The staff of the Institute of Earth Sciences at the University of Iceland flew to the volcano last Saturday, but photos, revealed in the news of Stöð 2, were shot by Guðbergur Davíðdsson, cameraman, during this trip. The photos included with this story at Vísir were shot by Morten S. Riishuus, a geologist at the Institute of Earth Sciences at the University of Iceland.
Ármann Höskuldsson, volcanologist, says it is obvious that the eruption has somewhat diminished since December, but the eruption has been continuous for 4 1/2 month, since the end of August.
"This is still a very powerful eruption. I think that the volcanic product is still in the range of 60 to 80 cubic meters per second, Ármann says.
The new lava now covers 84 square kilometers and has already eradicated the so-called Flæðir, vast stretches of sand, but melt water from the glacier used to flow there. Then it is beginning to flow over Thorvaldshraun that flowed in an eruption in Askja from 1926-1930. This means that now the lava has blocked the water that used to flow at Flæðir and Ármann thinks that the formation of a new lagoon is possible there next summer.
Then the lava pushes the branches of Jökulsá continuously more eastward and Ármann thinks that the river starts to flow in the springtime, then it will flow to the eastern branch, leading towards Kverkfjöll.
We are witnessing a great deal of changes of the landscape. The crater is unusually wide, 400-500 metres long and about 70 metres high.
"This is now one of the most beautiful craters in Iceland", Ármann says.
Stunning clips of the new crater can be seen in the video below.
