Icelandic eruption again soon?

[Byker28i]

State of Emergency declared in Iceland.
Iceland’s Department of Civil Protection has just ordered a mandatory evacuation of the city of Grindavík and the Svartsengi Power Station as a volcanic eruption appears imminent. Over 1,000 earthquakes reported over the past 24 hours.
https://twitter.com/WxNB_/status/17231290822614469...

The Blue Lagoon thats nearby was closed the other day
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/nov/09/icel...

BBC report
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-67387827

[Derek Smith]

The reports suggest magma is flowing, or at least moving, under Grindavik.

I saw a programme on The Blue Lagoon. It seemed lovely until I realised there was no thermostat.

[redback911]

Derek Smith said:

The reports suggest magma is flowing, or at least moving, under Grindavik.

I saw a programme on The Blue Lagoon. It seemed lovely until I realised there was no thermostat.

Derek Smith said:

The reports suggest magma is flowing, or at least moving, under Grindavik.

I saw a programme on The Blue Lagoon. It seemed lovely until I realised there was no thermostat.

Main thing the Blue Lagoon punishes is your wallet. I've visited Iceland a few times for ultra trail races and multi-day adventure expeditions. You need to be super-careful on the interior (where there are no tourist signs warning you) when you see a babbling brook and want to have a soak or refill your water bottle; it could easily be >50'C. It is usually obvious, especially at elevations where you smell sulphur and/or steam rises. You might also see bubbling mud pools, and these could be 100'C.





There are plenty of ways to die in Iceland in addition to being boiled alive; some natural spring water is full of Thermus bacteria (agent for meningitis, endocarditis, and septicemia), a few coastal areas have sneaker waves that can easily knock you over and drag you far out into the water, hidden crevasses on a glacier, unpredictable weather. Occasionally a polar bear arrives on an an ice floe. All of which can make things interesting.

[Rivenink]

If I'm given a choice on how to die on Iceland (and I must make a choice, ofc)... I'll take the polar bear option. That seems the coolest.

[Cheib]

Only been once but I thought Iceland was fascinating….like nowhere else on earth. Just an incredible place.

[Fundoreen]

I guess they know how to be safe with this sort of advanced warning.
We had some sort of aviation disruption last time this happened but maybe that was a unique situation.

[Derek Smith]

redback911 said:

Main thing the Blue Lagoon punishes is your wallet. I've visited Iceland a few times for ultra trail races and multi-day adventure expeditions. You need to be super-careful on the interior (where there are no tourist signs warning you) when you see a babbling brook and want to have a soak or refill your water bottle; it could easily be >50'C. It is usually obvious, especially at elevations where you smell sulphur and/or steam rises. You might also see bubbling mud pools, and these could be 100'C.

There are plenty of ways to die in Iceland in addition to being boiled alive; some natural spring water is full of Thermus bacteria (agent for meningitis, endocarditis, and septicemia), a few coastal areas have sneaker waves that can easily knock you over and drag you far out into the water, hidden crevasses on a glacier, unpredictable weather. Occasionally a polar bear arrives on an an ice floe. All of which can make things interesting.

That's an interesting post. Thanks.

A friend had a massive 'log cabin' or mansion in the 'hills' or rather mountains around Seattle. The cabin was on a lovely lake that was acidic enough to burn your skin if you jumped in it for a few seconds. You had to take bottled water if you were staying there.

My daughter-in-law is Japanese and was a TV news presenter out there, a TV programme's earthquake correspondent. She had frequently landed during secondary shocks.

I am bemused by this casual approach to earthquakes. What good in ground if it moves?

[TwigtheWonderkid]

Rivenink said:

If I'm given a choice on how to die on Iceland (and I must make a choice, ofc)... I'll take the polar bear option. That seems the coolest.

I don't think they have polar bears in Iceland.

[JQ]

TwigtheWonderkid said:

Rivenink said:

If I'm given a choice on how to die on Iceland (and I must make a choice, ofc)... I'll take the polar bear option. That seems the coolest.

I don't think they have polar bears in Iceland.

Indeed they don’t. There has been the odd occasion when one has swum to the northern part of the island (a handful of times in the last 20 years) and they are promptly shot.

[speedchick]

Visited the Blue Lagoon in January, only drove up and had a wander around the 'outside' pools, quick pit stop and look in the gift shop and then carried on, driving through the north of Grindavik onto our next stop.

