Wordwide volcano and earthquake news – Archive August 29 until August 30 2014 (Bardarbunga, Tavurvur)

This is an archived part of our Daily Volcano Activity report.
Click here to read the latest part of our report
This report is compiled out of many information sources.

For our El Hierro volcano report : Click here

Bárðarbunga update August 30 22:13 UTC
30th August 2014 18:34 – from geoscientist on duty
Over 1100 earthquakes have been detected since midnight 29/30 August until 18:30; the vast majority in the northern part of the dyke intrusion, see maps.
As this morning, the active part of the dyke intrusion extends from about 4 km south of the glacier margin of Dyngjujökull to the location of yesterday’s fissure eruption. There is no sign of northwards migration of the intrusion.
No large events (M>4) have been detected near the Bárðarbunga caldera since this morning. One event of M2.1 was detected at the northern caldera rim at 13:40. Few small events were detected around Askja volcano.
Summarizing, no significant changes in seismic activity have been observed.

Tavurvur Papua New Guinea August 30 14:27 UTC
Susie McGrade, the owner of Rabaul Hotel close to Mount Tavurvur, was speaking to The World live on Friday night when the volcano emitted one of its sonic booms. Click on the image to be linked to the video page

Bárðarbunga update August 30 14:18 UTC
WOW!, thats what we say after watching a great NEW 3D seismic model from IMO – It visualizes the depth of the earthquakes and highlights the activity spots. Congratz to IMO Iceland for this great tool!. Click here and enjoy playing with it.

Bárðarbunga update August 30 13:10 UTC
30th August 2014 11:45 – from the Scientific Advisory Board
Scientists from the Icelandic Met Office and the Institute of Earth Sciences and representatives of the Civil Protection in Iceland attend the meetings of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Icelandic Civil Protection.
Conclusions of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Icelandic Civil Protection:
* Earthquake activity continues on a 15-km-long region of the dyke intrusion, extending both into the Dyngjujökull glacier and the region north of the ice margin.
* Earthquakes have not migrated northwards during the last two days.
* Seismicity remains high and, since midnight, about 700 earthquakes have been detected in the region.
* The largest earthquakes since midnight include: (i) a magnitude 4.5 event on the northern side of the Bárðarbunga caldera at 02:35 UTC; (ii) a magnitude 4.2 earthquake in the same region at 06:18 UTC; and (iii) a magnitude 5.4 earthquake on the south-eastern edge of the Bárðarbunga caldera at 07:03 UTC.
* During the last two weeks, several earthquakes of similar size have occurred on the edge of the Bárðarbunga caldera. These earthquakes are interpreted as signs of stress changes in the region of the caldera.
* Over 20 micro-earthquakes have been detected in the Askja region. It is thought that these earthquakes have occurred due to stress changes north of the dyke intrusion.
* GPS measurements show continued horizontal movements north of Vatnajökull due to formation of the dyke intrusion on the northern edge of the ice-cap.
* No unusual changes in the discharge or electrical conductivity of Jökulsá á Fjöllum have been detected. The same applies to other rivers draining from north-western Vatnajökull.
* A sample of newly erupted lava was taken from Holuhraun yesterday; analysis is ongoing.
There are no indications that the intensity of the activity declining.
At this moment it is unclear how the situation will develop. However, four 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.
*** An eruption in Bárðarbunga. The eruption could cause an outburst flood and possibly an explosive, ash-producing activity. In the event of a subglacial eruption, it is most likely that flooding would affect Jökulsá á Fjöllum. However it is not possible to exclude the following flood paths: Skjálfandafljót, Kaldakvísl, Skaftá and Grímsvötn.
Other scenarios cannot be excluded.
From the Icelandic Met Office:
The Aviation Colour Code for Bárðarbunga remains at ‘orange’ and the code for Askja at ‘yellow’.

Bárðarbunga update August 30 11:12 UTC
Scientists say this activity in/near Bardarbunga may last years like Krafla eruptions did in 1975-84 Source : Gisli Olafsonn, Civil Protection Iceland

Bárðarbunga update August 30 11:01 UTC
Great picture of the ash fallout after historic eruptions of the Bardarbunga volcano. Wind direction is of course the most important reason the ash loads landed in different areas. Some thicknesses are really spectacular and reach as far as Reykjavik. These eruption where eruptions of the volcano itself, no fissure eruptions like we witnessed earlier this week. Map via a tweet from John A Stevenson alias @volcan01010

Tavurvur Papua New Guinea August 30 08:27 UTC
Volcanic activity at Mt Tavurvur is settling down as locals near Rabaul begin the ash clean up
What a beautiful picture. The most beautiful pictures are taken by a professional photographer who happened to be in Rabaul during the eruption. They are now sold for a lot of money to press agencies. Unfortunately i was not around at the time, otherwise they would have been free to distribute . Click here for 4 beautiful images in a Dutch press article.

