Category: Monitoring

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Deep earthquake in Eyjafjallajökull volcano

On 11.09.2012 at 10:24 UTC there was an deep earthquake in Eyjafjallajökull volcano. The magnitude of this earthquake was 0.8. It had the depth of 14.9 km. But that is among the deepest that happens in Eyjafjallajökull volcano. But before and during the eruption of Eyjafjallajökull volcano in the year 2010 the most depth of earthquake detected at that time was around 30 km.


The earthquake in Eyjafjallajökull volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

I do not expect this earthquake to mean anything. This is just single earthquake that now happen from time to time in Eyjafjallajökull volcano. But after the eruption in the year 2010 there has almost been no earthquake activity in Eyjafjallajökull volcano.

Volcano ash from Eyjafjallajökull volcano

Even if there are now two years since the eruption in Eyjafjallajökull volcano the local area continues to have problems with volcano ash from it. In certain wind direction the volcano ash is blown up and carried out to the sea. This wind direction is mostly when wind is blowing from north and does not carry any snow or rain with it. So today and maybe in next few days. The local people that live in the area around Eyjafjallajökull volcano to live in ash cloud from the eruption two years ago.

I did try to find an MODIS picture of this volcano ash storm. But I did not have any luck doing so.

Icelandic news about this wind blown ash

„Stödd í öskubakkanum“ (DV.is)

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Strong earthquake on Kolbeinsey Island ridge yesterday (06.09.2012)

Yesterday (06.09.2012) there was an earthquake about 200 km off Kolbeinsey Island. It was maybe on the Kolbeinsey Island or on SPAR fault zone in this area. I am not sure what is the actual case here. The earthquake had the magnitude of 4.4 and up to 4.7. Its magnitude has not yet been confirmed (EMSC web page can be found here). I do not know why that it. But this sometimes happen. This earthquake was not felt. But I did record it on my geophone network on two stations.


The location according to IMO. The second green star is an magnitude 3.6 earthquake in Jan Mayen. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.


The location according to EMSC. Copyright of this image belongs to EMSC.

This earthquake is one the strongest earthquakes that have been taking place in this area for the past few weeks. I do not know what is exactly happening in this area. This might be volcanic activity. But given depth of 2 km there. It is hard to know for sure. As any signs of eruption won’t appear on the surface of the ocean. Given that winter storm season has started in this area. Any sign of eruption are going to lost in the ocean waves. This area of the mid-Atlantic ridge might have more earthquakes in coming days to weeks.

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Harmonic tremor pulse activity maybe in Hamarinn volcano

Today (02.09.2012) a harmonic tremor pulse did start in Hamarinn volcano (best guess) (Bárðarbunga volcano). This harmonic tremor pulses are intermittent and normally last for up to 20 to 30 min., at the time. What is creating them is hard to say. But this might just be hydro-thermal activity taking place in Hamarinn volcano. This might also be magma on the move inside Hamarinn volcano. But nothing is confirmed so far. I do not expect anything to be confirmed any time soon.

The harmonic tremor pluses appear on the end of the traces on this image. They are bit hard to spot for the untrained eye. But they appear as higher then background noise change in the tremor plot image.


The harmonic tremor pulse as it appears on the SIL station at Grímsfjall volcano. This is high resolution image from this IMO web page. Copyright of image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.


The harmonic tremor pulse at Skrokkalda SIL station. Copyright of image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.


The harmonic tremor pulse at jok SIL station. Copyright of image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.


Harmonic tremor pulse at dyn SIL station. Copyright of image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

It is impossible to know what this means exactly. But so far there are no signs of eruption in the area. This activity is less then activity in July 2011 that was created by an minor eruption in Hamarinn volcano. Stronger harmonic tremor pluses appear on SIL station at longer distance. But for now (when active) most of the activity only appears on SIL stations closest to the Vatnajökull glacier. I am going to continue to monitor the current situation. I will update or make a new blog post about what is going on if anything happens.

