Category: Reykjanes Ridge

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Earthquake swarm in Reykjanes volcano

Since Saturday, 23rd of May 2026 an earthquake swarm has been taking place in Reykjanes volcano. This earthquake swarm does not signal a start of an eruption, but it might be a long term signal in that direction. Largest earthquake in this earthquake swarm at the writing of this article had a magnitude of Mw3,5. Second largest earthquake had a magnitude of Mw2,9.

Green star and a lot of yellow dots showing older earthquakes in the earthquake swarm on the Reykjanes ridge in the Reykjanes volcano.
Earthquake activity in the Reykjanes volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

At the writing of this article, the earthquake swarm is ongoing, but in a much slower phase. It is possible that this earthquake swarm is already ending or might end in next few hours. It is also common for earthquake swarms to increase suddenly again in this area. Currently, this is a wait and see situation.

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Earthquake swarm near Geirfugladrangur island on Reykjanes ridge

Today (23-March 2026) at 12:08 UTC an earthquake swarm that had been going on since at least Friday (20-March 2026) increased in activity. Largest earthquake at the writing of this article had a magnitude of Mw4,4 and was felt in Reykjavík and other populated areas on Reykjanes peninsula.

Green stars and a lot of red dots where the main earthquake activity is on the Reykjanes ridge.
The earthquake swarm at Geirfugladrangur island. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

This earthquake activity happens in waves. That means a lot of activity for up to four hours at the time or longer, with low activity for one to three hours at the time. This changes every few hours. I am reading this as there is magma that is causing this earthquake activity. It might not result in a eruption at the moment. If there is a very sharp increase in earthquake activity, that might be a sign that magma is breaking a path to the surface. What is happening now, is at possible dyke intrusion into the crust at Geirfugladrangur island. However, distance from land, this being under the ocean makes it real difficult to monitoring what is going on and to be sure what is going on.

If anything more happens. I’ll update with a new article soon as possible.

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The earthquake swarm in Reykjanes volcano

I am sorry about being late with this. I got a cold again with its usual problems.

On Sunday 8th February 2026 an earthquake started in Reykjanes volcano, in the area of Eldey island. Around 1000 earthquakes where recorded. Largest earthquakes had a magnitude around Mw3,4. Other earthquakes where smaller in magnitude.

Earthquake activity on Reykjanes ridge on 9th February 2026. Three green stars show the largest earthquakes. The earthquakes are spread on the map, because how the software Icelandic Met Office uses locates the earthquakes.
The earthquake activity on Reykjanes ridge, close to Eldey island. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

This earthquake swarm is possibly connected to the inflation that is happening in Svartsengi volcano, as that inflation changes stress in faults along the Reykjanes peninsula and Reykjanes ridge. How well that stress results in earthquakes in unknown. It is unclear if magma was also active in this earthquake swarm. It should not be ruled out. No eruption did happen in this earthquake swarm. More earthquake swarms in this area of Reykjanes ridge and Reykjanes peninsula should not be ruled out.

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Strong earthquakes in Reykjanes volcano

Around 17:00 UTC today (01-April 2025) an earthquake with magnitude of Mw5,3 took place in Reykjanes volcano. This might not be earthquakes because of tension changes in the crust in this area. It is a possibility, but at the moment what is going on is unclear.

A lot of green stars showing large earthquakes in Reykjanes volcano along with all earthquake activity in Svartengi volcano.
Earthquake activity in Reykjanes volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

If the earthquake activity in the Reykjanes volcano are not tension earthquakes an eruption might stat out in the ocean. That would be explosive eruption. It is too early to know if that is the case. But next few hours should show if that is the case or not. Earthquake activity is ongoing and the this situation can change quickly and without warning.

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Earthquake swarm in Reykjanes volcano

Today (12-March 2025) at 14:29 UTC an earthquake swarm started in Reykjanes volcano. The largest earthquake had a magnitude of Mw3,8. At the writing of this article. This earthquake swarm seems to be ongoing.

Red dots and green stars on Reykjanes peninsula at the edge where it goes out into the ocean. Dots all over Reykjanes showing other earthquake activity.
Earthquake swarm on Reykjanes peninsula in Reykjanes volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

This doesn’t look like an magma related earthquake swarm. This seems to be a fracture earthquake and might be connected to stress changes in the crust because of the high inflation in Svartsengi volcano, that is not far away from this location. The earthquake swarm is at a low now, but might increase again with stronger earthquakes without warning. If needed, I’ll post an update on what is happening.

