Adventurous tourists have an opportunity this summer for an experience reminiscent of the classic book and movie, “Journey to the Center of the Earth”— the chance to explore the interior of a volcano.
Adventurous tourists have an opportunity this summer for an experience reminiscent of the classic book and movie, “Journey to the Center of the Earth”— the chance to explore the interior of a volcano.
The volcano is Thrihnukagigur, one of Iceland’s numerous (and unpronounceable) volcanoes. It is about about 100 miles from Eyjafallajökull, which gained notoriety when it erupted spectacularly two years ago.
The ash released into the atmosphere over Europe during the Eyjafallajökull eruption caused global havoc. Air traffic was banned for 10 days, affecting millions of travelers and causing large losses of revenue for the airline industry and for a multitude of international businesses. The widespread impact of the eruption had a somewhat unexpected result: a surge in tourism to Icelandic volcanoes. Many new tours offer experiences to visitors on Iceland’s numerous volcanoes.
Last year, on the anniversary of the Eyjafallajökull eruption, a visitor center opened at Eyjafallajökull and offered tours that highlight the transformations of the landscape caused by the eruption. By far the most unique volcano tour in Iceland, and perhaps the world, is being offered this summer at Thrihnukagigur, which is considered a dormant, but not extinct, volcano. It last erupted about 4,000 years ago, apparently draining at least part of its shallow magma system and leaving an open pathway to the surface.
Visitors will be lowered via an open elevator system (similar to that used for window-washing on skyscrapers) 400 feet down into the open conduit leading to the volcano’s magma chamber, the reservoir that supplies the molten rock that erupts at the surface as lava or ash. Scientists have descended 650 feet into Thrihnukagigur. In addition to exploring the cavity left by the evacuated magma, they found several lateral conduits, which hint at the complexity of a volcano’s magma plumbing system.
In recent years, our methods of imaging the subsurface plumbing systems of volcanoes have vastly improved, giving us a better appreciation of the complexity of magma storage reservoirs. While the accessible cavity under Iceland’s Thrihnukagigur is very likely only a small part of the volcano’s magma plumbing system, it is doubtless an awesome journey into the earth.
Kilauea activity update
A lava lake present within the Halema‘uma‘u Overlook vent during the past week resulted in night-time glow that was visible from the Jaggar Museum overlook. The lake, which is normally about 260–380 feet below the floor of Halema‘uma‘u Crater and visible by HVO’s webcam, rose and fell slightly during the week in response to a series of deflation-inflation cycles.
On Kilauea’s east rift zone, surface lava flows were active on the pali and coastal plain over the past week. By Monday, April 23, the flows had just entered Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. As of Thursday, April 26, these flows were advancing slowly towards the ocean and were about 0.6 miles from the water.
Two earthquakes beneath the Hawaiian Islands were reported felt this past week. A magnitude-1.8 earthquake occurred at 6:11 a.m., HST, on Friday, April 20, and was located 9 miles northwest of Na‘alehu at a depth of 3 miles. A magnitude-2.7 earthquake occurred at 4:42 p.m., HST, on Monday, April 23, and was located 12 miles southwest of Makena, Maui, at shallow depth.
Visit the HVO website (http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov) for detailed Kilauea and Mauna Loa activity updates, recent volcano photos, recent earthquakes, and more; call (808) 967-8862 for a Kilauea summary; email questions to askHVO@usgs.gov.
Volcano Watch is a weekly article and activity update written by scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey’s Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.