Professional geologist Shawn Willsey posted a graphic of the approximate location of the newest fissure on his livestream. This fissure and flow is not likely to be a threat to the town of Grindavik, but it is a threat to both the blue lagoon and the powerplant.
I am from Pittsburgh and it’s a huge party at Gobbler’s Knob, Pennsylvania. Shut down the town kind of party. An absolute sea of people. It’s been like that long before the movie, but then there’s not much to do in February.
This years Punxsutawney Phil predicted an early spring but do note that marmots are not exactly qualified to make to make meterological forecasts. It’s a mostly cute tradition with a hint of madness, kinda like sticking a tree in your living room and hanging up socks to celebrate the birth of Jesus at Christmas. Makes total sense when you’re drinking.
For the record, Groundhogs (or woodchucks) are pretty docile and cute. They are also excellent climbers. This little fellow was quite curious about me, and why I was hiding in his field (taking pictures of birds).
I built a PC for my little sister in 2007. She was starting college and didn’t have a computer. It totaled 2805 and some change, custom built through Antares Digital (When you know, you Lili). These were all top of the line components (Asus M2N32-WS PRO, Amd athlon64 X2 AM2 5200, Corsair Memory). Not a cheapy system in its day.
Three nights before I was to deliver it to her, I completed all of the setup, had all the software ready to go, even setting up a custom theme for her (We were both metalheads). My folks said that she would need a printer/fax/copy/scanner as well, so last minute, I ended up buying an HP 5610 at target for 192 dollars.
The HP instructions didn’t say that if you connected the cable between the printer and the PC before you had installed the drivers, the printer would not mount as a device. In fact, it would never connect to that PC ever again. Apparently, it ruined the registry until you reformatted and reinstalled the OS.
To be fair, the manual did say to install the drivers first, then the cable, but this was not the norm back then and they didn’t really emphasize it in any way, nor did it mention that you were about to be FITA big time. Had to scramble to completely reformat the drive, reinstall all the software… Essentially, starting over from a blank slate and getting done in 2 days for delivery to her dorm on move in day. It did connect second time around.
I wrote them an angry letter regarding the poor deployment, but of course I never heard back from them. Never bought another HP for myself or anyone else ever again. I go out of my way to encourage people to not buy anything from HP. If I happen to be somewhere and see someone looking at an HP printer, I’ll just approach them, introduce myself, and tell them my story to discourage them from buying it.
Iceland erupted again this morning at 7:57am Grindavik Time. The eruption was captured in real time. It again is a northwest linear fissure and is located west of Hagafell and a bit south of the prior eruption site in December....
I look at the most recent activity and suspect that either a new fissure has opened in the town proper or the southern fissure has lengthened. There exists a mini cluster of larger earthquakes in this area. The best case scenario is that this is a new structure on fire. All three scenarios are rotten-a-f. It is getting hard to tell due to gasses, smoke and darkness.
That is most likely a RUV news helicopter in the foreground. It’s footage may be available shorty. You can also read their english blog here. Drones are once again banned 4km from town.
This is a combination of Agust Gudmundsson’s Satellite Map and the 2D quake map. I used Autocad to import each image and then known features to match the scales and orientations, but it’s still an approximation. Additionally, the satellite image is greyscale and low resolution so the perimeter of the lava field gets hard to discern in some areas with little to no color contrast.
The Fissures and Lava Fields
The two eruptive fissures (north[900m] and south[150m]) are shown in red. It ejected quite a bit of lava, but the experts say they were lucky that the eruption was as weak as it was. The new lava fields from each are in orange. The initial fissure to the north grew in its size as the eruption continued and extended itself underneath the original berm. This extension and the area where the berm crossed the highway allowed lava behind the ber.
The southern fissure was completely unexpected and it was heartbreaking to witness. While it released a smaller amount of lava at a lower pressure than the north, but due to its proximity to the village, it was enough to destroy at least (2) homes.
The Berms
The berms are shown in blue, both the original (lite blue) and the two new additional ones (medium blue).
The original 10-15 meter high [32-48 foot] berm held up strong and most likely saved the village from much more damage. However, it was not completely effective. A small portion of the berm at the highway had been left open for travel until the day of the eruption when emergency crews plugged it last minute.
