Bárðarbunga Probably Won’t Erupt After All

The Bárðarbunga caldera has sunk by only 50 metres since the Holuhraun eruption began three months ago, indicating that it will not erupt, reports RÚV.

Holuhraun on the other hand, continues to erupt and shows no signs of stopping.

Scientists with the Institute of Earth Sciences flew over Bárðarbunga and Holuhraun yesterday to collect new data and investigate the likelihood of an eruption at Bárðarbunga caldera.

Currently the Holuhraun eruption is fed by lava from underneath Bárðarbunga volcano.

“Yes we believe that it’s likely [there will be no eruption in the Bárðarbunga caldera] and that the results we collected on our flight today tell us there is no end in sight for the [Holuhraun eruption],” said geophysicist Magnús Tumi Guðmundsson. “Everything is about the same up there.”

Around 130 cubic metres of lava stream out of Holuhraun each second and the lava field is now 75 square kilometres.

The river of lava continues to expand the lava field. It’s now almost 75 km2 pic.twitter.com/iEjtiibvIF

— Univ. of Iceland (@uni_iceland) November 27, 2014