No visible changes in geothermal activity around Askja and Víti
A group of scientists went to Askja to investigate the conditions. The collected data will be processed soon
The field trip conducted by a
team from IMO last week has been completed succesfully. Dr. Melissa Anne Pfeffer and
Dr. Michelle Parks visited the area with the main
objectives of making observations, interacting with the park rangers
and other scientists, measuring gases, collecting gas and water
samples, measuring T and pH in Víti and lake Askja, downloading
data from the GPS station OLAC located in the caldera and assisiting
with campaign GPS and levelling measurements.
Here you see Dr. Melissa A. Pfeffer take gas samples from a geothermal area east of Bátshraun. Photo: Michelle Parks/IMO.
Preliminary results indicate no
changes in the gases or waters compared to previous years while
further sample and data analyses are ongoing. Visual inspections
and temperature and pH measurements do not point to
any clear changes in geothermal activity around Askja including
in Víti. The observation on 12 August at the edge of
Bátnshraun which was reported as a possible steam plume is now recognized
as dust caused by a minor rock fall on a steep slope of the
caldera wall.
Seasonal deformation fieldwork
was also undertaken at Askja volcano. Last week´s work was led
by Prof. Erik Sturkell (University of Gothenburg) and this week this work
will continue led by Prof. Freysteinn Sigmundsson (UI) in collaboration
with IMO. Five campaign GPS
stations have so far been setup at various locations within the
caldera and levelling measurements undertaken in the vicinity of the 1961 lava
field and the 1921 Bátshraun lava field. Levelling results indicate no change in the location
of the inflation source since the last measurements in August
2022 in agreement with the cGPS and inSAR analyses. This deformation fieldwork
was funded by the ISVOLC project, a Grant of Excellence project funded by the
Icelandic Research Fund (Rannsóknasjóður), grant number 239615-051, led
by Michelle Parks (IMO) and Freysteinn Sigmundsson (UI).
One the picture Dr. Michelle M. Parks works on GPS measurements with Prof.
Erik Sturkell. Photo: Melissa Pfeffer/IMO.
