There is a an ongoing earthquake swarm in Reykjanes volcano and it has been going on for more than a week now. Location of this swarm has moved a little and the main earthquake activity is now at Reykjanestá area out in the ocean. There have been five earthquakes with magnitude above Mw3,0 today (13-May-2022) and the largest so far had a magnitude of Mw3,5.
Earthquake activity on Reykjanes ridge and on Reykjanes peninsula. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
This earthquake activity suggests two things. Either the magma has not been able to find a path to the surface close to Grindavík town. The second option is that there are two dyke intrusions happening in Reykjanes volcano. This earthquake activity slows down but never fully stops it seems. It is unclear why that happens. I am expecting earthquake activity to get stronger until an eruption starts somewhere in Reykjanes volcano.
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Today (10-May-2022) during the night an earthquake swarm started in a new location in the volcano Reykjanes. This location is about 11 km south of Keflavík International Airport, it is also close to a village named Hafnir. Largest earthquakes in this swarm had a magnitude of Mw3,0 and Mw3,2. The second earthquake was felt in the area. A lot of smaller earthquakes also took place at this location.
Green stars in Reykjanes volcano where the activity took place. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
This earthquake activity suggests that a new magma injection is taking place in this location. The chance of an eruption is in my view high for this location, when it might happen is impossible to know. There is a old lava field in this area and some say it might be from last ice age. I am not sure on the exact age of this lava field, the crater that created this old lava field has eroded away by the ocean centuries ago.
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During the night of 10-May-2022 an earthquake swarm took place in Tjörnes Fracture Zone (TFZ). Largest earthquake in this swarm had a magnitude of Mw3,2 and based on distance from the coast it is unlikely that this earthquake was felt.
Earthquake activity east of Grímsey island. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
This earthquake activity is normal for this part of Tjörnes Fracture Zone. It is not possible to know what is going to happen next in this activity if anything and it might just stop.
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The earthquake swarm in Trölladyngju-Krýsuvík volcano continues. The earthquake activity increased again this morning (7-May-2022). This earthquake activity suggests that magma is on the move in this area of Kleifarvatn lake.
Largest earthquakes in this swarm today (7-May-2022) had a magnitude of Mw3,3 and Mw3,5. Both earthquakes where clearly felt in Reykjavík area.
Earthquake activity in Krýsuvík volcano in Kleifarvatn lake. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
This earthquake activity continues with short breaks. I am not clear on why that is happening. One possible reason for this is that there is a drop in the pressure of the magma at this location or that the magma is trying to find easier path to the surface. This pattern of activity might make it longer until an eruption happens in Kleifarvatn lake.
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Yesterday (04-May-2022) an earthquake swarm started in Kleifarvatn lake that is in Krýsuvík-Trölladyngja volcano. Largest earthquake had a magnitude of Mw3,4 but earthquakes down to magnitude Mw2,9 where felt in Reykjavík.
Earthquake activity in Krýsuvík-Trölladyngja volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
It is difficult to be exactly sure what is going on. However, most signs suggest that this earthquake swarm that is ongoing is because if magma movement or magma trying to push upwards in the crust at this location. Earthquake activity is showing a small amount of fluctuation and I don’t know why that is happening. Eruption in this area is likely, it is however impossible to know when that might happen.
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Moving to Denmark
I am currently moving back to Denmark. Until middle of June or start of July updates might be slower because of limited internet access.
At 08:12 UTC on 30-April-2022 an earthquake with magnitude of Mw3,4 took place in Presthnúkur volcano. This earthquake was felt in Geysir south of the area where the earthquake took place.
Earthquake activity in Presthnúkar volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
Few smaller earthquakes took place after the strongest earthquake. It has to noted that those earthquakes where in the different part of the volcano and are possibly not aftershocks.
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Earthquake swarm in the Reykjanes volcano (Global Volcanism Program website remains down) is ongoing with little breaks. Largest earthquake in the last 48 hours had a magnitude of Mw3,1. I don’t know if it was felt. This earthquake activity shows that magma continues to inflate this part of the Reykjanes volcano.
