Small explosions at Eyjafjallajökull: Start of something new or end of something old?

nImage of the Eyjafjallajökull’s ash taken on May 26, 2010, courtesy of the NASA Earth Observatory.

Eruptions readers were closely following increasing tremors at Eyjafjallajökull this afternoon/evening wondering if there was a new eruption starting but with the weather not cooperating, no one was sure. However, this evening the Icelandic Met Office released a statement (Icelandic) saying that a small explosion of gas and ash did occur today. The update is only available (so far) on the Icelandic version of the IMO website – so I had to work through a Google Translate version of the story – but it appears that the combination of increased tremor and these renewed “throat-clearing” events (most likely very little new material in these explosions) might herald a new period of activity at Eyjafjallajökull – or it could just be a blip during the waning of the system.

You can check out the Mila.is webcam (weather permitting) or the IMO tremor plots to keep an eye on the volcano. As of 11 PM EDT, the volcano is still “restless.”

{Hat tip to Jón Frímann for keeping us up to date on the activity at Eyjafjallajökull.}