During and since the eruption, the emergency crews have built (2) new berms on the west side of Grindavik to further deflect lava and protect the village.
The Infrastructure
The town is still under evacuation order due to the uncertainty of future eruptions and the dangers inside the village due to subsidence and instability.
Electricity seems to be back on in town.
The geothermal pipeline that runs tandem (a few meters west) to the north-to-south highway and was destroyed by lava. This is significant in that this supplies Grindavik it’s most abundant heat source, hot water. Homes that were not in harms way are still going to have moderate damage due to frozen pipes. [Edit Jan 21 2024] It was reported that just yesterday emergency crews bypassed the destroyed section of pipe restoring water both hot and cold.
Two of the reported three homes that were destroyed by lava are shown in white. The north home does not appear on many maps. It was reported to be a new home that was yet unoccupied. The south home was occupied and appeared to be a complete loss. I am still unsure about the third home.
The greenhouse, shown in green, survived seemingly undamaged thanks the the original berm. It was reported to have had all of its equipment removed prior to the eruption.
I heard a report that the local government is probably going to be able to offer Grindavik residents a buyout for their homes and property but all I can find is a report that it may be possible.
250 abandoned sheep were reported to have been rescued and removed on Tuesday Jan 16.
The Next Chapter
The future of Grindavik is not looking so good. The data seems to point towards yet another eruption, and likely within the next few weeks.
The Svartsengi GPS Station is near the power plant (north of Grindavik). This is the region where the experts suspect the ultimate source of the magma. It is feeding the magma chamber under Grindavik which is where the eruptive fissures from both December and January formed. It will take months or years of inactivity for this to cool and plug itself. While the system is fed, the pressure will increase. As the pressure builds, the chances of the magma moving or erupting increase. There is no real way known to man as to what exactly is going on down there.
Earthquakes have been very quiet in the area which is to be expected after the balance of pressure. They have ramped back up through the week but are still low in frequency, size and depth. During the eruption, there were numerous mini-clusters of earthquakes near Grindavik (Locations with a high concentration of earthquakes). One of these locations ultimately became where the southern fissure erupted. There were (2) other mini-clusters south of that fissure well inside of Grindavik. Both of these areas of mini-clusters are above the magma chamber and could be places of a future eruption. With the damage to the area, it could just be stress related fractures.
Send hope and prayers to the great and brave people of Grindavik.
At 7:57am, the fissure opened. Whereas last time the fissure opened up far to the north and east of Grindavik, they were not so lucky this time. The fissure has now spread much more south in the Hagafell region. It seemed to me as though it erupted at the southern end of the fissure that erupted in December. At the time of this post (11:00am), magma is only a few hundred feet from the greenhouse and maybe a mile from Grindavik.
A considerable portion of the rift spread under the protective berm they created over the last few weeks. While the berm was effective (Think sandbags stacked up to stop flood waters, but with dirt and stone), It could only ever stop a certain amount of liquid flow. This spreading of the fissure effectively circumvented it’s protection for areas of the fissure inside the berm. The best case scenario now is that the southern end of the fissure ceases and cools before it can eject enough matter to overwhelm the town, which is now downhill.
Send hope that Grindavik and it’s populace are spared. This is close to a worst case scenario.
If you are looking at camera 4 (yellow), the camera is situated atop porbjorn looking west and a bit south. The red lines are an approximation of the rift. The building near center frame becoming surrounded by lava is their greenhouse. Town is at the right.
Edit: My line is drawn incorrectly. It is a bit more west on the other side of Hagafell.
A close up view frown Professor Shawn Willsey’s livestream showing just how close the southern fissure is to town. This was taken a few hours ago via ariel drone. The vent opened in real time while the drone was flying and observing the northern rift.
A closer view of the initial damage. This could very well be the beginning of the end for Grindavik.
It noteworthy to mention that the town has been evacuated and the people are not in harms way, but this was likely someones home. My heart breaks for you folk.
Either a third fissure has opened (there is a mini-cluster of larger magnitude quakes in his area), the second fissure has extended into town, or more homes are catching on fire. It’s getting hard to tell which due to the volcanic gasses (White), smoke (Black) and just the darkness of winter.
