergo impulsive accelerations Gerks) lasting less than a few years. In this paper the relations between jerks and the occurrence of strong earthquakes (Ms ≥ 7.0) is analysed for this century , disclosing a positive correlation between the maximum number of recorded strong earthquakes and jerk occurrence. Analysing only very strong earth- quakes (Ms ≥ ; 8.0) the jerks seem to take pIace with a time delay of about 2-5 years with respect to earthquake occurrence. Reliable processes that could justify this intriguing correspondence are suggested.
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www.researchgate.net...

Also of interest includes the following website, although it deals with magnetism and the San Francisco Bay Area.

geomaps.wr.usgs.gov...

Anyways, of interest I would like to point out that we know the Earth's magnetic field is now weakening 10x faster than it was before 6-7 months ago.

Earth's Magnetic Field Is Weakening 10 Times Faster Now

by Kelly Dickerson | July 08, 2014 11:29am ET

www.livescience.com...

Earth's magnetic field, which protects the planet from huge blasts of deadly solar radiation, has been weakening over the past six months, according to data collected by a European Space Agency (ESA) satellite array called Swarm.

The biggest weak spots in the magnetic field — which extends 370,000 miles (600,000 kilometers) above the planet's surface — have sprung up over the Western Hemisphere, while the field has strengthened over areas like the southern Indian Ocean, according to the magnetometers onboard the Swarm satellites — three separate satellites floating in tandem.
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www.livescience.com...

If we look at the global map that shows where Earth's magnetic field is weakening, and where it has strengthened we could see the areas where very strong earthquakes could occur.



Red areas in the map above shows where Earth's magnetic field has gotten stronger. What this means is that in those areas there is an accumulation of energy, which when released could cause large earthquakes.

Part of the areas where Earth's magnetic field has been getting stronger include part of Asia, Japan, and the strongest is around Madagascar.

So it is possible that in these areas a large earthquake/s could occur after all that energy is released.

I would also like to add that those areas where the Earth's magnetic field is weaker could be areas where stronger storms and other extreme weather phenomenon could form, until the Earth's magnetic field strengthens again in those areas; and that's if it does strengthens.

Here is a video showing where the Earth's magnetic field has been weakening since January-June 2014, and then showing the data as of June 2014 from Swarm.



Video provided by courtesy of ESA.

a reply to: ElectricUniverse

not sure I can follow you (but it might be my brain tumor that interferes), but Iceland, that your headline is about, is nowhere near any of the red areas. Iceland is on the border between 2 continental plates. One some places the ground on your left side is part of the American continental plate, and on your right side is part of the European continental plate (well, depends on the way you stand, it might just be the other way around), and they are moving apart by a couple of centimeters a year. So, what happens on Iceland is unique, nothing to do with the changing magnetic fields.

As far as the changing magnetic fields are concerned, not too sure that map is too accurate either. I can remember a book and lots of academic articles (pity I don't have it available right now, and my memory is not good at this stage), but in South Africa (that is not marked red on the map you provided), there are a couple of places where the magnetic field has weakened a lot, and if I remember correctly, even in some places the local magnetic field has reversed. (I was very deep into it a couple of years ago, but unfortunately my condition has taken a huge toll on my mental capacity, but I am sure if you google it, you will find a lot more information)

a reply to: Hellhound604

I know it isn't, which is why I clarified that part in the thread. While looking at the news about the earthquakes in Iceland I remembered about the weakening spots and also decided to post info on those.

Very good thread.
The IPCC doesn't factor in the Sun in its climate prognosis.
They consider it a non issue because it's not supposed to vary.
Let's remind them this winter when all signs point to the Sun as the reason
new ice age is here.
I believe EQ and the Sun are certainly related.

Anyone who wants to keep an eye on the volcano(s) via livestream, here's one!

There has been a running commentary on threads on Watt's Up with That and Volcano Café on this one. One of the posters on Watt's has been watching this one very closely and feels the magma may be showing signs of moving vertically.

