Fissure eruption near Bardabunga/Iceland

Eruption on Iceland has come to an end!

According to the Icelandic Meteorological Office the eruption in Holuhraun lava field has come to an end after nearly half a year of volcanic activity. However, gas dispersal is still monitored closely to the eruption site. It is expected that the lava field will continue to emit gas for a longer time interval. Without the thermal rise from an open vent, the volcanic gases will tend to disperse directly over ground, which may even lead to higher concentrations of polluted air.

The daily forecasts of the sulphur dioxide dispersion over Europe, that were published on this side since the beginning of the eruption, will be stopped, due to the negligible impacts of the gas emissions on regions beyond Iceland.

Forecast of SO₂ dispersion over Europe at 2.5 km height based on current weather forecasts and on assumptions, that are made by information from the Icelandic Meteorological Office. An episode was choosen, when the sulphur dioxide cloud from the Bardarbunga is directly transported towards Central Europe. In this time at several stations elevated SO₂ values were measured over Europe for example in Germany, Austria, France and the Netherlands. A permanent activity since August 31, 06:00 UTC from the fissure eruption in Holuhraun (northeast of the Bardarbunga volcano) is assumed.
Due to the unknown source parameters this simulation can only be an approximation. Ash emissions during this eruption is negligible.

The simulations are produced at the Rhenish Institute for Environmental Research (RIU) in cooperation with Research Centre Jülich.

Philipp Franke^1,2, Elmar Friese¹, Luise Fröhlich^1,2, Anne Caroline Lange^1,2 und
Hendrik Elbern^1,2
1 Rheinisches Institut für Umweltforschung an der Universität zu Köln
² IEK-8 Forschungszentrum Jülich