Ding-Dong: Katla Calling

The Icelandic volcano, Katla, is often referred to as the angry sister of Eyjafjallajokull, which shut down air traffic in Europe just last year.

Katla is much, much larger and has a history that seems to tell us that she will erupt within 18 months of her smaller sibling. So far in the last six months alone, Katla has been stirring to life and as this post is being written, there are again harmonic tremors building under her large, glaciated dome...

SEISMOLOGISTS IN ICELAND have observed a series of minor earthquakes under one of the country’s most recently volatile volcanoes.

The minor quakes – the worst measuring around 3.2 in magnitude – have increased in speed in the last six hours, and are all located almost directly under Katla.

That volcano is located relatively close to Eyjafjallajokull – the volcano whose ash cloud grounded flights across Europe in spring 2010 – but Katla is larger and considered more volatile.
URL: http://www.thejournal.ie/not-this-again-new-seismic-activity-underneath-icelandic-volcano-265440-Oct2011/

If Katla blows, she could bring air traffic in Europe, if not even flights across the North Atlantic, to a grinding halt. Historically, poisonous fumes from past eruptions have been recorded as killing livestock, as well as people on the British Isles. Moreover, a full blown eruption could turn the... um, global warmists on their ears by cooling the planet's temperatures for up to a full decade.

This is one to keep an eye on... when she blows, it could well affect us all.

Links:

Katla 24 Hr Webcam: http://www.ruv.is/katla/

Latest Katla Seismic Activity: http://hraun.vedur.is/ja/englishweb/myrjokull.html

I'll have to look at that cam in the morning. It's almost midnight there and the screen is, ummm, black.