Live feed from Iceland erupting volcano [video](ruv.is)
ruv.is
Live feed from Iceland erupting volcano [video]
https://www.ruv.is/frett/2021/03/20/live-feed-from-iceland-volcano
159 comments
Awesome videos! Is it not dangerous to get that close? I got apprehensive just watching that
When I got back from the hike I heard on the radio that this location was, ahem, not recommended. It was closed off yesterday and a short while later the crater walls collapsed in that direction.
https://youtu.be/eeAf1kZ7_ZE
But there were a few of us at that spot at the time so at least I wouldn't have died alone :).
https://youtu.be/eeAf1kZ7_ZE
But there were a few of us at that spot at the time so at least I wouldn't have died alone :).
A bit on the macabre side (but your comments makes me believe you don't mind too much perhaps):
what would happen if you'd fall or otherwise get trapped in lava?
Gollum melted I think but that seems unlikely (it's a movie after all). Left for future archeologists like in Pompeii?
Please don't test on purpose or accident this btw.
Please don't test on purpose or accident this btw.
it's 1200°C so you burn already before your body even hits the lava. During the Pompeji eruption people got killed by the hot ash (arriving first and travels further) which cooked them alive:
> The individuals in the boat houses died relatively quickly: The volcanic ash blocked the entrance to each structure, and the temperature of the air within probably rose to about 400°C—even hotter than a wood-fired oven. -- https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/01/studies-reveal-grues...
> The individuals in the boat houses died relatively quickly: The volcanic ash blocked the entrance to each structure, and the temperature of the air within probably rose to about 400°C—even hotter than a wood-fired oven. -- https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/01/studies-reveal-grues...
I don't think much would be left of a person, but in central Oregon near Bend there's a park called the Lava Cast Forest, which is what it sounds like. About seven thousand years ago or so, there were some lava flows that engulfed live trees. The lava solidified, and what was left of the trees decomposed.
Now, what's left is a bunch of hollow tubes that are castings of the trees. You can still see the texture of the bark.
I assume this sort of thing exists in other lava flows around the world.
Now, what's left is a bunch of hollow tubes that are castings of the trees. You can still see the texture of the bark.
I assume this sort of thing exists in other lava flows around the world.
A trail around Mt St Helens (Trail of Two Forests, https://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/trail-of-two-forests) has that kind of thing. There is a short tunnel you can crawl through - two trees were laying 90 degrees to each other overlapping when covered with lava. The entrance reminded me of a scene of a typical campy B horror movie (No! Don't go in that cave! The Monster is in there!) I wish I thought to scream to my wife when I crawled in (pretending the Monster got me) -- only thought of it later :-).
It almost looks like the hole is 2 meters in diameter and that you're standing right next to it. But then a person in red coat is really small. How big is the hole really?
I don't have exact measurements. But for some reference, here's a drone shot from the location. I'm the lone guy standing above the SAR team.
https://www.hugi.io/img/crater.jpg
https://www.hugi.io/img/crater.jpg
I'd hate to own your life insurance policy :) Other than that great shots, please be very careful.
holy smokes you're awfully close to the action :D
Whoa that is really close. Isn’t it common that lava will be ejected much farther than that? Or does this volcano have a particular known pattern already?
The flow is quite steady so magma isn't getting ejected very far. The more immediate danger it that the crater walls can collapse, spilling the ingredients in unexpected directions, or separate craters open up.
The caldera is 30m high
Your iCloud album is no longer available "due to high demand"
That is ridiculous... Oh, an actual demand for the sharing service? Let's shut it down temporarily until the demand passes. Have they never heard of caching?
Have some pity for the company sitting on $195 billion in cash, won’t you?
Apple and servers, a classic combination.
Apple’s handling of photos so badly needs some effort. Sharing libraries between family members just plain sucks. Why it managing photos so hard in their ecosystem?
Apple’s handling of photos so badly needs some effort. Sharing libraries between family members just plain sucks. Why it managing photos so hard in their ecosystem?
The funny thing is that iCloud integration with Win 10 is excellent, and vastly superior Google’s product.
But then you have rate limiting and the fact that Apple doxes you when you share.
