Breaking Volcano News!

Oh yes, I bring you something new. Within the last hour or so (around 18:00-19:00), a big burst of earthquakes (not necessarily large-magnitude ones, but a lot of them) has occurred in a very tight cluster, focussed somewhere between the Eyjafjallajökull caldera (summit crater) and the current eruptive fissure on Fimmvörðuháls. This was also accompanied by a huge spike in high and mid-frequency tremor.

What does all this science-o-babble mean? Well, nothing is certain. But something is happening. At this point I would say that more magma is probably moving towards the surface (perhaps a sort of bubble), but that is pure speculation.

This raises interesting possibilities. The eruption has been pretty stable these last few days, perhaps decreasing a little (some say as much as 25% over the last 2-3 days). There were some weird goings-on with the tremor graphs this morning, too, which have yet to be explained. One theory is that the volcano is losing gases somewhere other than the main fissure, which would explain the decrease in the height of the fire fountains, too. But if a new ‘pulse’ of magma is forcing its way upward, and does reach the surface, perhaps we could see renewed vigour in the eruption.

You may see nothing happen, but there is certainly the possibility for something more spectacular here. Watch this space, I guess.
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