Collapse – Page 3 – Iceland geology

October 11, 2014October 13, 2014

Friday update for Bárðarbunga volcano on 10-October-2014

This is current status on Bárðarbunga volcano on 10-October-2014.

There is no change or little in the eruption in Holuhraun far as I know. Visibility has been low today due to bad weather and snow.
Largest earthquake today had the magnitude of 4,8 at 11:26 UTC. Second largest earthquake had the magnitude of 4,7 at 02:24 UTC. Other earthquakes have been smaller.
Earthquake activity is increasing in Tungafellsjökull volcano. Current idea about this activity is that it is responding to tension changes in Bárðarbunga volcano. I don’t know how good this idea is. It might explain some of the earthquake activity. I am unsure if it explains all of the current earthquake in Tungafellsjökull. Currently I am just waiting to see what happens next with this volcano.
Earthquake activity along the dyke was minimal from what I can tell. Most of it took place under the glacier and that might not be a good sign if an eruption starts in that area. Since it would start a glacier flood and later a minor volcano ash eruption.
No further reports far as I know about current status in Bárðarbunga volcano.

Earthquake from Tungafellsjökull volcano at 22:58:28 UTC. There is some signature different in the earthquakes and the one from Bárðarbunga volcano. The main different at the moment is that the earthquakes in Tungafellsjökull volcano appears to be more tectonic and not due to magma movement. That has however been changing since the earthquake activity changed. Latest earthquakes show less pure tectonic activity than before. It is my assessment that magma might be on the move in Tungafellsjökull volcano. There is currently nothing to suggest that an eruption is going to take place even if that is the case. This image is released under Creative Commons Licence. Please see CC Licence for more details.

Saturday 11-October-2014 update

No change reported in the eruption according to the news today. The eruption fissure is now one 400 meter long fissure and all the craters that where in that area have merged together into one crater.
Largest earthquake today had the magnitude of 5,0. Second largest earthquake had the magnitude of 4,7. Other earthquakes have been smaller in magnitude.
New video of the eruption can be found here on Vísir.is. Audio and text is in Icelandic.
The eruption might last for months according to scientists in Iceland.
When scientists flew over Bárðarbunga volcano on Friday they noted some new cauldrons in the glacier. I suspect this has more to do with minor eruptions in the area rather then hydrothermal or hot spring activity. Such activity cannot be ruled out and possibly is taking place along the dyke. If any hydrothermal activity is taking place in Bárðarbunga volcano it means that magma has now reached depth of 1 – 2 km or less.

Sunday 12-October-2014 update

Largest earthquakes on 12-October-2014 had the magnitude of 5,2 and the second largest earthquake had the magnitude of 4,7.
Slightly higher earthquake activity has been detected today compared to yesterday. There has been more earthquake activity along the dyke then yesterday.
Due to bad weather there has not been any visible observation on Míla web cameras.
I suspect that minor eruptions are taking place under the glacier. I don’t know where they are taking place. A flight over the glacier is needed for such observation to see new or deepened cauldrons in the glacier.
Nothing else to report far as I know.

I wish everyone a good weekend.

Article updated at 22:42 UTC.
Article updated at 00:29 UTC on 13-October-2014.

October 10, 2014October 10, 2014

Bárðarbunga volcano daily update 9-October-2014

This is the daily Bárðarbunga volcano update. If you wonder why I write this every day even if there are no major changes there is a reason to it. There is an eruption taking place and there is always something going on. There are more notes about other things at the end of this article.

