Category: Glacier flood

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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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Glacier flood confirmed from western Skaftárkatli cauldron

Today (30.08.2012) an glacier flood was confirmed from the western Skaftárkatli cauldron. This glacier flood is small as expected. But it did take several days longer to appear from Vatnajökull glacier then expected. Some hydro-thermal activity in Hamarinn volcano (Bárðarbunga volcano) seems to be currently taking place at the moment. But some harmonic tremor spikes have been taking place in the past two hours.


Harmonic tremor pulse can be seen at the end of this tremor plot from IMO. It only lasted for about 30 to 60 min. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.


Harmonic tremor pulse can be seen at the end of this tremor plot from IMO. It only lasted for about 30 to 60 min. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.


Harmonic tremor pulse can be seen at the end of this tremor plot from IMO. It only lasted for about 30 to 60 min. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

It might be that this harmonic tremor signals are coming from other volcano system then Hamarinn volcano. This type of activity has been seen before in Hamarinn volcano and follows glacier floods from it. Given the activity last year. I cannot rule out volcano activity taking place now in Hamarinn volcano. New episode of harmonic tremor is now starting in Hamarinn volcano. Based on early observations . It seems that current activity is behaving in similar manner as did happen in July 2011 when an minor eruption took place in Hamarinn volcano. If that is the case now remains to be seen. But it should be clear in few hours what is exactly going on in Hamarinn volcano following this glacier flood.

Icelandic news about this glacier flood

Skaftárhlaup kom úr katlinum – myndband (Rúv.is, video)
Hlaupið kom úr vestari katlinum (mbl.is)

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Still no glacier flood in Skaftá glacier river

For reasons that are unknown. No glacier flood has yet taken place in Skaftá glacier river. Even if the western Skaftárketill cauldron in Vatnajökull glacier has emptied. It is now expected that Hamarinn eastern cauldron is going to empty it self soon. But when that might happen is impossible to know for sure.


Ice-quake activity continues in Vatnajökull glacier. But that suggests the water is on the move under the glacier. Copyright of this image belongs to Iceland Meteorological Office.

The glacier flood is expected to be small. But it won’t go unnoticed once started. As the glacier river get’s darker and conductivity in the water increases greatly during the flood. I am going to try and keep an eye out for more information on this glacier flood.

Icelandic News about this

Ekkert hlaup hafið (Rúv.is)

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Glacier flood has started from west Skaftárketill cauldron in Vatnajökull glacier

Yesterday an glacier flood started form west Skaftárketill cauldron. But that is an hydro-thermal area inside Hamarinn volcano (Bárðarbunga volcano system). The glacier flood is expected to be small. Last year in July there was also an glacier flood from this area of Vatnajökull glacier. But that was due to minor eruption in this area (it was poorly documented by scientists. I do not know why that is). But now it is melt-water from hydro-thermal area that is causing this glacier flood.

But glacier floods like this happen every 1 to 3 years from this area. Following this glacier flood an swarm of glacier-quakes have been detected in this part of Vatnajökull glacier. Flood in western Skaftárkatli might trigger a glacier flood in the eastern skaftárkatli cauldron. But it is not known if that is actually going to happen this time. It is not expected that current glacier flood is going to be a large one. But there is an risk of Hydrogen sulfide poisoning if people are close the glacier river during the glacier flood. So it is not recommend to go close to the glacier river due to this risk. The glacier flood is expected to appear from under Vatnajökull glacier in the next 5 to 6 hours. It is expected to last around 2 to 3 days at most.


Glacier quakes in Vatnajökull glacier following this glacier flood. This glacier quakes are not strong and do not show up on automatic SIL system. Copyright of this picture belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.


Glacier quake activity as it appears on SIL seismometers around Vatnajökull glacier. Copyright of this picture belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.


Glacier quake activity as it appears on SIL seismometers around Vatnajökull glacier. Copyright of this picture belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.


Glacier quake activity as it appears on SIL seismometers around Vatnajökull glacier. Copyright of this picture belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.


