Category: Iceland

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Earthquake swarm east of Iceland (45 km east of Fonti)

Today (15. December 2022) an earthquake swarm has been going around 45 km east of location known as Fonti in eastern Iceland. This location is out in the ocean and its unclear why this earthquake activity is happening. There are no volcanoes in this part of Iceland and no known fault areas. Since this is among the oldest parts of Iceland.

Largest earthquake in this swarm recorded so far, had the magnitude of M2,9. Distance from the SIL network prevents detection of smaller earthquakes in this area.

Picture of Iceland showing dots that show the smaller earthquakes all over Iceland. In eastern Iceland in the ocean, there's a cluster of small earthquakes shown in red dots and orange dots.
Earthquake swarm far east of Fonti in eastern Iceland. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
Close up image of the earthquake activity from Fonti area from Skjálfta Lísa earthquake viewer on Icelandic Met Office website.
Close up image of the earthquake activity from Skjálfta Lísa earthquake viewer on Icelandic Met Office website. This only shows reviewed earthquakes. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

There is a risk of stronger earthquakes in this area. If this earthquakes are going to be felt in populated areas is unlikely unless this earthquake activity gets really big. Since this earthquake activity is far from the coastline and there’s almost no population in this parts of Iceland.

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Quiet time in Iceland

The year 2022 has not seen a lot of activity in Iceland so far. If that is going to change I don’t know. Since I mostly just report on current activity and not historical activity, when it comes to historical activity I do maintain a list of major earthquakes in Iceland.

While it is quiet I normally won’t post a lot here. That results in smaller traffic. As the world goes. I have made the decision to keep PayPal. This allows people to donate to me and my work here when things are quiet and help me with everything.

The quiet time can end at any time in Iceland, but it can be quiet for up to 10 months at the longest. How long current quiet period is going to last is anyone guess.

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Quiet period in Iceland at the moment

At the moment there isn’t much happening. This is one of the quiet period that regularly happen in Iceland. How long this break is going to last is impossible to know. It might be few more days and maybe several more weeks.

Currently the only notable activity happening is in Öræfajökull volcano but this is the same type of activity that has been happening for weeks now and do not require a new article.

Donations

Please remember to support my work. At the moment I am completely broke and I don’t know how this last week of March is going to be. I have updated the information on how to donate on the Donation site. The updated information can be found here. Thanks for the support. 🙂

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Earthquake activity far east of Iceland continues

Today (30-May-2017) Icelandic Met Office has registered a magnitude 3,8 earthquake far east of Iceland, around 370 km from the east Iceland coastline. This earthquake location is registered as close to the earlier earthquake activity in the same area. That might just be an calculation error due to distance from the SIL network. This earthquake activity has not been registered by EMSC.


The green star shows the location of this earthquake. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

There have been smaller earthquakes in the same area for the last few days. This appears to be intra-plate earthquake activity, this sometimes happens in Iceland and most recent earthquake activity like this took place in 2006 in Vestfjörð close to Djúpavík. That earthquake swarm lasted for a good one and a half week. What is happening at this location is mostly unknown, this applies to number of earthquakes happens. Only the strongest earthquakes are being recorded due to the distance from the SIL network.

Donations

Please remember to support my work with donations. Thanks for the support. 🙂

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Overview of the earthquake activity in Iceland of the last few days

Over the past few days it has been quiet in Iceland. There hasn’t been overall lot happening. Biggest earthquake activity that is currently taking place is happening around 340 km north of Kolbeinsey Island (it’s a tiny Island, with nothing on it, not even birds make use of it).


The earthquake activity north of Kolbeinsey Island. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Largest earthquake have had the magnitude around 3,3.

Bárðarbunga volcano

Currently there isn’t much happening earthquake wise in Bárðarbunga volcano. Current earthquake activity has however exposed the ring fault in the caldera, suggesting that its moving upward at decent speed (few mm/month). This also means that Bárðarbunga volcano is inflating as is.


The earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Deep earthquake activity is also around Trölladyngja (shield volcano). This deep earthquake under Trölladyngja is unusual and that is my view eruption might happen there soon. It is impossible to know when such a event happens.

Katla volcano

Earthquake activity in Katla volcano has been quiet. It is normal that earthquake activity drops in Katla volcano this time of the year. I’m expecting quiet few weeks in Katla volcano.


There is little earthquake activity in Katla volcano at the moment. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Hekla volcano

Two earthquakes appeared in Hekla volcano on 8-December-2016. No other activity happened after that.

Reykjanes ridge

A minor earthquake swarm took place on the Reykjanes ridge on 8-December-2016. Largest earthquake in this swarm had the magnitude of 2,9.