The Mt.Tavurvur #volcano in #Rabaul #PNG has awakened! pic.twitter.com/UhOBqfpbPC

— Stephen M. Leach (@revstephenleach) August 29, 2014

"@RTLNieuwsnl: In beeld: Vulkaan Tavurvur spuwt as en rook, wel mooi plaatje: http://t.co/rBBuNPrIIw pic.twitter.com/BPM8wqLenX"

— cees prins (@ceesp3) August 30, 2014

Great pics: Mount Tavurvur erupts in Papua New Guinea http://t.co/5yRJoaA3mw @GuardianAus #PNG #volcano pic.twitter.com/ZiRIcDh7Vf

— John Pickrell (@john_pickrell) August 30, 2014

Bárðarbunga update August 30 07:57 UTC
30th August 2014 07:20 – from geoscientist on duty
Around 450 earthquakes have been detected since midnight 29/30 August until 07:00, the vast majority in the northern part of the dike intrusion, see map below.
The active part of the dike intrusion extends from about 4 km south of the glacier margin of Dyngjujökull to the location of yesterday’s fissure eruption. Only a few small earthquakes have been located north of the eruption site and there is no sign now of northwards migration of the intrusion. Strongest events in this area were M2.7 at 03:01 and M2.8 at 06:19.
Several events have been detected on the caldera rim of Bárðarbunga, strongest were M4.5 at 02:35 and M4.2 at 06:18, both on the northern rim. A magnitude M5.4 earthquake occurred at 07:03 at the southern rim of Bárðarbunga caldera. Several events of similar size have occurred around the caldera rim in recent days. They are interpreted as being related to subsidence of the volcano due to volume decrease in the magma chamber beneath.
A few small events were detected around Askja volcano. Summarizing, no significant changes in seismic activity have been observed.

Bárðarbunga update August 30 07:50 UTC
IMO Iceland has now reported a Magnitude of 5.4 at a depth of 2.9 km below Bardarbunga. This is shallower than most of the Bardarbunga edifice earthquakes but not the first one. Thursday there was a M5.0 at 3 km depth in the same area.

Bárðarbunga update August 30 07:29 UTC
New M+5 earthquakes below the glacier.
USGS did report M5.4 but the USGS data have a too big error margin to point to the exact location. At the time of writing the earthquake was not listed yet at IMO.
The map shows 2 epicenters, thats the error margin i was talking about, both points refer to the same earthquake as reported by different seismological agencies
In the meantime the Mila webcams are showing clouds. If something would happen know only locals will hear it and airplanes will see it

Bárðarbunga update August 29 22:35 UTC
Þorbjörg Ágústsdóttir, a doctoral student in geophysics at the University of Cambridge, was the first person to hold an chunk of the new lava. A lot of analyzing work ahead

Bárðarbunga update August 29 21:42 UTC
29th August 2014 18:30 – from geoscientist on duty
Little changes since the status report, earlier today. An earthquake M4,1 occurred at 16:27 on the northern rim of Bárðarbunga caldera. The number of earthquakes from the automatic network is similar as at the same time yesterday, about 1200 earthquakes.

Bárðarbunga update August 29 17:27 UTC
29th August 2014 16:20 – Status report
Overall assessment from the joint status report 290814 of the Icelandic Met Office and the University of Iceland, Institute of Earth Sciences:
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. At 10:00 UTC, IMO changed the Aviation Colour Code for Bárðarbunga to ‘orange’, signifying that significant emission of ash into the atmosphere is unlikely.
The aviation colour-code for the Askja volcano remains at ‘yellow’.
Other scenarios cannot be excluded. For example, an eruption inside the Bárdarbunga caldera.

Tavurvur Papua New Guinea August 29 15:06 UTC
Video of the PNG governor who is managing the evacuation of nearby locations.
The volcano is blowing more ash into the air
Below this video from the authorities another video showing a harmless eruption on January 20 2013. The volcano is very close to Rabaul, one of the bigger cities in PNG and often visited by Cruise Ships

Photo of yesterday morning's Tavurvur eruption in Rabaul PNG (thanks to Gideon Kakabin) pic.twitter.com/ejdAF6U57e

— David Bridie (@dbridie) August 29, 2014

Photo 2 Rabaul..Tavurvur pic.twitter.com/xc8MHNnXQ4

— David Bridie (@dbridie) August 29, 2014

Bárðarbunga update August 29 14:45 UTC
29th August 2014 12:20 – from the Scientific Advisory Board
Scientists from the Icelandic Met Office and the Institute of Earth Sciences, and representatives of the Civil Protection in Iceland, attend the meetings of the Advisory Board.
Conclusions of the Scientific Advisory Board:
* At 00:02 UTC signs of a lava eruption were detected on web camera images from Mila. The web-camera is located at Vaðalda, north-east of the eruption site.
* Around midnight, weak signs of increased tremor were apparent on IMO’s seismic stations near to the eruption site.
* At 00:20 UTC scientists in the field from the Icelandic Met Office, Institute of Earth Sciences and Cambridge University confirmed the location of the eruption.
* The 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 is 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.
*** Other scenarios cannot be excluded. For example, an eruption inside the Bárdarbunga caldera.