But then you have rate limiting and the fact that Apple doxes you when you share.
How do they dox their users in this case?
The only time I have tried it, this happened:
1) win file explorer, right-click file and choose Share with iCloud link (not at pc, am paraphrasing)
2) test link in private browser tab
3) see “this file shared by First Last”
My apologies if I am conflating the way this file was shared versus the way I had shared
1) win file explorer, right-click file and choose Share with iCloud link (not at pc, am paraphrasing)
2) test link in private browser tab
3) see “this file shared by First Last”
My apologies if I am conflating the way this file was shared versus the way I had shared
Yeah, I’ve only ever shared with people who know my name anyway, but you’re right, that’s no good.
Don’t iCloud share with the internet, got it! Thanks.
Don’t iCloud share with the internet, got it! Thanks.
They also dox your email address. Someone shared an iCloud album with wallpapers on Reddit once. When I viewed it on my iPhone, at the top, you can click to see who else is subscribed to that album. But you don't just see their full names. You also see their email address (iCloud, gmail etc) plus you can start FaceTime calls from there.
It's a very bad design.
It's a very bad design.
Wow! I guess this is design when only thinking inside the walled garden? Even then...
Click the link, you'll see who shared it. They are suggesting that Apple should have an option to withhold that info.
Apparently Apple has rate-limited this shared album. I got to see the stunning footage before it was cut off. If you get a chance to upload it to another source, please circle back with a link!
I didn't know they did that, thanks for the notification! Moved some of the videos to a YouTube playlist and updated the post.
Amazingly, when the iCloud page did start working for me, the videos wouldn't play and gave the message "This video cannot be played in this browser" - I'm using the latest Safari.
"Your browser cannot play this video."
I'm running Chrome v89.0 on MacOS.
I'm running Chrome v89.0 on MacOS.
I think the video might be in H.265 format. Outside of Safari, no browser supports it, not even Chrome. https://caniuse.com/hevc
The video was probably originally in H.265 format and Apple apparently did no attempt at transcoding it to a format that's more widely understood like H.264.
The video was probably originally in H.265 format and Apple apparently did no attempt at transcoding it to a format that's more widely understood like H.264.
Does not play in Safari, either :/
I've never been anywhere near any volcano. If you don't mind - what does it smell like? Could you feel the heat from it? What was the sound like? If you don't have the time I understand but I'd love to hear what the experience was like to be that close.
I'd add one anecdote: I went hiking on one of the Hawaiian volcanos a few years ago and got up close with some active (but extremely slow-moving) lava. Here's a pic of me poking it with a stick:
https://imgur.com/DuwuCg1
What amazed me was the absolute sheer about of heat generated from that one TINY little patch. Like, as intense as standing in front of a pizza oven going at full blast. I could stand about ~15 seconds of it once I exposed the molten part, and then I had to step away. Overall in the area it was warm - mostly because it was Hawaii and hot out! - but also because of general ambient warmth. But it was just that - warmth.
But when I exposed that piece of molten lava - that was HEAT.
https://imgur.com/DuwuCg1
What amazed me was the absolute sheer about of heat generated from that one TINY little patch. Like, as intense as standing in front of a pizza oven going at full blast. I could stand about ~15 seconds of it once I exposed the molten part, and then I had to step away. Overall in the area it was warm - mostly because it was Hawaii and hot out! - but also because of general ambient warmth. But it was just that - warmth.
But when I exposed that piece of molten lava - that was HEAT.
I'm sure it was safer than it looked, but holy smokes, I'd worry so much about breaking through the crust there.
Me too! But we were with a local guide who walked out on the lava crust every day, so I kinda had to trust him.
Although the soles of my sneakers were semi-melted by the end of the day. I blame my sneakers more than anything (cheap, lowish melting point rubber), but still....
Although the soles of my sneakers were semi-melted by the end of the day. I blame my sneakers more than anything (cheap, lowish melting point rubber), but still....
Oh yes, you feel the warmth. The smell that immediately hit me was comforting, like you just lit a nice hardwood barbecue, probably from soil and plant material burning when coming into contact with the magma. The crater is loud and deeply rumbly and makes you feel the raw power of the Earth.
