Iceland, the volcano is scary:big eruption coming

The radar satellites of the Italian Cosmo-Skymed constellation are working to monitor the danger

ROME – A sea of ​​magma is sliding under the city of Grindavik, in Iceland.The fear of a major eruption of Fagradalsfjall volcano led the local Civil Protection to prepare the evacuation of the population last Friday, the day on which more than 800 earthquakes have been recorded in the area.

What is happening in Iceland, in the south-west, it was imaged by the radar satellites of the Italian Cosmo-SkyMed constellation, developed by the Italian Space Agency (ASI) in cooperation with the Ministry of Defence.

VIRELLI (COSMOSKYMED):“FRIDAY 2300 EARTHQUAKES“

“The ground swelled, because a magma chamber has formed under the ground:a tube inside which magma flows, which caused the tube to inflate and then deflate depending on the flow:these movements have provoked from Friday to today 2300 earthquakes” in the Grindavik area, in the south-west of Iceland, threatened by the eruption of the Fagradalsfjall volcano.He explains it Maria Virelli, mission manager of Cosmo-Skymed.

The "images released by ASI were acquired 8 days later: the data for the afternoon of the 10th was acquired around 8pm and before midnight we had already provided it to the Icelandic Meteorogical Office (IMO). A fortuitous coincidence - specifies Virelli -, because we cannot tell the satellites to acquire when we want, they have to fly over that area".In this sense paid for "previously carried out programming", thanks to the collaboration between Asi and CEOS WG Disasters to continuously provide data acquired by the satellites of the COSMO-SkyMed constellation on volcanoes in Iceland since 2014:“It was also useful in this case”, concludes Virelli. The next Cosmo-Skymed data on the area will be acquired this week.

VOLCANO MONITORING IN ICELAND

The Italian Space Agency, in coordination with the CEOS WG Disasters, has continuously provided data acquired by the satellites of the COSMO-SkyMed constellation on volcanoes in Iceland since 2014. The ASI is currently supporting the monitoring activities carried out by the Icelandic Meteorogical Office (IMO) relating to the eruption. The radar images are processed to form interferograms that show ground deformation associated with earthquakes and volcanic activity in the area.On Friday 10 November 2023 alone, more than 800 earthquakes were recorded.

The Civil Protection Agency of Iceland declared that a magma tunnel in formation could reach the town of Grindavík, which was evacuated as a precaution during the night between Friday and Saturday.

The forecasts made in the previous days by the Icelandic Meteorogical Office were also confirmed thanks to the data provided by the Cosmo-SkyMed constellation.

The two images shown below represent the interferograms obtained from the processing of satellite data acquired in the period from 2 to 11 November. The interferograms show a large deformation field related to a magma increase that began on the afternoon of November 10 within the Reykjanes-Svartsengi volcanic system.

The first image is the result of the processing of data acquired by satellites in the period 3-11 November in ascending orbit. The processing allowed the modeling of the dimensions of the magma tunnel, allowing the establishment of an average length of 15 km, a maximum depth of less than 1 km below the surface and a volume variation of approximately 70 million cubic metres. The second image, which refers to the processing of satellite data acquired in the period 2-10 November 2023, in descending orbit, confirmed that the magma intrusion extends beneath the city of Grindavík, supporting the difficult decision taken by the Icelandic Civil Protection to start the evacuation of the city late on Friday evening.