Current status in Bárðarbunga volcano on 9-October-2014

Largest earthquake today had the magnitude of 5,2, it took place at 21:22 UTC. Second largest earthquake today took place at 04:37 UTC and it had the magnitude of 5,0.
There is increased activity over the dyke origin area in Bárðarbunga volcano. Largest earthquake so far had the magnitude of 4,8 at 19:13 UTC today. I don’t think this is a good sign, since it appears to me that more magma is trying to get into the dyke. The dyke is however not wide enough to take in all this new magma that is trying to pressure its way into it. So it is now trying to expanding it at is starting point. If that expansion of the dyke fails the magma is going to start looking for new way out. What path the magma is going to go is not possible to predict. When the formation of new dyke starts, there is going to be a new earthquake swarm with thousands of earthquakes as happened from 16-August to 29-August when the eruption started.
Bárðarbunga volcano caldera continues to drop even if the magma pressure is increasing. I don’t know why that is. The caldera is not going to collapse until most or all of the magma leaves the magma chamber holding it up. Until then it is going to stay up. When the magma finds a path out of the magma chamber it is going to start a large eruption that is only going to last 60 – 75 hours (less than a week). Until then it is going to be more of the same. New dykes forming and sometimes erupting.
Bad weather has prevented me from seeing anything on the web cameras. I have also not heard anything about the lava field current status on the news today.
Today there was more earthquake activity along the dyke then yesterday. Suggesting increased pressure in it, as would be expected since I am seeing more pressure in the magma system (based on earthquake activity).
Nothing else to report far as I know.

The ring fault in Bárðarbunga volcano

The ring fault that has formed in Bárðarbunga volcano can clearly be seen on this image today from Icelandic Met Office.

The ring fault in Bárðarbunga volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Bárðarbunga volcano is a Stratovolcano (Wikipedia information can be found here) on a rift zone setting. This means Bárðarbunga volcano is able to erupt normal explosive eruptions at times (rhyolitic type eruptions), since magma can be mixed inside the volcano over a long period of time. I don’t think that is going to happen now, since there doesn’t seems to be any such magma in Bárðarbunga now. Since current activity happened without warning and that has not allowed any magma to evolve inside Bárðarbunga volcano magma chambers. As for Bárðarbunga volcano caldera collapse, information about how and why that is happening is explained here in general terms. As I said above, for as long there is magma inside the magma system that holds the weak area up it is going to stay where it is.

If anything major happens in Bárðarbunga volcano. I am going to write a new article or update this article with the latest information.

Other things

please note that I am in the process of moving back to Iceland. The moving date has been set in December. Until then I am just slowly packing my stuff down into boxes and ordering the transport for my stuff to Iceland. I am also trying to save up some money for the transport cost so I don’t have to take a large loan with my parents for this move back to Iceland. This also means that my geophone in Denmark is going down tonight. The website for it won’t go away right away. The image is going to be replaced with a test card.

Donations: Please remember to support my work with donations or by shopping at Amazon. Don’t worry about it if you can’t donate. I am just happy when I get any donation. Regardless how big or large it is. Thanks for the support.

Crazy theories

If there is a theory or idea that sounds just too crazy to be true. It is just that. Nature has its own rules and laws that it follows, even if we don’t understand them all. That is still what the nature does, even when it comes to eruptions. The best idea when it comes to crazy ideas is to ignore them. It is also important to know that nature ignores all crazy ideas anyway and does what it pleases to do. Regardless of any human idea about how nature works. I write this since I have been hearing a lot of crazy theories and ideas about Bárðarbunga volcano. Almost none of them have basis in fact, others are just twisting the facts and creating something unrealistic in the process.

October 9, 2014

Bárðarbunga volcano daily update for 8-October-2014

This is daily update for Bárðarbunga volcano for 8-October-2014. Please note that I am doing to do the updates a bit shorter when nothing special is happening.

Current status in Bárðarbunga volcano

Largest earthquake today had the magnitude of 5,2. This earthquake took place NNE part of the caldera where majority of the large earthquakes have been happening for the past weeks. This activity might be because a dyke is drilling its way trough the crust in that one spot. This is just an idea (based on the clues that I get from the earthquake activity) and is so far not yet proven in any form.
No major changes have been reported in the eruption in Holuhraun. The lava field is now larger then 52 square kilometres in size. The eruption is about the same size as it was when it started five weeks ago.
Bad weather is preventing proper observation of the eruption at times.
The highest crater called Baugur is now some 100 meters tall. The crater called Suðri is around 40 to 50 meters tall. Other craters in the eruption are smaller. Icelandic news with picture with the name of craters can be found here.
There has been almost no earthquake activity detected today under the dyke today.
No other news to report today that I know of.

I am going to post update here if anything new happens. Volcanoes are unpredictable forces of nature so anything can happen without warning when they erupt.

October 8, 2014

Bárðarbunga daily update for 7-October-2014

This is the daily update for Bárðarbunga volcano on 6-October-2014.

