Category: Monitoring

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Strong earthquake swarm close to Geirfugladrangur island

Yesterday (25-August 2026) during the night an earthquake swarm started close to Geirfugladrangur island (its more of a rock standing out in the ocean). There where five earthquakes with magnitude above Mw3,0. Two earthquakes with magnitude Mw4,1 and one earthquake with magnitude of Mw3,6 and two earthquakes with magnitude of Mw3,4. This location is far away from land so detection of earthquakes in this location is limited by distance from the Icelandic Met Office seismic network. At least one of the larger earthquakes where felt on Reykjanes peninsula.

Green stars on the Reykjanes ridge showing the largest earthquakes. A lot of yellow dots showing smaller earthquakes at the same location.
The earthquake swarm close to Geirfugladrangur island on Reykjanes ridge. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

At the writing of this article this earthquake swarm is ongoing, after being quiet for most of the day. There is a chance this is because of magma movement, but this being out in the ocean makes it difficult to be sure if that is the case. The chance is higher than lower that is the case in this earthquake activity.

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Minor earthquake swarm in Reykjanes volcano

Today (24-August 2026) a minor earthquake swarm took place in the volcano Reykjanes. Largest earthquake in this swarm had a magnitude of Mw2,9.

Orange and red dots on Reykjanestá on Reykjanes peninsula showing the small earthquake swarm that took place there today.
The earthquake swarm on Reykjanes ridge in the volcano Reykjanes. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

This earthquake swarm seems to be in part ongoing, but very few earthquakes are taking place at the writing of this article.

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Strong earthquake in Bárðarbunga volcano with magnitude Mw5,2 to Mw5,4

Today (28-July 2028) at 05:36 UTC an earthquake with magnitude of Mw5,2 to Mw5,4 took place in Bárðarbunga volcano. This earthquake was followed by a minimal amount of aftershocks. This earthquake happened because of inflation happening in Bárðarbunga volcano. The magnitude is reported as Mw5,2 at Icelandic Met Office. EMSC is reporting the magnitude of this earthquake as Mw5,4.

Green star in Bárðarbunga volcano, showing few orange dots that are smaller earthquakes.
Earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

While the current earthquake activity has stopped. This activity can resume at any time without any warning. There seems to be enough magma pressure to start an eruption, but for some reason the magma pressure is not high enough to break the pressure of the crust or the pressure from the crust and the glacier on top of the volcano. Whatever the case is, there is a risk of an eruption starting in Bárðarbunga volcano without much warning. The area is remote, so there is no risk to any damage. The biggest risk is from glacier floods if an eruption starts under the glacier.

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Earthquake in Hengill volcano

Yesterday (27-July 2026) at 00:36 UTC an earthquake with magnitude of Mw4,1 took place in Hengill volcano. This earthquake was felt over a wide area of south Iceland. Very few aftershocks happened following this earthquake.

Green star on the top of the map, showing swarm of fissures and a green star and few red dots where the earthquake activity took place.
Earthquake activity in Hengill volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

This is the largest earthquake in this area since 1998 according to Icelandic Met Office. The news claim that earthquake activity is frequent in this area, that has not been the case for the last few years. There have been minor earthquakes swarm slightly more south west of this location. At the writing of this article, no more earthquake activity has happened.

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Earthquake swarm in Katla volcano

Today (15-July 2026) at 19:25 UTC an earthquake with the magnitude of Mw3,8 took place in Katla volcano. This earthquake started a minor earthquake swarm in Katla volcano. There are no reports at the writing of this article that this earthquake has been felt.

Green star in Katla volcano caldera. With red dots showing the smaller earthquakes around the green star.
Earthquake activity in Katla volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

At the writing of this article. This earthquake swarm has stopped. Since this is a volcano, this earthquake activity might start again without warning. At the writing of this article. Things are quiet in Katla volcano.

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Magnitude Mw3,3 earthquake just south of Presthnúkar volcano

Yesterday (24-June 2026) an earthquake with magnitude of Mw3,3 took place just south of Presthnúar volcano. This earthquake was part of an ongoing earthquake swarm in this area.