Click on this image for full size. This plot here shows output from several SIL stations. This image was released by Icelandic Meteorological Office today. Copyright of this picture belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

It is believed that sometimes following this type of glacier floods from this area in Vatnajökull glacier there are small eruptions, or steam events as the pressure on the hydro-thermal system drops . That in turns allows for some magma movement that is powering the hydro-thermal system in this area of Vatnajökull glacier. It is impossible to know for sure if that is going to happen now. But it is good idea to keep an eye-out for such events taking place in Hamarinn volcano. Given the minor eruption that took place there last year.

Here is an comparison of the events that took place last year compared to the events that are currently taking place in Hamarinn volcano.


Harmonic tremor subsiding from Hamarinn volcano on 13. July 2011. The following glacier flood appears clearly on this tremor plot from Icelandic Meteorological Office. Copyright of this picture belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

I was seeing activity to November 2011 after the activity in July 2011.


One of the last harmonic tremor activity that I did see in Hamarinn volcano during the year 2011. But this took place on 7. November 2011. After this point it did go quiet. Copyright of this picture belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

I do not expect any volcano eruption in Hamarinn volcano at this point. But such things are impossible to know for sure. As Hamarinn volcano has not been studied in details until after the year 2011 eruption.

Icelandic news about this glacier flood

Hlaup hafið í Skaftá (Rúv.is)
Verður væntanlega ekki mikið hlaup (Rúv.is)
Hlaup að hefjast í Skaftá (Vísir.is)
Aldrei verið jafnfljótir að sjá hlaupið (Vísir.is)
Skaftárhlaup hafið (mbl.is)

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Small glacier flood from Mýrdalsjökull glacier (Katla volcano)

According to Rúv News this evening. A small glacier flood started flowing from Mýrdalsjökull glacier (Katla volcano) few days ago. According to local farmer in the area. Glacier floods like this are common and several have taken place during this summer, none of them have created damage. The current glacier flood is from a glacier river called Leirá river. This glacier flood is from an cauldron somewhere close to middle of Mýrdalsjökull glacier. There is small risk of damage to local roads and fiber optics cable in the area. Some glacier breakage has been reported in the glacier where the floods comes from.

I am going to update this blog post if anything major happens with this glacier flood.

Update 1: It now appears that this glacier flood is now appearing on Rjúpnafell SIL station. So far just on this only SIL station. But that might change at any time if this glacier flood grows in size.


The tremor from the glacier flood can be see at the end of this harmonic trace. The spike is an earthquake in Katla volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Iceland Meteorological Office.

Icelandic news about this.

Lítið hlaup í Leirá (Rúv.is, Icelandic)

Blog post updated at 00:07 UTC on 14.07.2012.

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Possible glacier flood from Grímsfjall/Grímsvötn glacier lake (Unconfirmed)

There seems to be a glacier flood did start this morning in Grímsfjall glacier lake. Based on the tremor, the glacier flood is already subsiding or something of that nature. So far this glacier flood has not yet been confirmed by monitoring scientists. So I am unsure what exactly what is going on. But current activity seems to have started around 13. June 2012, when the tremor changed from normal background noise to higher frequency noise. This can be seen on the SIL station from Grímsfjall volcano.


Grímsfjall SIL station tremor reading. The spike marks what seems to be a glacier quake taking place. Copyright of this image belongs to Iceland Meteorological Office.

This harmonic tremor started early this morning. But it can be up to 12 to 24 hours before the glacier flood is visible in the rivers that flow from Grímsfjall volcano.


The second SIL station that tremor appears on from Grímsfjall volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Iceland Meteorological Office.

Until there is official conformation what is exactly going on in Grímsfjall volcano. It is bit hard to know exactly what is going on there at the moment. But I hope that it is going to be cleared up in the next few hours or tomorrow. There are no signs that an eruption has started in Grímsfjall volcano at current time. It is impossible to know if that is going to change following this events that are taking place in Grímsfjall volcano.

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Katla volcano warming up for an eruption. Small glacier flood continues

This is going to be a short blog post. As I am going to be short of table and a cheer for few more days.

