Geologist worry about earthquake activity in Kistufell field (Bárðarbunga volcano)

This is what is posted on the situation update on Rsoe Edis

Situation Update No. 1 On 09.02.2011 at 06:24 GMT+2 Iceland’s second largest volcano looks set to blow, bringing far more chaos than last year’s eruption, ­geologists warned yesterday. Professor Pall Einarsson, of the University of Iceland, said unprecedented tremors gave good reason to worry. He added: “There is no doubt that lava there is slowly growing.” Bardarbunga’s last major eruption, in 1477, shot vast clouds of ash into the air and produced the biggest lava flow of the past 10,000 years. In comparison, the volcano which brought air traffic to a standstill last year, is tiny.

Situation Update No. 2 On 10.02.2011 at 17:46 GMT+2 Another volcano could be about to erupt on Iceland, threatening to spew out a blanket of dust that would dwarf last year’s eruption and ground hundreds more passenger flights. Geologists say there is a high risk of the island’s second-largest volcano Bárdarbunga erupting after an increase in the number of earthquakes around it. Pall Einarsson, a professor of geophysics at the University of Iceland, says the increased activity provides “good reason to worry”. The sustained tremors to the north-east of the remote volcano range are the strongest recorded in recent times and there was “no doubt’ the lava was rising. But he added that a low number of detection devices in the area make it difficult to predict exactly what will happen, and when. Last year’s eruption of volcanos near Eyjafjallajokull, in the south of the island, caused chaos around the world as hundreds of planes were grounded by dust and ash. The last recorded eruption of Bárdarbunga was in 1910, although experts believe a huge discharge in 1477 produced the largest lava flow of the past 10 000 years on Earth.

This is the newest update from Veður.is

For cause then shown no signs of imminent eruption Bárðarbunga or elsewhere in the country. IMO has not issued a warning in the wake of seismicity that was until the past weekend. Written by watch earth scientist 09th February 15:30

I came accros this article: From Icenews newspaper!!!


Iceland volcano professor hits back at eruption scare stories



Posted on10 February 2011. Tags: eruption, false alarm, Iceland, Pall Einarsson, professor, scare geology, volcano




The Icelandic geophysicist, Professor Pall Einarsson, whose words have caused something of an international volcano scare, says he is dumbfounded by how much his message has changed in translation. Pall Einarsson was interviewed by Icelandic broadcaster RUV in Icelandic about a series of earthquakes in the highlands.The interview was then translated and used by Britain’s Daily Telegraph, among others. Since then the message has morphed out of all recognition, Einarsson says.

“It is really strange how this news came into existence. I wasn’t even warning of a likely eruption at Bardarbunga [in the interview],” he told IceNews. “The things I emphasised in my interview with RUV’s Bjorn Malmqvist were that the earthquakes at Bardarbunga and Kistufell last week are not unusual, there are often movements there, and sometimes much bigger than this.

“In the long-term, we can see an increase in earthquake intensity at Bardarbunga. But it is still a lot less than between 1974 and 1996.

“And finally that Bardarbunga is an active volcano and could of course prove dangerous, which is why there is always reason to monitor it closely; which is why we do,” Einarsson explains.

Some foreign media sources have quoted Professor Pall Einarsson as saying that a massive eruption is about to begin that will make last year’s Eyjafjallajokull eruption seem tiny in comparison. The professor reiterates his confusion at such stories, telling IceNews that he did not say anything of the sort.

Volcanic eruptions are always possible in Iceland, Einarsson says. There have been at least 19 eruptions in just the last 40 years — the majority of which were small and caused very little damage.

Icelandic volcanoes are one of the reasons tourists visit the country and sometimes (as at Fimmvorduhals last year) the sheer number of visitors is more dangerous than the volcano itself. “There are few things more moving than to watch a volcano erupting from a safe distance,” Professor Einarsson enthuses.