Green star just south-west of Presthnúkar volcano. Along with red dots that show smaller earthquakes in the same area.
Earthquake activity south west of Presthnúkar volcano in Langjökull glacier. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Based on earthquake data. I believe this earthquake activity is because of magma movement in the crust. I don’t think this is going to result in a eruption in this area. At the moment, the earthquake activity is too small for that too happen. This type of earthquake activity can go on for months and sometimes years before it stops.

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Bárðarbunga volcano strongest earthquake swarm since year 2014

Yesterday (13. June 2026) at 20:14 UTC an earthquake with a magnitude Mw4,8 took place in Bárðarbunga volcano. This earthquake started an earthquake swarm in Bárðarbunga volcano that lasted until around 05:00 UTC before it did quiet down. Around 400 earthquakes where recorded in this earthquake swarm before it stopped. Total of six earthquakes with magnitude over Mw3,0 took place in this earthquake swarm.

Green stars in the centre of Bárðarbunga volcano, surrounded by red dots showing smaller earthquakes.
Earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano during the night. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

The source of this earthquake swarm is movement of magma in Bárðarbunga volcano. This time, it did stop and not result in a eruption. An earthquake swarm of similar nature took place in Bárðarbunga volcano last year. Its is a possibility that this earthquake activity is not over, even if nothing has happened for more than 12 hours at the writing of this article. The source of this is magma and it is impossible to know what happens next. Bárðarbunga volcano has been inflating since end of the eruption in 2015. After it collapsed in that same eruption, during a caldera collapse event and lowered about 60 meters. Last inflation number suggested that it has inflated about 30 meters from lowest point.

If anything more happens. I am going to write a new article about what happens.

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Strong earthquake swarm in Brennisteinsfjöll volcano

Since Sunday, 31-May 2026 there has been a earthquake swarm in Brennisteinsfjöll volcano. This earthquake swarm is ongoing at the writing of this article. Largest earthquake so far has had the magnitude of Mw4,5 today (1-June 2026) and was felt over a wide area. A second Mw3,8 earthquake also happened today. A magnitude Mw3,5 earthquake took place on 31-May 2026. All of the largest earthquakes have been felt.

Three green stars and a whole lot of red dots showing the earthquake activity in Brennisteinsfjöll volcano. This is just west of Hveragerði town.
The earthquake swarm in Brennisteinsfjöll volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

This earthquake activity does not seem to have its origin in magma movement. This rather seems to be because of a rift zone valley movement in this area. That can result in magma movement at later stage, at the moment however, that does not seem to be the case. If anything more happens. I am going to write a new article with updated information.

Article update on 3-June 2026 at 23:02 UTC. New information shows that this earthquake swarm is happening in Brennisteinsfjöll volcano and not in Hengill volcano that is nearby, just slightly east of the earthquake swarm.

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Earthquake swarm in Reykjanes volcano

Since Saturday, 23rd of May 2026 an earthquake swarm has been taking place in Reykjanes volcano. This earthquake swarm does not signal a start of an eruption, but it might be a long term signal in that direction. Largest earthquake in this earthquake swarm at the writing of this article had a magnitude of Mw3,5. Second largest earthquake had a magnitude of Mw2,9.

Green star and a lot of yellow dots showing older earthquakes in the earthquake swarm on the Reykjanes ridge in the Reykjanes volcano.
Earthquake activity in the Reykjanes volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

At the writing of this article, the earthquake swarm is ongoing, but in a much slower phase. It is possible that this earthquake swarm is already ending or might end in next few hours. It is also common for earthquake swarms to increase suddenly again in this area. Currently, this is a wait and see situation.

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Earthquake swarm in Hengill volcano

After a long period of very quiet time in Iceland. A earthquake with magnitude of Mw3,6 took place in Hengill volcano, close to an area called Eiturhóll. This area has frequent earthquake activity related to tectonic movement.

Earthquake swarm on top of the image with one green star showing the largest earthquake. Red dots showing smaller earthquakes are spread around.
Earthquake swarm in Hengill volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

The largest earthquake started a small earthquake swarm that is currently ongoing at the writing of this article. I am not expecting more earthquake activity then has already happened at the writing of this article.