Tag Archives: Iceland

Iceland on edge: Magma accumulating under town ‘a corridor around nine miles long;’ Eruption could be anywhere as sinkholes open up

Iceland-Volcano-road-damage

Important Takeaways:

  • Iceland ‘is on edge’ waiting for volcanic eruption amid fears river of lava could hit power plant after giant crack tears through town, thousands are evacuated and over 700 more earthquakes since yesterday, with ‘unholy sounds’ coming up from the earth
  • The whole of Iceland ‘is on edge’ as experts say earthquakes which have been rumbling beneath the surface for days and have torn through a town are a precursor to a volcanic eruption.
  • More than 700 quakes have been recorded in the southwestern Reykjanes Peninsula since yesterday, and despite them being slightly weaker than in previous days the Fagradalsfjall volcano is still expected to erupt.
  • Iceland has been shaken by thousands of tremors over the past few days, with a state of emergency declared on Friday and around 4,000 people ordered to leave the fishing community of Grindavik.
  • Evacuated residents have reported hearing ‘unholy sounds’ from beneath the ground as they fled, while those allowed to return to collect belongings from their deserted homes were told: ‘If you hear sirens, drop everything and get out!’
  • Huge sinkholes have opened up around the town, and now dramatic aerial footage captured by the Coast Guard shows a chasm running through the center, with smoke pouring out of the gaping splits as magma rises.
  • Meanwhile, authorities are urgently preparing to build defense walls around a nearby geothermal power plant
  • Magma has been accumulating under the town and experts said yesterday that a ‘corridor’ around nine miles (14km) long has developed beneath it, with an eruption possible anywhere along the intrusion.

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Volcanic eruption at any moment: Iceland officials declare state of emergency with evacuations in place

Mount-Fagradalsfjall

Important Takeaways:

  • Volcanic eruption in Iceland could last ‘for weeks’, expert warns as 2,800 earthquake tremors are detected in 24 hours amid fears ‘imminent’ explosion could ‘obliterate’ town
  • A volcano in Iceland could spew lava ‘for weeks’ an expert has warned, as fears are mounting that an eruption could be ‘imminent’ with at least 2,800 tremors recorded in the last day.
  • The Fagradalsfjall volcano on the Reykjanes peninsula, the youngest part of Iceland, threatens to ‘obliterate’ the town of Grindavik, with 4,000 residents evacuated after a state of emergency was declared on Friday.
  • ‘We are really concerned about all the houses and the infrastructure in the area,’ Vidir Reynisson, head of Iceland’s Civil Protection and Emergency Management said.
  • ‘The magma is now at a very shallow depth, so we’re expecting an eruption within a couple of hours at the shortest, but at least within a couple of days.’
  • Molten magma has been accumulating three miles under Grindavik, and now experts have said that a ‘corridor’, around nine miles long (15km), has developed beneath the town – with a volcanic eruption possible anywhere along the intrusion.
  • ‘We have a fissure that’s about 15 kilometers long, and anywhere on that fissure we can see that an eruption could happen,’ he said.
  • Pictures have shown gaping chasms opening up around the town, with roads wrecked, pavements ripped apart, and land slipping at a golf course.
  • All roads leading to the town are reportedly closed, while the roads to Iceland’s international airports in the north of the peninsula remain open.
  • Thorvaldur Thordarson, professor of volcanology at the University of Iceland, told state broadcaster RUV at the weekend: ‘I don’t think it’s long before an eruption, hours or a few days. The chance of an eruption has increased significantly,’
  • Locals in the area were given just 15 minutes to return and gather their pets and essentials after they evacuated their homes.

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Latest Iceland Rumbling: 23,000 Earthquakes since October in an area with an estimated 130 volcanos

Important Takeaways:

  • 23,000 Earthquakes in Just Weeks Raise Fears of Volcanic Eruption
  • Iceland has recorded thousands of earthquakes, localized in the Reykjanes Peninsula, in recent days, with the Nordic country evacuating its famous Blue Lagoon geothermal spa amid fears of a possible volcanic eruption.
  • The effects of the recent earthquakes were felt as far as Borgarnes town, 51 kilometers (~32 miles) away from the peninsula. The Icelandic Meteorological Office (IMO) has documented more than 23,000 tremors since October, including an earthquake of magnitude 5.0 on November 2nd, the largest spike in activity since tremors began.
  • The Reykjanes Peninsula laid dormant for an estimated 800 years before an eruption in 2021. There are around 130 volcanoes across the island nation, most of which are active.

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Seismic swarm in Iceland leads to volcanic eruption

Luke 21:11 There will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences. And there will be terrors and great signs from heaven.