> The crater is loud and deeply rumbly and makes you feel the raw power of the Earth.
I'm using this in my next Zork clone ;)
I'm using this in my next Zork clone ;)
Do it with Inform6 please :D
But don't you Icelanders find sulfuric smells – the same that much of the world associates with rotten eggs – kinda comforting, too, because since childhood such smells usually accompany hot bath water from the faucets? :)
Haha, well… I'm born and raised in the East fjords where there's little geothermal activity and geothermal heating is thus rare. When I first went to Reykjavik as a kid I nearly vomited when I was introduced with a bathtub full of that sulphuric liquid they called hot water :).
The first time I saw volcanic activity was in Rotorua[0], in New Zealand... I think the big volcano there is dormant but because it sits on top of a huge caldera, it still has plenty of volcanic activity, including boiling mud and geysers! It's an amazing place to visit. You can feel the warmth of the rocks and near the geyser, there are water ponds nearly as hot as boiling (incredibly clear water too). Seeing the geyser explode is the highlight of the visit, of course... But just seeing the boiling mud (which you can see everytwhere in town, basically) and hearing the noise of boiling liquid under your feet is an amazing feeling.
I was young and stayed in the local backpacker which had a naturally-warm water pool!
As you approach the city, you feel a very strong smell of sulphur (a smell described usually as rotten eggs), but as you stay in the town you more or less get used to the smell and stop feeling it... it's not as bad as it sounds.
Highly recommend a visit if you're around Australia or the South Pacific.
One day I want to visit Iceland as well, it looks amazing.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotorua
I was young and stayed in the local backpacker which had a naturally-warm water pool!
As you approach the city, you feel a very strong smell of sulphur (a smell described usually as rotten eggs), but as you stay in the town you more or less get used to the smell and stop feeling it... it's not as bad as it sounds.
Highly recommend a visit if you're around Australia or the South Pacific.
One day I want to visit Iceland as well, it looks amazing.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotorua
You are probably aware since you visited, but Lake Taupo in the middle of the North Island is a collapsed volcano and has had a couple of eruptions are some of the largest on earth. There are Roman and Chinese records of weather events that may be due to Taupo eruptions.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taupo_Volcano
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taupo_Volcano
I climbed Mt. Etna once (in Sicily). It wasn't erupting at the time but there were active lava flows etc. The scary thing was that even though conditions were relatively benign, a sudden change of wind direction blew a stream of sulphorous-smelling air in the direction of our group and we all had to run back down to the chair lift gasping for air.
The American author, Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) wrote "The smell of sulfur is strong, but not unpleasant to a sinner.” after visiting Hawaii's Kilauea Volcano in his book "Roughing It".
Not been near a volcano, but Iceland also has a very sulphuric smell in general, like eggs almost. It is in everything like the air and the water.
If you've been to Iceland you've probably been near volcanoes, just not necessarily active ones. This volcano that is currently erupting is only about 10 miles from Keflavik Airport (and maybe 5 miles from the Blue Lagoon, if you went there).
Haha you would be right then. Only saw some geothermal vents and hot springs but yeah, there is a lot of earth activity going on there.
Definitely exercise caution when parading around Iceland: nobody is going to stop you from walking yourself into something hot/dangerous.
Definitely exercise caution when parading around Iceland: nobody is going to stop you from walking yourself into something hot/dangerous.
If your question wasn't specific to this volcano, but any volcano, the answer is that every one is different.
A few years ago, I visited the Masaya Volcano in Nicaragua. It wasn't one you could get super close to, and the photos are a bit underwhelming, but it was still very impressive to see in person. This is what you can expect to see as a tourist: https://hotelplazacolon.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Masay...
The heat coming off of the volcano was significant, but not exactly overwhelming. The sulfur smell was overwhelming (apparently Masaya emits a lot of sulfur dioxide), and there were restrictions as the length of time tourists could stay at the volcano due to the gasses. There were signs all over, posted in English and Spanish warning about the health effects of the gasses emitted.