Today has certainly has seen a qualitative change in the quakes. The quake pattern within the fissure complex NW is of relatively smaller quakes, and the largest of them are at the bottom of the 15 km high stack. This suggests that either there’s more material trying to flow into the fissure there, or else the area has become more constricted. The CGPS shows instead it has continued to open wider, then it must mean more material is trying to rise into the fissure complex more quickly as it opens more. Magma is apparently trying to rush into it from below.

The quakes in Bardarbunga are more focused in the caldera and much larger than any to date. This continues the rise in numbers and mag trend established yesterday. The quakes are all stacked central to the caldera within 10 km of the surface, with mag ~3 top and bottom, and the big mag 4.7 right in the center around 5 km depth. The magma has begun to lift and stress Bardarbunga’s collapsed roof-plug structures.

As a result I don’t think it’s now reasonable to say there’s no evidence of magma rising towards the surface. If magma were not accruing and rising higher the bigger quakes would not be there. So the magma chamber is pressurizing and no longer able to relieve its pressure via flowing out into the fissure complex, as the magma in it has risen and is now pushing back.

Which means the pressure will soon be rising everywhere within the two main intrusions, or else it will try to extend the opening and infilling of the fissure complex to the SW. But Bardarbunga may have to develop a ‘head’ of higher magma pressure before that takes place – it may not open.

I can’t see the caldera filling much without extending and squeezing all the fissures full of magma that it can, and it may now have done that. At which point lifting the roof of the caldera is the only outlet left to ease the influx of magma pressure.

Opinion: from what is observed so far I think magma will continue to rise even if a large eruption commences, because the quantity of magma on the rise as delineated by the numerous rapid-fire quakes down to ~25 km, suggests a very large volume of melt is moving, and much of it is well below 10 km depth still. If a large eruption occurs the pressure drop will result in a renewed rising magma surge.

This is commenter Unmentionable's observations from just before 1:00 pm CST today. Actually there are several posters on the two threads there that are doing some really good work providing detailed observations and analysis of the data as it comes out.

Between here, there and a couple other places, I feel like I'm getting a pretty good picture of what I might expect from this.

a reply to: Kuroodo

Hi! I was wondering if you know of a streaming video cam? I record Sakurajima a lot because it's live video. I hate the static cams
Sakurajima has a live video feed......I caught a small eruption there today. I need to find a non static cam so I can record.

a reply to: StealthyKat

Everytime I see the name Bardabunga....I think of "Cowabunga dude"!

originally posted by: ketsuko
There has been a running commentary on threads on Watt's Up with That and Volcano Café on this one. One of the posters on Watt's has been watching this one very closely and feels the magma may be showing signs of moving vertically.

...

Yes, the rapid acceleration in the weakening of Earth's magnetic field points to large magma plumes moving upwards in the north and south American upper mantle. I mentioned this on another thread recently. Here is what I wrote there.

originally posted by: ElectricUniverse
...
The most profound change is happening to the speed in which the magnetic north has been moving towards Siberia. In the last years, since mid 1990s, the speed of the movement of magnetic north has increased to 50-60 km, meanwhile it used to be moving for the last 100 years at an average rate of 10-20 km, and now in the past 6 months it has been weakening faster. So something is causing these changes to accelerate.( magnetic south is not moving as fast)

For more information, including a video produced by ESA explaining what has been happening to the Earth's magnetic field go to the link below.

thegalaxytoday.com...

The theory of what is probably causing this is the rapid movement of plumes (large volumes of molten lava) from the core of the Earth to the upper mantle. The specific plume that could be causing this rapid acceleration of magnetic north is the sudden movement of a plume into the Greenland mantle. Meanwhile there should be two plumes moving into the mantles of north America and the other in south America that would explain the weakening effect of the Earth's magnetic field on the western hemisphere.
However we know of no core mechanisms that could be causing this rapid acceleration and weakening of Earth's magnetic field. What we do know is that there are similar geomagnetic jerks that have occurred and have left signs of these events in the geological record of Earth and have been 10,000 times too fast and 100,000 times to large in magnitude to be caused by any core mechanism.
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www.abovetopsecret.com...


The Greenland plume would be the one affecting the Icelandic volcano, and the increase in earthquakes in that area.

Lots of activity now - steam seen on web cam Data and web cam

Think she is going now !!!!

