Category: Monitoring

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New volcano monitoring project in Iceland

A new volcano monitoring project and a study is about to start in Iceland. This project hopes to provide real time information in volcano activity in Iceland. It has been funded by EU grand of 6 million euros. The reason for this project is the Eyjafjallajökull volcano eruption, among other volcano activity in Iceland. Among this project goals is to setup coordinated European volcano monitoring system.

Freysteinn Sigmundsson geophysics is the controller of this project. Icelandic Meteorological Office and University of Iceland also take part in this project. In total, 26 partner in 9 European countries are going to take part in this project during its duration. Something about 200 scientists are going to take part in this project during its duration. It is going to be interesting to see what comes out of this project in the long run.

Update 1: I forgot the name of this project. It is called; European volcanological supersite in Iceland: a monitoring system and network for the future

Icelandic news on this

Bætt mannlíf nærri eldfjöllum (Rúv.is)
Milljarður í eldfjallaverkefni íslensks vísindamanns (Vísir.is)
Fá 950 milljónir í rannsóknarstyrk (mbl.is)

Blog post updated at 14:26 UTC.

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Magnitude 3.8 earthquake in Breinnisteinsfjöll volcano

Earthquake with the magnitude of 3.8 took place in Breinnisteinsfjöll volcano at 19:42 UTC. This earthquake was felt in Reykjavík and nearby area. Many aftershocks have followed this earthquake. Most of them are however below 2.0 in magnitude. There was also pre-earthquake activity before the magnitude 3.8 earthquake did take place. Most of those earthquakes where below 2.0 in magnitude. Last month an earthquake with the magnitude 4.3 took place in this same area. Earthquake activity is currently ongoing with smaller earthquakes for the time being.


Green star marks the place where the magnitude 3.8 earthquake took place. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic meteorological Office.

So far there is nothing to suggests that current earthquake activity is nothing but tectonic. But this area is a riftzone. So there are earthquake swarm often take place there without them being related to any volcano activity in this area. This earthquake swarm appears clearly on my geophone network in Iceland. I am going to continue to monitor this earthquake activity. As more strong earthquakes in this area can take place in the next few hours to days.

Icelandic news about this earthquake activity

Jarðskjálfti upp á 3,8 í Bláfjöllum (Rúv.is)
Jarðskjálftar við Bláfjöll (mbl.is)
Jarðskjálfti í Bláfjöllum (Vísir.is)
Skjálftinn var 3,8 stig (mbl.is)

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Magnitude 3.1 earthquake in Katla volcano this morning

Today at 08:26 UTC this morning a magnitude 3.1 earthquake took place in Katla volcano. There was minor pre-earthquake activity before the magnitude 3.1 earthquake took place, the depth of this earthquake was around 100 meters (0.1 km). There was also some minor aftershock activity following this earthquake. No change in harmonic tremor took place following this earthquake. So there is a good chance this was just part of normal autumn activity in Katla volcano. This earthquake activity did appear clearly on my geophone network. It can be viewed here on my geophone network web page.


The earthquake as it did appear on my geophone station in Skeiðflöt. This image is released under Creative Commons licence. See CC licence page for more details.


The earthquake as it did appear on my geophone station in Heklubyggð. This image is released under Creative Commons licence. See CC licence page for more details.


The location of the earthquake in Katla volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

More earthquakes like this should be expected in Katla volcano. But it is impossible to know if there is going to be an eruption in Katla volcano any time soon. But so far everything is quiet in Katla volcano. Besides occasional earthquake swarm that is taking place in Katla volcano.

Icelandic news about this earthquake activity

Jarðskjálfti í Kötlu – 3,2 að stærð (Rúv.is)
3,2 stiga skjálfti í Kötlu (mbl.is)
Snarpur skjálfti í Kötlu (Vísir.is)

Blog post updated at 19:34 UTC on 03.10.2012
Blog post updated at 05:45 UTC on 04.10.2012

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Earthquake activity east of Grímsey Island (TFZ). Possible fake earthquakes in Eyjafjallajökull volcano

At 03:03 UTC an earthquake with the early and unconfirmed magnitude of ML3.3 took place east of Grímsey Island. This earthquake did take place on TFZ. It is possible, but this earthquake might be the start of an earthquake swarm in this area. But that is not uncommon pattern for earthquakes in this area. But however it also happens that earthquakes like this one takes place. But then nothing more happens.


