Good up to date info here. Needs google translate.
https://vedur.is/um-vi/frettir/jardskjalftahrina-nordan-vid-grindavik-hofst-i-nott

Updated December 19, at 12:30 p.m
"The power of the eruption continues to decrease at Sundhnúksgíga. Lava flow is roughly estimated at ¼ of what it was in start and one third of the original crack is active. Magma plumes are also lower but at the beginning of an eruption, about 30 meters where they reach the highest."

Live cams https://www.youtube.com/live/804nPrAUAxg?si=67VSp95VfC5TaUsN

Various bomb experts have mentioned that the plume would be black if it was ANFO or similar meaning it wasn't mixed.

The colour of the plume apparently indicates a lot of unexploded nitrates. Ammonium Nitrate needs to be mixed with other things for an efficient reaction. Once the explosion started the reaction couldn't continue efficiently and the excess was expelled into the plume.

It was not a test launch. It was an instantaneous launch just after sunset to launch 10 satellites. The clock on the dash cam must not be set to local time.

https://youtu.be/wtdjCwo6d3Q

"SpaceX is targeting launch of Iridium-4 from Space Launch Complex 4E (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The instantaneous launch window is at 5:27 p.m. PST on Friday, December 22"


https://spaceflightnow.com/2017/12/23/spacex-launch-dazzles-delivering-10-more-satellites-for-iridium/

"The two-stage, kerosene-fueled rocket climbed into the rarefied upper atmosphere a few minutes following liftoff shortly after sunset at 5:27:34 p.m. PST (8:27:34 p.m. EST; 0127:34 GMT) from Space Launch Complex 4-East Vandenberg Air Force Base northwest of Los Angeles.

The Falcon 9 left a brilliant white plume of exhaust in its wake, catching rays of sunshine as it soared above the stratosphere. The ever-expanding plume left a teardrop-shaped mark in the sky, prompting countless social media posts from rush hour drivers and others who happened to catch an unexpected glimpse of the rocket’s trip to space."

I lived in Cape Canaveral for 35 years. I watched all but 5 shuttle launches and many Delta, Atlas and other rockets. Each unique in it's own way. This launch was spectacular in that the lighting helped illuminate the plume in a way that normally is unseen in a bright sky or total darkness.

Another cool effect when conditions are right during a launch is when a rocket breaks the sound barrier while penetrating thin clouds. It creates what's known as a Sun Dog. The shock wave creates a ripple effect that resembles ripples going across the surface of water. The effect at night can be illuminated by the rocket's bright plume rather than the sun.

Related :

https://robertscribbler.com/2016/07/18/scores-of-city-sized-siberian-wildfires-spew-2500-mile-long-plume-of-smoke-over-northern-hemisphere/

http://www.flassbeck-economics.com/how-climate-change-is-rapidly-taking-the-planet-apart/

"Throw the ring into the fire!"

I hope she held her breath as she passed through that poisonous plume.

There was only the plume of smoke the first day - http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-01-11/industrial-fire-sends-thick-smoke-across-melbourne/7080002

Somehow I managed to miss it, despite my office having almost the same view of the city that the thumbnail of that video has, and despite living 1.5kms from the fire! In my defence though there is terrain in the way. It is a 10 minute and 5 km drive, but that's because there is no direct road... have a look at the map, https://goo.gl/maps/PxVBFJWaLA92 and the problem is the western ring road, 400m to the south of the fire.

I'm a graduate from two universities, so I've had my share of 'book-learning'.

You see, my nom de plume means i spread light where I go, whereas yours means you spread chaos, with the efficiency of a machine.

A machine spreading chaos is likely to believe everything it hears, without discerning the real facts, which are very easy to find.

But here is my question: does Kristen Schaal make as much money as Jon Stewart? If not, why? And was she part of the study? Ok, now i get it.

Eärendil was a mariner
that tarried in Arvernien;
he built a boat of timber felled
in Nimbrethil to journey in;
her sails he wove of silver fair,
of silver were her lanterns made,
her prow was fashioned like a swan,
and light upon her banners laid.

In panoply of ancient kings,
in chainéd rings he armoured him;
his shining shield was scored with runes
to ward all wounds and harm from him;
his bow was made of dragon-horn,
his arrows shorn of ebony,
of silver was his habergeon,
his scabbard of chalcedony;
his sword of steel was valiant,
of adamant his helmet tall,
an eagle-plume upon his crest,
upon his breast an emerald.

