Intense seismicity continues. Over 700 events have been recorded since midnight.
Seismicity continues to migrate northward. Seismicity is now concentrated on the 10 km long tip of the dike extending 5 km beyond the edge of the Dyngjujökull glacier.
At 20:39 last night an earthquake of magnitude ~5 was observed beneath the Bárðarbunga caldera. Since then earthquakes in the caldera have been smaller.
The dike beneath Dyngjujökull is now thought to be close to 35 km long. Modelling of GPS data indicates that it contains about 300 million cubic meters of magma.
Additional stations for continuous GPS monitoring will be installed north of Vonarskarð and on Urðarháls within a few days.
There are no indications that the intensity of the activity declining. Currently, three scenarios are considered most likely:
The migration of magma could stop, attended by a gradual reduction in seismic activity.
The dike could reach the surface of the crust, starting an eruption. In this scenario, it is most likely that the eruption would be near the northern tip of the dike. This would most likely produce an effusive lava eruption with limited explosive, ash-producing activity.
An alternate scenario would be the dike reaching the surface where a significant part, or all, of the fissure is beneath the glacier. This would most likely produce a flood in Jökulsá á Fjöllum and perhaps explosive, ash-producing activity.
Other scenarios cannot be excluded. For example, an eruption inside the Bárdarbunga caldera is possible but presently considered to be less likely.
yes the quakes swarms are plotting a fissure course from Bárðarbunga slowly heading to Askja, and the quakes under the Bárðarbunga caldera are getting larger
• At 00:02 UTC signs of a lava eruption were detected
• An eruption occurred on an old volcanic fissure on the Holuhraun lava field, about 5 km north of the Dyngjujökull ice margin. The active fissure was about 600 m in length.
• A small amount of lava drained from the fissure and by around 04:00 UTC, lava flow is thought to have stopped.
• According to seismic data and web-camera imagery, the eruption peaked between 00:40 and 01:00 UTC.
• At the beginning of the eruption, seismic activity decreased, although seismicity has since returned to levels observed in recent days.
• Aerial observations by the Icelandic Coastguard show that only steam is rising from the site of the lava eruption.
• There are no indications that the intensity of the activity declining.
• At this moment it is unclear how the situation will develop. However, three scenarios are considered most likely:
The migration of magma could stop, resulting in a gradual reduction in seismic activity and no further eruptions.
The dike could reach the Earth’s surface north of Dyngjujökull causing another eruption, possibly on a new fissure. Such an eruption could include lava flow and (or) explosive activity.
The intrusion reaches the surface and an eruption occurs again where either the fissure is partly or entirely beneath Dyngjujökull. This would most likely produce a flood in Jökulsá á Fjöllum and perhaps explosive, ash-producing activity.
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