Iceland Grand Circle Road Trip Discussion

[HostDave]

(CNN) -- Iceland closed the airspace near the Bardarbunga volcano on Saturday, warning that significant emission of ash into the atmosphere is likely.

The Icelandic Meteorological Office raised the aviation alert at Bardarbunga to "red," which means that eruption is imminent or in progress.

The new alert follows the latest report from the meteorological agency, which found that a small sub-glacial volcanic eruption has started under the ice cap of a glacier there.

In response, the national commissioner of the Icelandic police put his agency in an emergency phase, CNN affiliate Iceland 2 TV reported.

The underground activity did not immediately result in changes to volcanic activity on the surface, the agency said.

Because of a pressure from the glacier cap it is uncertain whether the eruption will stay sub-glacial or not, Iceland 2 TV said.

Scientists have noticed an increase in seismic activity around the volcano, located in the northwestern region of Vatnajokull glacier, one of Europe's largest glaciers, over the past seven years, the Meteorological Office said.

The level dropped a little after the eruption of another volcano on the same glacier, Grimsvotn, in 2011, but has since picked up again.

According to the Smithsonian Institute Global Volcanism Program, Bardarbunga last erupted in 1910.

If it should blow its top again, it could be bad news for travelers.

Volcanic ash can be a serious hazard to aircraft, reducing visibility, damaging flight controls and ultimately causing jet engines to fail.

[HostDave]

Key points:

- Eruption ended at 4 Am
- All flight restrictions lifted

The volcanic eruption that started North of Vatnajokull early this morning has been declared over. The eruption only lasted for about four hours. No damage was caused by the eruption or in its aftermath.

A volcanic eruption originating North of Vatnajökull Glacier was confirmed this morning at two minutes past midnight. A fissure, close to 1 km in length, opened up, emitting lava at a slow pace. Active flow of lava is believed to have stopped around 4 AM this morning. Very little lava was emitted from the eruption, and no discernible distribution of airborne ash was detected.

The Icelandic Meteorological Office has changed the volcanic activity alert status for aviation in Iceland from red to orange. The small eruption is not a threat to aviation and the published aviation warning area has been cancelled. A 3 nautical mile radius and 5,000 foot altitude immediate safety restricted flight area around the volcanic activity set by the Icelandic Transport Authority remains is effect.

The National Commissioner of the Icelandic Police has also decided to downgrade the emergency phase back to alert phase. This decision is based on scientific evaluation of the situation.


Authorities will continue to monitor the situation closely. There is still significant seismic activity in the area and travelers are encouraged to follow Iceland.is and Safetravel.is for continued updates.

[HostDave]

Looks like they called the eruption finished a bit too soon!

http://rt.com/news/184780-iceland-volca ... tion-lava/

[HostDave]

As of today, Saturday 28th February 2015, the eruption in Holuhraun which began 31st August 2014 has come to an end. The Scientific Advisory Board of the Icelandic Civil Protection has concluded this after a meeting this morning based on the latest evidence in the eruption area. The area will be closely monitored in case of further development and no changes have been made to the restricted area North of Vatnajökull. Gas contamination is still being detected even though the eruption is over.

Civil Protection authorities are still operating in alert phase although the Aviation Colour Code for Bárðarbunga has been downgraded from orange to yellow.

From the Icelandic Met Office: The Aviation Colour Code for Bárðarbunga has been downgraded from orange to yellow. The Aviation Colour Code system for Icelandic Volcanic Systems is explained here on the Icelandic Met Office web site.

The next meeting of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Icelandic Civil Protection will be held on Tuesday 3rd of March 2015.

[Marybeth]

Hi!! Just checking in on your upcoming trip. Can't wait to follow your adventures. It is always so much fun to read and always very interesting,

[HostDave]

Thanks for sticking with us! I've been printing out the final maps and arrangements, so we're pretty much ready to go. Now we just have to figure out how to cram clothes for freezing weather and hot weather into one bag each. The departure date will be here before you know it!

[YFlower]

Thanks again for taking us along on your trip! Very much looking forward to reading about it and the photos of the must-sees, as I will be in Reykjavik in July for a couple of pre-cruise days. The Yellowstone photos were invaluable for my planning a condensed trip.

Will you be posting the details/vendor you use to ship your bags to Iceland? I'm considering that so am interested in who you go with and how it turns out.

[HostDave]

I'll be sure to post the details about the vendor I decide to use for the luggage forwarding. I wasn't thrilled with Luggage Forward we used for Japan. Nothing went wrong, but if it had there was no reliable way to contact them. Everything was very vague and the website was out of date. I might try Luggage Free this time, but I'll post it in the blog whoever we decide to go with.

There probably won't be much info on Reykjavik during the arrival visit, but we'll be there for five days at the end of the trip to so some exploring in the city before we leave.

[Mike808]

It looks like it's 21 degrees on April 1st.

[HostDave]

Yeah, I might have to make some changes unless a couple of roads open pretty soon. Most of the route is accessible most of the time, but the Westfjords might be a problem. I'm keeping everything as is until the week before. If the road we need is still closed I'll probably start shuffling things around.