Important Takeaways:

  • See Iceland’s Fagradalsfjall volcano erupt for 3rd time in 3 years
  • The Icelandic Meteorological Office said Monday that a fissure broke open between the Fagradalsfjall and Keilir mountains, roughly 37 miles from the country’s capital and just a half hour from an international airport.
  • The fissure excreting lava is estimated to be about 200 meters, or about 656 feet long. The office said that the “lava is emerging as a series of fountains.”
  • However, “there is presently no emission of ash to the atmosphere,” the office said in its last update on Monday evening, adding that the eruption is occurring in a region where people do not live, ensuring “no immediate risks to communities or infrastructure.”
  • “The development of the eruption is presently unclear, so we advise the public not to attempt to visit the eruption area,” the office said. “Dangerously high levels of volcanic gases will accumulate close to the eruption. Further updates from IMO will be issued in the coming days.”
  • The peninsula has been experiencing a “seismic swarm” since July 4, the meteorological office said, with at least 7,000 earthquakes recorded between Fagradalsfjall and Keilir since that time, with the largest measuring as a 4.8 on July 5. The office says the rise in activity is because of a “new dike intrusion in the area.”

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Volcano erupts near Iceland’s capital

By Nikolaj Skydsgaard and Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen

COPENHAGEN (Reuters) – A volcano erupted near Iceland’s capital Reykjavik on Friday, shooting lava high into the night sky after thousands of small earthquakes in recent weeks.

The eruption occurred near Fagradalsfjall, a mountain on the Reykjanes Peninsula, around 30 km (19 miles) southwest of the capital.

Some four hours after the initial eruption at 2045 GMT – the first on the peninsula since the 12th century – lava covered about one square kilometer or nearly 200 football fields.

“I can see the glowing red sky from my window,” said Rannveig Gudmundsdottir, resident in the town of Grindavik, only 8 km (5 miles) from the eruption.

“Everyone here is getting into their cars to drive up there,” she said.

More than 40,000 earthquakes have occurred on the peninsula in the past four weeks, a huge jump from the 1,000-3,000 earthquakes registered each year since 2014.

The eruption posed no immediate danger to people in Grindavik or to critical infrastructure, according to the Icelandic Meteorological Office (IMO), which classified the eruption as small.

A fissure 500 to 750 meters (547 to 820 yards) long opened at the eruption site, spewing lava fountains up to 100 meters (110 yards) high, Bjarki Friis of the meteorological office said.

Residents in the town of Thorlakshofn, east of the eruption site, were told to stay indoors to avoid exposure to volcanic gases, Iceland’s Department of Civil Protection and Emergency Management said. The wind was blowing from the west.

Unlike the eruption in 2010 of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano, which halted approximately 100,000 flights and forced hundreds of Icelanders from their homes, this eruption is not expected to spew much ash or smoke into the atmosphere.

Located between the Eurasian and the North American tectonic plates, among the largest on the planet, Iceland is a seismic and volcanic hot spot as the two plates move in opposite directions.

The source of the eruption is a large body of molten rock, known as magma, which has pushed its way to the surface over the past weeks, instigating the earthquakes.

The number of quakes had slowed down in recent days, however, leading geologists to say that an eruption would be less likely.

Reykjavik’s international Keflavik airport was not closed following the eruption, but each airline had to decide if it wanted to fly or not, IMO said.

Arrivals and departures on the airport’s website showed no disruptions.

(Reporting by Nikolaj Skydsgaard and Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen in Copenhagen; Editing by Leslie Adler, Matthew Lewis, Sonya Hepinstall and Cynthia Osterman)

Quaking in their beds, sleepless Icelanders await volcanic eruption

By Nikolaj Skydsgaard and Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen

COPENHAGEN (Reuters) – Icelanders are yearning for some undisturbed shut-eye after tremors from tens of thousands of earthquakes have rattled their sleep for weeks in what scientists call an unprecedented seismic event, which might well end in a spectacular volcanic eruption.

“At the moment we’re feeling it constantly. It’s like you’re walking over a fragile suspension bridge,” Rannveig Gudmundsdottir, a lifelong resident in the town of Grindavik, told Reuters.

Grindavik lies in the southern part of the Reykjanes Peninsula, a volcanic and seismic hot spot, where more than 40,000 earthquakes have occurred since Feb. 24, exceeding the total number of earthquakes registered there last year.

Located between the Eurasian and the North American tectonic plates, Iceland frequently experiences earthquakes as the plates slowly drift in opposite directions at a pace of around 2 centimeters each year.

The source of the past weeks’ earthquakes is a large body of molten rock, known as magma, moving roughly one kilometer (0.6 mile) beneath the peninsula, as it tries to push its way to the surface.

