Category: Monitoring

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Magnitude 3,0 earthquake in Öræfajökull volcano

This evening (21-September-2018) at 21:15 UTC a magnitude 3,0 earthquake happened in Öræfajökull volcano. This was followed by a swarm of earthquakes and largest earthquake after the magnitude 3,0 earthquake had a magnitude of 1,4 so far.


Earthquake activity in Öræfajökull volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

I expect the largest earthquake to have been felt in nearby farms that are close to Öræfajökull volcano (some are in it roots). In recent weeks the magnitude of earthquakes in Öræfajökull volcano has slowly been moving upwards. This change is not by much at the moment.

Donations

Please remember to support my work with donations. It helps me a lot. I am also trying to buy new Raspberry Shake sensors. Please see pinned article for more details. Thanks for the support. 🙂

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Magnitude 4,2 earthquake in Bárðarbunga volcano

Today (14-September-2018) at 10:40 UTC an magnitude 4,2 earthquake took place in Bárðarbunga volcano. Second largest earthquake in this swarm had a magnitude of 2,9. Other earthquakes that happened were smaller in magnitude.


Green star is the magnitude 4,2 earthquake in Bárðarbunga volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

This earthquake activity is normal for Bárðarbunga volcano as it continues to inflate after the eruption 2014 – 2015. At the moment the rate of this magnitude earthquake seems to be around 1 earthquake each month. It seems that rate of earthquakes is continuing to drop and soon it is going to be one to two earthquakes a year like this in Bárðarbunga volcano.

Donations

Please remember to support my work with donation. I also remind on the sticked article about donating so I can get new earthquake recording hardware. Thanks for the support. 🙂

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Katla volcano releases massive amount of CO2 daily

According to new study into CO2 release of Katla volcano the amount released by the volcano is massive. According to the news on Rúv the daily amount released of CO2 is 20 kiloton (1 kiloton = 1000 tons). What is not known today is if this high release of CO2 is constant or if it fluctuates during the year. More reaches is needed into that possible.

I don’t know how much magma is needed for this amount of CO2 release from Katla volcano. What I do know is that it is not little amount of magma inside Katla volcano. Largest documented eruption in Katla volcano had a VEI size of 5. The Eldgjá eruption in 934 was more lava than volcano ash and that was the largest eruption in Katla volcano for a long time. It is not possible to predict an eruption in Katla volcano or any other volcano with good precision.

This makes Katla volcano the 3rd largest CO2 releasing volcano in the world.

Rúv News in Icelandic

Kvikusöfnun í Kötlu (Rúv.is, Icelandic)


Donations

Please remember to support my work with donations. I am also trying to buy new hardware and I need donations for that so I can continue providing webicorders with close to real time information about earthquake activity in Iceland. Thanks for the support. 🙂

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Donations needed for new hardware

This article is a sticky one. Comments close after 15 days.

The current situation is that my hardware is in need for upgrade and replacement. The fact is that I can’t afford this at the moment on my own. That is why I am asking for donations at the moment so I can upgrade my computer to more modern one and upgrade my earthquake monitoring network to a modern style network.

Main earthquake computer

Current main earthquake computer is no longer functioning due to failure on the motherboard. I need to get a new one and I’ve decided that it is best to just buy a new computer with everything + a new monitor. The computer I want to get costs 114.950 ISK (~884,98€), with some minor modification to it that are going to cost extra. The monitor I want to buy costs 24.950 ISK (~192,09€). This is going to be a Windows 10 Pro computer. I do plan on setting up a Linux computer in the future for earthquake monitoring since I am switching to Raspberry shake seismometers (some months after I finish moving to Spain) and most of the software for those seismometers run on Linux rather than Windows.

Earthquake monitoring network

Due to how old the hardware I am using in my earthquake monitoring network. It has now stopped functioning for most part. Heklubyggð is down due to network problems and is going to quit sometimes in next few months (no date has been set). I don’t know if the network problems are going to be resolved before I have to take Heklubyggð permanently offline. I am currently trying to solve issues with the geophone at Böðvarshólar. That has not been going as well as I hoped. Something happened yesterday and the PC seems to have stopped working as it was supposed to do. I am not sure what the problem is.

Upgrade to Raspberry shake

The hardware that I am now using for my earthquake recording has reached its End Of Life [EOL] some time ago. That is the reason I need to move to Raspberry shake sensor(s). I want to install 3 sensor in Iceland. For the moment however I just want to upgrade the station at Böðvarshólar so I can have some functional monitoring of earthquake activity.

