Another Iceland Volcano Under Watch

Visible (left) and infrared (right) images of Iceland's Eyjafjallajökull volcano, acquired April 17, 2010, from the Hyperion instrument onboard NASA's Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) spacecraft. Image credit: NASA/JPL/EO-1 Mission/GSFC/Ashley Davies

From Live Science:

News reports earlier today that another volcano on Iceland had erupted just as Eyjafjallajokull was beginning to calm down turned out to be false. But scientists are warily keeping their eye on one of Eyjafjallajokull's neighbors, which has been known to erupt following its sister.

An MSNBC Twitter feed and one other news service ran reports that a volcano called Hekla had erupted on Iceland today. Those rumors turned out to be false, but even if Hekla had blown its top today, it would have been "purely coincidental," said Jay Miller, a volcano researcher at Texas A&M University.

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Five Biggest Volcano Eruptions In Recent History

This picture is of a June 12, 1991, eruption of Mt. Pinatubo in the Philippines – one of the smaller eruptions that preceded the main eruption on June 15. That eruption was the biggest since 1912 – a 6 on the Volcanic Explosivity Index. The eruption of Iceland's Eyjafjallajökull volcano rates a 2 or 3. Newscom

From Christian Science Monitor:

The eruption at Eyafjallajökull volcano in Iceland has been hugely disruptive to world travel. But as a volcanic event, it's barely worth mentioning.

By the measure of the Volcanic Explosivity Index (VEI) – a sort-of Richter scale for eruptions – the current outburst is probably a 2 or a 3, experts say. In other words, eruptions like Eyjafjallajökull happen virtually every year somewhere in the world.

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Mysterious Volcano Lightning Creates Pretty Pictures`

Lightning in the ash plume of Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull volcano. Credit: Olivier Vandeginste.

From Live Science:

It may look like the special effects from a disaster movie, but the bolts of lightning photographed in the plume of the ash-spewing Icelandic volcano are real. Thing is, the process that creates volcano lightning remains a bit of a mystery.

Several photographers have taken pictures of the stunning light show shooting from the angry mouth of Eyjafjallajokull, which has been pumping a cloud of ash into the atmosphere for several days. In addition to the spectacular electric storm in its plume, the volcano has created colorful sunsets around the world with its ash, which has also hampered air travel over Europe.

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Why Can't Planes Fly Through Volcanic Ash? NASA Found Out The Hard Way

Jet Engine Meets Volcanic Ash This British Airways engine experienced a run in with a volcanic ash plume in 1982. Image: Eric Moody, British Airways

From Popular Science:

If you’ve been anywhere near a television or Web enabled device in the last week (and you must have been), you know that a volcanic eruption in Iceland has grounded airline flights across Europe and even halted a few flights into the northeastern-most areas of Canada. What you probably don’t know is how to pronounce the name of the volcano (Eyjafjallajökull) or why an eruption in Iceland is grounding flights in London, Madrid and Berlin.

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Will The Iceland Volcano Change The Climate?

This image, acquired on 15 April 2010 by Envisat's Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS), shows the vast cloud of volcanic ash sweeping across the UK from the eruption in Iceland, more than 1000 km away. The ash, which can be seen as the large grey streak in the image, is drifting from west to east at a height of about 11 km above the surface Earth. Credit: ESA

From Live Science:

The vast plume of material spewing from this week's eruption of an Icelandic volcano is reddening sunsets and clouding skies across Europe. If the eruptions continue and get bigger — a possibility given the explosive history of Iceland's volcanoes — even the global climate could be affected. But the current eruption is too wimpy to have any significant impact, scientists say.

The eruption of Iceland's Eyjafjallajökull volcano may be treating European sky watchers to spectacular sunsets and hampering air travel due to the ash and gas it has spewed into the atmosphere. But "there will be no effect on climate," said Alan Robock of Rutgers University, who studies the effects of volcanic eruptions on climate.

