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Eyafjallajökull volcano (its name meaning Island-Mountain under a glacier) under the small homonymous glacier in southern Iceland erupted spectacularly on 20 March 2010, after having been dormant for almost 200 years. During its most violent phase, the subglacial eruption produced large ash plumes that drifted over Europe and forced an unprecedented closure of airspace over most of Europe for several days in mid April 2010.
Eyafjallajokull's eruption might not yet have ended or be ending yet. The vent in the western crater still produces small magma explosions and some ash, and a new crater has formed around the vent. Tremor had strongly increased over the past days, but then descreased again. Scientists continue to monitor the state of the volcano closely.
It seems that the eruption of Eyafjallajökull volcano has finally ended. While there is still a considerable steam plume rising from the crater, no fresh ash or lava emissions have been observed since yesterday (23 May). The measured heat flow from the crater is low and seismic activity has continued to decrease as well.
Eyafjallajökull volcano is getting more quiet and perhaps the eruption is coming to an end. As the Icelandic Meteorological Office and the Institute of Earth Sciences confirm in their latest bulletin, the magma output rate has decreased to an estimated 5 tons per second, around 10% of what it had been a week ago and during the peak phases of activity. The plume has decreased to 1.5-3.5 km and contains relatively little ash. Seismicity has been decreasing overall.
The intensity of Eyafjallajökull's eruption has been decreasing. Observations from flights show that the eruption plume is light grey, with a small amount of ash and the height is 3-3.5 km/10,000-12,000 ft (a.s.l.), about half of what it had been a week ago.
The intensity of Eyafjallajokull's eruption is slightly decreasing, although the ash plumes are still reaching 5-6 km (18,000-20,000 ft) height according to radar and pilot observations. However, it would be too early to conclude that this means that an end of the eruption is in sight.
Eyjafjallajøkull continues to erupt. According to radar observations, the eruption plume has been mostly at 7 km (21,000 ft) height and drifting NW. It is estimated that the eruption output is as high s 200 tons per second. Ashfall in some areas of southern Iceland is becoming an increasing problem.
The strong ash eruptions at Eyafjallajokull volcano continue, producing plumes of up to 7 km height. There are no signs that the eruption will end soon. ...more
The ash cloud has spread over much of England, including London, as well as other parts of northern Europe and caused the cancellation of ca. 1,000 flights over Europe. The ash cloud blanketed a good swath of Iceland Monday and covered the area to the south over the Faeroe Islands as well as northern Scotland. Ash is also covering Northern Ireland and south-central England, including London. [less]
The ash cloud from Eyafjallajökull's hightened activity in recent days has now reached the northern parts of British and Irish airspace. A no-fly zone has been imposed over parts of Northern Ireland, and no flights are going in or out of airports in Belfast or the Isle of Man.
The eruption in Iceland continues with little changes. Eyafjallajokull volcano continues to emit dense graz ash reaching a height of 7 km (24,000 ft). Currently, the plume is drifting west and southwest, causing ashfall on the Vestmannaeyjar islands, Rangárþing eystra and in Reykjavík.
The eruption at Eyjafjallajøkull volcano continues with little changes, although the strength of the ash emission has slightly increased again. The plume is now reaching 6-9 km altitude and carried in southerly directions by presently weak winds. ...more
New (hopefully localized) disruption of air traffic in the next days is quite likely. [less]
After a few days of milder activity, the explosions have again increased in intensity, creating ash plumes of 5-6 km height. ...more
The Icelandic Met Office reports: "The crater is getting higher. Lava flow is low and not visible on cameras. In the afternoon there was a slight increase in explosive activity, which resulted in a higher plume for a while. Seismic tremor has been similar for the past 3 days. A sequence of earthquakes started around 11:00 this morning at depths of 18 - 20 km and magnitude range 1 - 2. The earthquake sequence this morning indicates that magma is still flowing in from the mantle. Presently there are no indications that the eruption is about to end." [less]
While the eruption on Iceland itself has not changed much, it is now a bit less intense, but still producing ash plumes of 4-5 km height. ...more
The ash cloud from the strong phase of 3-4 days ago when plume heights reached near 10 km again is presently still roaming through Europe and causing airports to close down. After Spain and Portugal, northern Italy, then southern Germany, parts of Austria and the Czech Republik had been forced to shut parts of their airspace and airports down, cancelling hundreds of flights until Sunday evening, most airports are reopening this Monday. [less]
Eyjafjallajøkull erupting a powerful ash plume seen on 8 May 2010 from the Milo webcam (http://eldgos.mila.is/eyjafjallajokull-fra-thorolfsfelli/>Milo Webcams of Eyjafjallajoekull)
Even though the overall intensity of Eyjafjallajøkull's eruption seems to have decreased somewhat, the eruption continues unabated and shows no signs of a soon ending. ...more
19 airports in Span and Portugal were partially closed today because of the ash plume from the past days. [less]
Ash from the increasing Eyjafjallajøkull eruption is drifting over parts of Portugal and Spain, prompting the closure of several airports this Saturday (Santiago de Compostela, La Coruña and Vigo).