Earthquake activity in the Reykjanes volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
This earthquake activity is part of a higher than normal earthquake activity in this area. It has been ongoing since 2019, with the most quiet period during the six month long eruption in Fagradalsfjall mountain. I don’t know when the crust is going to break on that magma that is in this area. It might not happen with a large earthquake swarm or activity. A earthquake small as Mw2,5 might start an eruption in this area.
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Moving to Denmark
I am moving to Denmark in May. That means that for some time there is going to be a time where I am not going to be able to post a lot of updates even if something happens. This also means that my earthquake monitoring at Hvammstangi is going to shut down. Because of how the internet is today. I am unable to transmit data from a remote computer to a main computer over the internet. I don’t know why this is, but I suspect that there is some type of new attack going on, resulting in WinSDR server program crashing on the data transmission at random times. I am going to start recording earthquakes in Denmark after I finish moving. This are however only going to be larger earthquakes down in the Mediterranean area, Greece and that area where larger earthquakes often happen. I also consider this a fine change for me, since I’ve been recording earthquakes in Iceland since 2008 and I’ve got a lot of backlog to work through because of high earthquake activity because of volcano activity in recent years. My earthquake website can be found here.
Most of April there has been a earthquake swarm in the volcano of Oddnýjarhnjúkur-Langjökull (Hveravellir). This is in the north-east end of the volcano. At the writing of this article no earthquake has reached magnitude of Mw3,0.
Earthquake activity in Hveravellir area east of Langjökull glacier. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
This area seems to have earthquake activity every 5 to 10 years. With last earthquake activity in this area happening in November-2007. Some smaller earthquake activity happens between larger earthquake swarms. It is unclear what is going on there, but for now this just looks like tectonic activity. Because of lack of seismometers in this part of Iceland. Only the largest earthquakes are being shown on the earthquake map that Icelandic Met Office has. That is earthquakes with magnitude above Mw1,3. Earthquake swarm at more distance from Hveravellir can’t be ruled out. There are now around 12 year since last such earthquake swarm took place close to Blöndulón lake (a dam created lake in this area).
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Happy Easter. This Easter day (17-April-2022) in Iceland started with an earthquake swarm in Reykjanes volcano (GVP website is down). With the largest earthquake having a magnitude of Mw3,5 so far. Two other earthquakes took place with magnitude of Mw3,2 and Mw3,0. This earthquake swarm is out in the ocean and suggest that magma activity in Reykjanes volcano is increasing from what it was. This earthquake swarm started between 07:00 until 09:00 this morning and seems to be over at the writing of this article.
Earthquake activity in the Reykjanes volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
This earthquake swarm was not felt according to the news. This activity is taking place far from land for now. This also increases the chance that an eruption might happen out in the ocean. If that happens it might create new temporary islands in this area, since the ocean is rather shallow in this part of the Reykjanes ridge. Earthquake activity seems to be growing in Reykjanes volcano. If that continues is difficult to know, if it does it increases the chance of an eruption considerably in this area.
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Yesterday (12-April-2022) at 21:21 UTC an earthquake swarm started with a magnitude Mw3,9 earthquake. There is a chance there have been a swarm of smaller earthquakes in last few weeks in this area. Since there has been almost always on earthquake swarm activity on this part of Reykjanes peninsula in recent months. The largest earthquake was felt over a wide area in south and west Iceland. Over seven earthquakes with magnitude Mw3,0 have taken place, accurate number is difficult to know for sure at the moment.
Strong earthquake activity on Reykjanes peninsula in Reykjanes volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
The activity now is happening in a volcano named Reykjanes. Last eruption might have happened last time in the year 1831 but that is difficult to know for sure. At the writing of this article around 264 to 280 earthquakes have been recorded by Icelandic Met Office. This number changes every few minutes because the earthquake swarm is strong and ongoing currently. Earthquake activity seems to be increasing at the writing of this article. This situation can change quickly. I am seeing clues that this earthquake swarm is because of magma movement. I think it might result in a eruption, but that is impossible to know for sure now.
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