Earthquake activity in TFZ. The early magnitude ML3.3 earthquake is marked with a green star. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

Eyjafjallajökull volcano

There has also been some earthquake activity in Eyjafjallajökull volcano during the night. This activity is possibly false due to weather or faulty SIL seismometer. The earthquake that have been detected so far have extremely low quality. But the increases the chance of them being false, rather then real events. It is not going to get known if this activity is real or not until it is reviewed by seismologist at Icelandic Meteorological Office.


The possible earthquake activity in Eyjafjallajökull volcano. This activity might be due to faulty hardware or weather, rather then real activity in Eyjafjallajökull volcano.Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

Eyjafjallajökull volcano has been quiet since it’s eruption in the year 2010. I do not expect that to change any time soon. Since it seem that Eyjafjallajökull volcano eruption cycle is around 150 to 500 year (theoretical maximum in my opinion). So I am not expecting anything to happen in Eyjafjallajökull volcano any time soon. If this earthquake activity is confirmed it is interesting. What might come out it is impossible to know for sure.

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Minor earthquake swarm in Katla volcano

Tonight around 22:30 UTC there was an minor earthquake swarm in Katla volcano. This earthquake swarm did last in about 20 minutes. After that the earthquake activity did drop back to normal background levels. This earthquake swarm is most likely part of normal autumn earthquake activity in Katla volcano. More earthquake swarms like this should be expected in Katla volcano during next few weeks.


Earthquake activity in Katla volcano this evening (28.09.2012). Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

What happens next is impossible to know. But I am not expecting anything special to happen in Katla volcano following this earthquake swarm. This earthquake swarm did appear clearly on my geophone at Skeiðflöt and Heklubyggð. The geophones can be viewed here.

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Few words on my geophone network

I run a small geophone network in Iceland. This geophone network won’t be getting any bigger any time soon. I have two reasons for that statement. I cannot get hardware that I need to build my geophone network. The main part remains out of stock, the geophone. I have also come to releases that after about 10 years time I won’t be able to run the geophone network anyway. But my plan is that in about 10 years time I am going to move to the Falklands Islands. Based on distance, cost and such factors. It is going to make it impossible for me to run an geophone network at that distance. It is going to take me 10 years to assemble my plan and get the funds before I can move to Falklands Islands. During that time I am going to be living in Denmark.

I have been running the current geophone network, in one or other form since the year 2006. So that is already 6 years. This has not been easy task. With hardware failures, software failures, internet failures and other issues that I have had to deal with during this time. But I have managed to keep the system running during that time, with help of the people how are hosting it for me at location. I am always thankful for that help.

I am however just going to close the geophone network in Iceland after 10 years. Closing at one place means that I can open up at new place. That place is going to be in Falklands Islands with time. As I need time to set-up new geophone network. Along with solving connection issues and such things. Setting up new geophone network in Falklands Islands might take up to 5 years for me. Depending on connections and such. As I might have to set-up my own radio links (I just expand my lan into such radio links on 2.4Ghz). Since ADSL speeds are expensive and have limited data quota are included with the subscription (the largest is just 3,3GB for 1 month), along with limited mobile coverage in Falklands Islands. But this is just really early planning. The details are going to get shorted out when I move there after 10 years or so.

I however think it is good to run my own geophone network for more then 10 years (oldest parts of the geophone network have then been running for up to 16 years in the year 2022) on my own. I am not sure. But I do not think many people in the world are doing this as I am. But I might be wrong on this.

Hardware that I can buy in the future

With the future lack of geophone for me to buy. I have several options on what hardware to buy so I can record earthquakes. First of is the cheap SEP seismometer. But that is a long period seismometer with period up to 20 seconds. Good for detecting earthquakes more then 2000 km away. My second option is to by a digital seismometer that is called VolksMeter. But that is also a tiltmeter. But VolksMeter seismometer is expensive (while I am broke at least). They cost $1245 single channel and $1795 dual channel. This is without GPS, power supply and such things. Based on this prices. I am not going to buy VolksMeter seismometer any time soon.

Blog post updated on 28.09.2012 at 04:45 UTC.