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Ash Cloud Reminds Us That We Should All Be Afraid Of Volcanoes

From The Telegraph:

Eyjafjallajökull's giant cloud of ash is a nuisance, but a supervolcano's catastrophic eruption could threaten the fabric of civilisation, says Kate Ravilious.

Every so often the Earth chooses to remind us that we really aren't in control of this planet. The volcanic eruption in Iceland, which began on Wednesday, is just such a reminder. As ash spews out across northern Europe, grounding all flights across Scandinavia and the UK, we begin to realise how powerless we humans are.

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Icelandic Volcano Creates Beautiful Sunsets

The sky was colored by ash from the eruption of Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland in April. Apr. 15, 2010, Northeastern outskirts of Athens, Greece. Image © Anthony Ayiomamitis. Used with permission

From Live Science:

The plume of ash from Iceland's Eyjafjallajökull volcano, which is now inching across Europe's skies, is creating vivid red sunsets while thwarting airline travel plans. The phenomenon could last for days, and depending on how long the volcano continues to erupt, it could spread volcanic clouds all around the Northern Hemisphere, a scientist says.

The volcanic sunsets might even be glimpsed from the United States if the volcano keeps erupting, but chances for that are slim, experts say.

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Iceland Eruption: New Satellite Image of Volcanic Ash Cloud

This image, acquired on 15 April 2010 by Envisat's Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS), shows the vast cloud of volcanic ash sweeping across the UK from the eruption in Iceland, more than 1000 km away. The ash, which can be seen as the large grey streak in the image, is drifting from west to east at a height of about 11 km above the surface Earth. (Credit: ESA)

From Science Daily:

ScienceDaily (Apr. 15, 2010) — A vast cloud of volcanic ash has been sweeping across parts of northern Europe from the eruption of a volcano in Iceland. The European Space Agency's Envisat satellite has imaged the ash cloud, showing for example the extent over the UK, more than 1,000 kilometers away.

Carried by winds high up in the atmosphere, the cloud of ash from the eruption of the volcano near the Eyjafjallajoekull glacier in southwest Iceland has led to the closure of airports throughout the UK and Scandinavia, with further disruption in northern Europe expected later.

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Icelandic Volcano’s Ash Plume As Seen From Space

From Wired Science:

A NASA satellite captured an image of the ash plume from the Eyjafjallajokull volcano’s Wednesday eruption. We can see the ash plume from the event sweeping east just north of the United Kingdom en route to Norway.

The plume has disrupted air travel in western Europe, The New York Times reports, because of (well-founded) fears that the silicates in the ash could turn into molten glass inside planes’ jet engines.

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Icelandic Volcanologists Carefully Watching Eyjafjallajokull’s Big Sister

From Times Online:

The erupting Eyjafjallajökull volcano may be causing its fair share of havoc but scientists say we may have seen nothing yet.

All eyes in the volcanology community are focused on Eyjafjallajökull’s far larger sister, called Katla, which could cause disruption on a far larger scale. Katla is about eight miles to the west under the Myrdalsjökull ice cap. An eruption could cause widespread flooding and disrupt air traffic between Europe and North America.

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Get Ready For Decades Of Icelandic Fireworks

Ready for more of the same? (Image: Icelandic Coast Guard)

From New Scientist:

We're not quite back to the pre-plane era, but air travel over and around the north Atlantic might get a lot more disrupted in the coming years.

Volcanologists say the fireworks exploding from the Eyjafjallajökull volcano on Iceland, which is responsible for the ash cloud that is grounding all commercial flights across northern Europe, may become a familiar sight. Increased rumblings under Iceland over the past decade suggest that the area is entering a more active phase, with more eruptions and the potential for some very large bangs.

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Why Iceland's Volcano Is A Hazard For Air Travel

From Time Magazine:

Passengers sitting in planes on the runways of Heathrow Airport outside London on Thursday morning must have wondered what the problem was.

The sky above was clear and blue, yet the British government had closed the country's entire airspace, grounding all flights at five airports and disrupting the itineraries of tens of thousands of travelers — including those whose journeys originated elsewhere in Europe, North America and beyond and who would have only passed through Heathrow, Europe's busiest airport and a major international hub that handles more than 1,200 flights and 180,000 passengers per day.

