I spoke to the local evening news last night about renewed calls for oil exploration off the northeast coast of Iceland. While I'm pro-science and never against collecting more data, this is not a play I would want to risk my tax dollars and pristine nature on. www.visir.is/g/2025277808...

Your boos mean nothing to me; I've seen what makes you cheer.

Spent the weekend in the Highlands of Iceland filming a documentary about geology, rivers, and the water cycle here. It's always an adventure to get up into the wild terrain, and I love being among some of the world's most unique, surreal scenery. And of course close to some big volcanoes.

It was a big week for northern lights here in the far north as it now gets dark enough to really enjoy the show. A CME blessed our skies, although we were fighting clouds throughout SW Iceland. More to come this weekend, solar forecast looks good. Hope the terrestrial forecast cooperates. #aurora

In more Icelandic cat news, the police and special mechanics team had to be called to rescue a cat trapped in a Tesla. And the newspaper reported extensively on it. We take cat rescue very seriously here. Like the cat that was kidnapped and they sent an entire swat team after it. #catsky

Long time, no chat! I'm going to try to be back more in the coming months; you'll see soon why. Are we still using this app? I was this month's Lava Academy Podcast guest, as a geologist here in Iceland, talking science communication & what makes Iceland unique. www.lavashow.com/blog/lava-ac...

New eruption in Iceland alert! It's exciting and the situation with the air quality and instability of the growing fissure has kept us on our toes. That said, the eruption is very localized, not affecting infrastructure, and will most likely be short-lived. So just enjoy watching new earth be born!

Wanted to show off this amazing installation I had put in on my dining room wall for Gary the Cat. I conceptualized the idea, and my friends at OlaVera designed, built, and installed it. They specialize in sustainable, bespoke furniture. The table, with cat hidey-holes, is thrifted wood and metal.

Hey #bluesky friends and followers! Sorry I've been MIA. I've been dealing with some health issues, but I'm slowly feeling better. Not too much geology news here in Iceland anyway, and the midnight sun is keeping the northern lights at bay. But hopefully we can talk volcanoes and aurora again soon!

What's one thing you're obsessed with? Mine is to be able to accurately complain (or not) about Reykjavík summer weather, with the use of real data. Behold: new May 2025 data. Not only the warmest May on record ever, but the largest deviation from the mean since I started my records in 2018.

Back home and participating in the season's sport #stormchasing #oklahoma

Just finished taking my Icelandic test for citizenship. I was definitely very stressed. It's so funny what your brain blanks on in high stress situations versus what you fall back on. I just kept talking about eldgos and kötturinn minn. Here, Ásgeir helped me study last night.

The lupine are blooming extra early this season due to unseasonably sunny & warm weather all spring. I checked my records, and the last time they bloomed in May was 2020. So, if you're planning to come to photograph Iceland's beautiful invasive flower, you need to come now. Pix from today's walk 📸

Absolutely gorgeous weekend here in Iceland. I did everything in my power to maximize my time in the sun with some quintessential Icelandic activities. Hiking in Nesjavellir 🏔️ Lunch at Hestaland 🐎 Soaking at Krauma Spa ☀️

Bongó! 🤩

Last night across parts of western interior North America, a huge white streak was visible across the sky as the aurora put on a show. Most of us thought it was the phenomenon known as STEVE. It was instead a new type of methane and liquid oxygen rocket launched by China. Whoa. Pic from a friend.

I've noticed a percipitous drop in engagement on Bluesky. I work in marketing when I'm not writing about rocks, so I know that social media algorithms reward daily posts and ritual human sacrifice, but I just don't have that in me. Anyway, summer's here (briefly?) in Iceland, so please enjoy. ☀️

Also: since we have no active lava here in Iceland to shock and awe you, please praise Pele for this amazing display happening at Kīlauea 🤩😍 ✨Yay Geology✨ *jazz hands* Video of Episode 22 of active Hawaii volcano:

We've had some interesting earthquakes over the past week here in Iceland, but the biggest news here isn't the geology, it's the weather. Absolutely gorgeous (record setting) sunshine across Iceland recently. Although maybe not as warm as reported 😂 Reminds me of the Mckinney heat index meme:

Something I do miss about "the other site" is the network effect of millions of users being able to generate content and make trending topics easily discoverable. Like, when another social media site is down, there would be a huge number of posts meme-ing and updating. Anyway, TikTok is down.

I don't always share stuff about my day job, but I love travel, I love this podcast, and I was able to get my founder on as a featured guest. The travel trends podcast, hosted by Dan Christian (former CMO at industry giant TTC), is the biggest B2B travel podcast out there. tinyurl.com/3dmxmn5e

New discovery: Gary the Cat does not like the sound of large cruise ship horns. Here he is, all ten kilos of him, cowering next to me last night. #icelandproblems

Áfram Ísland! 🇮🇸♥️🎤 #eurovision2025

‘Fighting with nature’: Iceland’s Grindavík play again after 18-month seismic gap

Just typical Iceland stuff: swapping out my winter tires on this snowy May morning, because of course it is.