We did watch the camera footage of the eruption the other month, something weird about watching a web cam and seeing the eruption start. But that one was in an unhabited area. The roads around the town are breaking up and there are new 'features' on the golf course.

The town was evacuated last night, and then they pulled all the emergency workers out of the town around 4am this morning. The amount of earthquakes is something else!

[WindyCommon]

This has the potential to become a major event. Let’s hope not.

Here’s an amazing visualisation of seismic activity in the last month or so.

https://x.com/flight404/status/1723357664602739113...

[munroman]

Watching an interview from the area yesterday, with an Icelandic Geology Professor.

Mentioned that there have been 4 similar events, a roughly 800 year quiescent period, with 200 years of activity...

The power of nature is incredible, but our LEZs should save us.

Obviously...

[Byker28i]

Webcam here for if anything happens.
https://youtu.be/P1e_MWJ1nQc

[Byker28i]

We've done blue lagoon, in january, in the dark (only about 4 hours of light then).
Cold air at about freezing, and the water was hot, and for hotter further down so your feet roasted. Fine if you swam. If you got out you were soon cold so got back in again

[heisthegaffer]

Fundoreen said:

I guess they know how to be safe with this sort of advanced warning.
We had some sort of aviation disruption last time this happened but maybe that was a unique situation.

I was stuck in Kuala Lumpur for 5 days the last time it happened. Was good.

[redback911]

Derek Smith said:

My daughter-in-law is Japanese and was a TV news presenter out there, a TV programme's earthquake correspondent. She had frequently landed during secondary shocks.

I am bemused by this casual approach to earthquakes. What good in ground if it moves?

Hey cool, it's great having family members from diverse backgrounds and cultures. My wife is also Japanese, when I first lived in Tokyo it was surreal how people just ignore minor tremors and chat away as the cups wobble and lights sway.

Interesting how people adapt and normalize environments that other people find overwhelming, with real peril or otherwise. I'm off to Brisbane in March and to plan for the trip all I've done is Google "huntsman spiders". :-D

[Biggy Stardust]

Byker28i said:

We've done blue lagoon, in january, in the dark (only about 4 hours of light then).
Cold air at about freezing, and the water was hot, and for hotter further down so your feet roasted. Fine if you swam. If you got out you were soon cold so got back in again

I did it in -9C. The snow was turning to mist as it reached the water, ice in my hair, body in a very hot bath. The cocktails had a very high alcohol content, presumably as antifreeze.

There were pulses of hotter water travelling through the pool, easily spotted by the Mexican wave of bathers suddenly doing their best impression of a Polaris missile as the heat reached them.

[Derek Smith]

redback911 said:

Derek Smith said:

My daughter-in-law is Japanese and was a TV news presenter out there, a TV programme's earthquake correspondent. She had frequently landed during secondary shocks.

I am bemused by this casual approach to earthquakes. What good in ground if it moves?

Hey cool, it's great having family members from diverse backgrounds and cultures. My wife is also Japanese, when I first lived in Tokyo it was surreal how people just ignore minor tremors and chat away as the cups wobble and lights sway.

Interesting how people adapt and normalize environments that other people find overwhelming, with real peril or otherwise. I'm off to Brisbane in March and to plan for the trip all I've done is Google "huntsman spiders". :-D

You are spot on about diverse backgrounds. I've got four children, and of the remaining three, one's married a Pole, and another opted for Irish. It's great. I was brought up in a poor area of south east London, with a railway line separating us from Blackheath. I had Irish (lots), Scottish, Jewish and Poles as friends and schoolmates, plus a smattering of others who'd fled the war in Europe. I suppose it was multi-cultural before the term had been invented.

Although it sounds rather odd, and probably is, I didn't realise/know I was half Irish until I was in my teens. Weird now, not so much then.

[LimaDelta]

Visited Blue Lagoon a few times, don't remember it being particularly expensive (no more than Iceland in general) though it was a good few years back, and perhaps less well known. I do remember doing the usual stupid 2-something male game of seeing how far into the thermal vents one could get. The water was pretty warm!

Last big eruption I was due to fly out to St Maarten (IIRC), and ended up on the Eurostar outrunning the airspace closures, and joined my connection in Paris rather than flying the first leg. Wasn't sure how long I would be stuck there and when I'd be able to fly back home.

[gotoPzero]

I think the risk outside of the local area is lower on this one because its not prone to big ejections, more likely big cracks open up and the "magma" will flow out like a leaking tap rather than a champagne bottle.