Martin Sammtleben, 20. May 2010
The eruption is calming down but still emits a vast amount of ash rising high into the atmosphere…, that continues to disrupt air traffic all over Europe.
Christopher Lund again has some absolutely stunning images to share. Also make sure to check out Martin Rietze’s video clips of the eruption.
Martin Sammtleben, 16. April 2010
… but with a shift in focus.
The fissure eruption on Fimmvörðuháls, that started on 20. March and proved to be a first-rate tourist attraction, is pretty much over for the moment.
Apparently the lava found a new route and on 14. April an eruption began underneath the Eyjafjallajökull ice cap, causing floods and ejecting vast amounts of volcanic ash into the atmosphere. The resulting ash cloud has been slowly drifting over North Europe and air traffic has come to a complete stop in the affected areas.
Timelapse of the eruption
The webcams to watch are at Hvolsvöllur and Valahnúkur
Photographer Christopher Lund has posted a superb gallery of the Fimmvörðuháls fissure eruption. More stunning images can be found on the Boston Globe’s Big Picture Blog part 1 and part 2, and on NASA’s flickr stream
Geologist Dr. Erik Klemetti continues coverage of the event on his Eruptions blog
Martin Sammtleben, 28. March 2010
Another webcam has been installed on the Fimmvörðuháls mountain pass. See also the other webcam on Þórólfsfell.
And here’s a gallery of images taken at night.
Martin Sammtleben, 21. March 2010
After weeks of increased seismic activity an eruption started just before midnight on Saturday 20. March.
It is a typical, basaltic fissure eruption currently about 1 km in length. Although the lava shoots up to 300 metres high, it is considered a small eruption. It’s located on the Fimmvörðuháls mountain pass, a popular hiking route, right between the Eyjafjallajökull and Mýrdalsjökull glaciers. Since it’s not underneath the glacier cap, there is no immediate danger of floods. Some 500 people have been evacuated from the area and air traffic has been delayed.
There’s a webcam pointed at the eruption site from a distance of several kilometres. The fissure, spewing lava and ash, can be seen to the right, and a huge cloud of steam emerging on the left, where lava hits the snow.
RÚV, the Icelandic National Broadcasting Service, has some interesting video footage taken before dawn and later that morning. Another icelandic site has a series of images.
The eruption has been stable so far, but it’s uncertain, how long it will last. Scientists are concerned though, because historically an eruption in this area has always been followed by an eruption of Katla, a much more powerful volcano under the Mýrdalsjökull glacier. Katla erupts every 40–80 years, but has been dormant for almost 100 years.
For a blog dedicated to volcanism together with first rate information on this latest eruption check out the site of Dr. Erik Klemetti a geologist who spends most of his professional time thinking about magma.
Martin Sammtleben, 7. March 2010
The Llanberis Mountain Film Festival includes a photography competition, and takes place at the foot of Snowdon every other year.
We were delighted to hear, that our submissions won first and second prize in the Flora and Fauna category of this year’s festival. See the Llamff website for the other entries and more information.
Martin Sammtleben, 6. February 2010
The area of the Hegill central volcano boasts an incredible variety of geothermal phenomena and rock formations, that are worth of exploring.
Today we went up to Ölkelduháls to visit the Lakar geothermal area. It’s located at the foot of Mt. Tjarnarhnúkur and features a wide range of mudpots, hot springs and fumaroles. It also offers brilliant views of the surroundings – far and near – towards the Hegill massif and Lake Þingvallavatn. Thanks to this year’s mild winter the area is devoid of snow except for the mountain tops. This makes for a vibrant display of colours: green moss, yellow clay, white steam and clouds set off against blue skies.
Martin Sammtleben, 20. December 2009
While the rest of Europe was blanketed in snow five days before Christmas, Þingvellir was still looking distinctly autumnal, however don’t be decieved by the soft ambient light in these images, this was an incredibly cold and windy December day, we only took a few pictures as taking off our big over-mitts rendered our fingers pretty useless in just a couple of minutes!
The Þingvellir area is part of a fissure zone running through Iceland and is situated on the tectonic plate boundaries of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. A water filled fissure in the Þingvellir lava can be seen in one of the images, essentially Iceland is gradually splitting in two and the whole area is surrounded by volcanoes, one of the most active being Hengill, a fine location to photograph geothermal activity.
Geraldine Westrupp, 30. November 2009
During the midwinter months here in Iceland the daylight hours are short enough, but when the car is misbehaving and has been despatched to the garage it’s nigh on impossible to escape to our usual locations close to Reykjavik, so mid-afternoon saw us strolling along the sea-front to the harbour, although, so slowly did we meander that darkness was closing in as we arrived.
Sadly the character of the harbour has changed dramatically in the past few years, sacrificed to the relentless pursuit of big, shiny, ultra modern projects such as the marina, and the massive, still being constructed National Concert and Conference Centre
The progress of the latter was temporarily halted when the crisis hit last year, although work has recently re-started. I rather suspect that a huge, partially constructed building dominating the city skyline would be a bit of an eyesore, not to mention a tad embarrassing for a city that is increasingly coming to rely on tourists, who nowadays are flocking here in great numbers no doubt delighted with the very favourable exchange rate that they are currently getting for their Pounds, Euros and Dollars.
Anyway despite the cold (snuggly-warm duvet jacket essential) and the modern additions, we had a great couple of hours making the most of the dark.
Martin Sammtleben, 20. October 2009
Only twenty minutes south of Reykjavík the Lönguhlíðar mountian ridge rises from the Skúlatúnshraun and Tvíbollahraun lava fields. It’s the northern edge of a huge plateau, that stretches all the way down to the south coast of the Reykjanes peninsula.
The surrounding lava is covered with a thick layer of moss, but also other plants such as Blueberry, Willow and various types of grass can be found here. In the autumn this makes for a stunning display of colours from green to yellow, orange and red, dominated by the pale green of the moss.
For a very brief period one can enjoy the sight of the mountain tops covered in the first snow, while the lower half still radiates in these wonderful autumn colours.