Category: Monitoring

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Update on the eruption in Fagradalsfjall on Saturday 17-July-2021

This is going to be shortest update to the eruption in Fagradalsfjall mountain that is part of Krýsuvík-Trölladyngja volcano system.

  • Since 9th July the eruption has been unstable. Between 10th July and 15th of July the eruption continued as before with pulsing activity.
  • On 15th of July at 05:00 the eruption stopped and it didn’t start again until around 10:00 on 16th of July.
  • At the writing of this article it seems that the eruption has stopped again based on the harmonic tremor.
  • The lava flows is down in Meradalir when the lava flow happens. At current rate it is going to take 1 to 4 weeks until Merdalir overflows with lava into next valley.
  • The east side of the crater has collapsed and that allows the lava flow direct flow down into Meradalir.

It is unclear why the eruption stops and starts again. One of my ideas is that the deep feeder system of the eruption is now empty and needs time to refill. The eruption stops when the feeder system is empty. The more empty it is the longer the eruption stops since it takes more time for the magma to fill up the magma chamber that seems to be there at 20km depth or more. How long this is going to go on I don’t know but I don’t think this can go on for many months or years. Current crater is at one point going to seal it self and the eruption is going to stop because of that.

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Earthquake activity north of Grindavík town in Reykjanes volcano

Early morning of 11-July-2021 an earthquake swarm took place north of Grindavík town. Largest earthquake in this swarm had a magnitude of Mw2,5. Most of the other earthquakes had a magnitude of Mw0,0 to Mw1,0. There was also an earthquake swarm on Reykjanestá area that is part of Reykjanes volcano.

Earthquake activity north of Grindavík town show as cluster of small orange dots on Icelandic Met Office image.
Earthquake activity on Reykjanes peninsula in Reykjanes volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

It is difficult to know for sure what this earthquake activity means for this volcano. Since it has already been proven that eruption activity can start on Reykjanes peninsula without any warning or earthquake activity. Currently there are no clear indicators that suggest anything is about to happen but that can change without warning.

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Update on Fagradalsfjall mountain eruption on 9-July-2021

This is a short update on the eruption in Fagradalsfjall mountain that is part of Krýsuvík-Trölladyngja volcano system (currently, this might change in the future).

  • Since 23:00 UTC on 5-July-2021 the eruption has been on the low side and no lava has been seen leaving the crater when the fog is less dense in the eruption area. This is the longest break in the eruption activity since it started in 19-March-2021.
  • Small amounts of lava has been seen in the crater and it is speculated that it might be flowing from the crater in tubes in the lava field. This remains unconfirmed at the writing of this article.
  • Currently the eruption is not over. It is ongoing as is.

The following is a speculation on my part.

This lack of activity and amount of lava in the crater suggests that the deep system that has been feeding the eruption is for now close to being empty or is completely empty. That system of magma chambers needs time to fill up. This lack of activity is also common for this type of volcano and magma system. Since eruptions go trough a cycles of high and low activity. This might result in the eruption starting in a new fissure in next few weeks to months along with continuing in the current crater. There is also a equal chance of the eruption just continuing in the current crater once the eruption starts at full energy again. But that might be weeks until that happens.

End of speculations

Summer is fog season in Iceland when there is no strong wind and this has been a problem for monitoring the eruption on Reykjanes peninsula in recent days. This is going to continue until September or October depending on the weather pattern.

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Update on the eruption in Fagradalsfjall mountain on 18-June-2021

This is a short update on the eruption in Fagradalsfjall mountain. It is still classified as Krýsuvík-Trölladyngja volcano eruption. That might change in the future.

  • There is no sign of the eruption is about to stop.
  • Most of the week the lava was flowing in lava tubes that where invisible from the surface. Today (Friday 18-June-2021) that changed and lava is now again overflowing over the crater.
  • The crater remains unstable and collapses from the inside walls are frequents, or used to be. It is possible that for now the amount of lava in the crater is holding the walls up.
  • Nátthagi is now flooded with lava and the lava is on its way out of Nátthagi in next few hours to days. There won’t be any attempt made to stop the lava reaching the road or the ocean.
  • Geldingadalir valley is now full of lava and has overflowed a little. Lava might flow into Nátthagakriki in next few days, but small dirt walls where pushed up to try and delay that from happening. It is unclear if that worked. But for now the lava has not flowed into that direction.
Yellow lava flows out of the crater into a lava field and creates a new lava river.
The crater overflowing with lava. Copyright of this image belongs to Rúv.
A lot of smoke blocks the clear view into Nátthagi where the lava field is and is about to leave Nátthagi. Car can be seen at the end of the lava field.
View into Nátthagi but is in part blocked by gas pollution from the eruption. Copyright of this image belongs to Rúv.

Currently there are no other news about this eruption. Next update should be on 25-June.