Bárðarbunga update August 29 14:40 UTC
RED alert has been changed to ORANGE again above the Bardarbunga, Dyngjujökull, Vatnajökull area.
Official statement :
From the Icelandic Met Office:
At 10:00 UTC, IMO changed the Aviation Colour Code for Bárðarbunga to ‘orange’, signifying that significant emission of ash into the atmosphere is unlikely. The aviation color-code for the Askja volcano remains at ‘yellow’.

Bárðarbunga update August 29 13:58 UTC
The Icelandic Coast Guard surveillance plane TF-SIF flew over the eruption site this morning.
The crew took the above thermal image of the fissure. According to the Coast Guard, and contrary to initial reports who stated that the fissure was only 100 meters long (based on webcam estimates), the fissure measures 900 meters (3,000 feet) in length and is 5 km (3 miles) from Dyngjujökull, Vatnajökull outlet glacier.

Bárðarbunga update August 29 12:53 UTC
29th August 2014 11:58 – The new eruption in Holuhraun
Below are two photos of the new lava in Holuhraun, 5-10 km north of Dyngjujökull. The photos were taken from TF-Sif, the aeroplane of the Icelandic Coast Guard.

Tavurvur volcano erupts in Papua New Guinea August 29 10:29 UTC
Below some (probably smartphone) video footage of the eruption.

Bárðarbunga update August 29 09:22 UTC
Click on the image below to watch a short video of the overflight of the fissure zone

Bárðarbunga update August 29 09:14 UTC
29th August 2014 07:10 -from geoscientist on duty
* Seismic activity has decreased as a result of the pressure release, however a significant amount of earthquakes is still detected in the magma dike, between the eruption site and south to about 5 km into Dyngjujökull.
* Strongest events were 3.8 in the caldera of Bárðarbunga at 04:37, as well as 2.9 at 05:39 and 3.5 at 06:38 in the dike. These earthquake are very closely monitored, but no significant change volcanic activity following these has been observed so far.

FYI – we will cut part of this page and archive it because it is really getting too long – DONE

Tavurvur volcano erupts in Papua New Guinea August 29 08:11 UTC
A spectacular eruption with huge amounts of ash and firework
First major eruption after 20 years!
Some facts : Tavurvur is an active stratovolcano that lies near Rabaul in Papua New Guinea. It is a sub-vent of the Rabaul caldera and lies on the eastern rim of the larger feature. An eruption of the volcano largely destroyed the nearby town of Rabaul in 1994. Mount Tavurvur is the most active volcano in Rabaul caldera. On 7 October 2006 the volcano erupted again, and an initial blast shattered windows up to 12 kilometres away and sent an ash plume 18 km into the stratosphere. Winds blew most of the ash away from Rabaul.

ภูเขาไฟตาวูร์วูร์ (Tavurvur) ในปาปัวนิวกินี ปะทุเถ้าถ่านสูง 60,000 ฟุตเช้านี้ http://t.co/2nVbysMbvV pic.twitter.com/HE6cOJEFSW

— ѴѺҎ (@MrVop) August 29, 2014

More images appearing online of Mt Tavurvur erupting. #Rabaul #PNG #volcanowatch pic.twitter.com/u8UX2eXndW

— Martyn A Namorong (@Mangiwantok) August 28, 2014

Bárðarbunga update August 29 07:38 UTC
All airports in Iceland are open although an eruption has begun near Vatnajökull.
A recording from a couple of minutes ago at the Mila Bardarbunga 2 webcam

Bárðarbunga update August 29 07:26 UTC
Around 40 #SAR personnel from Landsbjorg providing assistance in closing down all routes to the (dangerous) eruption area Why? Because a dyke can open everywhere in that area, also under your own car or feet Temperature 1200 °C

Bárðarbunga update August 29 06:30 UTC
The fissure is now thought to be 100m long with low lava fountains with thin flowing lava. #Holuhraun
(Zoomed) Image from a couple of minutes ago below Webcam address

Bárðarbunga update August 29 05:22 UTC
Someone captured the eruption on the Mila webcam. This is an image in 1/1, not zoomed like below. We will soon see the size of the fissure during daylight

Bárðarbunga update August 29 04:42 UTC
Below the image right now at the Mila webcam. The camera is zooming in on the eruption spot which explains the quality. Weather is not really good at the moment and it still partly darkness

Bárðarbunga update August 29 04:20 UTC
29th August 2014 02:45 – An eruption north of Dyngjujökull
An eruption started in Holuhraun north of Dyngjujökull at around 00:02.
Seismic tremor was observed on all seismic stations and the web camera installed in the area by Mila has showed some nice pictures of the eruption.
It is a small fissure eruption and at 02:40 AM the activity appears to have decreased.
ER : This is a very small fissure eruption with almost NO ash content, more or less like a few holes in the ground. The area is unpopulated and only the Mila webcam has recorded it.

OLDER ARCHIVED PARTS OF THIS REPORT :
2013 : July 8 – July 31
2013 : June 24 – July 7
2013 : June 8 – June 23
2013 : May 26 – June 7
2013 : June 8 – August 20
2013 : August 21 – October 27
2013 : October 28 – December 12
2013 : December 13 – January 30
2014 : February 1 – May 20
2014 : May 21 – August 20
2014 : August 21 – August 28 (Bardarbunga volcano Iceland)