Raving Ravens

The Birth and Death of a Volcanic Eruption - Grimsvotn Volcano 2011

It was a short one, but a powerful one! It started when the end of the world was supposed to start, May 21st at 6pm. Just over an hour later it broke the icecap covering it and it was a blast! And it was recorded!

Her are amazing images by mountain guide Ingolfur Bruun, of the initial explosion of the Grimsvotn volcano:

Not only was the birth recorded, ut also the death of the eruption. Well equipped with a camera and a superjeep, photographer Karl Olafsson drove up onto the glacier and all the way to the edge of the crater to see the last breath of a dying volcano:

 

Though it was short, it managed to produce the same amount of ash in 36 hours as Eyjafjallajokull, the volcano that erupted last year, did in 40 days. And it managed to ground airpolanes, at least for a few hours in Scotland, Denmark, Norway and Germany. Not only that, it managed to set up a Facebook page, a twitter account and get over a thousand followers and quotes in the media. 

It's obviously a pretty tech savvy volcano ;)

Move along now, there's nothing more to see here ...

Hjörtur

 

Grimsvotn Volcano Webcam and Videos

Grimsvotn Webcams is something many have been asking for. Mila, an icelandic telecommunication company had very popular webcams set up last year for Eyjafjallajokull. They have also set up webcams for Grímsvötn but due to the heavy ash fall, it has been difficult to get both signal and images from them. 

You can take a look at the webcam from Grímsvötn here and from Jökulsárlón here.

 

Here are also some magnificent videos from the eruption:

 

This video was shot only about a kilometer away from the crater by Þór E. Bachmann. He and a few of his friends went on superjeeps up on the Vatnajokull glacier. In this distance they could not exit the cars because of the ash and small rocks falling.

You can see more videos of the eruption and the ashfall here on mbl.is.

Hjörtur

The First 24 hrs of the 2011 Grimsvotn Volcano Eruption in Pictures

It's been 24 hrs since the eruption in Grimsvötn Volcano in Vatnajökull glacier started. It's not as picturesque as the previous eruptions last year, but here are some of the pictures that have been caught from the eruption and the ash fall south of the glacier.

Norðurflug, the helicopter service that flew both tourists and camera crews to Eyjafjallajokull Volcano last year, flew a camera crew on to the glacier earlier today which got some incredible footage! Image by Anton Brink/visir.is.

The Norðurflug helicopter flying just above the Vatnajokull ice cap, and the black ash cloud from Grimsvotn volcano that is hovering over the helicopter. Image Anton Brink/visir.is

Fantastic image showing the plume rising up from the Vatnajökull glacier and the ash spreading fast in the strong wind in the area. Image from visir.is. 
 
A thick layer of volcanic ash is laying like a carpet over everything below the glacier, like we see on this Nissan Sunny (or mayby Not-So-Sunny) in Kirkjubæjarklaustur. There's no sign of it in Reykjavik though. Image Egill Adalsteinsson.

ICE-SAR members have been distributing masks for the 1.000 people that live in the area worst hit. Image Eggert Jóhannessson/mbl.is.

The bright summer nights are not so bright. The darkness of the ash fall was so black when it was worst that people could barely see their own feet even though they searched for them with a flash light! Image from dv.is.

Live is really hard for birds and livestock now. The lambs are just being born and not all survived the night. Farmers are trying to get their sheep, horses and other live stock back to the houses. Image dv.is. 

No matter how well you try to close doors and windows, the ash gets through everything. Image visir.is. 

You can follow me on twitter for regular updates on the development of the eruption.

Hjörtur

 

How Will Grimsvotn Volcano Affect Air Traffic?

Grimsvotn Volcano started erupting at 6pm GMT today, Saturday May 21st. Grimsvotn Volcano is one of Iceland's most active volcanoes erupting last in 2004, 1998 and 1996 before that. It is located in Europe's largest glacier, Vatnajokull glacier. 

The first image of the 2011 eruption, photo by Halldora K. Unnarsdottir, Hotel Nupur.

The difference between Grimsvotn and Eyjafjallajokull volcanoes:
This looks like a much "better" eruption than the one in Eyjafjallajokull last year, with the most obvious reason being that most people can at least pronounce the name of this one ;) Though Grimsvotn volcano is located under a glacier like Eyjafjallajokull, the effect from the ash plume is very different. The type of magma is different so the ash is not nearly as fine grained as the one from Eyjafjallajokull. It is therefore very unlikely to spread far, and there is no risk that it will spread over Europe like the ash cloud from Eyjafjallajokull did. There is therefore no reason to worry about your flights being cancelled in the coming weeks.

