Report on Grimsvotn (Iceland) — 7 September-13 September 2016
Smithsonian Institution / US Geological Survey
Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 7 September-13 September 2016
Managing Editor: Sally Sennert.
Please cite this report as:
Global Volcanism Program, 2016. Report on Grimsvotn (Iceland) (Sennert, S, ed.). Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 7 September-13 September 2016. Smithsonian Institution and US Geological Survey.
Grimsvotn
Iceland
64.416°N, 17.316°W; summit elev. 1719 m
All times are local (unless otherwise noted)
On 8 September the Icelandic Meteorological Office (IMO) stated that the water level of the Skaftá river at Sveinstindur (the closest gauging station at 28 km downstream from the ice margin) rose significantly in the previous 24 hours, suggesting the beginning of a glacial outburst flood (jökulhlaup), originating from [the Western Skaftá ice cauldron, about 20 km NW of Grímsvötn]. The discharge rate of Skaftá at Sveinstindur was 270 m³/s. IMO warned that hydrogen sulfide released from the floodwater as it drains is particularly potent at the river outlet from the ice margin, where concentrations may reach poisonous levels.
Geological Summary. Grímsvötn, Iceland's most frequently active volcano in recent history, lies largely beneath the vast Vatnajökull icecap. The caldera lake is covered by a 200-m-thick ice shelf, and only the southern rim of the 6 x 8 km caldera is exposed. The geothermal area in the caldera causes frequent jökulhlaups (glacier outburst floods) when melting raises the water level high enough to lift its ice dam. Long NE-SW-trending fissure systems extend from the central volcano. The most prominent of these is the noted Laki (Skaftar) fissure, which extends to the SW and produced the world's largest known historical lava flow in 1783. The 15 km3 basaltic Laki lavas were erupted over 7 months from a 27-km-long fissure system. Extensive crop damage and livestock losses caused a severe famine that resulted in the loss of one-fifth of the population of Iceland.