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Minor earthquake swarm in Katla volcano

Normal autumn activity appears to be starting in Katla volcano. This earthquake activity is not something to be alarmed about. But worth keeping an eye on anyway.


The earthquake activity in Katla volcano during the past 48 hour period. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

This is just normal autumn activity. As such it is not dangerous and does not mean anything. More earthquakes might happen in next few days to weeks.

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Earthquake activity drops in TFZ

During the past few hours earthquake activity in TFZ has dropped. This is not unusual. As earthquake activity in this area happens in swarms. Last earthquake swarm in this area where in the years 1996 and 2004. Those earthquake swarm lasted for several days and made several earthquakes with the magnitude 4. It is impossible to know how long activity is going last in this area. But since it has been ongoing for better part of current week (week 38). It might well be this activity is already over. But only time is going to tell what happens next. In current earthquake swarm. More then 500 earthquakes have been recorded so far.


The area of activity in TFZ. Stars mark earthquakes that are larger then magnitude 4 in size. But red dots show other earthquakes. The arrows show the fault movements in this area. It is from this news here on IMO web page. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.


The earthquake swarm as it looks during the past 48 hours. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.


The earthquakes on IMO tracker. It shows the magnitude of most of the earthquakes that have taken place during past 48 hours. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

As sad before. It is impossible to know what happens next in this earthquake swarm. But it might well be that it is over by now. Only time is going to tell us what happens next in this. Chance of an larger earthquake taking place in this area remains high.

Almannavarnir announcement (Icelandic Civil Protection System)

Jarðskjálftahrina úti fyrir Norðurlandi (Almannavarnir.is, Icelandic)

Icelandic news about this earthquake swarm

Jarðskjálftar í Eyjafjarðarál (Icelandic, vedur.is)
Talsverð jarðskjálftavirkni á Norðurlandi (Icelandic, Vísir.is)
Fjórir skjálftar yfir 4 að stærð (Icelandic, mbl.is)
Íbúar geri ráðstafanir til að draga úr tjóni (Icelandic, mbl.is)

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TFZ earthquake swarm update at 20:50 UTC

This is a short update for the earthquake swarm in TFZ at 20:50 UTC.

At 19:42 UTC on 20.09.2012 an earthquake with the magnitude of ML4.2 took place on TFZ. This earthquake swarm was most likely felt in Siglufjöður town, Dalvík town and possibly more places around the epicenter of this earthquake. This earthquake did also appear clearly on my geophone network in Iceland. Swarm of smaller earthquakes did follow this larger earthquake as before.


The epicenter of the latest magnitude ML4.2 earthquake in TFZ. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.


The progress of the earthquake swarm during the past 48 hour period. This earthquake swarm happens in swarm, with drop in activity between them. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.


The earthquake swarm as it did appear on my Hvammstangi geophone station. This image is released under Creative Commons licence. Please see CC licence page for more details.


The earthquake swarm as it did appear on my Heklubyggð geophone station. This image is released under Creative Commons licence. Please see CC licence page for more details.

It is impossible to predict the progress and development of this earthquake swarm. But I expect this earthquake swarm to continue for the next few hours to days. It might last longer then few days. But only time is going to tell us what is going to happen next in this earthquake swarm. I am going to post new update on this earthquake swarm once I have had the time to check some of this data. But that might take few hours until I can do so. At the longest, not until tomorrow. Depending on IMO work on this earthquake swarm data. I am going to post new updates on this earthquake swarm soon as possible if anything major happens.

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Earthquake activity drops in El Hierro volcano

Earthquake activity in El Hierro volcano has started to drop off again. During the last 24 hour period there have only been something around 28 earthquakes. But earthquake activity did peak with 182 earthquakes during 24 hour period on Sunday 16. September 2012.


The earthquake activity in El Hierro volcano at 19:22 UTC. As can be seen here. Everything is quiet for now.Copyright of this image belongs to IGN.

It is hard to say what happens next in El Hierro volcano. But magma is still getting injected into El Hierro volcano at depth. Eruption is still an possibility while inflation continues at the rate it is going. There is always the chance that deflation is going to start in El Hierro volcano. Chance of an eruption in El Hierro volcano remains high. But when it might start it impossible to say at this point.