I’m sorry for this late update. I’ve been more busy today then I planned. I did manage to solve one network problem that I was having. The other network problem that I am having is out of my reach it seems (It’s a problem with the ISP network connection to my end I think).

Status of Bárðarbunga volcano on 7-October-2014

The largest earthquake today had the magnitude of 5,5. It took place at 10:22 UTC. Other earthquakes that happened today where smaller. It seems that around 5 – 20 earthquakes that are larger then magnitude 3,0 happen every day now in Bárðarbunga volcano. This has been going on now for almost two months.
The eruption in Holuhraun continues far as I know. I am not sure on how large the lava field is today. Visibility has been poor to none today due to weather in this area at the moment.
Tourists are continuing to trying to kill them self by getting close to the eruption site. The newest case involves a millionaire (or billionaire?) from Kazakhstan that landed close the lava field. They where lucky that wind did not change direction while they where there. The amount of SO2 close to the eruption has been recorded going up to 130.000 μg/m³. That is good enough to kill instantly and melt people lungs (read up on that can be found here). News item on this stunt can be found here.
I suspect that activity in the south part of Bárðarbunga volcano system is about to start. When it is going to start full force is impossible to know for sure.
It is a question of Tungnafellsjökull volcano is getting unstable due the unrest in Bárðarbunga volcano. It appears to be in the same rift area, even if it is in a different volcano.
Skrokkalda volcano appears to be stable for now (No GVP profile). This is important since Tungafellsjökull volcano fissure swarm extents into it and it is next to Bárðarbunga volcano fissure swarm. This volcano has no information on-line about it, besides what I have written about it. It is an active volcano, but has been dormant for a long time. Some hydrothermal activity might happen in it on the surface.
I don’t know how the status is on Hamarinn volcano (Loki-Fögrufjöll). I am however assuming that volcano to be unstable. It last erupted in July-2011 with a minor eruption that lasted some 8 to 10 hours in total. Eruptions in Hamarinn volcano happens without warning and without any earthquake activity, at least not high amount of earthquake activity far as I can tell.

Activity today in Bárðarbunga volcano and the 45 km long dyke. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

This is how the earthquake did appear on my geophone in Heklubyggð. The website for my geophones can be found here. This image is released under Creative Commons Licence. Please see CC Licence for more details.

If anything more happens I am going to add information about it here.

October 7, 2014October 7, 2014

Bárðarbunga daily update for 6-October-2014

This information is going to get outdated quickly.

Bad weather

Bad weather is expected in Iceland for the next few days. Storm can be expected to take place. I am not sure on the details. Check Icelandic Met Office weather information for more details.

Status of Bárðarbunga volcano on 6-October-2014

The eruption in Holuhraun has picked up again from a minor slowdown on Saturday.
Strong earthquake activity continues in Bárðarbunga volcano. Strongest earthquake on 6-October-2014 was a magnitude 5,1 earthquake. Other earthquakes have been smaller in magnitude.
Bad weather is preventing good observation of Bárðarbunga volcano, both in Holuhraun and over Vatnajökull glacier. Visibility can be extremely limited at times.
SO2 pollution was detected in Reykjavík during the evening of 6-October-2014. It did go over 700 μg/m³ for a short moment in Reykjavík and nearby area. More pollution from the eruption is expected tomorrow.
The lava field in Holuhraun eruption is now larger than 50 square kilometres in size. I don’t have the exact size for today.
Bárðarbunga volcano caldera continues to drop and has dropped more than 30 meters by now.
The activity in Holuhraun appears to be slowly getting smaller with time. This is normal, this also increases the risk of new eruption starting soon.
No further information for today that I am aware of at this moment.

The earthquake activity in the past 48 hours in Bárðarbunga volcano. Green stars are earthquakes with magnitude above 3,0. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Short overview of the earthquake activity over the weekend

Earthquake activity picked up on Saturday compared to Friday and Sunday.
Eruption activity did drop in Holuhraun craters on Saturday, it did pick up again on Sunday far as I know.
Far as I know there is nothing else to report.

