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Volcanic activity could go on for years

„There's gonna be activity here for a few years. Not this particular eruption, it'll end and another one will start up elsewhere, and this will clearly erupt in a glacier," said volcanologist Ármann Höskuldsson last night.

„This may be pretty to look at, but if the lava flows the last 3 kilometers towards the glacier then we won't have much time."

Ármann adds that the eruption has slowed slightly over the past 24 hours. One of the craters has stopped spewing magma, most likely due to a blockage in the magma chamber below.

Scientists estimate that the longest lava stream from the fissure has reached 7 kilometers in length and is heading north by north-east, towards the source of Jökulsá.

The fissure is on a wide plateau between Vatnajökull and Askja. From here we can see the Kverkfjöll mountainrange, and also Dyngjujökull, the closest part of Vatnajökull.

The lava is flowing into an area known as Flæður, a series of streams flowing north from Dyngjujökull that later combine into the river Jökulsá. Already the lava is blocking the waterflow.

Extreme caution must be taken in this area, as explosions tend to happen when the water tries to flow under the 1000°C hot lava.


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Live webcam: "Similar in size to the largest Krafla eruptions"

Magma started flowing in Holuhraun at 5:00 AM this morning. The eruption is located on the same fissure as the previous eruption on Friday morning, but is many times larger. This is the third eruption in the Bárðarbunga region in roughly a week, and the largest by far.

Air traffic not affected

The eruption in the Holuhraun lava field in Iceland has no impact on air traffic from Keflavik airport, at least at this stage.

The fissure thought to be about one kilometre long

A scientist at the IMO in Iceland located about five kilometres from the eruption in Holuhraun, north of Dyngjujökull, estimates that the fissure is about one kilometer long.

Amazing pictures from the eruption

Armann Hoskuldsson, a scientist at the Institute of Earth Sciences at the University of Iceland, took some amazing photographs in the early morning when scientists witnessed the eruption in Holuhraun north of Dyngjujokull.

Eruption started again

An eruption has started again in Holuhraun, just north of Dyngjujokull in Iceland. The eruption was visible from a live webcam at 5:49 AM local time.






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