It seems that Katla volcano is warming up for a eruption. As I did mention in last blog post. But there is more to this. As the glacier flood that started on the 28. April 2012 continues according to a email that I got from an geologist working at Iceland Meteorological Office. But that suggests two things. That there is currently an ongoing melting of glacier taking place in Katla volcano, or there is a slow drainage taking place from some area in Mýrdalsjökull glacier. But given increased conductivity following this it is clear that this water has been in contact with magma. But that can be seen with the increased conductivity in the water.

There have not been many earthquakes following this events. But from the earthquakes that have happened. It seems that most likely source for current events is close to or the same area that erupted in July 2011. But at the moment this is just speculation based on limited data. It has not been confirmed so far.


The harmonic tremor that started on 28. April 2012. This is Lágu Hvolar SIL station. Copyright of this picture belongs to Iceland Meteorological Office. Used with written permission.

This plot shows clearly how the harmonic tremor starts and continues at same level for several days. I do not know if the harmonic tremor is ongoing. But I find it likely, if the small glacier flood is currently going on (that was my last information, but things might have changed during the day). But it is hard for me to know that for sure. But based on latest data from the water monitoring system around Katla volcano, the spike in this glacier flood is most likely over for now. But it impossible to know what happens next in Katla volcano. All that can be done is to wait and see what happens next.

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Small glacier flood from Mýrdalsjökull glacier on 28. April 2012 [Updated]

This has to be short. I do not have any table to cheer right now. I have already bought one (used and cheap). But I get it next week. I also do not yet have a ADSL connection so far. But this is what happens when one moves between countries.

On the 28. April 2012 there was a small glacier flood from Mýrdalsjökull glacier that on top of Katla volcano. This activity did start few days earlier according to Iceland Meteorological Office. But it did peak on the 28. April 2012. This was then followed by a small glacier flood in Múlakvísl river. The same river that had the glacer flood last summer, that did destroy a bridge in that same area.


The red line marks the harmonic tremor of Katla volcano. The blue line marks the conductivity in Múlakvísl glacier river. This is from Week 18 of the year 2012. Copyright of this picture belongs to Iceland Meteorological Office.

There was also a second event that took place in Katla volcano on 6 and 7. May 2012. But I do not know if there was any glacier flood in Múlakvísk glacier river following that event. Buit it is clear that Katla volcano is warming up again. This events are clearly something that I consider a warning on what is going on in Katla volcano. But it is a question if it continues or just stops, as so often does happen with volcanoes.

Update 1: According to a email answer that I got with a question of mine. This glacier flood is currently ongoing. It has not stopped so far. But this is a small glacier flood. But this is a interesting what is going on in Katla volcano at the moment.

Icelandic news about this.

Smáhlaup í Múlakvísl (mbl.is, Icelandic)

Blog post updated at 14:38 CEST on 11.05.2012.

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Update on Grímsfjall volcano glacier flood

During the past several hours the amount of water in the glacier flood from Grímsfjall volcano has not dropped a lot, but this glacier flood started two days ago (27.01.2012 around 12:00 UTC). But that might be down to heavy rain in the area. Normally a glacier flood from Grímsvatn lake (inside the Grímsfjall volcano caldera) last for about one to two days during a normal glacier flood. It is believed that this glacier flood is from Grímsfjall volcano glacier lake. But it might be hard to confirm this during this time of the year.


Possible noise from the glacier flood on this SIL station. This might however be increased noise due to heavy rain on it. Copyright of this picture belongs to IMO.

I have known for some time now that Grímsfjall volcano is preparing for a new eruption. This I know because of the increase in earthquake activity and increased hydro thermal activity in Grímsfjall volcano. So far there is nothing that suggest that Grímsfjall volcano is going to erupt this time around, at least for the moment. I am expecting this glacier flood to be over in the next several hours. No earthquakes have happened in Grímsfjall volcano during this glacier flood. I do not expect them to take place unless magma starts moving inside Grímsfjall volcano. Be that dike intrusion or start of an eruption.

Icelandic news about the glacier flood.

Óbreytt ástand í Gígjukvísl (mbl.is)
Sama vatnshæð í Gígjukvísl (Rúv.is)
Vatnshæð hélst óbreytt í nótt (Vísir.is)