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Magnitude 3.2 earthquake on the Reykjanes peninsula

Today (01.09.2012) at 16:33 UTC there was an earthquake with the magnitude of ML3.2. The depth was 7.6 km. Following this earthquake there was an swarm of smaller earthquakes following the first earthquake. None of those have been above magnitude 2.0. The earthquake took place in the Reykjanes volcano most likely. But it appears tectonic in nature. Rather then volcanic.


The magnitude ML3.2 earthquake on the Reykjanes peninsula. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

It is hard to know for sure if this activity is going to continue. But since this earthquakes. Activity in this area has stopped. But it might resume at later time.

Icelandic news about this earthquake

Jarðskjálfti á Reykjanesskaga (Rúv.is)
3,2 stiga skjálfti við Grindavík (mbl.is)

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Earthquake swarm on Kolbeinsey Ridge yesterday (30.08.2012)

Yesterday (30.08.2012) there was an earthquake swarm on Kolbeinsey Ridge. But earthquakes have been taking place there for several weeks already. This earthquake activity seems to be growing in number of earthquakes swarms taking place. In the year 1999 there might have been an dike intrusion or submarine eruption south of Spar Fracture Zone (more details here). Last earthquake swarm that was noticed by the SIL network was exacly two months ago (30.06.2012). My coverage of that can be found here. But it was not in the same place. But that earthquake swarm was south of Kolbeinsey Island, not north of it as was the case yesterday.


The earthquake area in question are the yellow dots north of Iceland on this map from IMO. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

What happens next in this area in terms of earthquake activity, or possible volcano activity is hard to impossible to know. As it is really hard to monitor volcanoes and rift zones that are under 2 km deep ocean and good distance from the coast line. However if there is any major earthquake activity in this area. It is going to appear clearly on my geophone network and IMO SIL network in Iceland.

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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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Two earthquakes in Jan Mayen today (30.08.2012)

Today (30.08.2012) Jan Mayen was hit by two earthquakes. The second earthquake was not an aftershock of the first one. But it remains an question if it was triggered by the first earthquake. The first earthquake had the magnitude of Mw6.6 according to EMSC web site. The second earthquake had the magnitude of Mb5.3 according to EMSC. Both earthquakes where felt by Norwegian military and science staff that resides on Jan Mayen.


Location of the Mw6.6 earthquake off the coast of Jan Mayen. As can be seen. This earthquake took place far out in the ocean. Copyright of this image belongs to EMSC.

The second earthquake was less in magnitude. But was closer to the Jan Mayen Island. For that reason it was possibly felt better the first earthquake.


Large view of the second Jan Mayen earthquake. This earthquake had the magnitude of Mb5.3. Copyright of this image belongs to EMSC.


Close up view of the second Jan Mayen earthquake. Copyright of this image belongs to EMSC.


The Mw6.6 earthquake that took place in Jan Mayen. This geophone station is the closest to the earthquake in Jan Mayen. This image is released under CC licence. Please see CC licence page for more details.


The Mw6.6 Jan Mayen earthquake as it was seen on Heklubyggð geophone station. This image is released under CC licence. Please see CC licence page for more details.


The Mw6.6 Jan Mayen earthquake as it was seen on Eyrarbakki geophone station. This image is released under CC licence. Please see CC licence page for more details.


The Mw6.6 Jan Mayen earthquake as it was seen on Skeiðflöt geophone station. The P-wave goes trough something that speeds up it’s arrival. Something that the software that I use cannot account for. That is why the P-wave is in the wrong location. As model vs reality do not match in this case. This happen frequently with my location data. This image is released under CC licence. Please see CC licence page for more details.


I did also record this earthquake in Denmark. Where I now live. This is the most distance that I did record this earthquake. But the distance was around 2000 km. The signal did appear. But I did not record any surface waves as I did in Iceland. Background noise is also higher here in Denmark then in most location in Iceland and it is more constant. This image is released under CC licence. Please see CC licence page for more details.

I did not record the Mb5.3 earthquakes on my geophones. It was just too small for my hardware to detect it. The waveform from the second earthquake was also lost in the surface waves from the first earthquake during this time period. At least when it comes to my hardware as it currently is.

