Yesterday an earthquake swarm started in Krýsuvík-Trölladyngja volcano. This earthquake swarm doesn’t appear (it might be connected, but it is difficult to know currently) to be connected to the inflation that is happening at Fagradalsfjall volcano. Largest earthquake in this earthquake swarm had a magnitude of Mw3,0. This earthquake swarm took place just south-west of Kleifarvatn lake.
Earthquake activity in Krýsuvík volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
This earthquake swarm doesn’t seems to indicate an magma movement. There has not been any indicators (clear) that Krýsuvík-Trölladyngja volcano has gone active. It remains a dormant volcano.
Yesterday (23. May 2023) at 19:22 UTC an earthquake swarm started east of Grímsey island. Largest earthquake had a magnitude of Mw3,8 at the writing of this article. This earthquake swarm is ongoing. The largest earthquake was felt in Akureyri and other nearby towns.
Earthquake activity east of Grímsey island. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
Around 130 earthquakes have happened in this earthquake swarm so far. This area of Iceland has frequent earthquake activity. This earthquake swarm might increase, as they sometimes do in this area. It is impossible to know when this activity is going to stop. It took me a little longer to write this article, because this is a frequent earthquake area and I was also trying to get a little break (I also have to do other things outside of this) in next few days from geology. How that goes is to be seen.
I also want to point people out that I have set-up a website that shows Icelandic Met Office harmonic tremor charts and other information for that area.
I also have a webicorder website with an earthquake recording that I run. I am trying to figure out how to install and run seismometer in Iceland again. Its a slow work in progress for me because of the technical problems I am dealing with.
A single earthquake took place in Snæfellsjökull volcano today (16. May 2023) at 14:46 UTC. This was a single Mw2,0 earthquake with depth of 0,1 km. This earthquake was 5,4 km east of Hellisandur town. If this earthquake was felt is not known to me (nothing reported in the news).
Earthquake in Snæfellsjökull volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
It is rare to see earthquakes like this on Snæfellsjökull volcano and this is the first earthquake I write about from Icelandic Met Office data. Research has shown that small earthquake activity does regularly happen in Snæfellsjökull volcano.
The Icelandic Road administration did send out this news report today that new hot springs have been detected at Hveradalabrekka on Road 1 in Hengill volcano. This is an area that sees some heavy traffic. I can’t post pictures here because of copyright, but they can viewed in the news article below.
According to the Icelandic Road administration it seems that the area in question has been getting warmer for some time. According to them the current temperature around 86 degrees celsius. This is the area on a map from ja.is website.
The main road 1 on Hengill volcano. Close to the area that is now warming up. Screenshot of map from ja.is.
Next is to check why this is happening and if there is any risk the Road 1 in this area and if anything can be done if that’s the case. I am unclear on what is going on, since this area (I don’t think this one, but nearby) is known for hot spring activity. There has been some earthquake activity at this location in recent months and that is possibly connected to this new hot spring activity. On 9th of May this area had a Mw1,1 earthquake at the depth of 4 km. Over a time period of 130 days, the number of earthquakes in this area is not unusual for Hengill volcano or Reykjanes peninsula in general. This area of Road 1 might continue to get warmer over the next few months.
Rúv has published a news about this and has a video of the area where this new hot spring activity is happening. This is new because vegetation is in this area and is now dying off.
Today (11. May 2023) there was a earthquake swarm in Þórðarhyrna volcano. This are small earthquakes, but their location and depth suggest that this is a dyke intrusion taking place at this location.
Earthquake activity in Þórðarhyrna volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
Þórðarhyrna volcano is part of Grímsfjall volcano fissure swarm, that connects to Laki eruption fissures. Last eruption in Þórðarhyrna volcano was in the year 1902 to 1904 and had the VEI=4 according to Global Volcanism Program report that can be read here.
During the night of 4. May 2023 an earthquake swarm took place in the Reykjanes volcano out in the ocean. This was not a large earthquake swarm. Largest earthquake recorded had a magnitude of Mw3,4. Other earthquakes where smaller in magnitude.
Earthquake swarm in Reykjanes volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
This earthquake activity suggests an dyke intrusion in this area. This is part of Reykjanes volcano, but that volcano is in part out in the ocean. The Reykjanes volcano has been having regular dyke intrusion in recent years without it resulting in an eruption. That is most likely what is going to happen now.
This morning there was a strong earthquake swarm in Katla volcano. At the writing of this article the largest earthquake had a magnitude of Mw4,8 and the second largest earthquake had a magnitude of Mw4,7, the third largest earthquake had a magnitude of Mw4,5. This earthquakes where felt in nearby farms and towns close to Katla volcano. Currently, a lot of smaller earthquakes have happened in Katla volcano.
Earthquake activity in Katla volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
There are no changes in harmonic tremor levels at the writing of this article. That makes an eruption unlikely to happen now. That might change later without warning. The air aviation code has been moved to yellow and can be viewed here.
I’ll write a new article if something more happens.
This morning (25. April 2023) an earthquake swarm started north of Grindavík town, next to the Blue Lagoon. This earthquake swarm is ongoing at the writing of this article. If this is going to result in a eruption is impossible to know. The magma has reached the depth of 2 km and that is not good news if this continues to intensify. Large earthquakes do not need to happen before an eruption starts under the correct conditions in the curst and there has been a lot of dyke activity in Reykjanes volcano in last 3 years. Without that activity resulting in a eruption.
Earthquake activity north of Grindavík town. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
Eruption at this location would be bad, because of the tourist infrastructure next to this location that is the Blue Lagoon. Only thing that can be done now is to monitor the situation and see if it changes from what is currently happening.
It is possible to view the earthquake swarm in high resolution on Skjálfta-Lísa and other private websites that have similar maps.
Today (23. April 2023) at 15:!5 UTC an earthquake swarm took place in Grímsfjall volcano. Largest earthquake in this swarm had a magnitude of Mw3,3. Few other smaller earthquakes also took place.
Earthquake activity in Grímsfjall volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
There are no signs that Grímsfjall volcano is about erupt following this earthquake swarm. That might change without warning, but seems unlikely to happen at the moment. More earthquakes might happen in next few hours.
During the night of 23. April 2023 at 03:34 UTC an earthquake with the magnitude of Mw3,2 took place in Bárðarbunga volcano. This was just a single earthquake this time around. Depth of this earthquake was 4,6 km.
Green star in Bárðarbunga volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
This earthquake shows that Bárðarbunga volcano continues to inflate. This is now normal earthquake activity and happens every one to three months, sometimes the time between earthquakes is longer.
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