“We’ve never seen so much seismic activity,” Sara Barsotti, volcanic hazards coordinator at the Icelandic Meteorological Office (IMO) told Reuters.

Some of those quakes clocked in at magnitudes as high as 5.7.

“Everyone here is so tired,” Gudmundsdottir, a 5th grade school teacher, said. “When I go to bed at night, all I think about is: Am I going to get any sleep tonight?”.

Many in Grindavik have visited relatives, spent time in summer houses, or even rented a hotel room in Reykjavik, the capital, just to get a break and a good night’s sleep.

Authorities in Iceland warned of an imminent volcanic eruption on the peninsula in early March, but said they did not expect it to disturb international air traffic or damage critical infrastructure nearby.

Unlike the eruption in 2010 of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano, which halted approximately 900,000 flights and forced hundreds of Icelanders from their homes, the eruption on the peninsula is not expected to spew much ash or smoke into the atmosphere.

Experts are expecting lava to erupt from fissures in the ground, possibly resulting in spectacular lava fountains, which could extend 20 to 100 meters in the air.

Already last year authorities put an emergency plan in place for Grindavik. One option includes putting locals on boats in the North Atlantic, if an eruption shuts roads to the remote town.

“I trust the authorities to keep us informed and evacuate us,” Gudmundsdottir said. “I’m not scared, just tired.”

(Reporting by Nikolaj Skydsgaard and Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)

As winter comes, NATO kicks off largest maneuvers since Cold War

FILE PHOTO: U.S., German, Spanish and Polish troops of the NATO enhanced Forward Presence battle goups with their tanks get ready for the Iron Tomahawk exercise in Adazi, Latvia October 23, 2018. REUTERS/Ints Kalnins

By Terje Solsvik

OSLO (Reuters) – Military forces from 31 countries began NATO’s largest exercise in decades, stretching from the Baltic Sea to Iceland, on Thursday, practicing military maneuvers close to Russia, which itself held a huge military drill last month.

As temperatures fell below freezing across training grounds in central Norway, giving a taste of what it means to defend NATO’s vast northern flank, some 50,000 troops, 250 aircraft and 10,000 tanks, trucks and other land-based vehicles were ready.

“Forces are in position, they are integrating and starting combat enhancement training for major battlefield operations over the next two weeks,” Colonel Eystein Kvarving at Norway’s Joint Headquarters told Reuters.

Dubbed Trident Juncture, the exercise is by far the biggest in Norway since the early 1980s, a sign that the alliance wants to sharpen its defenses after years of cost cuts and far-flung combat missions.

Increasingly concerned about Russia since it annexed Crimea in 2014, Norway has sought to double the number of U.S. Marines receiving training on its soil every year, a move criticized by Moscow.

Russia last month held its biggest maneuvers since 1981, called Vostok-2018 (East-2018), mobilizing 300,000 troops in a show of force close to China’s border which included joint drills with the Chinese and Mongolian armies.

NATO’s war games were originally meant to involve 35,000 troops, but the number grew in recent months and included the late addition of an aircraft carrier, the USS Harry S. Truman with some 6,000 personnel.

NATO fears Russia’s military build-up in the region could ultimately restrict naval forces’ ability to navigate freely, and on Oct. 19 the Truman became the first American aircraft carrier to enter the Arctic Circle since before the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Although a solid majority of Norwegians support membership of NATO, whose secretary general is former Norwegian prime minister Jens Stoltenberg, some parties on the left would prefer that the country quit the alliance and form some type of military cooperation arrangement with its Nordic neighbors.

“The effect of this activity will increase the tension between Norway and Russia,” Socialist member of parliament Torgeir Knag Fylkesnes said of the exercise, adding that the presence of an aircraft carrier caused particular concern.

“You have to be quite hawkish to view this as something that brings peace in any way,” he told Reuters.

(Additional reporting by Lefteris Karagiannopoulos; Editing by Gwladys Fouche; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)

Finland is world’s happiest country, U.S. discontent grows: U.N. report

People enjoy a sunnny day at the Esplanade in Helsinki, Finland, May 3, 2017. REUTERS/Ints Kalnins

By Philip Pullella

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – Finland is the world’s happiest country, according to an annual survey issued on Wednesday that found Americans were getting less happy even as their country became richer.

Burundi came bottom in the U.N. Sustainable Development Solutions Network’s (SDSN) 2018 World Happiness Report which ranked 156 countries according to things such as GDP per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, social freedom, generosity and absence of corruption.

Taking the harsh, dark winters in their stride, Finns said access to nature, safety, childcare, good schools and free healthcare were among the best things about in their country.

