Iceland Volcano Tremors Stay Strong, Ash Plume Low
Date: 23-Apr-10
Country: ICELAND
Author: Patrick Lannin
Iceland Volcano Tremors Stay Strong, Ash Plume Low Photo:
Lucas Jackson
Ash and steam rise from an erupting volcano near Eyjafjallajokull,
Iceland April 20, 2010.
Photo: Lucas Jackson
Iceland's volcanic eruption was still causing strong tremors on
Thursday, though far less ash and smoke was pouring out into the air.
Huge ash clouds spewed from the volcano last week and led to European
air traffic being grounded for days. The smoke and fumes coming from the
volcano have much less ash now and the plume has stayed at low levels.
However, the tremors coming from it are stronger now than when the ash
plume was at its highest, at about 9 km (5.6 miles), said meteorological
office geophysicist Steinunn Jakobsdottir.
"We don't know exactly what this is telling us. This is kind of telling
me that it is not stopping yet ... As it looks now it could go on for a
while," she told a news conference.
Seismologist Bryndis Brandsdottir said the tremors could indicate a
build up of lava, or molten rock, within the crater.
"The lava cannot really go anywhere. It is not flowing out of the
crater, it must be accumulating there," she told Reuters.
She said that if did find its way out of the crater then it would
probably flow down the north side of the mountain, which is where floods
occurred at the start of the eruption last week. This was mostly away
from inhabited places, she said.
Another scientist said it was difficult to predict.
"The spectrum of possibilities is very wide. Volcanoes are very
different from each other," said Giuliano Panza, a professor of
seismology at the University of Trieste in Italy.
He said studying volcanoes was like trying to understand a human
heartbeat -- changes in rhythm might mean a problem for one patient but
not for another.
The volcano under the Eyjafjallajokull glacier, about 120 km (75 miles)
southeast of the capital Reykjavik, has been erupting for 8 days.
"Only the northernmost fissure is erupting now and the plume is
occasionally reaching a height of 3 km (1.9 miles), but it is mostly
below that," Jakobsdottir said. "It (the plume) is kind of stable at a
height of 2 to 3 km," she added.
For locals, ash was set to continue to fall in areas close to the
volcano, raising concerns about dangers to livestock from high levels of
fluoride in the ash.
Apart from the current volcano, Icelanders have also been warily eyeing
the nearby Katla volcano, which is much larger and has a much greater
potential for devastation.
It last blew in 1918, flooding huge areas.
Experts say history shows that an eruption at Katla often, but not
always, follows one under the Eyjafjallajokull glacier.
(Editing by Charles Dick)
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