A few years ago, I visited the Masaya Volcano in Nicaragua. It wasn't one you could get super close to, and the photos are a bit underwhelming, but it was still very impressive to see in person. This is what you can expect to see as a tourist: https://hotelplazacolon.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Masay...
The heat coming off of the volcano was significant, but not exactly overwhelming. The sulfur smell was overwhelming (apparently Masaya emits a lot of sulfur dioxide), and there were restrictions as the length of time tourists could stay at the volcano due to the gasses. There were signs all over, posted in English and Spanish warning about the health effects of the gasses emitted.
I've been up one in Guatemala but the thing that I remember most was how popular lava is with hoardes of tourists
Damn travel ban!!
I'd strike two things off my bucket list: visit Iceland, get up-close-n-personal with an active volcano. And quite possibly a third: seeing Northern Lights.
I spent a few days at Arenal in Costa Rica years ago and left without experiencing any volcanic activity.
I'd strike two things off my bucket list: visit Iceland, get up-close-n-personal with an active volcano. And quite possibly a third: seeing Northern Lights.
I spent a few days at Arenal in Costa Rica years ago and left without experiencing any volcanic activity.
A photographer took a FPV drone video (literally) over the top.
The shot is amazing:
https://www.facebook.com/steinbekk/posts/10224917280624476
The shot is amazing:
https://www.facebook.com/steinbekk/posts/10224917280624476
He really went for it didn't he? A bit lower and it'd be toast
Facebook may ask you to log in to view the video, here's a direct link to the video file:
https://scontent-lax3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t66.36240-6/10000000_...
https://scontent-lax3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t66.36240-6/10000000_...
In case anyone doesn’t notice this little detail... right in the last few seconds you can see one of the erupting chunks of lava pass out of the frame in the vertical direction. It looks like the drone made a lucky pass through the top of the erupting lava plume, narrowly missing red hot chunks of lava.
To clarify... it looks like that, can anyone more familiar with the original post confirm more details? Because it could obviously just have been a trick of the drone’s speed combined with the camera field of view just making it look like it whizzed under a chunk of red hot lava... which is still neat camera work... but it would be so much more awesome if it wasn’t just a camera effect and it actually did fly through between erupting chunks of lava.
To clarify... it looks like that, can anyone more familiar with the original post confirm more details? Because it could obviously just have been a trick of the drone’s speed combined with the camera field of view just making it look like it whizzed under a chunk of red hot lava... which is still neat camera work... but it would be so much more awesome if it wasn’t just a camera effect and it actually did fly through between erupting chunks of lava.
It's not clear if the drone survived. The video is cut right after it should have been hit with the lava.
I'm no expert but I don't know if you could recover the HD version of the footage without the drone coming home, perhaps only the FPV version. Happy to be corrected though.
With DJI FPV, you can get a recording of the HD signal in the goggles. It's not as good as a GoPro/action cam footage recorded on board, but infinitely better than what ground-recorded analog FPV footage looks like.
Also possible for the drone to fall into lava and still transmit for a few seconds, maybe enough to get the higher-quality buffer?
Highly unlikely you'd have time to transmit footage. Various chips in the drone would go into thermal shut down at 90 C ish. The lithium battery would probably explode shortly after.
The scene from Terminator II came into my mind!
the appropriate time scale would more likely be milliseconds
I would be worried the heat would melt the drone even if nothing hit it.
It survived, per a UK news interview with the pilot: https://youtu.be/dFUa8yAnD6s?t=77
It's not so much that they're red hot it's that they're incredibly heavy. They weigh as much as rock, and they're sticky rocks as they're partially molten. So imagine throwing a rock covered in super glue at a drone and that's the right picture.
I could only think:
TOO LOW - TERRAIN! PULL UP! TOO LOW - TERRAIN! PULL UP!
TOO LOW - TERRAIN! PULL UP! TOO LOW - TERRAIN! PULL UP!
haha, I really thought some magma might have hit the drone when the drone went over the cone.
I am surprised the drone survived (or did it?)
The drone might have streamed the video back to the operator, so it's not a given that the drone survived. Since the photographer knew they were going to take a risky shot, it's not even unlikely.
Maybe that's why the footage stops in the middle of the lava spray...