Other things related to Bárðarbunga volcano

I’ve seen a lot of strange discussions about Bárðarbunga volcano. I get even stranger emails at times (no, I don’t answer those). Far as I know there isn’t any Felsic magma (or Andesite) in Bárðarbunga volcano caldera. Reason for that is it appears to have been really long time since the caldera erupted. I am not sure on exact time scale, but it is from 400 to 700 years at the shortest. The forces at work in Bárðarbunga volcano are extremely complex and they are not properly understood today, the eruption in Bárðarbunga volcano is going to add that knowledge with time. Since it is going to take many decades of study to analyse and figure out what the data collected today means. I dismiss all strange and odd ideas about what is going on in Bárðarbunga volcano, since they don’t fit the data that I am seeing (along with everyone else that is viewing that same data, interpretation of that data might differ)

It is also worth to mention that only north part of the Bárðarbunga volcano system has shown rifting in only one fault. There are many more in this area that have not yet moved. I expect them to move in next few months to years. Then there is the matter of all the activity that is going to take place in Bárðarbunga volcano south of it. That area has not moved so far, it is going to rift in the same manner as the area in the north of Bárðarbunga volcano. When is impossible to know, but I expect it to happen in next few months to years. This is far from over, in fact, this activity in Bárðarbunga volcano has barely started, even if it has been erupting now for almost one month and a half. There are going to be quiet period with no eruption activity in Bárðarbunga volcano during this process. Those quiet periods are going to be different in length, they are going to happen, it is just a matter of time. That is how rifting works in rifting zones (and rift valley) around the world.

Next update is tomorrow if nothing major happens in Bárðarbunga volcano.

Article updated at 01:09 UTC on 07-October-2014.

October 3, 2014October 4, 2014

Bárðarbunga volcano daily update 02-October-2014

This information is going to get outdated quickly if anything happens in Bárðarbunga volcano.

Current status in Bárðarbunga volcano at 23:03 UTC

The eruption in Holuhraun continues at the same rate as before. There are no signs of it slowing down. I don’t know if new craters have opened up, it doesn’t look like it at the moment.
Bad weather has prevented visibility check from the ground. There currently is storm in the area with limited visibility at the moment. Please check the wind map for more details.
Largest earthquakes so far today where two magnitude 4,8 earthquakes that took place at 00:36 UTC and 13:27 UTC. Second largest earthquake took place at 06:39 UTC and had the magnitude of 4,6. Other earthquakes are smaller.
It seems that earthquake activity is increasing in Bárðarbunga volcano. I don’t think that is a good sign. So far there are no signs of an eruption under the glacier, at least not a large one at the moment.
Magma continues to flow into the dyke at the same rate as before. It also appears that the pressure inside the dyke is increasing since the eruption in Holuhraun is not keeping up with the material that is flowing into it.
Due to bad weather I don’t have any more information on the eruption in Holuhraun.
Bad weather is expected tomorrow in north Iceland and in the higher parts of Iceland at the same time. Snow is expected to fall in mountains and higher areas. This is going to mean poor or no visibility on Míla web cameras during this bad weather.

Information from GPS data

GPS data shows that the dyke that feeds the eruption in Holuhraun eruption is being well fed. There are no signs of any contraction taking place and it is clearly not cooling down. Earthquakes happen in the dyke when it expands since the eruption is not big enough. I don’t know why eruption has not yet broken up in a new place yet. As the times goes on the rock around the dyke gets soft from the heat, it turns into rubber type of mush that no longer breaks. This also applies to the crust above it. The depth down to the dyke is no more than 2 km, but it is expected that it is around 1 km or shallower in some areas.

The earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano today and for the last 48 hours. This is just the earthquakes that have been recorded today trough the bad weather that has been taking place. So I am expecting more earthquake to have taken place than are showing up here. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

When the earthquake data is connected to GPS data it tells the story of an dyke that is being well fed and is trying to expand into nearby crust. Creating minor earthquake activity in the process. It is erupting so it can only expand by the volume that the eruption is not erupting. I don’t know how much that is, the dyke it self is around 3 – 4 meters wide and around 10 – 15 km deep (best estimate).

The dyke size and feeding appears clearly here. I don’t know why it is moving west now, rather than east. This might suggest that something else is going on that does not appear on the surface yet (it might never appear on the surface). Copyright of this image belongs to University of Iceland.