The activity at Eyjafjallajøkull is increasing. ...more
The explosive activity has increased and effusive activity has decreased during the last two days, resulting in a a higher eruption column to up to 9km (30,000 ft) with increased tephra fallout around the volcano, which is now almost completely black. Considerable ashfall occurs at Þykkvabæjarklaustur in Álftaver (at a distance of 65-70 km). [less]
The eruption in Iceland has increased again. After large explosions on 3 May at 14h30 produced ash plumes of up 5-6 km height, parts of this ash are now drifting over Ireland and Britain, forcing again a partial closure of airspace and cancellation of numerous flights this morning. ...more
At the volcano, lava continues to flow from the summit crater and has advanced over 3 km on the north slope of Eyjafjallajökull. There are no indications that Katla volcano is going to erupt as well. [less]
No significant changes are to be reported from Eyjafjallajøkull's eruption. Mild effusive and explosive activity continues at the summit, ash plume elevations and magma discharge levels remain similar to the preceding seven days of activity. Lava continues to flow north from the eruption site and down the Gígjökull glacier. ...more
The eruption at Eyafjallajökull continues. As the Icelandig Met Office reports, ash plume elevations and magma discharge levels remain similar to the preceding four days of activity. Lava continues to flow north from the eruption site toward the head of the Gígjökull glacier. Despite light ash-fall occurring up to 45 km west of the eruption site, the explosive activity and ash production represents a fraction of conditions during the height of the eruption (14-17 April). There are no measurable indications that the eruption is about to end.
The eruption at Eyafjallajökull volcano on Iceland continues at a similar rate as during the past days, with strombolian and phreatomagmatic activity at the summit, generating ash plumes reaching 2-5 km height. Deflation of the volcano indicates that the eruption might be nearing its end. ...more
Flight operations in the European airspace (which in an unprecedented case had been largely closed for 5 consecutive days due to the presence of ash from the eruption) are almost back to normal and slowly, the long queue of stranded passengers around the world are returning to their destination. In the meanwhile the debate about wether European air control authorities and decision makers have been too strict in their measures and "responsible" for the huge (estimated between 1.5-2 billion eur) loss for the airline industry is going on hot. For a well-balanced discussion, we recommend the following article on Erik Klemetti's excellent Eruptions Blog. [less]
As our team members Jorge Santos and Marco Fulle report from on location, the eruption seems to be declining. Since 20 April, it consists of separated bursts of lava from the summit crater, accompanied by loud shock waves rattling windows at up to 20km distance. On one occasion, Jorge managed to photograph such a shock wave near the crater. ...more
New photos from the ongoing eruption have been posted. As the ash emission is now low and the original high ash cloud is dispersing, flights through the European airspace are gradually resuming, to the relief of tens of thousands travellers stranded throughout the world. [less]
As the ash cloud from Eyjafjallajøkull continues to decrease, mostly because most of the ice around the crater is now molten, the seismic activity remains high and lava emission (magmatic activity) in the form of strombolian eruptions and fountains can now be observed at the crater. This signals another stage in the eruption, where it is likely that a new cone will be built inside the crater of the volcano.
The ash emission at Eyjafjallajøkull volcano seems to be decreasing. However, the ash cloud over large parts of Europe still forces thousands of flights to be canceled causing large-scale disruption of travel.
The eruption of Eyjafjallajökull volcano increased over the past days, sending a huge ash cloud drifting at elevantions between 2-10 km over large parts of Europe, forcing nearly all airports in central, northern and parts of southern Europe to be closed for several days, to an extent that has not been known in the history of commercial air traffic. ...more
Tens of thousands of planes - most planes to and within Europe - have been cancelled, causing unprecedented chaos for people travelling all over. In the meanwhile, we are proud to present a set of new photos of the ash cloud on the glacier taken by our new team member Jorge Santos who is currently at the eruption site. [less]
The ash clouds of the erupting Eyjafjallajökull volcano already cover big areas of western Europe causing 60% of airports being closed. There are the main airports of England and Germany affected.
Eruption over the Eyjafjallajökull volcano producing large ash clouds (photo: J Santos, 14 April 2010)
The glacial eruption at Eyjafjallajökull volcano is intensifying. Large amounts of ash are blown into the atmosphere and drift over parts of northern Europe where many flight routes for jet planes have been closed.
On Wednesday 14 April, Eyjafjallajokull volcano has started to erupt again, this time from a location near the summit under the glacier. Commercial aircraft reported seeing steam plumes rising from the glacier. A likely consequence could be massive melting of ice and resulting flash floods from underneath the glacier (so called jökullaups)
The eruption of Eyjafjallajökull volcano has calmed down or even ended over the past days. However, during the night of 13-14 April, intense seismic activity beneath the glacier have triggered a new alarm about a possible new eruption. According to news articles, 800 people have been evacuated from the area.
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