Some web cams.

Watch this cam shaking Cam A

Cam B

Steam in the vally Cam C

Not all the cams are Bardarbunga though.

a reply to: egoli

Thank you for that link. You can actually see in a 3d model the areas where the earthquakes are located.

Most of the earthquakes are clustered in two main areas.

originally posted by: egoli
Some web cams.

Watch this cam shaking Cam A

Cam B

Steam in the vally Cam C

Not all the cams are Bardarbunga though.

Wow, the steam is proof that these earthquakes are indeed being caused by magma movement as I feared.

a reply to: Hellhound604

Pretty terrifying about the magnetic field. I've been surprised another big one hasn't happened yet. With recent events in mind, something huge has to be imminent. Crazy times we live in folks.



@hellhound, A diet of fresh pressed vegetable/fruit juices, and all raw, whole, sprouted, organic foods. Something like this may make you feel better?

I would suggest researching Max Gerson.

Sorry if this is old news to you.

eruption in 2010 wasn't that bad, except for airlines of course

looking at the earthquakes history makes me think, this is going bad
www.emsc-csem.org...|ICELAND+REGION&min_intens=0&max_intens=8&view =1

Earthquakes 2010:
2013-05-10 14:41:49.0 63.90 N 22.39 W 10 4.0 ICELAND REGION
2013-05-10 14:34:23.4 63.66 N 23.26 W 13 3.7 ICELAND REGION
2013-05-10 13:55:21.5 63.71 N 23.32 W 12 3.3 ICELAND REGION
2013-05-10 03:20:46.5 63.70 N 23.22 W 14 3.4 ICELAND REGION
2013-05-10 01:34:28.0 64.03 N 22.35 W 2 3.7 ICELAND
2013-05-10 01:06:04.0 63.80 N 23.20 W 2 4.2 ICELAND REGION

I'm wondering if those list is complete, just 6 in year 2010 ?

if we look at 2014
2014-08-24 20:39:14.0 64.66 N 17.35 W 5 5.3 ICELAND
2014-08-24 15:00:13.0 64.53 N 17.56 W 10 4.6 ICELAND
2014-08-24 05:33:44.2 64.56 N 17.52 W 5 4.9 ICELAND
2014-08-24 00:09:53.5 64.69 N 17.59 W 2 5.2 ICELAND
2014-08-23 18:33:06.5 64.80 N 17.45 W 2 4.4 ICELAND
2014-08-23 14:04:24.5 64.78 N 17.67 W 10 4.2 ICELAND
2014-08-22 15:41:09.2 64.53 N 17.76 W 10 4.0 ICELAND
2014-08-21 23:50:22.5 64.58 N 17.65 W 5 4.7 ICELAND
2014-08-21 23:50:22.0 64.58 N 17.68 W 2 4.7 ICELAND
2014-08-20 23:38:04.9 64.57 N 17.82 W 2 4.0 ICELAND
2014-05-16 14:41:16.7 64.70 N 17.33 W 1 3.6 ICELAND
2014-05-09 19:10:15.3 63.70 N 23.38 W 12 3.4 ICELAND REGION
2014-05-09 10:17:39.5 63.68 N 23.37 W 13 3.4 ICELAND REGION
2014-05-08 23:14:01.4 63.99 N 20.48 W 6 4.0 ICELAND
2014-05-04 01:24:14.0 65.10 N 16.37 W 3 3.8 ICELAND
2014-04-04 00:46:35.9 63.38 N 24.27 W 1 3.3 ICELAND REGION
2014-04-04 00:27:34.5 63.54 N 23.86 W 5 3.4 ICELAND REGION
2014-02-26 08:11:53.2 66.27 N 18.45 W 12 3.3 ICELAND REGION

now this looks like the eruption will be much more violent than that in 2010
a lot above 4.0 earthquakes and they most very shallow

something BIG is coming, I hope I'm wrong.. !

a reply to: KrzYma

What I am fearing the most is the possibility of more earthquakes in the Japan area with all that energy accumulated over that area. If another earthquake occurs there Fukushima will meltdown completely and I am fearing that will happen within 2-5 years if not sooner. The government of Japan should cement entirely the Fukushima nuclear station, but they care more about money than about safety.

