The last time there was an eruption in this glacier was in 1821.

Luckily there are not very many people living close to the volcanic activity, however there are many farms in that region that might be affected by the pollution caused by the eruption.

Some pics further down on this thread....

UPDATE: New eruption started April 13th - 10-20 times more powerful than the previous eruption, causing disruptions in flight schedules in Northern Europe including the UK - I posted some info later in the thread...


[Edited 4/15/10 4:09am]

This is yet ANOTHER reason why Florida is a better place to live, yall.

First pictures:





Here's a live webcam from another mountain in the southern region - the glow from the volcanic eruption is clearly visible: http://www.ruv.is/hekla
[Edited 3/20/10 19:28pm]

From the public broadcaster's website www.ruv.is:

"A state of emergency has been declared due to the volcanic eruption in Eyjafjallajökull and emergency plans are being enacted to evacuate affected areas. Residents of Fljótshlíð are being evacuated due to danger of flooding when the glacial waters melt.
There is currently no sign of flooding but it could be imminent according to experts. Ash has already begun to fall in Fljótshlíð and people in the surrounding area have reported seeing bright lights eminating from the glacier. Everyone in the immediate area is advised to follow developments closely. Special response centers have been set up for travellers from the affected areas in Vík and in the local school in Hvolsvöllur.
It is not clear exactly where the eruption is taking place but it is being investigated."

I just checked and there are no news yet about this in the international media, so the best bet to keep updated if you don't speak Icelandic is probably to check out this topic on Twitter: http://twitter.com/search?q=%23icerupt

OR this one: http://twitter.com/search...%C3%B6kull
It's 3 am here in Iceland and I'll probably try to get some sleep soon, but I might check in here tomorrow and post some update if anything news-worthy happens regarding this...
[Edited 3/20/10 20:31pm]

WOW! Did they have any warning? ( Meaning, is there any warning system for these things?)
[Edited 3/20/10 20:15pm]

Muse2NoPharaoh said:

Those who live in the area received text messages from authorities alerting them about the situation soon after the news broke about the eruption, but while there have been some minor earthquakes in the area the past few weeks, the volcanic activity now is considered "unusual" by scientists.

The news are now starting to reach the BBC:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/h...578576.stm
[Edited 3/20/10 20:24pm]

purplehippieonthe1 said:

glacial rift currently 1km long;

Some video of the eruption, earlier this morning:
http://http.ruv.straumar....20nytt.wmv

Here are some proper pictures of the eruption:
http://mbl.is/mm/frettir/...gid=525588
[Edited 3/21/10 3:20am]

Now there are reports that another eruption could happen, an even bigger one, but the scientists are not 100% sure about this:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/a...-container

I decided to check the comment section below that article...
Bad idea! About 90% of the comments there are just...
Seriously ignorant folks on that comment section in Yahoo

Wow!

OMG! I know it's not anywhere near you but take care PURPLEHIPPIE!!!!

MIGUELGOMEZ said:

Thanks, I will.
Luckily the capital (where I live) is about 200 km from the spot where the volcanic activity is taking place, and while there is still some activity, it hasn't really affected the populated areas in the region, at least not yet.
The biggest danger at the moment is if the ash spreads enough for it to spoil the grass for livestock.
But the power of the eruption has actually created a new mountain already..
There's an article about it at the Reykjavík Grapevine website, which is the website of a English-language free magazine published in Reykjavík:
http://www.grapevine.is/N...Being-Born


edit: Here is some recent video of the eruption (video from today) - the voice-over is in Icelandic but the video speaks for itself - the line chart shown is a measure of the activity:
http://dagskra.ruv.is/sjo...0/03/22/0/
[Edited 3/22/10 14:44pm]

I understand that volcanic eruptions result in nice sunsets.


...better to think about THAT than the worst-case scenarios if the BIG ONE erupts, which could result in noxious gases spreading across Europe and colder winters across the northern hemisphere.

...think sunsets people...sunsets...

at Fox News' Megyn Kelly covering the volcano situation:
"The name of the glacier (Eyjafjallajökull) has so many letters I'm not gonna try to pronounce it"
And it didn't seem like she was at all concerned at how a second, more powerful eruption in another volcano close by, would affect the people living on the island, but was only concerned about colder winters in the US.
OK, to be fair, she did pronounce the name of the volcano that could possibly blow (Katla). She didn't pronounce it correctly, but she did try.
[Edited 3/23/10 10:48am]

purplehippieonthe1 said:

...so you think that if the "big one" really does erupt in Iceland, the far Right Zealots will find some justification for God's Wrath upon them??? Maybe because they let their banks go belly-up?

TheVoid said:

Don't you get hurricanes there?

[Edited 3/24/10 7:32am]

PurpleJedi said:

I predict that Glenn Beck will spend an hour with his chalk board drawing up a formula to "prove" that it's all Obama's fault.

It's Holland's and England's wrath for not paying us back our money.

HamsterHuey said:

The people who put their money into the Icesave accounts have gotten their money back from the English and Dutch governments. The issue now is the terms of the payment plan, not whether to pay the money back or not.
The rejection of the Icesave bill in the referendum was due to the fact that a better deal was supposedly already on the table but had not been finalized.

The money will be paid by Icelandic taxpayers (12000 euros per capita), no matter how unfair I think that is.

This article explains the disputed terms of the Icesave legislation (it was written before the referendum):
http://bjarnimax.blog.is/...y/1003708/
[Edited 3/24/10 4:44am]

purplehippieonthe1 said:

Thanks for that explanation, but I was of course just kidding.
I should have posted a along with it.

I didn't even know Iceland was still around.....

TotalANXiousNESS said:

Around? It's a friggin' island. It's been there for 20 million years, mmkay?

And if it weren't around, where would I live then?

purplehippieonthe1 said:

OH! THANK YOU!!!

You just reminded me!!!

GARMAN GPS.....Do you know the value of that by any chance?

HamsterHuey said:

It's OK... I'm a bit sensitive about the topic, that's all.
It's just that I hate that this Icesave issue hasn't been resolved already... politicians over here have been arguing about literally nothing but Icesave for over a year now and I REALLY hope that a fair deal with the Dutch and British authorities is on its way so that the people of Iceland can start focusing on other stuff.

TotalANXiousNESS said:

edit: because I totally misunderstood the question.
No, I'm not sure what that type of GPS goes for... have you tried looking up listings on ebay?
[Edited 3/24/10 8:42am]

purplehippieonthe1 said:

Can I ask about the state of your nipples or is that too off-topic for you?