It is almost the same story on this GPS station. With the exception it is not moving to the west. It is stable where it is. This GPS station is almost on top of the dyke. So any change is going to appear quickly on it. Copyright of this image belongs to University of Iceland.

More GPS stations and information can be found here on University of Iceland website.

Break from Friday

I am going to go on a little break during this weekend from Friday. This means the following.

Comments are going to stay a little longer in moderation queue if you are commenting for the first time, or posting many links. If your comment vanishes it means the spam filter ate it, so it is going to take me a little time to recover it. So just wait a little for it.
If anything happens I might not be able to update this website with newest information right away. I will try to do soon as possible if I can.
Update for the Friday (03-October-2014) might be short and come in late (or not at all). When I don’t know yet.

This has been a busy one and half month for me. I’ve been watching Bárðarbunga volcano for almost all hours of the day regardless where I am and what I am doing. After a while it starts to tire you. That is why Icelandic Met Office and University of Iceland have people on rotation during this eruption. I don’t have that option so I just have to take a short breaks and hope nothing big happens while I am resting my self for a short while.

I did learn during the Eyjafjallajökull eruption in 2010 that if I spend too much time in this I burn out and the recovery from that is long process. That is why I now have plan to prevent that during a long eruption, that covers eruptions that are longer than one month. Like is now the case in Bárðarbunga volcano.

I advice this for anyone how is going to watch this eruption for a long period of time (since it is going to last a long period of time). Spending too much time on an eruption is not good. Even a one day break is a good thing for anyone watching this eruption.

In the case there is no new article tomorrow. I wish everyone a good weekend.

Article updated at 23:42 UTC
Article updated at 23:43 UTC

October 1, 2014October 2, 2014

Bárðarbunga volcano daily update 1-October-2014

Please note that this information might get outdated quickly if anything changes in Bárðarbunga volcano.

Bárðarbunga volcano current status at 21:53 UTC

The second eruption in Holuhraun has now been going on for one month and shows no signs of stopping any time soon. There is also one and a half month since activity started in Báðarbunga volcano (16-August-2014).
The lava field in Holuhraun is now 47,8 square kilometres wide. It grows every day, I don’t know how much.
There is now a large cinder cone (also information here from Wikipedia) (also called scoria cone) building up in Holuhraun. It is my best guess that is around 60 – 80 meters high already. It might be higher, it hard for me to be sure since I am just basing my view of recent videos of the eruption area.
The erupting fissure appears to be 400 – 600 meters long, based on videos that have been posted on-line in recent days.
There is earthquake activity along the dyke, some of it is now under the glacier and that is worrying. Since it might mean that magma is trying to find a new path to the surface. This happens because the current eruption in Holuhraun is not big enough and the dyke can only expand so much to the sides.
Largest earthquake today took place at 17:59 UTC and had the magnitude of 4,8. Second largest earthquake today took place at 02:44 UTC and had the magnitude of 4,2.
Storm weather has prevented any good observations from the ground of the eruption, or at least limited them. New storm is expected tomorrow (02-October-2014) on Friday (03-October-2014). The storm on Friday is going to be snow storm in north Iceland and up in high mountains. This includes Holuhraun.
Bárðarbunga volcano caldera continues to drop around the same rate as before.
SO2 pollution is a big problem in Iceland now. With highest peak going up to 5800 micrograms per square meter (μg/m³) for an average of 10 minutes today.
Nothing else to report far as I know.

Donations

If people want to support my work but not use PayPal they can support me directly. Information on how to do so can be found here.

News on my moving to Iceland

In December I am going to move back to Iceland due to money issues. I am going to stay in Iceland for maximum of three years, I hope no more then two years if my plan works out as I expect to. After that time I am going to move back to Denmark and try to due it that time around so that I can stay permanently. I did figure out few days ago that I just want to live in Denmark. I just wanted to add this information since I have written about this before.

Article updated at 22:01 UTC.

September 30, 2014September 30, 2014

Bárðarbunga volcano daily update 30-September-2014

This information is going to change quickly if anything happens in Bárðarbunga volcano.