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Supervolcano: How Humanity Survived Its Darkest Hour

From New Scientist:

THE first sign that something had gone terribly wrong was a deep rumbling roar. Hours later the choking ash arrived, falling like snow in a relentless storm that raged for over two weeks. Despite being more than 2000 kilometres from the eruption, hominins living as far away as eastern India would have felt Toba's fury.

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Spectacular Sunsets, Blue Moons And Possibility Of a Gloomy Summer As Volcanic Ash Drifts Across Britain

From The Daily Mail:

The cloud of volcanic ash drifting across the UK from Iceland is set to produce some of the most spectacular sunsets in recent history.

Skywatchers can look forward to stunning light displays and other effects as ash spreads high in the atmosphere. However, experts fear the eruption could spark off a larger volcano nearby, causing a cold and gloomy summer.

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Scientists Explore Origins Of 'Supervolcanoes' On The Sea Floor: Ancient Goliaths Blamed For Multiple Mass Extinctions

JOIDES Resolution departing from Yokohama, Japan, on the Shatsky Rise expedition. (Credit: John Beck, IODP/TAMU)

From Science Daily:

ScienceDaily (Apr. 10, 2010) — "Supervolcanoes" have been blamed for multiple mass extinctions in Earth's history, but the cause of their massive eruptions is unknown.

Despite their global impact, the eruptions' origin and triggering mechanisms have remained unexplained. New data obtained during a recent Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) expedition in the Pacific Ocean may provide clues to unlocking this mystery.

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First Footage From World's Deepest Volcanic Vents

From New Scientist:

At this depth, the water is hot enough to melt lead, and the pressure it exerts means that every square centimetre has to withstand the weight of five hefty men.

"It was like wandering across the surface of another world," says Bramley Murton, a geologist at the National Oceanographic Centre (NOC) in Southampton, UK, who piloted the Hy-Bis underwater vehicle around these deep volcanic vents and filmed them for the first time.

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History's Most Destructive Volcanoes

The June 12, 1991 eruption column from Mount Pinatubo, Philippines, as seen from Clark Air Base. credit: Richard P. Hoblitt/USGS

From Live Science:

The eruption of a volcano on the island nation of Iceland on Saturday is a result of the tectonic processes that have continuously shaped and re-shaped the Earth's surface for billions of years. These processes are responsible for some of the biggest, deadliest eruptions in history.

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Volcano Erupts Near Eyjafallajoekull Glacier In Iceland

From Times Online:

A volcano in the area of the Eyjafallajoekull glacier in southern Iceland erupted overnight for the first time in 189 years, forcing more than 500 people to evacuate their homes.

The eruption took place just before midnight by the Eyjafjallajokull glacier, the fifth largest glacier in Iceland. The volcano, which is 1,666m high and has a crater 4km in diameter, is covered by a large ice cap.

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Volcano-Chaser Braves Some Of Earth's Most Dangerous SituationsTo Capture Amazing Photos Of Violent Eruptions

From The Daily Mail:

Most people would think themselves unlucky if they passed a volcano as it erupted, but this counts as a good day at the office for one photographer.

Martin Rietze is part of a select group of volcano-chasers who seek out the exploding phenomena, and braves huge electric storms and boiling lava to get the perfect shots.

The 45-year-old travels around the world's volcano hotspots, from Costa Rica to Italy, in his pursuit of Earth's greatest fiery spectacle.

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Volcanoes 'Destroyed Ancient Ocean Life'

Volcanic activity led to marine life being wiped out millions of years ago,
a study suggests Photo: Reuters

From The Telegraph:

Volcanic activity may have led to nearly a third of marine life being wiped out around 100 million years ago, research suggests.

It is thought that sulphur produced by volcanoes erupting led to oxygen disappearing from large areas of the oceans.

This caused up to 27 per cent of ocean life being destroyed, according to a report published in the journal Nature Geoscience.

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