Bardarbunga is located near the middle of the Icelandic ‘hot belt’. It was, however, not known as a particularly powerful volcano before 1971 when the first satellite images of the area were released. Eruptions connected to this particular volcanic system took place in 1477-80, shortly after 1700, 1862-4 and most recently in 1996. There are probably several historic eruptions missing from the list due to the sheer distance from the nearest human settlements, the professor adds. “Small eruptions at this remote volcano could easily have escaped people’s notice. They are no more dangerous than that.”

www.icenews.is...-21128

More on this story: www.icenews.is...-21108

reply to post by ni91ck


What you are seing here is geoligist being pressured to withdraw there statements as it might hurt out travel industry, Icenews is not a local newspaper , our newspapers are Visir
and Mbl If you search those newspapers you won´t find a story about them retracting there statement. I honestly don´t consider Icenews a reliable source , sorry.

reply to post by Spacedman13


Yes, I have to agree, this really does sound as if there is pressure on the man. In addition my source for this was Jon Friman and I would trust his judgement if he considers that there is cause for concern.

Let's be reasonable here. No one has said that it is about to erupt, just that there is cause for concern. Potentially this is a very serious volcanic system, after all it did produce the largest lava flow in the world, so i would not be belittling the present concern.

Many thanks to you spacedman for the link to the volcano video on Volcano Watch which I have copied here with the Bardarbunga one at the fore.

Volcano videos: Bardarbunga

reply to post by Spacedman13


No, what you're seeing here is a scientist hitting back at the scaremongering tabloid media.

What he said he said is what he said - after all, it was a recorded interview!

Anyway, I'd sooner believe the National Enquirer than the Daily Telegraph these days!

reply to post by Spacedman13
I agree. Its like from the movie "supervolcano"
www.youtube.com... 3:16-3:38 and 8:55-9:59
www.youtube.com... -1:33 and 2:09-3:50 Talking about pressure.. If indeed there will be a giant eruption in Iceland, people there are screwed! They NEED to know the truth!

reply to post by Essan


First Icelandic papers are not prone to get excited about volcanoes in Iceland, after all they live with them. If they reported the words of the geologist - who is one of Iceland's top geologists - they would have reported it as it was said and not added a scaremongering twist to it.

Second if an Icelander (spaceman13) tells you that they are not making retractions in the Icelandic papers, why do you consider that you know better?

Yes British papers get their knickers in a twist about these things and need to scare things up a bit to sell papers.

Of all the translations of Icelandic papers that I have seen since I got interested in Iceland I don't think I have once seen a paper with a scaremonger twist to it. Generally they report more on the lines of - It's a volcano, that's what they do.

Originally posted by PuterMan
reply to post by Essan

 

First Icelandic papers are not prone to get excited about volcanoes in Iceland, after all they live with them. If they reported the words of the geologist - who is one of Iceland's top geologists - they would have reported it as it was said and not added a scaremongering twist to it.

I agree. However it wasn't Icelandic newspapers who started the scare story, It was British ones.

Icelandic news sources seem to be reporting the facts - and the facts are that neither Páll Einarsson nor any other scientists has suggested an eruption of Bárdarbunga is likely to occur any time soon. Though according to this source reporting before the British press broke the scare story, he did say "... it is difficult to tell whether the tremors that are occurring now are a consequence of that eruption[Gjalp in 1996] or whether another eruption might be coming up. ..."

(note: I do not read Icelandic so rely on English language news sources only)

reply to post by Essan


The original source for this was RUV and my OP source said:

In the tonight news on Rúv about this area, Páll Einarsson geologist at University of Iceland says in the news on Rúv that there is a good reason to worry about this area. As it is one of the most active one in Iceland, but it is directly above the mantle plume under Iceland. Páll Einarsson also says in the news on Rúv that before the eruption in the year 1996, that took place in a volcanic ridge now named Gjálp there was a increase in earthquake activity in Kistufell field.

Perhaps spacedman will confirm but as far as I am aware RUV is Icelandic TV and the person who reported on this is an Icelander.