Current status in Bárðarbunga volcano at 21:49 UTC

There is no signs of the eruption in Holuhraun is about to end. Currently there are only one or two craters erupting.
The lava field is now around 47 square kilometre wide. It grows in wideness at the moment, it is not getting any longer since the magma has not the energy to go any future than it already has.
Earthquake activity continues to happen under the dyke and the eruption crater. So there is clearly high pressure in the dyke and not it is possible that the eruption that is now taking place is not large enough for the all the magma that is down in the dyke.
Largest earthquake today had the magnitude of 4,8 and took place at 19:24 UTC. Second largest earthquake took place at 14:53 UTC and had the magnitude of 4,7.
The lava that has now erupted in Holuhraun is two times larger than all of lava erupted in Kröflueldar eruptions that took place between 1974 – 1984.
Bárðarbunga volcano caldera has now dropped some 30 meters according to Magnus Tumi Guðmundsson geologists at University of Iceland. There is a plan to fly over Bárðarbunga volcano by end of this week, when maintain of the air plain that is being used for this is done.
Icelandic Met Office has confirmed that it is just lava flowing into Jökulsá á Fjöllum glacier river. This is not a new fissure at that location this time around.
Rifting in Bárðarbunga volcano area is about what Iceland moves in about 150 year period. This is happening all at once and it does not appear to be over.
Bad weather has prevented scientists from being in the area most of the week. The weather is not expect to improve until 2-October-2014, since new storm is expected tomorrow.

One month ago at Holuhraun

This is the news one month ago (almost to the day) about what is happening back then.

An eruption possible in Holuhraun lava (28-August-2014. Rúv.is)
Fissure eruption in Holuhraun lava field (29-August-2014. Rúv.is)
Holuhraun eruption lasted 3-4 hours (29-August-2014. Rúv.is)

Tomorrow (1-October-2014) it is exactly one month since this happened.

Fresh eruption north of Bardarbunga -video (31-August-2014. Rúv.is)
Fresh eruption: 60 m high lava fountains (31-August-2014. Rúv.is)

How strong wind affects earthquake recoding

Here is a image from my geophone of how strong wind in north Atlantic ocean and Greenland sea affects my geophone recording and other seismometers in Iceland.

Here is how you read this image. First is the earthquake, the P wave is first, second is S wave, along with other wave forms that happen in earthquake. The wave patterns that is all over this earthquake recording is ocean wave from winds. Both the ocean waves that happen at the coast, but also the ocean waves at deep ocean far from Iceland coast line. The spike at 21:07:21 – 21:07:41 is a electric noise. The noise at 21:08:41 – 21:09:21 is an animal or some other type of noise source. This image is released under Creative Commons Licence. Please see CC Licence page for more details.

Article updated at 21:51 UTC.

September 30, 2014September 30, 2014

Bárðarbunga daily update on 29-September-2014

I am sorry for this late update. I did spend several hours trying to figure out a problem that does not appear to be on my end regarding my IPv6 tunnel connection. I hope this problem is solved by my tunnel provider (Hurricane Electric) soon. Now back to Bárðarbunga volcano.

Overview of the activity of 29-September-2014

Largest earthquake today had the magnitude of 5,5 and the depth of 5,6 km. Second largest earthquake had the magnitude of 4,9 and depth of 3,1 km. Other earthquakes where smaller. The largest earthquake was felt in Akureyri and surrounding area.
Due to bad weather it was close to impossible to make any observations about the eruption according to the news. Scientists where unable to go to there area today far as I know.
The eruption in Holuhraun continues as it has been doing for almost a month now.
29-September-2014 means there is now one month since the first eruption in Holuhraun started and finished within few hours. The first eruption started and ended on 29-August-2014 and it erupted in craters that had last erupted in the year 1797.
Due to bad weather fewer earthquakes where recorded. Only earthquakes that did go above the wind noise where seen on the SIL network and my geophones.
The lava-field in Holuhraun is now larger than 44 square kilometres in size.
Bárðarbunga caldera continues to drop at same rate since that process started on 16-August-2014.
Nothing else to report far as I know

Images of the eruption

Here are few images of the eruption. Due to copyright I only link to them from this website.

Gengu á rauðglóandi hrauni í tæpa viku (People walking on red glowing lava for a week) – Vísir.is (Icelandic)

Winter arrives at Holuhraun (Rúv.is)

There are many pictures of the eruption on University of Iceland Twitter feed.