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The earthquake swarm in Reykjanes volcano, close to Eldey island

On Sunday (29-December 2024) and yesterday (30-December 2024) an earthquake swarm took place in Reykjanes volcano, close to Eldey island. Largest earthquakes in this earthquake swarm had magnitude of Mw3,2 and Mw3,6. Over 200 earthquakes have been recorded at the writing of this article. This earthquake activity is possibly still ongoing. But this earthquake activity happens in waves with quiet time period between them.

Two green stars and small dots on Reykjanes ridge showing smaller earthquakes. A lot of smaller earthquakes on Reykjanes peninsula.
Earthquake activity on Reykjanes ridge. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

It is unclear if this earthquake activity is because of tectonic movement or magma activity. I do suspect that this activity is because of magma movement in this area, based on earthquakes location, since it was focused on rather small locations. There are however no signs that this earthquake swarm is a start of an eruption at this location currently. There are limited GPS data on Reykjanes volcano, since part of it is under the ocean.

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Earthquake swarm in Eldey volcano (out on the Reykjanes ridge)

Today (5-May 2024) at 20:33 UTC an earthquake with magnitude of Mw3,5 took place close to Eldey on the Reykjanes ridge. This is out in the ocean and considerable distance from land, so more earthquakes are happening then are being registered by Icelandic Met Office.

Green star and red dots out in the ocean, on the Reykjanes ridge. This is the current earthquake swarm on Reykjanes ridge.
Earthquake swarm in the Eldey volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

This earthquake swarm is ongoing at the writing of this article. There are earthquakes that are only going to appear on Icelandic Met Office website after manual review in this earthquake swarm.

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Earthquake activity in Reykjanes volcano

Today (22. April 2024) at 04:53 UTC an earthquake swarm started in Reykjanes volcano. This was not a strong or a large earthquake swarm. Largest earthquake only having a magnitude of Mw3,1. All other earthquakes where smaller in magnitude.

Green star just off the south coast of Reykjanes peninsula to the west part of it. There are also smaller dots that show smaller earthquakes in the same area.
Earthquake activity on the Reykjanes ridge and in Reykjanes volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

This earthquake activity suggest a magma movement. It is however too little to start an eruption at the writing of this article. That can change without warning. Since the condition that the Reykjanes volcano is in is unclear, since its in part under the ocean and that makes monitoring it properly difficult and impossible in some areas.

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Earthquake swarm close to Eldeyjarboða on Reykjanes ridge

Today (9. December 2023) at 05:55 UTC to 06:44 UTC an earthquake swarm took place deep on the Reykjanes ridge. This earthquake swarm is far from the coast so smaller earthquakes where not detected by Icelandic Met Office. Largest earthquake in this swarm had a magnitude of Mw3,8.

Green star and yellow dots far from the coast of Reykjanes peninsula. This is far out in the ocean.
Earthquake activity deep on Reykjanes ridge. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

This is in a volcano, its unclear if this is in the volcano Eldeyjarboði or a different unnamed volcano. This earthquake swarm seems to have stopped by now.

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Update on Grindavík 24. November 2023

This is a short update on the situation in Grindavík and nearby area on 24. November 2023. This article is written at 18:47 UTC.
Information in this article can go outdated without warning and quickly if something happens.

This activity has slowed down for now. This means I am going to be posting update less here, unless something changes and that can happen without warning.

Daily update

  • There is movements on cracks and new holes and cracks are opening up or appearing as the ground collapses and exposes the fissure.
  • Earthquake activity has reached a low point. This might be just for a short period of time.
  • The inflation in Svartsengi is today around 140 to 160mm from 10. November 2023. The inflation each day is around 30 to 40mm.
  • The area that is inflating in Svartsengi is larger now compared to the area that inflated before 10. November 2023. This has created a uncertainty in the GPS data as I understand the situation. The rift valley is also creating issues in the GPS data as parts of him continue to sink and are going to continue to sink and lower nearby area with it. How much that is difficult to know.
  • The event that happened on 10. November 2023 was the quickest event to happen in recorded history of Icelandic Met Office. According to their report and the news.

It is my view that the current low is just going to last for few more days, at most few weeks because of the ongoing inflation in Svartsengi. It is my view that it is going to take around 30 days until next dyke activity happens, that is around 10. December when that might happen. But the situation is changing quickly and impossible to know for sure how it develops in next few days to weeks.

If anything happens. I’ll post update soon as I can do so.