Volcano and earthquake activity in Iceland
Yesterday (24-January-2021) at 09:16 UTC an earthquake with magnitude Mw3,1 took place in Kolbeinsey island. Two unconfirmed earthquakes with magnitude of Mw2,5 and Mw2,6 took place at 17:37 UTC and 19:06 UTC.
The area is remote and it is difficult to know if there has been any more earthquake activity there. There is also a storm going on and has been going on for last several days and that limits detection of small and remote earthquakes in Iceland.
Yesterday at 23:31 UTC (16-January-2021) an earthquake with the magnitude of Mw3,1 took place in Katla volcano. Last earthquake of this magnitude was in November 2020. No other earthquake activity has been detected since the earthquake yesterday.
There has been slightly more earthquake activity in Katla volcano in December 2020 and in January 2021. Currently there is nothing suggesting that an eruption is about to happen in next few months to week. Earthquake activity remains too low for that too happen based on past experience (minor eruption in July 2011). I am not expecting any major changes in activity in Katla volcano for the next few weeks to months. Nothing might happen all year and that would be perfectly normal for this volcano.
Today (10-January-2021) at 03:15 UTC an earthquake with magnitude of Mw4,1. This earthquake was felt far away as Reykjavík. A swarm of small earthquakes is currently ongoing in this area. This earthquake activity is in the Reykjanes volcano.
Over 100 earthquakes have happened in this area for the last 48 hours. Most of them are small, less than magnitude Mw1,0 in size. There are not many earthquakes with magnitude over Mw1,0 currently in this earthquake activity. There is no sign that magma has started to find a way to the surface. Currently the magma remains in the crust. GPS data suggests that there is some type of change going on but I am unclear what that means. The GPS data can be viewed here.
Today (07-January-2021) two earthquakes with magnitude of Mw3,1 and Mw3,2 took place in Reykjanes volcano. A swarm of smaller earthquakes is currently ongoing in the volcano.
The earthquake activity in the Reykjanes volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
This earthquake activity has been going on for one year. Inflation was detected on 21-January-2020 by Icelandic Met Office and it has continued since then. Area of activity is now larger then it was at the start of this activity. There is currently no sign that an eruption is about to start but that might change without warning.
I hope everyone had a good Christmas and New Year even if current situation is difficult in the world.
Current break in eruptions is the longest in 60 years according to expert in the news from few days ago. It is not possible to know when this break of eruption in Iceland ends.
Today (04-January-2021) an strong earthquake took place far north of Iceland. Largest earthquake had a magnitude of Mb4,7 according to EMSC (information here). Icelandic Met Office did register this earthquake at magnitude of Mw3,6. Few other earthquakes where recorded with magnitudes from Mw2,5 to Mw3,0 but exact magnitude is difficult to know for sure due to distance.
Green star far north of Iceland is the location of the earthquake. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
There is some uncertainty of location due to distance of the earthquake from any seismometer network. I don’t know if any more earthquakes have happened due to location and only largest of earthquakes are being registered by Icelandic Met Office and other seismometer networks.
Article updated at 22:14 UTC.
Today (29-December-2020) an earthquake swarm took place in Reykjanes volcano. This was just small earthquakes but the amount is considerable. This earthquake activity happens because of magma inflation in this area.
Earthquake activity in Reykjanes volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
Reykjanes ridge
Today (29-December-2020) and earthquake with magnitude of Mw3,1 took place on Reykjanes ridge. This earthquake was far out in the ocean. Only one other smaller earthquake seems to have happened in that same area after the largest earthquake. Otherwise there has not been any more earthquake activity today out on the Reykjanes ridge.
Earthquake activity on Reykjanes ridge. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
Today (17-December-2020) a small earthquake swarm took place in Katla volcano. This is a minor earthquake swarm with total of just eight earthquakes recorded. It is little unusual to see this earthquake activity in Katla volcano in December since this is normally the most quiet time of the year.
Minor earthquake activity in Katla volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
Largest earthquake in this swarm had a magnitude of Mw2,9 and all other earthquakes where smaller in magnitude. I am not expecting any more activity in Katla volcano. That might change without warning since this is a volcano.
Today (21-December-2020) at 11:38 UTC an earthquake with magnitude of Mw3,9 took place in Bárðarbunga volcano.
The earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
This earthquake had two earlier earthquakes with magnitude of Mw2,4 and Mw2,8. Smaller earthquake activity seems to have stopped or happening at slow rate at the writing of this article. Currently Bárðarbunga volcano has an earthquake with magnitude Mw3,0 to Mw5,0 every few weeks since end of the eruption in 2015. This pattern doesn’t seems to be changing.
Over the last few days the town of Seyðisfjörður in eastern Iceland has been dealing with several landslides. During the night of 18-December-2020 a landslide moved a house of its founding and damaged it. Risk of landslides are also in other towns in eastern Iceland. I don’t know anything useful about landslides but the situation has turned bad in eastern Iceland. The reason for the landslides is heavy rain in the area and rain has been more than 200mm during 24 hours according to weather reports. Currently there is no change in the weather forecast until Saturday when the rain is expected to stop. After that there is expected that snowing is going to start as the weather cools in eastern Iceland. Icelandic Met Office website in English.
Icelandic News
Landslide and rain alerts continue in East Iceland (Rúv.is)
Aurskriða hrífur hús með sér á Seyðisfirði (Rúv.is, Icelandic) – News report on landslide moving a house off its foundations.
Update at 14:43 UTC
New images from Seyðisfjörður town show the damage that has happened in this landslides during the night. Images can be found in this Icelandic news.
Húsið hefur snúist hálfhring – Myndir (austurfrettir.is)
Article updated at 14:43 UTC.
Early morning on 16-December-2020 at 04:30 UTC an earthquake with magnitude of Mw4,1 took place close to Reykjanestá in Reykjanes volcano. The largest earthquake was felt over a large area. A swarm of small earthquakes started soon after the largest earthquake and this swarm was active for few hours.
The green star shows the area of activity early morning in Reykjanes volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
A second smaller earthquake swarm started just north of Grindvík town few hours after the earthquake swarm close to Reykjanestá. GPS data for the area doesn’t seems to have updated on the web and because of that I don’t know if the area is entering new inflation phase or not. The earthquake activity suggests that Reykjanes volcano is about to enter a new inflation phase but that is currently not certain.