It does have some effect on flights though, as the area in 120 nm radius from the volcano has been banned for air traffic. Some flights might have to move their route slightly to the North or South but none be grounded. This area might become bigger but the only international airport it could affect is Keflavik airport in Iceland. As the volcano is in Iceland, it can never close down all international airports at the same time so no international flights should be cancelled because of this eruption. 

How powerful is the Grimsvotn eruption?
The size of the eruption is still unknown. It starts much more powerful than the 2004 eruption but in 1996 there was a very powerful eruption in Grimsvotn, causing flooding on the sands below Vatnajokull. The flooding now is expected to much less than in 1996 as there was some flooding last fall causing the amount of water already collected at the Grimsvotn volcano being much less than back in 1996. 

As the Grimsvotn volcano is a part of the same system as Lakagigar, where one of the largest eruptions in historic times took place in 1783, the development will be followed closely, but nothing indicates this will be a dangerous eruption so far. 

The first video of the 2011 eruption in Grimsvotn Volcano:

 

I'll bring you regular updates on the eruption here, but for more frequent updates, follow me on twitter.

UPDATE - May 22nd, 17:57 GMT

The airspace over Iceland has now been closed down. If the eruption continues as powerful as it is, it might have some effect on air traffic in Northern Europe on Tuesday. If you have any questions regarding the eruption, you can ask in the comments below or on twitter @hjortur.

Hjörtur

Life in Qaqortoq, South Greenland

Qaqortoq is South Greenlands biggest town with just over 3.500 inhabitants. Located on a peninsula it's colourful houses spread up from the waterfront of both the ocean and a lake and up to the top of the hills. It's all built on bedrock as there is little flat land and little soil.

Thousands of kilometers from the nearest city it is about as remote as you can imagine. There are few shops, though they are surprisingly many considering the size of the town, and the longest road leading out of town ends after about two kilometers. That is about as far as you can get by car. How can anyone live in such a place you might wonder.

Sure, some were born here and don't know anything else. Here is all their network, their friends, their family, their way of living. But I have been meeting so many people in the last days here that had no connection to the place prior to their arrival. They just fell in love with it and there was no turning back.  

Kids playing down by the harbour.

One of the first things you notice, beside the colourful houses, is how full of live the town is. Only few people own a car but there are 16 taxis in town, yeah, a bit like New York, just not as many. Except here you also see children all over the place, running, hiding, playing - not like in New York. With only one TV channel (unless you have a satellite), and a very expensive internet connection the kids aren't waisting all their time in front of the TV or the computer. It reminds me of the life I lived when I was a kid growing up in a remote fishing village in the Westfjords in Iceland. We may have been only three kids in my class, but we didn't mind playing with kids a little bit older or younger, and we were never, ever bored. There was always something to do, playing down by the sea, up in the hills, running around in freedom turning the simplest things into the greatest adventures and enjoying the company of each other.

I met an Icelandic family that moved to Qaqortoq in January - with their 18 year old daughter. As you can imagine, she wasn't all too happy about moving to such place and arrived with an attitude. That had completely changed within two days as the Greenlandic kids welcomed her with open arms and before she knew it she had become a part of a great group of new friends. Now she is back in Iceland for some studies and can't wait to get back.

Boats parked outside the houses. Not cars. A bit like Venice ;)

Altough it may appear as you couldn't be more stuck as in this place there are people that experience this as the biggest freedom you could ever dream off. A place where kids can play freely, a place located in the middle of magnificent unspoiled nature, a place where you only have to sail for two minutes and you're in a place where it looks like no man has ever been before, a place so full of life and wild animals with seals, whales, reindeer, birds, hares, moskus, foxes running around, rivers filled with salmon and trout, sea filled with fish and with boats as common as cars are in most places you just grab your boat and go out to hunt or fish what ever delicasy you'd like for dinner.

And if you do need to get away, there's an international airport just a few minutes helicopter ride away (with daily helicopter rides over there) with connections to Iceland and Denmark where from you can reach any other place in the world.

Just think about it. What is it that really matters in your life? What is it that you really need to have around you to be happy? What is it that your weekends are all about?

This might not be as crazy as it sounds. So, what do you think, could you ever live in such a place? 

Hjörtur