Category: Volcano

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New earthquake swarm in Katla volcano on 11. June 2012

Today from 04:00 to around 08:00 UTC this morning. There was an earthquake swarm in Katla volcano. This earthquake swarm was not large in the magnitude of the earthquakes. With the largest earthquakes being around ML2.0 in magnitude. There has been slight increase in conductivity in Múlakvísl river following this earthquake swarm. That suggests water is now leaking from hydro-thermal vents in Mýrdalsjökull glacier. So far no change in harmonic tremor has been seen. So for now, this are just earthquakes taking place inside Katla volcano caldera.


The earthquake swarm in Katla volcano this morning. Copyright of this picture belongs to Iceland Meteorological Office.

It is difficult to know what happens next in Katla volcano. As it is bit unclear what is exactly taking place in Katla volcano. With the lack of harmonic tremor following this earthquake swarms. This simply might just be normal summer earthquake swarms taking place. But Katla volcano is well known for that type of behavior during the summer in Iceland. With the most earthquake activity taking place in July and August.

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Earthquake swarm in Katla volcano yesterday (07.June 2012)

Yesterday there was an earthquake swarm in Katla volcano. Over 50 earthquakes have been recorded so far. But this earthquake swarm stopped yesterday at 16:22 UTC. Most of the earthquakes where shallow, with depth less then 1 km. Largest earthquake had the magnitude of ML2.5. No harmonic tremor was detected following this earthquake swarm. But that is unlike what did happen last year, when a similar earthquake swarm took place in Katla volcano.


Earthquake activity in Katla volcano yesterday (07. June. 2012). The main areas appear clearly on this map. The small dot SE on the caldera rim is an area that became active after last years minor eruption. What is taking place there is still an mystery. Copyright of this picture belongs to Iceland Meteorological Office.

This activity appears to be similar to what happened around 9th July, 2011. But no harmonic tremors are taking place in Katla volcano following this earthquake swarm.


Earthquake activity in Katla volcano on 9. July 2011. This good to compare the earthquake activity yesterday (image above this one). Copyright of this picture belongs to Iceland Meteorological Office.


The ML2.98 magnitude earthquake that happened in Katla volcano yesterday (07. June. 2012). This is the earthquake as it was recorded on Skeiðflöt geophone station. This image is released under Creative Commons License. See License page for more details.


Same earthquake as above. But filtered at 1Hz and this is how the earthquake appeared in Heklubyggð geophone station. This image is released under Creative Commons License. See License page for more details.

So far this is just an earthquake swarm. As there are no harmonic tremor signal taking place as the earthquake swarm is taking place. I do not know if there has been any glacier flood following this earthquake swarm. But if there was. It would mean that hydrothermal vents under Mýrdalsjökull glacier have been emptying out. It happens regularly in glacier such as Mýrdalsjökull glacier.

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New pictures of Grímsfjall volcano crater

Rúv News has just published pictures of Grímsfjall volcano craters. This pictures where taken by Ómar Ragnarsson. The pictures show among them a Island that has formed inside the 1.5 km long and 800 meter wide crater that did erupt in May of last year.


The Grímsfjall volcano crater that erupted on 25. May 2011. Copyright of this picture belongs to Ómar Ragnarsson.

More pictures can be found on Rúv News web site. I recommend that people click on the images to get full size (or click and open in new tab).

Undraveröld Grímsvatna – Myndir (Rúv News, Icelandic, Pictures)

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Craters in Grímsfjall volcano clearly visible

The craters from last years eruption in Grímsfjall volcano are clearly visible on new pictures that Rúv did release in the evening news. There also seems to be some increase in hydro-thermal activity in Grímsfjall volcano. Based on the pictures and what was reported in the Rúv news this evening (02.06.2012).

When the eruption was at it largest last year, the crater was around 1.5 km in size. But once the power started to drop in the eruption, the single crater did turn into several small craters. The glacier is slowly closing this new crater. In few years time, there are not going to be many signs in this are that an large eruption took place there.

The new images can be viewed in this news on Rúv news web page.

Gígarnir í Grímsvötnum greinilegir (Icelandic, Video)

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Minor earthquake swarm in Katla volcano

Today (28.05.2012) at 11:22 UTC an small earthquake swarm did start in Katla volcano. This earthquake swarm did end at 12:28 UTC. This is small earthquake swarm, both in numbers of earthquakes and in the magnitude of the earthquakes in the swarm. With the largest earthquake having the magnitude of ML1.4. The depth of this earthquake swarm was around 0.1 km, but that gives the depth around 100 meters or so. Following this earthquake there has been some minor disturbance at Álftagróf SIL station. But because it only appears on one SIL station. This change might have its origin in something else. Like human traffic, local wind etc. For the moment I cannot rule that out.


The change in tremor at Álftagróf SIL station. This change in tremor might not be because of Katla volcano. But something else. Please keep that in mind. Copyright of this picture belongs to Iceland Meteorological Office.

If the tremor changes at Álftagróf SIL station where from Katla volcano. They where highly local and did not show up on other SIL stations for some unknown reason. That has happened before, but the SIL network was not as dense around Katla volcano back then.


Image of the active area in Katla volcano. Copyright of this picture belongs to Iceland Meteorological Office.

I find it most likely reason for this earthquake swarm where some changes in hydrothermal areas inside Katla volcano caldera. All hydrotheraml areas in Katla volcano are under high pressure due to the glacier that is on top of them. So changes might not happen without some earthquake activity as did happen few hours ago. This is also not in any way a sign that Katla volcano might be about to erupt. This is far too low earthquake activity for such event to be starting. There is an chance of small glacier flood following this earthquake swarm in next 8 to 24 hours. But it is far from certain that is going to happen.