I do think that perhaps Páll Einarsson overstepped the mark and is being pulled back just as people complained about the Icelandic President last April, but as I said before, no one from Iceland has actually said that Bardarbunga is going to erupt.

I have to admit to heavy use of Google Translate, but I do try use use Icelandic sources.

reply to post by PuterMan


Yeah Ruv is our Icelandic tv and radio,, think it´s like your Bbc1 if im not mistaken.

Well I haven't seen the TV report, but I'm inclined to think Páll Einarsson is correct when he says his comments were mistranslated, leading to the scaremongering British media story. All the evidence seems to support this.

reply to post by Essan

According to Sigurlaug Hjaltadóttir, geophysicist chemist at the IMO has been active in this area from time to time in recent months and are monitored closely and Bárðarbunga Grímsvötn. When asked about the relationship of increased activity in this region of volcanic activity Sigurlaug says the quake are still in great depth. While they are not shallow they don´t predict eruption soon. But with increased jarðskjálftavirkni in northwest Vatnajökull have a higher risk of eruption in the next year or even within a year. It is followed closely the region.

Source

As you can see from this statement made by Sigurlaug Hjaltadóttir, that she said there is the possibility of an eruption within a year.

Páll Einarson went on Ruv and told the nation that there was every reason to be alert, which is a big deal.
Jón Frímann said in his blog that he supports the above statement.

There was a statement from Ari Trausti in one of the above links from icenews, i can state for a fact that is not a reliable source, he used to be channel 2 weatherman and he is pretty much owned by the media.

As you can see, we did report that it would erupt within a year and Páll Einarson warned the nation on national televison, but seing as the british newspapers went on a scaremongering spree as you say, they can´t just go ahead and let that stand.

There was millions spent on advertising the country last year after the last eruption, there is no way that they would just let that get ruined by a single statement from a geoligist.

So until i see Páll Einarson come back on national television and tell the nation that there is nothing to worry about.

hmm pretty sure that´s enough said

reply to post by Essan


The statements were not mistranslated, what we are saying here is the same he said in Icelandic.

He didn´t come on television and yelled into the screen we´r doomed run run, he simply stated the facts about this volcano and told everyone that there is reason to be on alert.

reply to post by Spacedman13


I don't no if Icenews is a reliable source, it's what i saw and i named it here!!! And i hope for all Icelanders that it nothing will happend. I even don't trust the Dutch newspapers! But it is good to see how this matter will be discusd.

reply to post by ni91ck


No worries mate , its was a good find. I had never seen that site before. But i still stand by my above statement in thinking that he was pressured to release a statement to calm down the British media.

Good find and a star for you

reply to post by Spacedman13


And now the official tourist industry saving retraction

Presently, there are no signs of an imminent volcanic eruption in Iceland. The Icelandic Meteorological Office (IMO) did not issue a warning last weekend in connection with increased seismicity beneath the Vatnajökull ice-cap. If signs of an eruption were apparent, IMO would issue a warning immediately.
Written by a specialist at 09 Feb 15:39 GMT

Source: IMO

Appeared today but dated 9th? Mm. Written by a "specialist"? Mm, gotta love that remark.

Cover-up screams out from this.

reply to post by Spacedman13


I don't think there was any pressure at all?

But if you were misquoted by the media to suggest you supported their latest doomster scare story, wouldn't you want to put the record straight? That is all that has happened here.

No conspiracy. But it does show how incompetent and untrustworthy the British media - never assume anything you read is correct!

reply to post by PuterMan

Hey puterman. Long time no write to you. Maybe your on to something. I was looking for tremor date's of the volcano and that and surrounding volcano's but the buttons don't work????


hraun.vedur.is...

reply to post by Spacedman13


Thank you, we wanna now what is going on over there what is your homeland! I hoping your not shaking in your bed. Peace!!

reply to post by ni91ck


You need the Icelandic ones. Take a look at my page on Icelandic seismos and it shows which ones do not work from the English page.

Actually all you need for Vatnajokull and Myrdalsjokull is my page since the recorders are all there. Likewise the GPS (see the sidebar)