In the news yesterday, 4 June 2011, there were reports about an ash storm in the eastern fjords (see short text, in Icelandic, below):
| Öskumistur á Austfjörðum
Þétt öskumistur liggur nú yfir Fáskrúðsfirði Mynd: Óðinn Magnason | Vestlæg átt er nú ríkjandi á austfjörðum og leggur því öskumistur yfir. Að sögn Óðins Magnasonar á Fáskrúðsfirði er bærinn hulinn talsvert þykku mistri og snjórinn í fjöllunum orðinn gráleitur. Þá segir Óðinn augljóst af bragðinu á loftinu að ekki sé um að ræða venjulegt ryk eða moldrok, heldur ösku frá Grímsvatnagosinu, enda sé bíllinn hans hulinn svörtu öskuryki. |
No doubt that re-suspended ash probably was responsible, at least partly. But, from satellite images, it is clear that a well know dust storm source area is also involved. That area is north of Vatnajökull, north of Dyngjujökull, a large sandur area.
The images below are taken at 12:30, 14:05 and 14:20 and are all MODIS images, from NASA/Rapidfire.
12:30
14:05
14:20
The source areas can be others and more spread out, but clearly the sandur north of Vatnajökull is at least partly to blame. Of course it could well be covered with ash after the Grímsvötn eruption.