There was a another mini-cluster of earthquakes further to the south edge of town as well. With it’s proximity to the sea it will cause a severe amount of damage.
I feel this is a historic event. I’m also a refractory designer, which places this squarely in my realm of interest, but it’s heartbreaking to have to watch in slow motion. This would be very cool if it were not for the human element present in these conditions.
Not sure, but I suspect rates just went up. I’m just a science geek from North Carolina that does refractory for a living, hence my interest.
I watched as the first home caught fire. It was brutal to watch it. I did read that it was not occupied. It does not appear on a lot of maps. The second home though that went up was occupied. This was someone’s home, someone’s place of solace. Children were raised here. Memories were rooted here. It was a total loss. I read that (3) homes in total were destroyed by fire due to the 100km southern fissure’s lava output, though I only saw (2). I am unsure about the third. I am unsure where the third one was.
Numerous other homes are going to be severely damaged though. Hot water is actually quite abundant I hear due to the geothermal power plant. The lavaflow from the 900km main fissure was mostly deflected by the berm away from Grindavik, but the berm untimately guided it to the pipeline. Geographically speaking and considering the timeframe they had to work in, I don’t think it could be helped.
I understand that hot water is a primary source of heat since it’s a cheap and abundant byproduct of the powerplant. It’s what you’re also bathing in at the Blue Lagoon Hot Springs. Now devoid of heat, I would suspect that many homes are now going to suffer damage from frozen/busted pipes.
My heart still goes out to the incredible people of Iceland. I’d like to think I could cope with an event like this, but I’m fairly certain I would puss out. Icelanders are far more metal than I.
CDs are still king with me. 1,957 and still counting. I feel cheated if I don’t get to enjoy that romance of flipping through the liner notes while listening to the CD that first time. I rip the songs I like after a few days of listening to it. I suspect the day will come when MP3’s will not be free.
DVD’s too. Almost 1,400 of them as well.
I did have to let the cassette tapes go. I kept some of the rarer ones, but they weren’t meant to last 40 years and would not likely survive another rewind.
I think that ‘Star Trek - The Next Generation’ covered this very dilemma with (S2E18) Up The Long Ladder. In one hand you have stagnancy and in the other pure chaos. I don’t envy you for having to tackle issues like this because there is no perfect solution, but I would encourage you to find a balance. Balance is a prerequisite to longevity.
You would not have enjoyed holiday dinners at my house. While my parents were good people, you can’t pick your relatives. We had the infamous Uncle Tom and Aunt Janet, who would swallow anything and everything you had in the bathroom medicine cabinet, even if it landed them in the emergency room later. And Grandma, a devout catholic that spent every Sunday at church learning how to love thy neighbor, who would go on long cuss ridden tirades insulting and slurring on minorities. And then there was Uncle Pete, who was thrown out of Bob Evans on Easter Sunday for announcing to the entire dining room that ‘He could puke better than this sausage gravy’. I do actually miss Uncle Pete. He did have a hell of a way of getting his point across, and that sausage gravy was totally bunk.
While thinking about it all still raises my blood pressure even 40 years later, those moments brought their behaviors from my subconscious to my conscious where I could take notice of it. It did empower me to actively NOT be like that. I saw first-hand several of my future potential selves and chose to take a higher road. I find a bit of comfort in that. I wonder if I wasn’t exposed to those behaviors from a third person perspective, would I have been able to avoid them.
Oh, and sorry about dropping that bomb the other day. I was in a rare mood. I removed it as you rightfully requested of me. In my defense, I used the word appropriately, but I totally understand.
You seem like a decent enough fellow. Best of luck.
Looking for podcast recommendations on geeky topics of paranormal, science and technology. I get afflicted periodically with stress-related insomnia and listening to topics within my interest quiets my mind and helps me fall sleep....
30ish years ago I was living in a Polish Hill, Pennsylvania USA (a section of the greater Pittsburgh area). The apartment I was renting was an old divided 3-story house. It was a chilly October worknight. My roommate was at work, I was at home reading a book on the couch, and the roommates cat was sleeping on a large recliner. Life was very good for me then. It might have been one of the best times in my life in fact. Everything was pretty normal until around 8:30pm.