Maybe that's why the footage stops in the middle of the lava spray...
Perhaps a calculated risk, in case media outlets want to use the footage for anything the royalties might outweigh the cost of the drone. Would be wasteful though.
Drone pilot got really lucky with that fly past. Very risky, the reward was a great shot though.
Amazing shot - I wonder what a thermal image would look like of the same scene. Must be pretty hot flying over top of that lava.
[deleted]
This reminds me of the trip I took to Iceland in 2010. Just on the day we were about to fly back home we were instructed to turn on the Hotel TV, which was showing very eerie video footage of Eyjafjallajökull erupting. The stark emergency chyron combined with the vague video footage gave us a very unsettled feeling.
Then we walked into the lobby where some 80s pop was playing, the staff was cheery and asked what we'd like to have for breakfast because we'd probably fly home a few hours delayed. I guess you become unflappable when you literally live on top of volcanoes :)
On the Iceland Air flight home we watched a very interesting documentary about the Eldfell eruptions in 1973. It's really fascinating, although I can't seem to find a link to the docu. See also: https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2017/01/the-eldfell-erupti...
Then we walked into the lobby where some 80s pop was playing, the staff was cheery and asked what we'd like to have for breakfast because we'd probably fly home a few hours delayed. I guess you become unflappable when you literally live on top of volcanoes :)
On the Iceland Air flight home we watched a very interesting documentary about the Eldfell eruptions in 1973. It's really fascinating, although I can't seem to find a link to the docu. See also: https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2017/01/the-eldfell-erupti...
Non-paywall version: https://archive.is/ALqHs
And if you want to see the definition of terror, look at the second video on this page when part of the main crater collapsed https://www.ruv.is/frett/2021/03/21/hraunrennsli-dagsins-a-o...
The definition of terror is people laughing while trotting out of the way?
What in the name of god are these tourists(?) doing there !?
It's not that dangerous in real time (lava is slooow), especially if you have hills like they do close by to go up on.
There have been incidents in Hawaii where people successfully used a garden hose to protect their home from oncoming lava flow.
Also in Iceland with fire hoses (against a considerably larger amount of lava):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Control_of_Nature
(This book is amazing -- highly recommended!)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Control_of_Nature
(This book is amazing -- highly recommended!)
Isn't there a chance a projectile of lava could land on them?
This is from the webcam at the time. https://www.ruv.is/frett/2021/03/21/gigbarmurinn-gefur-sig-o...
It's almost as if the Icelandic Tourism board turned to the Ásatrúarfélagið for help bringing tourism back. 'Guðmundur, everyone's dreaming of flying towards the equator when they're allowed, not towards us in the Artic circle. What can we do?'
'WE SHALL SUMMON SURTR'!
'WE SHALL SUMMON SURTR'!
There was a huge debate some time ago about Christianity vs. Ásatrú on Alþingi (the Icelandic general assembly). During this debate news broke that an eruption had started in Svínahraun—a few dozen km east of the current Geldingadalur eruption. Allegedly some proponents of Ásatrú suggested that the eruption was the fault of the gods not liking the fact that this debate was happening. However this argument was quickly dismissed as the debate was already happening on top of an ancient lava field and the debaters couldn’t fathom what must have angered the gods that caused it to erupt in the ancient times.
See Kristni Saga (chapter 11)
See Kristni Saga (chapter 11)
When the Kárahnjúkar dam was being built the Ásatrú would visit the construction site and curse it, so Landsvirkjun (Iceland's power company) would send priests down to sprinkle holy water over it, to which the Ásatrú responded by cursing it, and the priests again sent in... this went on round and round. The Ásatrú were broadly against the project.
Arguably this had some effect. When a prominent anti-dam farmer from near Egilsstaðir was excavating his land to build an extension to his house, strange things kept on happening: His cows treading on their udders, workers falling into the pit and breaking bones. His wife claimed to see two figures when each time one of these happenings occured. An old man and a young. Finally in the pit they came across the central beam of an ancient house, and a magnificent circle made of a spherical stone made of spheres containing crystals - you found individual spheres - I know this is the wrong term sorry - scattered around their farmland. Anyway upon finding these the farmer called to the ghosts and promised that the stone would be taken to the museum in Egilsstaðir and the beam would be featured prominantly in their new farmhouse, in exchange for the ghosts leaving them in peace and haunting Kárahnjúkar instead. It was then in the process of its initial flood.
