Back when Eyjafjallajökull was erupting in 2010 we had a few posts on big sister, Katla. That was the Iceland volcano the vulcanologists worried about. There was speculation that if it were to blow it could rate as high as a 7 on the Volcanic Explosivity Index.
The last 7 VEI eruption was Tambora in 1815 which led to The Year Without a Summer in 1816.
By comparison Eyjafjallajökull was a 4 on the index and Mt. St. Helens and Vesuvius were 5's.
Now Katla is back in the news.
From Iceland Magazine, September 12:
Katla, a giant volcano hidden beneath the ice cap of Mýrdalsjökull glacier, is busy filling its magma chambers, new research confirms. An eruption in Katla would dwarf the 2010 Eyjafjallajökull eruption, scientists have warned. The volcano is long "overdue" for an eruption, as it has historically erupted once every 40-80 years. The last known eruption in Katla was in 1918....MORE
Read more: Katla: Iceland's most notorious volcano is kept under close surveillance
A group of Icelandic and British geologists have recently finished a research mission studying gas emissions from the volcano. The studies showed that Katla is emitting enormous quantities of CO2. The volcano releases at least 20 kilotons of C02 every day. Only two volcanoes worldwide are known to emit more CO2, Evgenia Ilyinskaya a volcanologist wit with the University of Leeds told the Icelandic National Broadcasting Service RÚV.
These enormous CO2 emissions confirm significant activity in the volcano, Evgenia told RÚV: "It is highly unlikely that these emissions could be produced by geothermal activity. There must also be a magma build up to release this quantity of gas."
She points out that more studies are needed to determine if the gas emissions from Katla are stable, or if they are increasing. "It is well known from other volcanoes, for example in Hawaii and Alaska, that CO2 emissions increase weeks or years ahead of eruptions. This is a clear sign we need to keep a close eye on Katla. She isn't just doing nothing, and these findings confirm that there is something going on."...
In 2010, in the midst of Iceland's banking crisis and collapse of the government, the joke when Eyjafjallajökull erupted was:
"Iceland goes bankrupt, then it manages to set itself on fire.It may be time to come up with some new one-liners.
This has insurance scam written all over it."
