Iceland review - 2015, Qupperneq 36

34 ICELAND REVIEW
August 16, 2014
The Icelandic Met Office
reports heightened seismic
activity in Bárðarbunga.
August 19, 2014
The highlands north of
Vatnajökull are evacuated
and closed off to the public.
August 23, 2014
A minor sub-glacial eruption
occurs in Bárðarbunga,
an emergency phase is
declared, the aviation code
over Vatnajökull is tempo-
rarily changed to red and
the Ring Road temporarily
closed.
The figure shows high-precision earth-
quake locations from the rifting event
(K. Vogfjörð, Icelandic Met Office).
The earthquakes migrated from the
Bárðarbunga caldera in Vatnajökull
glacier towards Holuhraun north of the
glacier’s edge, a distance of 48 km, in
connection with underground magma
transfer. View is from east-south-east
and vertical scale is exaggerated.
August 26, 2014
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake
hits Bárðarbunga, the strong-
est recorded in the volcano
in connection with the
Holuhraun eruption and the
strongest recorded in Iceland
since the big South Iceland
quake in 2008.
August 29, 2014
Magma surfaces in
Holuhraun but the eruption
concludes after a few hours.
August 31, 2014
A 1.5 km (1-mile) long rift
opens up in Holuhraun with
lava shooting 100 meters
(328 feet) in the air.
September 2, 2014
The eruption site and sur-
rounding area are declared
off-limits for all but scientists
and journalists are later given
limited access.
September 5, 2014
Measurements show that the
7x11-km wide Bárðarbunga
caldera has subsided by 15
meters (49 feet).
September 7, 2014
A “blue haze” is reported in
East Iceland; volcanic gas
pollution reaches an inhabit-
ed area for the first time.
October 11, 2014
Volcanologist Haraldur
Sigurðsson predicts that the
Holuhraun eruption will end
on March 4, 2015.
October 26, 2014
SO2 levels peak in an inhab-
ited area at 21,000 µg/m3 in
Höfn, Southeast Iceland.
The eruption in Holuhraun
remains stable;
seismic activity continues
in Bárðarbunga.
January 30, 2015
The Scientific Advisory
Board of the Icelandic Civil
Protection predicts that the
eruption may carry on for
another four to 15 months.
February 3, 2015
The ABC’s Good Morning
America is broadcast live
from Holuhraun to millions of
viewers.
February 17, 2015
A video by pilot Reynir Freyr
Pétursson of Reykjavík
Helicopters shows that the
lava flow in Holuhraun has
decreased substantially;
speculations are made that
the eruption may be in its
final days.
February 27, 2015
The eruption in Holuhraun
comes to an end and is
declared to be over the
following day.
March 1, 2015
Measurements from
Bárðarbunga show that the
caldera has sunk 70 meters
in total. Subsidence seems
to have come to an almost
complete stop.
March 4, 2015
Part of the closed-off area is
reopened, including Dettifoss
waterfall.
March 16, 2015
The closed-off area around
the eruption site is signifi-
cantly reduced.
TIMELINE
ERUPTION