Soon after very strange things occured at Kárahnjúkar. Workers were injured, serious technical problems manifested.
If there's anywhere in the world where making pacts with supernatural forces is possible, it's Iceland.
Arguably this had some effect. When a prominent anti-dam farmer from near Egilsstaðir was excavating his land to build an extension to his house, strange things kept on happening: His cows treading on their udders, workers falling into the pit and breaking bones. His wife claimed to see two figures when each time one of these happenings occured. An old man and a young. Finally in the pit they came across the central beam of an ancient house, and a magnificent circle made of a spherical stone made of spheres containing crystals - you found individual spheres - I know this is the wrong term sorry - scattered around their farmland. Anyway upon finding these the farmer called to the ghosts and promised that the stone would be taken to the museum in Egilsstaðir and the beam would be featured prominantly in their new farmhouse, in exchange for the ghosts leaving them in peace and haunting Kárahnjúkar instead. It was then in the process of its initial flood.
Soon after very strange things occured at Kárahnjúkar. Workers were injured, serious technical problems manifested.
If there's anywhere in the world where making pacts with supernatural forces is possible, it's Iceland.
Drone footage on Reddit: https://reddit.com/r/BeAmazed/comments/mahr6j/fpv_drone_foot...
Much better footage of the original with higher framerate: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQOblgAvrHw
This brings back memories of the 2003 era Etna eruptions, when I was living in southern Italy. After the regular programming stopped, the RAI channels would just run a live feed of the volcano spewing lava at night, all night long. It was a hell of a screen saver!
Great video but its amusing to see so many people up close and personal with the erupting lava. Here in the US, our National Park Service closed the entire area surrounding the crater at Kilauea when it started erupting last year. Unless you were a volcanologist, you aren't able to get within several miles of it.
Having the police close off the whole area around the eruption is simply not feasible.
The view here in Iceland is more that people should heed the advice given, and use good judgement if they decide to go see the eruption anyway.
Certain areas are closed off though, and the police and SaR teams will interact with those who go there.
The view here in Iceland is more that people should heed the advice given, and use good judgement if they decide to go see the eruption anyway.
Certain areas are closed off though, and the police and SaR teams will interact with those who go there.
Iceland seems to have a very relaxed approach to health and safety. I visited in 2006 and remember walking around boiling pools of mud on very slippery ground with nothing but a single token piece of rope to prevent tourists from slipping and falling to a slow and painful death.
Since the meteoric rise in tourism post financial crisis, more funds have been put into upgrading many of the tourist areas with propper walking paths and cordoning off certain areas.
This has mostly been done to preserve the areas from undue damage from humans, but also for their increased safety.
Our view of health and safety is still vastly different from the US for example. It does help that liability for your own personal health most often lies on your own shoulders instead of somebody else's.
This has mostly been done to preserve the areas from undue damage from humans, but also for their increased safety.
Our view of health and safety is still vastly different from the US for example. It does help that liability for your own personal health most often lies on your own shoulders instead of somebody else's.
New Zealand is/was similar. Then in 2019 White Island erupted and killed 22 people and injured a similar number. The injuries have been truely horrific. Skin grafts alone came to a quarter of a million square centimetres of skin for victims.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_Whakaari_/_White_Island...
https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/health/118741979/whakaari--wh...
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_Whakaari_/_White_Island...
https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/health/118741979/whakaari--wh...
That's what has been done at Yellowstone National Park. All the tourist-accessible thermal features have boardwalks built out to and around them for both safety and environmental protection from the millions of vistors. Other features, like Old Faithful geyser, has been surround by cement paths and benches for visitors to view eruptions from. The backcountry, however, has no such facilities and people who visit those are basically on their own and need to use their own discretion. That said, people die in hot springs every year because they're too dumb to recognize the dangers.
This approach has yielded us Icelandair's with fewer idiots therefore no baseless claims for lawsuit.