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Earthquake swarm in Krýsuvík volcano

Since last night (night of 3-May-2021) there has been earthquake swarm in Krýsuvík volcano close to Kleifarvatn lake. At the writing of this article this earthquake swarm is ongoing.

Earthquake swarm in Krýsuvík volcano shown by two green stars on top of each other
Earthquake swarm in Krýsuvík volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Largest earthquakes in this swarm had a magnitude of Mw3,2 and there where several other smaller earthquakes that also happened. The earthquake at 03:04 UTC was felt in Reykjavík but I don’t have any reports about the earthquake at 15:49 UTC with same magnitude being felt. It is difficult to know what this earthquake activity means but for now the idea is that this earthquake activity might be connected to stress changes because of the magma dyke connected to the eruption in Fagradalsfjall mountain that is happening within same volcano system.


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Vacation

I am taking a little vacation between 5 May and until 10 May. Unless something major happens next update won’t be until after 10 May 2021. I am hoping to see the eruption or the area if the eruption is not ongoing next weekend if weather allows for such a trip. I don’t know yet if I can see the eruption, but I hope that I am going to have a chance to see the eruption.

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Update on the eruption in Fagradalsfjall mountain on 30-April-2021

This is a short update on the eruption in Fagradalsfjall mountain on 30-April-2021.

There has not been any major changes since last update. This are the noticeable changes since last update in the eruption in Krýsuvík-Trölladyngja volcano system.

  • Just one crater is now erupting. All other craters have stopped erupting but for now some of them might contain lava lake for now that might be creating a flow in lava tubes under the surface in the lava field. This process might not be visible on the surface.
  • A lot of activity now is in form of high lava arcs (correct word?) are now being formed in the one crater because of increased gas content of the lava.
  • Lava fields are slowly filling up all nearby valleys that it is flowing into. This is a slow process and is going to take months.
  • There are no signs the eruption is about to end.

No other updates have been reported so far. Rúv has installed a new web camera to give better view of the eruption. That camera can be found on YouTube Rúv channel.

Vacation

I am going on a small vacation between 5th May and 10th May. That means next update about the eruption is going to be on 14th May. I don’t know if I can go to the eruption yet as that depends on the weather and the weather is always unstable in Iceland.

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Earthquake swarm in Hengill volcano

Sorry for the late article. I’ve been dealing with technical problems in my mobile phone all day and delayed a lot of things for me.

Yesterday (29-April-2021) an earthquake swarm started in Hengill volcano. This earthquake swarm appears to be tectonic in nature. Largest earthquake in this swarm had a magnitude of Mw3,8 and was felt in Reykjavík.

Far left on image is a green star that shows the earthquake activity in Hengill volcano
Earthquake swarm in Hengill volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

This earthquake activity looks tectonic in nature and there are no signs that the reason for this earthquake swarm is anything but tectonic stress adjustments for now. I always expect more and stronger earthquakes swarm when cold volcanoes (not erupted for a long time) starts to get warm as was the case before the eruption in Fagradalsfjall mountain when up to 50.000 earthquakes took place from 27th February until 19th March when the eruption started.

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Earthquake activity south of Keilir mountain

During the night of 27-April-2021 an earthquake swarm took place south of Keilir mountain in Krýsuvík-Trölladyngja volcano system. This earthquake activity at this location has been going on for a long time and is interesting. There are no sign that suggest an eruption is about to happen at this location, that is the situation at the writing of this article. Largest earthquake in this swarm had a magnitude of Mw3,2 at the depth of 6,1 km and second largest earthquake had a magnitude of Mw2,8 at the depth of 5,9 km.

Earthquake activity south of Keilir mountain shown by a green star on the map of Reykjanes peninusla
Earthquake activity on the Reykjanes peninsula. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

It seems that there is a chance there might be changes about to happen in the eruption in Fagradalsfjall mountain. I am going to write about that tomorrow at the earliest, but the article might be delayed of there is a lot going on while I gather information about what is happening.

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Update on the eruption in Fagradalsfjall mountain on 26-April-2021

This is a short update on the eruption in Fagradalsfjall mountain in Krýsuvík-Trölladyngja volcano system.

There are no major changes reported during the last few days. But there have been minor changes in last few days. Here the latest changes that have been reported.

  • The oldest craters have stopped erupting. One of the crater has changed into a lava lake for now while the other is possible also a lava lake even if it is not visible. A lot of gas (smoke) comes from the more south crater in the crater row 1.
  • There are three to four craters that continue to erupt. There seems to have been a tiny increase in the eruption today (26-April-2021). This can be explained by how few craters are currently erupting.
  • No new craters have opened up in last few days. This is correct at the writing of this article.
  • Harmonic tremor seems to be decreasing. It is unclear why that is since the eruption is currently ongoing.

There are no other reports about the eruption. I am not sure when next update is going to happen but it is going to be soon as possible if anything changes in the eruption.