Earthquake activity on the Reykjanes ridge. The earthquake swarm is where the blue dots are. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

I think this is most of the earthquake activity that has happened in and around Iceland during the last few days. Due to software problems on my server and on my desktop computer I was unable to write an update about what was happening in earthquake activity for the past few days.

Donations

Please remember to support my work with donations. It helps me keep on writing on this website and monitoring what is currently going on in Iceland. Thanks for the support. 🙂

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All quiet in Iceland at the moment

Over the past three weeks things have been mostly quiet in Iceland. With no major activity taking place. There have been few magnitude 3,0 and above earthquakes. Over the past three weeks the average number of earthquakes over 24 hour period is just 10 earthquakes. This is based on my automatic counter and it has slightly lower number than manually checked earthquakes. Icelandic Met Office says there are around 300 – 400 earthquakes taking place in Iceland during the week (1200 earthquakes at month).

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The earthquake activity in Iceland at the moment. All quiet at the moment. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

It is not possible to know for how long this quiet period is going to last. Its already been three and almost four weeks already into this quiet period. All that can be done now is to wait and relax a little.

Donations

Please remember to support my work. I spend a lot of time writing to this website and its a lot of work. There is always something going on in Iceland, even during the quiet periods. Thanks for the support. 🙂

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Low earthquake activity in Iceland at the moment

When this is written there is almost no earthquake activity in Iceland happening. There has been some minor earthquake swarm activity taking place in both south and north Iceland, but those earthquake swarms have been minor and not gone above 3,0 in magnitude. I don’t know how long this quiet is going to last, the longest quiet period I remember lasted for close to four months, then no or little earthquake activity happened in Iceland during that time.

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All quiet in Iceland at the moment. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

While it’s quiet in Iceland I’m going to add few more short stories to my short stories website. It can be read here.

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All quiet in Iceland (at the moment)

Currently everything is quiet in Iceland, from midnight (UTC) there have only been five earthquakes recorded (automatic, the manual number is higher) and I’m not sure if any of them did have the magnitude above 1,0 (so far). It has been quiet in Iceland in the last few days, during a quiet time in the weather (no major wind). How long this quiet is going to last I don’t know. This type of quiet normally ends with a earthquake swarm somewhere in Iceland, sometimes they are big earthquake swarms and sometimes they are small earthquake swarms.

Due to how quiet it is I don’t have anything to report at the moment. What needs to be kept eye on are the normal suspect, Bárðarbunga volcano, Katla volcano and the fracture zones in north and south Iceland. Some activity might be happening deep on the Reykjanes ridge and north of Kolbeinsey Island (north of Grímsey Island).

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Quiet in Iceland at the moment

For the past few days it has been quiet in Iceland when it comes to earthquakes and volcano activity. Quiet period happens, they are usually followed by a spike in activity somewhere in Iceland.

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All quiet in Iceland at the moment. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

For those wanting to pass the time while it is quiet. I suggest a message in a bottle website that Rúv put on, as part of a science show for kids they had on the schedule this winter. It’s updated several times a day when the bottles send a message to a passing satellite.

Message in a bottle (Rúv.is)

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Quiet week 32 in Iceland

It has been a quiet week 32 in Iceland. With only minimal earthquake activity taking place in the usual places, with just minor earthquakes taking place and no earthquakes with magnitude 3,0 or larger happening.

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Normal background earthquake activity in Iceland. Copyright of this image belongs to Iceland Met Office.

This lack of activity in Iceland is normal, this quiet time might also continue for several weeks, it rarely last that long in Iceland. The areas most likely to start earthquake swarm activity are TFZ and Reykjanes and Reykjanes ridge. Other areas appear quiet at the moment.

Donations: Please remember to donate to support my work. Thanks for the support. 🙂 / Everything is now directed to Iceland, not Denmark as it has been for the past four years. Please update your information for this if you need too. Thanks. 🙂

Other things: I feel like my life is a complete mess after moving back to Iceland from Denmark. Since I don’t really fit in Iceland (at least the country side of Iceland). I plan on moving to Reykjavík capital area in few years time (waiting list for social apartment in Reykjavík area [Reykjavík, Kópavogur, Hafnarfjöður] is at least 2 – 4 years), it’s needs a little planning and my debt has to go down a little more until I’m able to do so. If it is possible then I plan on registering for school tomorrow (Monday-10-August). Since I am going to prepare my new youtube gaming channel by learning how to properly edit videos. I also plan on learning more about electronics and mechanics (ship and car engines), along with danish, German, Spanish and more English. If can’t register for school tomorrow, it is going to mean more work for me for two more months (about).