Duststorms north and south of Vatnajökull

Today there are visible dust storms from north of Dyngjujökull (Vatnajökull) and Ingólfshöfði, south of Vatnjökull.

Wind speed at Sandbúðum, east of Hofsjökull, has been around 10 m/s – especially for gusts.

Below are MODIS satellite images from NASA/IMO since:

12:40

14:35

Unbelievable surface melt extent for Greenland

New data, combining observations from 3 different satellites, show that almost the whole surface of the Greenland glaciers was melting on 12 July 2012. It is not clear still whether most of this will refreeze, or contribute to this seasons annual melting.

The image pair below shows the situation on 8 and 12 July 2012. The 8th of July case is typical for the last few years, with nearly half of the surface experiencing some melt, but the 12th of July is extraordinary. But, like mentioned above, the net effect of this remains to be seen. This might be a short lived event, or not …

Credit: Nicolo E. DiGirolamo, SSAI/NASA GSFC, and Jesse Allen, NASA Earth Observatory

Wildfire at Snæfellsnes

The wildfire yesterday at Snæfellsnes is seen on a satellite image (MODIS image from NASA) at 21:15 on 9 July 2012. The location is to the east on the southern part of the peninsula, see map below.

The weather in Stykkishólmur on Monday at 21:00 (from IMO vedur.is).
Wind: 9 m/s, temperature: 10,6 °C, precipitation 0 mm / 1 hour, humidity: 57 % and visibility >70 km.

Which fits nicely with this being the smoke from the wildfire which is seen in the image above.

Here is the location of Rauðkollsstaðir the closest farm to the wildfire (map from LMI.is) which also fits nicely with this being the smoke from the wildfire

Here are finally couple of news (in Icelandic, but some with pictures) about the wildfire:

• http://www.ruv.is/frett/barist-vid-sinuelda-a-snaefellsnesi
• http://mbl.is/frettir/innlent/2012/07/10/skurdgrafa_notud_vid_slokkvistarf/
• http://mbl.is/frettir/innlent/2012/07/10/tekist_ad_hefta_utbreidslu_eldsins/
• http://www.ruv.is/frett/sinueldur-haminn-a-snaefellsnesi-myndskeid
• http://www.ruv.is/frett/enn-glod-a-raudkollastodum

Ash- and dust storms

The last couple of days there has been a lot of Particulate Matter (PM) in the east, and also in the Reykjavik area. This is clear from recent headlines: “Ekki hægt að fara út fyrir svifryki (Not possible to be outside because of PM)” og “Velti bíl í ösku á Skeiðarársandi (Car overturns as it drives into a ash on the road)”.

In Fljótshverfi (south of Vatnajökull, see map) the concentration increased rapidly on 8 June, and was over 100 micro-g per cubic meter around 10, and was very high , over 1000 micro-g  per cubic meter around 17:00, but then decreased after that. Stations in Reykjavik showed the ash arriving later in the evening, around 20:30.

On 9 June there were high levels of PM in the Reykjavik area, both due to the ash from east, and also possibly from a dust storm from Landeyjasandur (see image).

The image should be a little bigger if clicked on

Still some ash and dust blowing around

Yesterday, 28 May 2012 a satellite image showed a dust storm originating north of Dyngjujökull, near Jökulsá á Fjöllum. Whether this event, or the sum of many before it, the northern part of Vatnjökull is visibly brownish in the area near this source of dust storms.

Image from 12:50 Monday 28 May 2012 (NASA/Rapidfire).
Today in Fljótshverfi, east of Kirkjubæjarklaustur (underneath western part of Vatnajökull), PM₁₀ went well over 50 micro-g/m³, up to, and over, 150 micro-g/m³.

The forecast is for sunny, dry, days, so we can expect more of this if winds pick up – and not by that much.