Category: Volcano

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One year ago since Eyjafjallajökull volcano eruption did start in Fimmvörðuháls

This day exactly one year ago a eruption started in Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland. The first phase of the eruption was a Hawaiian type eruption that took place in Fimmvörðuháls. But that area is glacier free and is part of Eyjafjallajökull volcano system. On 31.03.2010 a second fissure did open close the first one that had been erupting for about two weeks by then.

The explosive phase of the eruption in Eyjafjallajökull volcano started on April 13th 2010. But I am going to write more about that when the day comes (I hope). That eruption did not end until late May and since then Eyjafjallajökull volcano has resumed it’s dormant status. For now anyway.

Here are videos of the Fimmvörðuháls eruption in Eyjafjallajökull volcano that took place in 2010.

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Deep earthquakes in Askja volcano. Data on how Japan Mw9.0 earthquake was recored in Iceland

I see that in last week (week 10) that there was a deep earthquake swarm that took place under Askja volcano. This time around the earthquake swarm lasted for about 75 seconds and the depth of this earthquake swarm was about 20 km. The location of the earthquakes was north-east of the main Askja caldera, but within the Askja volcano system it self. The largest earthquake last week in Askja volcano was ML2.2 in size. Last year there was also a deep earthquake swarm in Askja. But that time around it lasted for few hours, not second. That activity took place in Week 09 of the year 2010. Here is a map of that weeks activity. But this deep earthquake swarm suggests that magma is on the move under Askja volcano, as was the case in the year 2010 when a similar event did happen.

Above: Picture of the Vatnajökull glacier area. The deep earthquakes north-east of Askja volcano can be seen here.

Above: The 75 second earthquake swarm north-east of Askja volcano.

Japan Mw9.0 earthquake

Strong earthquakes like the Mw9.0 earthquake in Japan appear all over the world on seismometers. In fact the effect from this earthquake could be seen up to five days at least on long period seismometers. Icelandic Met Office did release in last week overview.

Above: How the earthquake did appear on the IRIS seismometer in Iceland.

Above: This is how the earthquake did appear on the SIL network. Aftershocks can also been seen in this plot.

Copyright of this pictures in this blog post belong to Icelandic Met Office or other parties unless I notice otherwise.

Blog post updated at 21:57 CET on 16.02.2011.

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New earthquake swarm in Krýsuvík volcano

The quiet time did not last long. But it appears that a new earthquake swarm has started in Krýsuvík volcano. So far this earthquake swarm is just a minor one. But it is hard to know how this develops in the next hours. But it is worth keeping a eye on how this earthquake swarm is going to develop. This earthquake swarm has been in ongoing since 13:13 UTC today (10. Mars 2011), but this is a slow earthquake swarm and does not have had many earthquakes over the past few hours.

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Quiet time in Iceland once again

While everyone is watching the eruption in Hawaii. Iceland earthquake activity both in volcanoes and on the fracture zones is taking a break.

So while Iceland is taking a break I am going to write about volcanoes that are never in the news. Not in Iceland and not in the international press. They are not in the news because they are quiet and have been for some time now.

I am going to start tomorrow (hopefully) with a volcano called Snæfellsjökull (wiki here) (if you did think Eyjafjallajökull volcano was hard to say, just try this one).

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Earthquake activity increases again in Krýsuvík volcano

It appears that Krýsuvík volcano earthquake activity is increasing again. This time around it appears that the earthquake activity in Krýsuvík volcano has moved more to the west then last weeks earthquake activity.

The biggest earthquake so far is a ML2.1 earthquake with the depth of 6.9 according to automatic data on Icelandic Met Office web page.


Picture is from Icelandic Met Office web site. Copyright of this picture belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

The new earthquake area in Krýsuvík volcano. It is more to the west then the earthquake area that was making earthquakes last week. Activity appears to be picking up slowly. But it is hard to know how this develops over the next few hours or days.

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Quiet time in Iceland at the moment

Currently everything is quiet in Iceland. There is little earthquake activity in Krýsuvík volcano but still ongoing at really slow rate however. Nothing is going on in the volcanoes in Vatnajökull. The TFZ fracture zone is also quiet and has been for some time now. So far only few earthquakes have taken place in TFZ in the last week. But no earthquake swarms have taken place there in a long time now.

In general the activity in Iceland is really quiet. While everything is quiet in Iceland, there is a eruption ongoing in Hawaii. Please see Erik blog for more details.

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Something odd is going on at Krýsuvík volcano [speculation]

Please note! What goes below here are speculations based on what I am observing. Nothing might happen, but then again something might happen. We just have to wait and see what happens when it comes down to it.

I have been observing a slight change in the lower frequency band (0.5 – 1 Hz) at Krýsuvík SIL station. This change reminds me of a harmonic tremor of short. But it is not strong enough to appear clearly on Krýsuvík SIL station. But that SIL station is directly on top of Krýsuvík volcano. There have not been a lot of earthquake following this change in the lower frequency bands at Krýsuvík SIL station.


Picture from Icelandic Met Office web site. Copyright of this picture belongs to Icelandic Met Office. This plot was saved at 02:11 UTC on the 05.03.2011. The changes can be seen on 0.5 – 1Hz close to the end.

