The eruption continues with little changes
The eruption continues with little changes.
At around 7 pm on March 31st, magma started degassing from the lava field, northeast of the main crater. Lava fountains have since then been active both there and in the old crater.
This change was not accompanied by any detectable seismic activity, neither tremor nor micro earthquakes. Most of the lava seems to accumulate near the vents, but there are intermittent flows into the gullies of Hruná and Hvanná.
Reduced visibility (10 m) and risky weather keep visitors well away from the eruption now; all access is restricted. The weather forecast is as follows: Increasing northeast wind and intermittent snow and blowing snow, 18 to 23 m/s by afternoon. Rather slighter northwest wind tomorrow and snow showers. Air temperatures -1°C down to -6°C. Calmer weather is expected on Wednesday.
On April 4th, lava flowing to the west encountered some patches of glacial ice, causing some water discharge into river Hvanná, steam plumes and low frequency tremor bursts.
At the Institute of Earth Sciences, University of Iceland, a preliminary report has been written on gas composition and flux from the Fimmvörðuháls eruption in collaboration with Italian scientists (pdf 0.01 Mb).
