Category: Volcano

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Dike intrusion in Askja volcano

Today (14.12.2012) around 12:00 UTC Askja volcano had dike intrusion. This dike intrusion was not in the main volcano it self. But a good distance away from it. But this is in a area that has erupted before in distant past in a fissure style eruption (just lava, no volcano ash). What is the case now I am not sure at the moment. But this dike intrusion was at the depth of 25 to 22 km. So it has long way to go before any eruption takes place. This dike intrusion did also not show any sign of moving upwards according to Rúv News of this event.


Earthquake map from IMO showing the dike intrusion clearly. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

What this means in the long term is impossible to know at this point. But this is one event in a long series of events that started in March 2010. This is going to end with a eruption. Large or small is impossible to know until it happens. What is also impossible to know is when and where such eruption might take place. As is always the case with active volcanoes. There is at least no reason to panic about this. Not now, not ever.

Donations: I am still needing donations to cover my cost of buying 3G hardware for upcoming geophone stations Böðvarshólar (total cost around 1300 DKK, or 29900 ISK). I have got some donations already. But they just cover the cost of UPS and USB card for Skeiðflöt geophone station. But I was fixing technical problems with it. Thanks for the support.

Icelandic News about this

Á annan tug skjálfta austur af Öskju (Rúv.is)

Blog post updated at 23:29 UTC on 14.12.2012

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Interesting earthquake swarm in TFZ

Today (12.12.2012) there was a interesting earthquake swarm in south part of TFZ (close to a place called Ásbyrgi). This earthquake swarm did consist mostly of minor earthquakes. With magnitudes of from ML0.2 and up to magnitude ML2.6. This earthquake swarm is tectonic in nature. I do not believe it is volcanic in nature. But this earthquake swarm is inside Krafla volcano fissure swarm or TFZ-NVZ two volcanoes. I am not sure in this case here.


The earthquake swarm is in the corner of this image. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

This earthquake swarm might not mean anything special as is. But earthquake activity in this area has been some for the past few years. But it has so far never resulted in any major events so far in this area.

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Harmonic tremor level drops in Grímsfjall volcano

During the night. Harmonic tremor levels started to drop in Grímsfjall volcano. The reason for this harmonic tremor level increase remain unknown and unclear. But no volcano related activity has been seen or recorded so far in Grímsfjall volcano.


Harmonic tremor levels in Grímsfjall volcano. This is high resolution image. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.


Harmonic tremor levels in Grímsfjall volcano. This is low resolution image. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

Some earthquake activity has been taking place following this events. But the earthquakes have been small and do not suggest anything is about to take place in Grímsfjall volcano.


Earthquake activity in Grímsfjall volcano for the past 48 hours. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

So far Grímsfjall volcano has remained quiet during this glacier flood. With nothing suggesting that it is going to change soon. As for the glacier flood it self. According to latest news it seems to have peaked and is now dropping. But this was a small glacier flood. With just rise about 153 cm. But that is quite small compared to many older glacier floods from Grímsfjall volcano.

Icelandic News about this glacier flood

Hlaupið í Grímsvötnum virðist hafa náð hámarki (Vísir.is)
Hlaupið í Gígjukvísl í rénun (Rúv.is)

Blog post updated at 12:48 UTC on 27.11.2012

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Unclear what is going on in Grímsfjall volcano

It is unclear what is going on in Grímsfjall volcano at this moment. Harmonic tremor level continue to rise. They are currently way above what is normal for minor glacier floods from Grímsfjall volcano. This might be a minor eruption, or it might just be glacier on the move inside caldera. Whatever it is. This is not a strong event. As it only appears so far on only one SIL station. The one located on top of Grímsfjall volcano. Other SIL stations do not show any change so far. There is no earthquake activity in Grímsfjall volcano so far following this activity.


Grímsfjall volcano tremor levels this morning at 09:20 UTC. This is high resolution image. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.


Tremor levels at Grímsfjall SIL station (low resolution). The spike is maybe an earthquake. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

So far nothing there is no word from Icelandic Meteorological Office on what is going on in Grímsfjall volcano. I am also uncertain what is going on in Grímsfjall volcano at present time. But I am sure that is going to get clearer in the next few hours. The harmonic tremor level appears to be continue to rise. So it might get confirmed in the next few hours if there is an eruption in Grímsfjall volcano or not.

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Glacier flood from Grímsfjall volcano continues to increase [Update]

Current glacier flood from Grímsfjall volcano continues to grow in size. To everyone surprise I think. Currently the glacier flood remains small. Harmonic tremor on Grímsfjall SIL station continues to grow. But this is due to the glacier flood. Not any volcano activity so far.


Harmonic tremor during this glacier flood from Grímsfjall volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

Conductivity of the glacier water remains high. But this means glacier food water is in the river. As oppose to any normal melt water coming from the glacier it self. This current glacier flood is the second glacier flood from Grímsfjall volcano this year. But earlier this year a small glacier flood did go from Grímsfjall volcano. My coverage of that glacier flood can be found here (28.01.2012) and here (29.01.2012). Current glacier flood started on Wednesday. So it has already been ongoing almost four days at current time. I am going to post more updates on this glacier flood if needed.

Icelandic news about this glacier flood

Enn vöxtur í Gígjukvísl (Rúv.is)
Vatnshæð í Gígju enn að aukast (mbl.is)
Vatnshæðin um tveir metrar (Vísir.is)

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Minor glacier flood has started from Grímsfjall volcano glacier lake

A minor glacier flood has started from Grímsfjall volcano glacier lake. This glacier flood is expected to be extremely small. Since last glacier flood from Grímsfjall volcano took place earlier this year. That glacier flood was also small. Minor harmonic tremor changes have been taking place on Grímsfjall SIL stations. But they are not strong and can easily drown in wind noise. But it has been a stormy few weeks in Iceland.