Pop(e) Crave: "new pope just dropped"

What's new in Iceland? Geology news: A M5.3 earthquake rocked Bárðarbunga last night, with 20+ aftershocks, but no volcanic tremors detected yet. Not news: every news agency here reported that the internet's favorite daddy, Pedro Pascal, spotted at Kaffi Vest. I may have added the superlative.

I NEED THE WORLD TO KNOW I LEFT THIS COMMENT 9 HOURS BEFORE I SAW THE EPISODE 🔮 @gamechangershow.bsky.social

Happy May the Fourth to all who celebrate. When you see it, you'll know 👀💜

Continuing to rewatch The West Wing, and got to the (probably not) infamous ep. 9 (S2) when the president refers to the Icelandic ambassador, Vigdís Ólafsdóttir, as "he" and later directs his talks of trombone playing to a man. -dóttir is "daughter" in Icelandic; the ambassador should be a woman.

In Iceland news, every major publication is excited to report that Justin Beiber is back in the country. Last time he was in Iceland (2015) his music video filmed here sparked a wave of tourism that caused one canyon to shut down temporarily & a remote plane wreck to attract under prepared hikers.

Fun w/ unscientific predictions: next Svartsengi eruption in 70-120 days (early July-late Aug). Does not take into account a whole host of knowns & unknowns, including influence from new dikes and ongoing seismicity, new rates of magma in-fill that could change, age of system. What do you think?

Happy #caturday from my cat, who literally fell asleep like this. I had never experienced a cat zombie contortionist until Gary came into my life. Have you seen anything similar, #bluesky?

A discussion on science literacy and misinformation. In an online debate yesterday, an old friend who has become vehemently anti-vax, anti-pharma shared this graph to prove that autism is an epidemic and new cases are exponentially sky-rocketing. But why is this just bad science understanding?

Happy April 25th to all who celebrate!

Here in Iceland, today is the most optimistic holiday to ever exist anywhere: the First Day of Summer. "Gleðilegt sumar!" 🥶 Regardless, summer in Iceland is beautiful and the long summer nights are already starting. Enjoy some gorgeous Iceland summer this fine Thursday. #midnightsun

How I arrived on Bluesky iykyk

Not Iceland volcano related, but Kilauea has started erupting again with episode 18 starting early this morning. South crater is fountaining over 600 ft. high currently. Geology is so freaking cool 🌋 Watch here, sunrise happening soon: m.youtube.com/watch?v=fiyt...

Presented without commentary: real life volcano picnics.

Happy Easter from Gary the Icelandic Maine Coon cat. He hated this photoshoot. 🐇😹

"But what are we doing about pesky continental extension," asks Iceland.

Late night shenanigans: Iceland style #aurora #northernlights #nature

Currently rewatching The West Wing for the umpteenth time, to soothe my soul in these trying times: Season 1, Ep. 6: they're complaining about a measly $2M to monitor volcanic ash for overhead air traffic. Leo claims the FAA doesn't even know what that is. *Eyjafjallajökull side-eyes Aaron Sorkin*

I don't often get interviewed for the BBC, but when I do, they take out the part where I talk about how Justin Bieber might have had a bigger impact on over-tourism than Eyjafjallajökull. (totally exaggerating, kinda sorta...) Read about what makes Iceland great below: www.bbc.com/travel/artic...

News from Iceland yesterday: any company wishing to do business with the US embassy must confirm that they do not have any policies which promote diversity, equity, and inclusion. Interesting to see how this will evolve given fair hiring practices are the law here. Will Icelandic companies comply?

Hæ Bluesky 👋🏼 Happy International Volcano Day to all who celebrate! 🌋 Please enjoy some lava to cool your feed. We need science and beauty in a time like this :) Four pictures from my Fagradalsfjall, Reykjanes, Iceland: 2021 collection.

One of the wildest things about TikToking cute, benign videos in English about life in Iceland is that roughly every 3rd post gets hit with the most vile, xenophobic comments from some faceless account á íslensku. The sad part: when they do show their face or bio, its some teen boy or young mother.

Gary, do you know how much eggs cost these days?! (Just kidding, no eggs were harmed in the making of Gary the Cat's treat hunt game) #catsky

This week's volcanic eruption in Iceland bucked trends we've seen at this site for the past year; it's been wild trying to tie the data together. Like many things in science: we don't know what will happen next. But happy to see science funded because lives and livelihoods are at stake.

I know I should have done a better job sharing more about the volcano this week here in Iceland, but I've been a bit busy with existential dread and northern lights.