I took a break from reading to go clean my dishes from dinner. While I was washing them, I suddenly became very confused, weak and extremely sad for seemingly no real reason. I turned around to steady myself by leaning against a table, and I’m looking around for any clue as to what the hell just happened to me.
I then heard a large growl. It was the roommates cat. He’s awakened from his slumber, and is in pure offensive attack mode. He’s standing on two legs, fur puffed out, hissing, spitting and claws showing. He’s staring and leaping at the ceiling in a hallway off the kitchen trying like hell to get at something, raking at the walls trying to get to it.
By this time, I lacked the energy to even stand upright and had dropped to a knee with tears streaming out of my eyes for no real reason. The cat continued it’s assault against something that I couldn’t see, taking his fight into my roommates bedroom. Eventually, I did regain my strength, and I used it to get the fugg out of the house. It was the 3rd floor apartment, and I damn near killed myself getting down those steps in the dark.
I called a friend that lived a couple blocks over and I must have sounded like an idiot, but I essentially begged him to let me come over for a bit, which he permitted. When I got to his place, I was a total wreck and shaking like a bowl of jello. I felt bad because I think I interrupted sexy time with his SO, but not bad enough to leave. I really needed to be near someone at that point.
I recounted the story to them as best I could, and they acted as though they believed me, but frankly I didn’t even care if they did. I stayed there for a few hours until I really had to leave. Both my friend and I started work pretty early. I was a mechanical designer and he worked security at the Allegheny County courthouse.
I got back home and all was quiet and seemingly normal. The cat was again sleeping on his recliner (what a life). I apologized for abandoning him, finished my dishes and went to bed, though I did not get very good rest that night.
I had been around unearthly energies before in my life, but this was one was extremely negative. I never felt comfortable in that apartment again due to that event, though in retro, nothing else would ever happen to me there again. The lease was up in two months, and I did not renew it. I instead moved.
I had some friends help me move, one of them being my friend who provided me shelter that night. He used a few of his lunch breaks to search the street address, and to look up any old microfilmed documents the county had archived. He found a police report for a homicide at that address a few years prior. It recounted the last events of an apparent gay man, who had found only anguish and persecution in his life. He first tried committing suicide in the kitchen (about 3 foot away from where I was standing when everything went wonky) by blowing out the pilot light and putting his head in the gas oven. That apparently was not sufficient, so he completed his task by hanging himself in what was my bathroom.
Take it for what you will. believe it or not. I certainly don’t care which. If it happens to you, you won’t care what anyone else thinks either because you will know. I pray that it never does. It’s a very disturbing event that leaves a splinter in your mind.
Winamp is going open source (feddit.uk)
I used this for years, from version 1.9 all the way to 5.x when I moved onto other software....
Volcanic Eruption in Iceland (2-8-2024) (www.youtube.com)
The lava is flowing again after a third volcanic eruption. The placement appears to be a good ways to the north of Grindavik as of yet. Multicam view.
Groundhog Day 2024 (apnews.com)
At posting, the verdict was not yet in, but there are plenty of groundhog stories, like:...
Ran across this little dude during my nightly walk (beehaw.org)
You, yeah you there on the other side of the screen, you should fry up some garbanzo beans (aka chickpeas). It's delicious and costs like $2 tops. (lemmynsfw.com)
HP CEO says customers who don't use the company's supplies are "bad investments" (www.techspot.com)
From my point of view HP printers are a bad investment.
Iceland erupts again (1-14-24) (livefromiceland.is)
Iceland erupted again this morning at 7:57am Grindavik Time. The eruption was captured in real time. It again is a northwest linear fissure and is located west of Hagafell and a bit south of the prior eruption site in December....
Get ready to hear more about "pre-internet" times (www.axios.com)
Thinking about the direction of Beehaw
Over the years I’ve been trying to encapsulate, as simply as possible, what Beehaw interactions would look like ideally....
Podcast recommendations
Looking for podcast recommendations on geeky topics of paranormal, science and technology. I get afflicted periodically with stress-related insomnia and listening to topics within my interest quiets my mind and helps me fall sleep....
What is the spookiest/creepiest thing that you’ve experienced?
cross-posted from: midwest.social/post/1495541...