The surface of the lake in Víti, a crater of the stratovolcano Askja in Dyngjufjöll mountains, in the northeastern highlands, dropped by 15 centimeters in a few hours last week. The crater was formed in one of the largest eruptions in Iceland’s history in 1875.
Víti. Photo by Páll Stefánsson.
“On Thursday we went down to the crater and didn’t notice anything unusual. Already the next day the water level had dropped by 15 centimeters,” tour guide Hermann Valsson at Viking Travel, who has offered scheduled trips to Askja this summer, told Fréttabladid.
Páll Einarsson, professor in geophysics, said this development is noteworthy although Víti is very unpredictable and that the crater’s decreasing water level is not a good measuring tool for underground turbulence.
