Volcanoes 2 - Leirhnukur

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Picture: Gudmundur Ogmundsson

As I write (Autumn 2014) the fissure eruption at Holuhraun/Barðabunga, on the northern edge of Vatnajökull, has been pumping away nicely for some months. There are spectacular videos of it on the net. This picture looks south from Húsavik, a hundred or so km north of the eruption. Lava is entering the jökulsá á fjöllum river and creating clouds of steam, which hang in the sky and reflect the glow of the eruption at night. How long it will last is a matter of speculation; I have heard six months and a year suggested.

(Michael Ryan, U.S. Geological Survey. ][Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

In the North, not far away, in the 70’s and 80’s, a fissure eruption continued on and off for over a decade: Krafla. This picture was taken in 1984. 

Today it looks like this.

I read somewhere that it took the lava at Laki forty years to cool down. So Krafla’s not quite there yet. 

This is Leirhnukur, within Krafla, and it attracts many visitors. It is also fragile and hazardous. So for a number of years ICV volunteers worked on a boardwalk project designed to carry tourists around the site, giving them good views, while at the same time keeping them off the clay - very slippery when wet ...

... not good around boiling pools.

Volunteers working on the boardwalk in May The guy in thoughtful mode is Chas, the first ICV Coordinator, and designer of the project ... 

... jointly with Paul, seen here working on the viewing platform.

Wooden supports driven into the ground would  quickly be destroyed by the action of chemicals in the clay, so they devised a method of construction which carried the boardwalk on  sleepers laid on concrete slabs.

The spring thaw reveals damage done to the boardwalks by the deep snow that lies across the area during the winter months.

An atmospheric shot taken in May, when the cool air accentuates the steam rising from the warm ground.

Hmm... Dodgy temperature control and poor privacy. Don't think I will ...