Iceland: dangerous lava flow threatens highland road

The lava flow from the Holuhraun eruption in Iceland only has about 200 meters to go until it flows over the road to Gæsavatnaleid highland road and closes it. The eruption in Holuhraun (connected to Bardarbunga volcano) continues in the same way as the days before and there is no sign of it decreasing. On Wednesday about 40 earthquakes were registered in the northern part of Vatnajokull glacier, the biggest one in the morning in the Bardarbung volcano caldera registering 5.2. The caldera has continued to sink and has now gone down 27 meters since the earthquakes started in mid August. There is no indication that the eruption in Holuhraun is declining. The lava flow is increasing and gettingl arger and the size reaching 40 square kilometers.

Significant pollution is emanating from the lava. The measure of sulphur dioxide from the eruption went to 1600 microgramms per cubic meter in Reykjahlid town on Wednesday. The measurements decreased fast and on late Wednesday they had gone down to 500. Other towns in the north and east of Iceland have been affected by the pollution and it is being monitored by government agencies.
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