The station I need to buy is this one here along with extra hardware to use with it.

Turnkey IoT All Weather Home Earthquake Monitor | RS 3D – price is 1259,99 USD (1.087,34€)
GPS Antenna – 179USD (154,59€)
External USB connection for All Weather enclosure – 81,99 – 169,99 USD.

Thanks for the support. 🙂

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Strong earthquake swarm 88 – 90 km north of Kolbeinsey Island yesterday (8-September-2018)

Yesterday (8-September-2018) there was a strong earthquake swarm 88 to 90 km north of Kolbeinsey Island. Due to distance from the SIL network it is impossible to know how large and strong this earthquake swarm actually was. Largest earthquake reported by Icelandic Met Office had a magnitude of 3,3. Total of ten earthquakes with magnitude 3,0 or larger happened during this earthquake swarm.


Earthquake activity north of Kolbeinsey Island (green stars). Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Total around 30 earthquakes were detected but it can be assumed that total number of earthquakes might have been higher. At the distance from the SIL network smaller earthquakes are not detected. It is not possible to know for sure what is happening at this location due to distance from the coast and the SIL network.

Donations

Please remember to support my work with donations. Thanks for your support. 🙂

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Fresh minor earthquake swarm in Öræfajökull volcano

Yesterday (23-August-2018) an fresh earthquake swarm started in Öræfajökull volcano. This earthquake swarm seems to be progressing in the same way as earlier earthquake swarms. Earthquake activity in Öræfajökull volcano only happens when magma is on the move inside the volcano.


Earthquake activity in Öræfajökull volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Largest earthquake in this swarm had a magnitude of 2,2 and the second largest earthquake had a magnitude of 1,9. Other earthquake activity has been as before and is mostly made of earthquake with magnitude 0,0 and up to magnitude 1,0. The magma in Öræfajökull volcano is slow moving and that is reflected in current earthquake activity.

Donations

Please remember to support my work with donations. Thanks for the support. 🙂

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Earthquake swarm in Torfajökull volcano

Today (16-August-2018) at 15:53 UTC an earthquake swarm started in Torfajökull volcano. Largest earthquakes in this earthquake swarm had an magnitude of 3,8 and 3,3 at the moment other earthquakes that have happened are smaller in magnitude.


Earthquake activity in Torfajökull volcano. Largest earthquakes are marked by green stars. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

This earthquake swarm seems to be ongoing at the moment. It is possible that more earthquakes that might be felt are going to happen. The largest earthquakes in this swarm were felt in nearby tourist areas.

Donations

Please remember to support my work with donations. Thanks for the support. 🙂

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Earthquake in Bárðarbunga volcano

Today (16-August-2018) a magnitude 3,5 earthquake took place in Bárðarbunga volcano. At the moment this is just a single earthquake with no aftershocks.


Earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga (green star). Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

It is possible that this is all the earthquake activity that is going to happen in Bárðarbunga volcano for the next few hours to days.

Donations

Please remember to support my work with donations. Thanks for the support. 🙂

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Earthquake swarm in south part of Katla volcano caldera

Today (9-August-2018) an earthquake activity increased in south part of Katla volcano caldera. It doesn’t appear that any earthquake in this swarm reached magnitude 2,0.


Earthquake activity in south part (towards the coastline) of the caldera of Katla volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

It is unclear why this earthquake activity is happening at the moment. There isn’t anything unusual on harmonic tremor plots at the moment and nothing suggesting that an eruption is going to happen any time soon.

Donations

Please remember to support my work with donations. The situation is that I am getting broke this month because I’ve been paying down several things in Denmark (after I moved from Denmark to Iceland). Thanks for the support. 🙂

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More earthquake activity in Katla volcano

Today (8-August-2018) at 21:39 UTC an earthquake with magnitude of 3,1 took place in Katla volcano. Second largest earthquake in this activity so far had a magnitude of 2,4. This earthquake activity appears to be ongoing and magnitudes and number of earthquakes is going to change.


Earthquake activity in Katla volcano. Green star is the magnitude 3,1 earthquake. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

There is no change in harmonic tremor at the moment and that for now rules out any movement of magma inside Katla volcano. This might be connected to glacier floods that are now coming from Mýrdalsjökull glacier.

Donations

Please remember to support my work with donations. It helps me keep everything running. Thanks for the support. 🙂