You see.. they fall into these boiling pools of mud. Problem solved.
You see.. they fall into these boiling pools of mud. Problem solved.
Iceland must be less litigious and have less lawyers per capita.
I believe at least the lawyer thing is true for most of the world compared to USA.
I get irritated whenever people make a snarky comment about litigiousness in the US, because I used to work in litigation support and one day I came across an issue of an industry magazine which had an article about how Brits were financing American lawsuits essentially as a form of venture capital.
Whenever any American is involved in something sketchy anywhere in the world, it's obviously another example of Americans corrupting things.
But whenever anyone is making American problems worse for profit, it is assumed to be the US at fault for providing the opportunity.
Whenever any American is involved in something sketchy anywhere in the world, it's obviously another example of Americans corrupting things.
But whenever anyone is making American problems worse for profit, it is assumed to be the US at fault for providing the opportunity.
I would love to visit Iceland this late Spring, it would be my second visit after my first one in 2008.
I am wondering if anyone knows what the covid-related restrictions are. I would go there primarily to hike, and secondarily to try to meet interesting startups.
I am wondering if anyone knows what the covid-related restrictions are. I would go there primarily to hike, and secondarily to try to meet interesting startups.
So 12 days of quarantine? Sounds expensive.
No, just 5. You get the results a few hours after each test. I flew in on a Sunday, went into quarantine, got my landing test results same day, did my second test Friday morning (took 2min to enter, get tested and come back out) and got my negative results via app at lunch time, at which point I was done with quarantine.
That's pretty good, but if you can only afford a week (which is already more than the vast majority of people in my country can afford), it makes it a non-starter... Doesn't help that Iceland is expensive, I guess...
Don't want to sound harsh but, given how isolated Iceland is, anything less than a week is like... wasting money anyway? Obviouvsly if it's a business trip you might go and stay one or two days, but for anything involving leisure, I don't know, adding extra 5 days quarantine is not that a big deal (if you can afford going to Iceland anyway).
If you go for a week, basically doubling the costs of the trip for a quarantine is anything but a big deal, I'd think. I'm not sure how you figure that paying double for a trip so you can quarantine isn't a big deal...
Some people can only stay a week. I went for a week several years back, and in that time drove up through the highlands, tent camping and inching my way all the way around the island. I ended with a day trip to Vestmannaeyjar before flying back. I might not have been able to add an extra 5 days to said trip, and definitely couldn't now, where I only get a week of paid leave every six months or so.
A week is a good trip. We went around the whole island (the outer ring road) in five days and saw so many beautiful places. It was almost too much. This was in June 2020, so there were no tourists. Incredible nature.
Edited to add: It's isolated, but still just a few hours flight from us-east and northern Europe.
Edited to add: It's isolated, but still just a few hours flight from us-east and northern Europe.
It’s only 5-6 days of quarantine as the first test is taken when you arrive.
Oh, that's better... Still probably prohibitive for a lot of people, I wonder if you can skip that if you're vaccinated (or perhaps will be able to by September).
Yes in May they are looking to open up more to people outside of Schengen with vaccination certificates. My parents are British, vaccinated and looking forward to coming over to visit as we've not seen them since Christmas.
That'd be fantastic, I've been itching to go back to Iceland for years now!
Assuming I manage to get vaccinated, that is...
Assuming I manage to get vaccinated, that is...
I'm in Iceland for 6 months on their new teleworker visa. It took a couple of months to get, but it's pretty straightforward: https://ozar.me/2021/01/whew-we-got-iceland-teleworker-visas...
Direct YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BA-9QzIcr3c
Learning grade school science (50 years ago) would have been so much easier if they just showed me these videos. Amazing!
I love the juxtaposition of the blowing snow with the superhot lava. Something about the union of extremes.
Related:
I captured the Iceland volcano eruption from up close - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26543533 - March 2021 (14 comments)
I captured the Iceland volcano eruption from up close - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26543533 - March 2021 (14 comments)
Go back in the live stream a few hours and then watch a timelapse by hitting the "forward 15 seconds" button. There is more motion happening than is obvious watching the real time video.