Harmonic tremor changes on Grímsfjall SIL station. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

I do not expect any volcano activity to take place following this glacier flood. As last eruption in Grímsfjall volcano took place last year and that eruption was the largest one in 140 years at least. But I am going to keep monitoring this activity and post updates if anything changes.

Icelandic News about this glacier flood

Lítið hlaup hafið í Grímsvötnum (Rúv.is)
Vatnamælingamenn á leið austur (Rúv.is)
Hlaup að hefjast í Grímsvötnum (Vísir.is)
Lítið hlaup hafið í Grímsvötnum (mbl.is)

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Minor earthquake in Höfsjökull volcano. Continued earthquake activity in Tjörnes Fracture Zone

It has been quiet in Iceland for the past few weeks. Mostly due to bad weather. But that drops the SIL network ability to detect minor earthquake activity in Iceland.

Hofsjökull volcano

Hofsjökull volcano is among Iceland most quiet volcanoes. With no eruption documented in historical times. Hofsjökull volcano is also a interesting volcano. As it more like two volcanoes in one. Why that is I am not sure. Hofsjökull volcano is covered with a glacier that is up to 650 meters thick in the central caldera.


The earthquake in Hofsjökull volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

This earthquake was small. Just magnitude 1.3. But with the depth of 22,4 km. So it took place in the magma chamber, or close to it. Rather then any crustal earthquake activity. But it is hard to know for sure at the moment. During a normal year. Hofsjökull volcano can have up to 10 earthquakes during the year. Some years there are no earthquakes at all in Hofsjökull volcano.

Tjörnes Fracture Zone

Earthquake swarm that started on 20th of October in TFZ continues to this day. But currently the earthquake activity is just minor earthquakes at the moment. But the swarm is ongoing now for one month. There are also no signs of this earthquake swarm stopping. Even if the earthquakes are just minor ones for now.


Current earthquake activity in TFZ today and past few days. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

I fully expect the earthquake activity to continue in TFZ. When it might stop is impossible to know for now. So keeping an eye of this area of TFZ is a good idea. The risk of large earthquake taking place in this area remains unchanged last I knew.

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Earthquake activity update on 16.11.2012

Here is a short update on earthquake activity in Iceland. It has been stormy few weeks so recorded earthquake activity has not been a lot in Iceland.

Tjörnes Fracture Zone

Earthquake activity continues in TFZ. A bit less then when it did start on 20. October 2012. But it still moves along. The risk of large earthquake area remains for this area. When, where and how big remains unknown factors so far.


Earthquake activity in TFZ. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

Herðubreiðarfjöll volcano

Herðubreiðarfjöll volcano is a small volcano (no GVP entry that I know of) just north of Askja volcano. But Herðubreiðarfjöll volcano are in fact part of Askja volcano fissure swarm. But I do not think they are part of Askja volcano as such.


Earthquake activity in Herðarbreiðarfjöll volcano (the blue dots). Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

The earthquake activity in Herðurbreiðarfjöll volcano was most likely a minor dike intrusion into the volcano. What that means is too early to say at this moment. But most likely it does not mean anything for now at least.

There has been some minor ice-quake activity in Iceland when the temperature drops below 0 degrees in Iceland.

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Survey of dangerous Icelandic volcanoes has started

Rúv News reports that survey on Iceland volcanoes and possible risk factors has already started in Iceland. It is expected that this survey is going to take about 20 years. But there is a lot of science research following this survey.

This survey is going start with the volcanoes that are closest to populated areas in Iceland and cover risk factors like volcano ash, lava flow and field, earthquake risk and so on. The list is long and so is the work ahead for the people doing this survey and study.

Rúv News about this survey

Byrjað að kortleggja eldstöðvar

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Earthquake swarm in TFZ continues, little earthquake activity in Katla voclano, new earthquake activity in Askja volcano

Here is a short update on activity in Iceland for the past few days.

Tjörnes Fracture Zone

Earthquake activity continues in Tjörnes Fracture Zone. But this earthquake activity has been ongoing since 20 October, 2012. Every once in a while a magnitude 3.0 earthquake takes place, or larger. The risk of large earthquake taking place in this area remains. General alert for this area is also in effect because of this danger of large earthquake taking place in this area.


The earthquake activity in TFZ. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

Katla volcano

Winter has come. At least when it comes to earthquake activity in Katla volcano. But little to none earthquake activity is now taking place in Katla volcano. Earthquake activity is now well below background level. It can be expected that current status is going to remain in Katla volcano until next summer.


Earthquake activity in Katla volcano for the past few days. Nothing important is taking place in Katla volcano as this image clearly shows. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

Askja volcano

While Katla volcano is getting quiet. It seems that Askja volcano is getting slightly more active. But earthquake activity in Askja volcano during the past few weeks suggests a minor magma intrusion (dike intrusion) might have taken place. But none of the earthquakes that took place where above magnitude 2.0 in size.


Earthquakes in Askja volcano during the past few days. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

I do not think this earthquake activity in Askja volcano means it is getting close for an eruption. Since there are no signs in that direction at the moment. But this earthquake activity is interesting. What ever it means in the short term for Askja volcano. It is also common that volcanoes have earthquake activity without anything happening at all following such earthquake activity.