[ from a distance ]

[ from a distance ]

View from the Tindafjall area towards the Eyjafjallajökull-Glacier.

picture taken February 2010


Eyjafjallajökull, which made the news since the tissue volcanic eruption at Fimmvörduháls (here left of the Glacier) in march surprised scientists and the public in Iceland again when another eruption started last night at the top of the glacier underneath its big ice mantle just one day after the eruption site Fimmvörduháls had been declared finished. Due to a strong heat outbreak along more than 2km long valley inside the crater, huge amounts of ice have melted and the water ran avalanche-like down the Gígjökull glacial tongue ( center of the mountain) and entered the Markarfljót river. This so called jökulhlaup (glacier run) flooded the complete region outside from Thorsmörk to the ocean (in front of the mountain towards the Vestmannaeyjar-islands) with such a force that bridges flooded and partly got destroyed. The Icelandic Road Authority decided to rip up the Road Nr.1, Iceland's vital vein, to prevent further damage on expensive bridges and release pressure towards the ocean. The peak of the flooding was reached at approx. 1pm. Water vapour and pyroclastic clouds reached a hight of more than 30'000 feet and the eruption, so it seems, is increasing. There is a high risk of a phreatic eruption, which happens when water and magma touch each other.
Without a doubt, this eruption is way more destructive and dangerous than the "tourist volcano eruption" in Fimmvörduháls.