September 26, 2014September 28, 2014

Friday update on Bárðarbunga volcano 26-September-2014

This is the Friday 26-September-2014 update on Bárðarbunga volcano. This information is going to get outdated quickly.

Current status in Bárðarbunga volcano at 20:31 UTC

Largest earthquake today had the magnitude 5,2, it happened at 16:49 UTC. Second largest earthquake today took place at 18:54 UTC and had the magnitude of 4,3. There have so far been fewer larger earthquakes today than in last days.
The caldera dropped 30cm in the magnitude 5,2 earthquake. The caldera continues to drop around 50cm/day according to GPS measurements. Total caldera drop is now around 29 meters.
Smaller earthquakes have been taking place in Bárðarbunga volcano. This means the drop is continuing during those earthquakes.
Magma continues to flow into Bárðarbunga volcano around the same rate as before. This can be seen on GPS data on nearby GPS monitoring stations. For GPS information please check University of Iceland GPS information page here.
Bad sandstorm was in Holuhraun today. It was so bad that it was only possible to see 50 – 100 meters in front of people according to Rúv news earlier today.
The eruption in Holuhraun continues in the same manner today as yesterday. The lava field is now larger than 40 square kilometres. What the exact size is I don’t know since it is not known today due to weather.
Earthquake activity continues under the dyke and that suggests the pressure is increasing in it.
Currently there is no eruption under the glacier. If it was it would be visible on SIL stations around Vatnajökull glacier.
Nothing more has happened in Bárðarbunga volcano today far as I know. That might change without warning.
Storms are expected to take place in Iceland all weekend. There is going to be around three or four storms taking place this weekend with strong winds up to 20m/s and it can go up to 40m/s in wind gusts. This is going to effect SIL stations and my geophones as the storms pass over parts of Iceland.

Current status Saturday 27-September-2014 at 20:30 UTC

No major change has taken place today in the eruption in Holuhraun. There is also no sign that is ending. Most of the eruption takes place in one crater at the moment. New fissures might open up without warning in the area where the dyke is located.
Bárðarbunga caldera continues to drop around 50cm/day.
Largest earthquake today so far is a magnitude 5,2 that took place at 19:31 UTC. Second largest earthquake today was at 02:00 and had the magnitude of 5,0.
Due to snowstorm there is almost no visibility to the eruption area in Holuhraun. For the people in the field the visibility today was reported to be 50 to 100 meters.
There has been a lot of smaller earthquakes taking place in Bárðarbunga volcano. Some of those earthquakes are taking place due to caldera subsiding. Some of those earthquakes are taking place because the magma inside Bárðarbunga volcano is looking for a new pathway up the surface. It either has not found it or does not have the pressure yet to go up the crust yet.
There is less activity today in the dyke. There is however worrying earthquake activity in the dyke at the start of Dyngjujökull glacier. It might mean that magma is trying to get up to the surface. There already have been eruptions under the glacier in this area without any earthquake activity before they started. All of those eruptions lasted for a short period of time.
Nothing else is to report so far today (27-September-2014).

Update Sunday 28-September-2014 at 17:17 UTC

Largest earthquake today took place at 12:34 UTC. Other earthquakes have been smaller today.
Bárðarbunga caldera has dropped 7,4 meter since 12-September-2014 according to GPS measurements in the centre of the caldera. That GPS data can be found here.
The lava field is now 44,5 square kilometres wide. It is now larger than Mývatn (around 40 square kilometres wide) for comparison.
Harmonic tremor suggest that pressure is increasing in the Bárðarbungu volcano magma chamber. It drops once the magma finds way out, then it starts building up again.
No other information have been released today. Other activity is the same as for the past few days.

Storm notice!

Three bad storms are expected in Iceland in next few days. In parts of Iceland wind is expected to go up to 50m/s in wind gusts. This is going to effect all earthquake recording and monitoring of Bárðarbunga volcano.

Next update

Next update is going to be on Monday 28-September-2014. I wish everyone a good weekend.

Article updated at 20:31 UTC on 27-September-2014
Article updated at 17:17 UTC on 28-September-2014

Cookie acceptance