 

FILE PHOTO: Finland's flag flutters in Helsinki, Finland, May 3, 2017. REUTERS/Ints Kalnins/File Photo

FILE PHOTO: Finland’s flag flutters in Helsinki, Finland, May 3, 2017. REUTERS/Ints Kalnins/File Photo

“I’ve joked with the other Americans that we are living the American dream here in Finland,” said Brianna Owens, who moved from the United States and is now a teacher in Espoo, Finland’s second biggest city with a population of around 280,000.

“I think everything in this society is set up for people to be successful, starting with university and transportation that works really well,” Owens told Reuters.

Finland, rose from fifth place last year to oust Norway from the top spot. The 2018 top-10, as ever dominated by the Nordics, is: Finland, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Switzerland, Netherlands Canada, New Zealand, Sweden and Australia.

The United States came in at 18th, down from 14th place last year. Britain was 19th and the United Arab Emirates 20th.

One chapter of the 170-page report is dedicated to emerging health problems such as obesity, depression and the opioid crisis, particularly in the United States where the prevalence of all three has grown faster than in most other countries.

While U.S. income per capita has increased markedly over the last half century, happiness has been hit by weakened social support networks, a perceived rise in corruption in government and business and declining confidence in public institutions.

“We obviously have a social crisis in the United States: more inequality, less trust, less confidence in government,” the head of the SDSN, Professor Jeffrey Sachs of New York’s Columbia University, told Reuters as the report was launched at the Vatican’s Pontifical Academy of Sciences.

“It’s pretty stark right now. The signs are not good for the U.S. It is getting richer and richer but not getting happier.”

Asked how the current political situation in the United States could affect future happiness reports, Sachs said:

“Time will tell, but I would say that in general that when confidence in government is low, when perceptions of corruption are high, inequality is high and health conditions are worsening … that is not conducive to good feelings.”

For the first time since it was started in 2012, the report, which uses a variety of polling organizations, official figures and research methods, ranked the happiness of foreign-born immigrants in 117 countries.

Finland took top honors in that category too, giving the country a statistical double-gold status.

The foreign-born were least happy in Syria, which has been mired in civil war for seven years.

“The most striking finding of the report is the remarkable consistency between the happiness of immigrants and the locally born,” said Professor John Helliwell of Canada’s University of British Columbia.

“Although immigrants come from countries with very different levels of happiness, their reported life evaluations converge towards those of other residents in their new countries,” he said.

“Those who move to happier countries gain, while those who move to less happy countries lose.”

(Reporting By Philip Pullella; Additional reporting by Reuters television in Finland; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)

Bardarbunga Volcano Erupts In Iceland; Tavurcur In Papua New Guinea

Volcanoes on opposite ends of the world erupted on Thursday.

The Bardarbunga volcano in Iceland, which has been the subject of close monitoring by seismologists since a series of earthquakes began weeks ago, finally broke through the ice covering with what the Iceland Met Office called a “fissure eruption.”

The volcano had erupted under the ice earlier this week leading to an aviation warning but it was canceled when the volcano’s activity appeared to cease.  The latest eruption reportedly has lava spewing to the surface but “has not shown signs of volcanic ash.”

Despite the lack of ash, the aviation warning level has been raised to red and flights are being diverted around the volcano’s area.

Aviation experts have also placed a warning over the Tavurcur volcano in Papua New Guinea following an eruption Thursday.

The Volcanic Ash Advisory Center has been monitoring the ash cloud and providing updates to airlines.  The cloud of ash has been drifting southwest since the eruption.

“The volcanic eruption reached the top of the atmosphere at 50,000 feet which is the same height as which planes travel,” said meteorologist Ian Shepherd  “It’s too early to say at this point if the ash cloud will reach Australia but it was a significant eruption.”

Iceland Warns Massive Volcano Under Glacier Might Erupt

Icelandic officials are warning airlines worldwide that one of the world’s largest volcanoes is likely in the process of erupting.

The volcano alert level of Bardarbunga has been raised to “orange” which means “heightened or escalating unrest with increased potential of eruption” according to Iceland’s volcanic scale.  The Met Office, located in the capital city of Reykjavik, says that over 250 tremors have been recorded since midnight local time.

The volcano is 15.5 miles wide and rises about 6200 feet above sea level.  The volcano last erupted in 1996, melting the glacier above it and spewing ash and molten lava.

Iceland’s last major eruption, the 2011 Grimsvotn volcanic event, caused flight cancellations across Scotland, England and Germany because of volcanic ash in the atmosphere.  The massive Eyjafjallajokull volcanic eruption in 2010 caused over 100,000 flights in Europe and across the Atlantic to be cancelled out of fear of glass particles from the eruption damaging aircraft engines.