What We're Reading

Last week we posted a blip about Bardabunga; the largest volcano in Iceland experiencing an enormous increase in seismic activity of late and we recapped how the 2010 volcanic eruption in Iceland paralyzed air travel, shuttering a number of airports and stranding travelers across Europe (not to mention costing airlines billions in lost revenue). 

To bring us up to date is Dem. site DailyKos which truly makes me love science even more.  Sadly, I slept through much of it as a teen.  What a fool was I.

In any case, Bardabunga is far from calming down and indicators point to it's magma chamber not only expanding, but flowing right towards...........Askja; another volcano's magma chamber.  Estimate now are that magma intrusion she's sent forth at an average rate of hundreds of cubic meters per second (similar to the flow rate of the Hudson River at New York City, straight through solid rock) has gone over 30 kilometers from Bárðarbunga's magma chamber, its end is no longer under the glaci

No, not the one from April 2010 whose name no one could pronounce (Eyjafjallajokull) however a larger one (Bardarbunga) may now be heating up (pardon the pun).

In what the Meteorological Office describes as an "intense earthquake swarm," scientists registered some 2,600 earthquakes between early Saturday morning and Monday evening.

And after the strongest earthquake since 1996 was measured in the area early Monday, an orange aviation alert was posted (2nd highest alert) by Icelandic authorities -- indicating "heightened or escalating unrest with increased potential of eruption."

In 2010 the Eyjafjallajokull eruption forced the cancellation and diversion of thousands of flights per day at the peak of the problem due to ash that can damage a plane's delicate engines, while the ventilation holes can become clogged and stall the aircraft.  Over 10 million travellers were stranded around the world, waiting for winds to shift.

"It was causing problems for millions of passengers, the airli