It's all just white to me when I click the video. Not sure if damaged or a bright light is shining at it? Fog maybe?
Edit: nvm it was clouds or fog, moving now!
Edit: nvm it was clouds or fog, moving now!
Just fog. Clicking around on the timeline (5h+ by now) allows you to see the various stages.
It works for me now!
pretty cool how helpless we are when it comes to predicting anything that goes on within:
> RÚV engineers worked through the night to revive the previously-popular earthquake monitoring webcam and to re-orientate it towards the volcano. It was previously located on Borgarfjall when scientists believed an eruption was most likelt at Nátthagi.
> RÚV engineers worked through the night to revive the previously-popular earthquake monitoring webcam and to re-orientate it towards the volcano. It was previously located on Borgarfjall when scientists believed an eruption was most likelt at Nátthagi.
Strikingly beautiful!
It's hard to get a sense of the scale of the scene, anyone happen to know how far away the webcam is from the peak?
It's hard to get a sense of the scale of the scene, anyone happen to know how far away the webcam is from the peak?
Not too far I think. This eruption is apparently competing with one other eruption on being the smallest eruption on record in Iceland.
Source: am Icelandic and read it on the news.
Source: am Icelandic and read it on the news.
Looks to be about half a kilometer. The webcam looks to be at about 63.89045405043735, -22.279054215941507 and the main crater is at about 63.88921695342744, -22.269097856211175
The main crater is only a few tens of meters tall.
The main crater is only a few tens of meters tall.
About?! The 14th decimal place of latitude is worth ~0.15mm!
The smallest possible resolution of GPS in the horizontal is 10mm (6-7 digits) with local differential corrections.
In general, 4-5 digits is the precision to expect.
In general, 4-5 digits is the precision to expect.
Hm, then I think my calculation that the 14th digit is worth 0.15mm must be wildly incorrect.
For a 40km earth circumference, I worked out 10^-14 * 360 * 4*10^7 = 0.00014 metres.
For a 40km earth circumference, I worked out 10^-14 * 360 * 4*10^7 = 0.00014 metres.
I think you want to divide by 360 instead of multiplying by 360 - when you divide by 360, you should get the linear distance represented by one degree of latitude or longitude.
Although that might have been tongue-in-cheek, the word "about" could refer to the accuracy of the position, not its precision.
Precision != accuracy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accuracy_and_precision
Precision != accuracy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accuracy_and_precision
But the number of digits should reflect the precision.
When pointing at a map, the thickness of your digits should reflect precision.
How accurate are your digits?
Yes. If it's only 5 digits, it should be cut-off to reflect that. Accuracy needs an error estimate.
It's hard if you don't know the precision needed to get to the position you want, easier to just copy/paste and be done with it. How many knows how far 0.001 deg is at a specific location on the globe?
I find it hard to estimate the position from the top-down view compared to when I was there, and I just copy-pasted the coordinates from Google Maps
The camera is located on Fagradalsfjall and the eruption is in Geldingadalir. The exact location of the camera I do not know, but its somewhere in the ~1km range.
Fagradalsfjall is only 385m high.
I hope somebody is recording this stream. It could make an amazing time-lapse video later.
I have this on my TV now as a sort of screen saver. It's mesmerizing in a way.
Wowzers.Question: Is there a supervolcano in Iceland?
Not exactly, in the sense that I don't think it will be the site of a large, violent eruption: the pressure has too many less-violent ways to escape. However, it (probably) does have a mantle plume under it, which is the main ingredient in other supervolcanoes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iceland_hotspot
Also, fun fact from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supervolcano: "Many volcanologists consider Iceland to be a large igneous province that is currently being formed."
Also, fun fact from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supervolcano: "Many volcanologists consider Iceland to be a large igneous province that is currently being formed."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VeFBYeKa30w&list=PLoqbqfn2ku...
Unfortunately, photos and movies don't capture the atmosphere and sheer scale of the thing. What might look like some rocks rolling from the crater is cose to building-sized. Still, it's defined as a small eruption.
Edit: iCloud rate-limited the playlist I originally posted, so changed to YouTube playlist. Original link: https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0OG6XBubGEA3MC