a reply to: KrzYma

Earthquakes 2010:
2013-05-10 14:41:49.0 63.90 N 22.39 W 10 4.0 ICELAND REGION
2013-05-10 14:34:23.4 63.66 N 23.26 W 13 3.7 ICELAND REGION
2013-05-10 13:55:21.5 63.71 N 23.32 W 12 3.3 ICELAND REGION
2013-05-10 03:20:46.5 63.70 N 23.22 W 14 3.4 ICELAND REGION
2013-05-10 01:34:28.0 64.03 N 22.35 W 2 3.7 ICELAND
2013-05-10 01:06:04.0 63.80 N 23.20 W 2 4.2 ICELAND REGION

I'm wondering if those list is complete, just 6 in year 2010 ?

Is it possible that the 2010 list is only showing earthquakes that were above 2.5 magnitude...? Maybe check to see what criteria you entered to get your results ?

There could very well have been hundreds under 2.5, such as is the case we're currently seeing.



But even still, the current scenario of earthquakes makes one to sit up and take notice, to say the least.

Fingers crossed.

There is an update on the eruption of Iceland’s Bardarbunga volcano.

Below is a link with some photos of the eruption of the Icelandic volcano.

mashable.com...

Here are some other stories of recent volcanic ativity elsewhere.

...
Slamet volcano (Central Java, Indonesia): eruption increases, powerful strombolian explosions

Activity at the volcano has increased and VSI raised the alert level to "siaga", 3 on a scale of 1-4. The mild strombolian activity which had been going on for months at the volcano has become more and more intense since the beginning of September. Some explosions in the past days have been strong enough to eject incandescent material to all over the summit cone of the volcano.
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Kilauea volcano update: Lava slows, misses first homes for now
"Between September 10 and 12, the June 27th flow advanced north-northeastward at an average rate of 250 m/day (820 ft/day). By the afternoon of September 12, the flow had advanced approximately 14.9 km (9.3 miles) straight-line distance from the vent, or to within 170 m (560 ft) of the boundary between the Wao Kele o Puna Forest Reserve and the northwest corner of Kaohe Homesteads. At the average rate of advancement of 250 m/day (820 ft/day) since September 10, we project that lava could flow from its current location into the northwest part of Kaohe Homesteads within a day, and to the Pāhoa Village Road (government road) in Pāhoa within 20 days" if there are no major changes.

www.volcanodiscovery.com...

Another update on the Icelandic volcano. The area is still very seismically active, and there is the real possibility that this volcano might erupt again. According to volcanologists the eruption could be bigger than that of 2010, but let's hope it doesn't do so. There are other areas showing an increase in earthquake and volcano activity.

Here is a good website I check every day for earthquake activity.
www.iris.edu...

Seismologists predict another Icelandic volcano is about to blow

DateSeptember 15, 2014

Peter Spinks

Fairfax Science Columnist

View more articles from Peter Spinks

The red-hot fountains of molten lava, glowing like wildfire, are nothing short of spectacular. Yet they could be ominous portents of things to come.

For the second time in four nail-biting years, seismologists in the land of fire and ice, Iceland, are bracing for a monumental volcanic eruption that, once again, threatens to disrupt European air traffic.

Back in 2010, the Eyjafjallajokull volcano, which melted through 200 metres of glacier, sent more than 200 million cubic metres of fine ash billowing almost 10 kilometres into the sky. As a result, several European countries were forced to ground or re-route thousands of flights for several days.

This time the threat of an eruption – potentially even more powerful than the one in 2010 – is posed by Bardarbunga, the biggest of Iceland's 30 or so volcanic systems. Located roughly at the country's centre, the volcano's 10-kilometre caldera lies several hundred metres beneath Vatnajokull, Europe's largest glacier by volume.

Scientists are taking the latest rumblings seriously: roughly 8000 years ago, after all, the volcanic leviathan let rip with the largest eruption of the past 10,000 years.

"It is very difficult to predict exactly what will happen with an eruption," says Monash University vulcanologist Professor Ray Cas, who is president of the International Association for Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth.
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Read more: www.smh.com.au...