I am not sure what is going on. But there might be a small chance that this is a magma that is on the move. The second option might also be that a new hydrothermal area did appear close to the Krýsuvík SIL station. If this is magma, then a volcano eruption in the area is not far off (days, weeks, months?). But only time is going to tell for sure what is happening.

Other note: The activity in north Iceland and in the highlands are frost quakes. But it is extremely cold in this area of Iceland at the moment. More frost quakes can appear on IMO maps in the next few hours.

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UK government failed preparing for a volcano ash threat from Iceland

According to a news article in The Independent today. It appears that UK government was unprepared for a volcano eruption in Iceland that could send ash cloud in the direction of UK. Like that did happen in Eyjafjallajökull volcano eruption in the year 2010. But according to the same news the UK government dedicated to drop such plans from there risk assessments and planning in the year 2009. A whole year before the eruption in Eyjafjallajökull volcano took place.

This was most likely also the case in other countries in Europe where the ash cloud did come as a surprise to governments across Europe and they did appear to be unprepared for it when it halted all flights in Europe for almost a week.

News about this.

Government failed to act on volcanic ash threat, say MPs (The Independent)
Emergency plans ‘need scientists’ (BBC News)

The Icelandic news respective. Use Google Translate and expect world of mystery to happen.

Voru óviðbúin íslensku eldgosi (mbl.is)
Eyjafjallajökull: Bretar brugðust (Rúv.is)

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Earthquake activity continues in Krýsuvík volcano [updated]

Early morning today (2. March 2011) there was a spike of earthquakes in Krýsuvík volcano. This earthquake swarm took place west of Kleifarvatn lake as the main center of the activity has been for the past two years. This type of activity can be expected in Krýsuvík volcano in the coming weeks in my opinion. Both long earthquake swarms and short ones, like the one that did happen early morning today.

The Icelandic Met Office has released a picture showing the earthquake activity in Krýsuvík volcano from the year 2004. Along with accumulated strain from those earthquakes and other useful data.


Picture is from Icelandic Met Office web page. The Icelandic Met Office owns the copyright to this picture.

Frame 1: Monthly number of earthquakes.
Frame 3: Total number of earthquakes. Second line: Collected strain from earthquakes.
Frame 4: Depth of earthquakes.

Here is a picture of the location of the last week earthquake swarm in Krýsuvík volcano. This is depth view. This view does not contain all the earthquakes that took place in Krýsuvík volcano.


Picture is from Icelandic Met Office web page. The Icelandic Met Office owns the copyright to this picture. Note: Dýpi = Depth

Update: Here is a updated earthquake plot of Krýsuvík volcano. This is the location of the earthquakes in Krýsuvík volcano along with the depth of the earthquakes. This is the earthquakes in Krýsuvík volcano from 25.02.2011 to 02.03.2011. This picture is from here.


Picture is from Icelandic Met Office web page. The Icelandic Met Office owns the copyright to this picture. Note: Dýpi = Depth

A overview picture of the activity in Krýsuvík volcano shows well the fissure direction the earthquakes line them self up on. The direction is almost north-south one. This map does not contain all the earthquake that where recorded in Krýsuvík volcano in last week.


Picture is from Icelandic Met Office web page. The Icelandic Met Office owns the copyright to this picture.

The pictures are from the Icelandic Met Office web site that contains weekly overview of earthquake activity in Iceland. Click on the pictures to get high resolution of them.

I am expecting more earthquake activity in Krýsvík volcano area. But at the moment it is a bit hard to know for sure if this is going to result in a volcano eruption. But in my opinion that is going to be the result in the end. But currently it is all a question about when, rather then if in my opinion.

Update: There was a earthquake with the size ML3.6 at 17:56 UTC according to the automatic data from Icelandic Met Office. This earthquake was a more south the earthquakes that happened last weekend. This can clearly been seen on the map data that Icelandic Met Office has released (see above). The depth of this earthquake was 3.6 km.

Press disclaimer: I am not a geologist and my opinion is not the one of a expert in this matter.

News about the earthquake swarm in Krýsuvík volcano this morning. Use Google Translate carefully.

Enn skelfur jörð í Krýsuvík (Vísir.is)

Blog post updated at 20:25 CET on 02.03.2011. A new picture is added and information about the newest earthquake swarm is added.
Blog post updated at 20:36 CET on 02.03.2011.

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Earthquake activity continues in Krýsuvík volcano, but at slower rate

At the current time earthquake activity in Krýsuvík volcano has slowed (when this is written) considerable down. But the earthquake activity has not stopped, even if it has slowed down considerable down. What is also interesting are the news about increased hydrothermal activity in Iceland (see older blog post for information on that). This lack of quiet time is interesting and gives the clues into that direction that inflow of magma might be constant. But might have slowed down as the earthquake swarm did slow down. It is interesting to notice that slowdown and few earthquakes where also common in the weeks before the eruption in Eyjafjallajökull volcano.

This activity in Krýsuvík volcano has gone out in the Icelandic media fast. But there have been the common questions if this area is about have a eruption. But at current time the general agreement is that nobody is sure about it.

Off-topic! I want to thank all the people how have supported me with donations. But I did not expect this huge response that I got. Thanks so much for the support. It won’t be forgotten in the future.