Icelandic news about this earthquake

Jarðskjálfti við Jan Mayen – 6.6 stig (Vísir.is)
Almannavarnir: Ekki miklar líkur á flóðbylgju (Vísir.is)
Jarðskjálfti upp á 6,6 stig (mbl.is)

Norwegian and danish news about this earthquake

Kraftig jordskjelv utenfor Jan Mayen (NRK.no)
Skælv på 6,6 ryster Grønlands østkyst (DR.dk)

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Earthquake in Brennisteinsfjöll volcano / SISZ earthquake zone

Today (30.08.2012) at 11:59 UTC there was an earthquake with the magnitude of ML3.8 (4.2Mw) in Brennisteinsfjöll volcano / SISZ. But SISZ overlaps this area to some extend. So large earthquakes do happen in this area of Iceland on regular basis. This earthquake was felt in Reykjavík area, south Iceland and some part of western Iceland.


The earthquake location and the following aftershocks. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

In around 30 aftershocks have been detected in the area. More aftershock activity in this area cannot be ruled out. This earthquake did appear clearly on my geophones all over Iceland.


The earthquake at Eyrarbakki geophone station. This geophone is the closest to the earthquake. The most movement in this earthquake was on an N-S and E-W fault according to my geophones. This picture is released under CC Licence. See licence page for more details.


This is the earthquake as it was recorded on Heklubyggð geophone. It is the second closest geophone station to this earthquake. This picture is released under CC Licence. See licence page for more details.


Here is the earthquake as it did appear on Skeiðflöt geophone. This picture is released under CC Licence. See licence page for more details.


Here is the earthquake as it did appear on Hvammstangi geophone. This picture is released under CC Licence. See licence page for more details.

It is impossible to know for sure what this earthquake activity means. But earthquake activity in this area of Brennisteinsfjöll volcano did stop around 15:49 UTC. No aftershocks did go above 2.0 in magnitude. More earthquakes in this area should not be ruled out in the next few days to weeks.

Icelandic News about this earthquake

Alltaf von á eftirskjálftum (Rúv.is)
Skjálftinn á enda stórs misgengis (Rúv.is)
Verra ef safnið hefði skemmst (Rúv.is)
Skjálftinn hápunktur – ekki fyrirboði (Rúv.is)
Jörð skalf í dag (Rúv.is. Afternoon radio show about this earthquake in Icelandic)
Jarðskjálftasvæðið undir smásjá sérfræðinga (Vísir.is)
Má búast við nokkrum eftirskjálftum (Vísir.is)
Fólk hljóp á dyr í Litlu Kaffistofunni (Vísir.is)
Jarðskjálftinn var 4,6 stig (Vísir.is)
Á þriðja tug eftirskjálfta hefur mælst (mbl.is)
Jarðskjálfti upp á 4,6 stig (mbl.is)
Snarpur jarðskjálfti á höfuðborgarsvæðinu – Stærsti skjálftinn í 3 ár (Pressan.is)
Jarðskjálftafræðingur: Ekki búið að losa um neina spennu að ráði (Pressan.is)

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Deflation stops in Krýsuvík volcano

According to Rúv News today. Deflation has stopped in Krýsuvík volcano. But this is the latest chapter in inflation and deflation episodes that have been taking place in Krýsuvík volcano during the past three years. It is unclear what happens next in Krýsuvík volcano. But an new inflation episode should not be ruled out at this point.

Lat inflation episode started earlier this year (2012) and stopped in May. Then an deflation episode started. It stopped sometimes in August 2012. It is impossible to know for sure when an new inflation episode starts in Krýsuvík volcano. But it is my opinion that is going to be soon. But how soon exactly is impossible to know. Inflation episodes in Krýsuvík volcano have been followed by strong earthquakes swarms. So that are the signs of an inflation period having started in Krýsuvík volcano.

Icelandic news about this

Landsigið er hætt í Krýsuvík (Rúv.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)