(http://news.sky.com/sky-news/content/StaticFile/jpg/2011/Dec/Week1/16122405.jpg)
It might be me, but it seems like Katla is holding it's breath, just waiting for the right time. Out of curiosity, do geologists or volcanologists have any idea how big of an explosion this could be? Or are they holding their breaths too? :o
QuoteHundreds of metres under one of Iceland's largest glaciers there are signs of a looming volcanic eruption that could be one of the most powerful the country has seen in almost a century.
(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-M1Hfkp0XZVk/Tmcn9Kg2i_I/AAAAAAAAALo/oPwwpHCQcQM/s1600/20100426071606%2521Katla_1918.jpg)
QuoteKatla Eruption in 1918
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVqSVKVStZ4
QuoteFord Cochran says that the 500 or so tremors in and around the caldera of Katla just in the last month suggest "an eruption may be imminent"
Hundreds of metres under one of Iceland's largest glaciers there are signs of an imminent volcanic eruption that could be one of the most powerful the country has seen in almost a century.
QuoteThe last time Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull volcano blew, the eruption lasted more than a year, from December 1821 until January 1823, reports Sally Sennert, a geologist at the Smithsonian Institution.
"This seems similar to what's happening now," she says.
(http://i.usatoday.net/communitymanager/_photos/science-fair/2010/04/15/iceland-volcanox-large.jpg)
QuoteMighty Katla, with its 10km (6.2 mile) crater, has the potential to cause catastrophic flooding as it melts the frozen surface of its caldera and sends billions of gallons of water surging through Iceland's east coast and into the Atlantic Ocean.
"There has been a great deal of seismic activity," says Ford Cochran, the National Geographic's expert on Iceland.
There were more than 500 tremors in and around the caldera of Katla just in October, which suggests the motion of magma.
"And that certainly suggests an eruption may be imminent."
Scientists in Iceland have been closely monitoring the area since 9 July, when there appears to have been some sort of disturbance that may have been a small eruption.
Sourcehttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-15995845 (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-15995845)
You can see earthquake activity in near real-time here:
http://en.vedur.is/earthquakes-and-volcanism/earthquakes/myrdalsjokull/#view=map (http://en.vedur.is/earthquakes-and-volcanism/earthquakes/myrdalsjokull/#view=map)
The Katla caldera is the hatched circular region shown in the centre of Mýrdalsjökull.
If we do get a deep freeze can the global warming enthusiasts finally go take a hike? ::)