Beneath the Moon and under star
he wandered far from northern strands,
bewildered on enchanted ways
beyond the days of mortal lands.
From gnashing of the Narrow Ice
where shadow lies on frozen hills,
from nether heats and burning waste
he turned in haste, and roving still
on starless waters far astray
at last he came to Night of Naught,
and passed, and never sight he saw
of shining shore nor light he sought.
The winds of wrath came driving him,
and blindly in the foam he fled
from west to east and errandless,
unheralded he homeward sped.

There flying Elwing came to him,
and flame was in the darkness lit;
more bright than light of diamond
the fire upon her carcanet.
The Silmaril she bound on him
and crowned him with the living light
and dauntless then with burning brow
he turned his prow; and in the night
from Otherworld beyond the Sea
there strong and free a storm arose,
a wind of power in Tarmenel;
by paths that seldom mortal goes
his boat it bore with biting breath
as might of death across the grey
and long-forsaken seas distressed:
from east to west he passed away.

Through Evernight he back was borne
on black and roaring waves that ran
o'er leagues unlit and foundered shores
that drowned before the Days began,
until he heard on strands of pearl
where ends the world the music long,
where ever-foaming billows roll
the yellow gold and jewels wan.
He saw the Mountain silent rise
where twilight lies upon the knees
of Valinor, and Eldamar
beheld afar beyond the seas.
A wanderer escaped from night
to haven white he came at last,
to Elvenhome the green and fair
where keen the air, where pale as glass
beneath the Hill of Ilmarin
a-glimmer in a valley sheer
the lamplit towers of Tirion
are mirrored on the Shadowmere.

He tarried there from errantry,
and melodies they taught to him,
and sages old him marvels told,
and harps of gold they brought to him.
They clothed him then in elven-white,
and seven lights before him sent,
as through the Calacirian
to hidden land forlorn he went.
He came unto the timeless halls
where shining fall the countless years,
and endless reigns the Elder King
in Ilmarin on Mountain sheer;
and words unheard were spoken then
of folk of Men and Elven-kin,
beyond the world were visions showed
forbid to those that dwell therein.

A ship then new they built for him
of mithril and of elven-glass
with shining prow; no shaven oar
nor sail she bore on silver mast:
the Silmaril as lantern light
and banner bright with living flame
to gleam thereon by Elbereth
herself was set, who thither came
and wings immortal made for him,
and laid on him undying doom,
to sail the shoreless skies and come
behind the Sun and light of Moon.

From Evereven's lofty hills
where softly silver fountains fall
his wings him bore, a wandering light,
beyond the mighty Mountain Wall.
From World's End then he turned away,
and yearned again to find afar
his home through shadow journeying,
and burning as an island star
on high above the mists he came,
a distant flame before the Sun,
a wonder ere the waking dawn
where grey the Norland waters run.

And over Middle-earth he passed
and heard at last the weeping sore
of women and of elven-maids
in Elder Days, in years of yore.
But on him mighty doom was laid,
till Moon should fade, an orbéd star
to pass, and tarry never more
on Hither Shores where mortals are;
for ever still a herald on
an errand that should never rest
to bear his shining lamp afar,
the Flammifer of Westernesse.

thank you!
Personal fantasy; in my next career, I want to be a fire bomber pilot (twin engine propeller would fine)---flying beat up old aircraft into giant smoke plumes...1000-2000 gallons on each pass

The DC-10 shown here is a beast of an entirely different nature. It can drop 12,000 gallons---

There is even, though I've not seen San Diego footage---a 747 conversion that can drop 20,000 gallons on each pass

(Reuters) - About 30 Syrian government fighters were killed when rebels set off a bomb in a tunnel beneath a checkpoint in a northwestern province, activists said on Tuesday.

Videos and images posted by opposition supporters online showed a massive plume of smoke and earth shooting into the air near a small town as men shouted "Allahu akbar" (God is greatest).

Rebels fighting to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad regularly carry out guerrilla attacks against his forces, but the size of the blast, which occurred on Monday, was unusual.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitoring group, said the blast took place outside the town of Ma'arat al-Nu'man in the northwestern Idlib province.

At least two officers were among those killed when insurgents from the Islamic Front and the Shields of the Revolution Council set off tons of explosives in a tunnel running from the road to the checkpoint, the group said.

Looks like they got a lot of work to do, that plume did not look too laminar.

>> ^Fletch:

If you look closely near the bottom the screen (about an inch above the lower edge of the video on my monitor) at the 1:20 mark, just left of center, you can see the heat shield hit and the subsequent plume of dirt that it creates. Watch it in 1080p (full screen) for the clearest view.
Thanks! I knew this was in the video somewhere, but since the frame pans off the heat shield's descent for several seconds I kept losing it.