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Krísuvík volcano inflates and deflates regularly

It seems that Krísuvík volcano is inflating and deflating on regular basic. I do not know how regular this change is. But it has been noticed by Icelandic scientists how are bit puzzled by this behavior. Last inflation episode did last until end of the year 2011. Since then deflation did start again and is currently ongoing. It is uncertain if what this means. At the moment it is too early to know for sure if this means if that Krísuvík volcano is getting ready for an eruption. But if there was an eruption in Krísuvík volcano, it would be Hawaiian eruption so no volcano ash. Volcano ash eruption would only take place if an eruption started in Kleifarvatn lake. But the effects of that would be limited to local area (Reykjavík and other nearby towns). It would not create any global problems, as many would want to believe.

Inflation and deflation period have been the years 2009, from January to September. In May 2010 inflation did start again, that inflation period lasted until end of the year 2011. Since then deflation has been taking place. Today there is continues GPS monitoring in Krísuvík volcano. But it is unknown if this type of behavior has taken place before in Krísuvík volcano. But for now Krísuvík volcano is being monitored both with GPS and the SIL network. What happens next anyone guess.

Icelandic news about this.

Land rís og sígur í Krýsuvík (Rúv.is)

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Earthquake swarm continues close to Herðubreið. Earthquake activity in Katla volcano

The earthquake swarm that started in Herðubreið two days ago continues. So far over 100 earthquakes have been recorded. Most of them are less then ML2.0 in magnitude. But this earthquake swarm continues at slow rate. This is not a big earthquake swarm. Based on number (in my system) of earthquakes pr hour. But in my system, a large earthquake swarm has tens to hundreds of earthquakes pr hour.


The earthquake swarm in Herðubreið. Copyright of this image belongs to Iceland Meteorological Office.


A bit higher resolution of the earthquake swarm in Herðubreið. Copyright of this image belongs to Iceland Meteorological Office.

Katla volcano

There is some earthquake activity in Katla volcano. But it is not high. There was one small earthquake this evening (it did appear on my Skeiðflöt geophone). But it has not been reviewed. So both size and depth are going to change.


Earthquake activity in Katla volcano during the past few days and until today. Copyright of this image belongs to Iceland Meteorological Office.

The earthquake activity in Katla volcano is also showing interesting pattern during this week (Week 20). It seems that earthquake activity is focusing on one point inside the caldera. It is hard to know for sure what this means at current time. But it is my opinion that it is not a good sign. But so far, nothing major has been happening inside Katla volcano caldera at this time. Until that happens, it is just best to keep watch and keep speculations within the amount of what is going on.


Earthquake activity in Katla volcano during Week 20 (current week). Copyright of this image belongs to Iceland Meteorological Office.

Beside this activity. It has been quiet in Iceland now for several weeks now. That is not un-common to happen during some years. While other years are often more active, some years are quiet. It is not clear yet if the year 2012 is going to be quiet year in Iceland or not.

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Earthquakes in Katla volcano. Earthquake swarm continues close to Herðubreið. Other earthquake activity

This morning there was a short earthquake swarm in Katla volcano caldera. This earthquake looks like a minor dike intrusion did take place this morning. Current series of events did start on 28. April 2012. With a small earthquake event and a small glacier flood that did follow it. Along with harmonic tremors coming from the glacier flood and possibly Katla volcano caldera (hydro-thermal activity boiling or something of that nature). I do not yet know if there was any glacier flood following the event this morning. But so far there is nothing that suggests a small glacier flood did take place following the earthquake swarm this morning.

The earthquake swarm this morning took place on an location that did erupt on 8 and 9th of July 2011. So it is clear the area that erupted last year is picking up activity again. But there was an drop in activity from end of November 2011 until end of April 2012.


Earthquake activity in Katla volcano this morning. Copyright of this picture belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

This earthquake activity did appear well on my geophone at Skeiðflöt farm.


Earthquake activity in Katla volcano caldera this morning on my Skeiðflöt geophone. There is a lot of noise on this geophone. But earthquake activity can still be seen on this. The earthquakes are marked by red (some noise is also marked by red). This picture is released under Creative Commons Licence. See CC Licence page for more details.

It is clear that Katla volcano seems to be warming up to an eruption. But it is impossible to know when such eruption might happen, or how big it is going to be.

Herðubreið

Earthquake activity continues south-west of Herðubreið. But almost all of the earthquakes have been less then ML2.0 in magnitude. Earthquake activity has been slowing down all day. At the moment, it appears this earthquake swarm is close to being over.


The earthquake activity close to Herðubreið mountain. Copyright of this picture belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

This area is well known for for earthquake activity. So this is not something that is new in this area.

Reykjanes Ridge

According to EMSC and USGS there have been several earthquakes with the magnitude of Mb4.5 to Mb4.8 on the Reykjanes Ridge. Earthquake activity is common on the Reykjanes Ridge. But because of the location and depth (around 2km) it is impossible to know if there any volcano eruption taking place at this location. It might well be, or not.

Kolbeinsey Island

Over the past weeks there has been some earthquake activity close to or in Kolbeinsey Island. The largest earthquakes have had the magnitude around ML3.0, with some underestimates due to distance from the SIL network. At this moment it is impossible to know if this earthquake activity is related to possible eruption activity. But it believed that an eruption (or dike intrusion) took place on Kolbeinsey Ridge in the year 1999. It started off with a large earthquake swarm.