FRIDAY OCTOBER 18 1996




Eruption site cooling as first snow falls on mountain


Snow covered for the first time the new mountain within the crater formed by the Vatnajökull eruption.

Scientists predict that the glacier will not take long to consume the mountain and indeed the ice canyon itself, possibly as early as the end of the forthcoming winter. The canyon is now estimated to measure around 400m wide and between 1-2km in length. At one point during its period of high activity the canyon was measured at around 3km in length.
BR> The eruption has all but subsided with the canyon having cooled considerably over the past couple of days. As a consequence, the flow of water streaming into Lake Grímsvötn has decreased with the water level in the caldera lake now standing at 1,505m.