Category: Monitoring

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The earthquake swarm in Hengill volcano

On the 4th of January 2017 a earthquake swarm took place in Hengill volcano. Largest earthquake had the magnitude of 3,7 and the second earthquake had the magnitude of 2,8. The largest earthquakes where felt in Reykjavík, Hveragerði and Selfoss towns (mostly). In total of 150 earthquakes took place in this earthquake swarm.


The earthquake swarm in Hengill volcano from 4th of January 2017. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

This earthquake swarm was due to a process called rifting, this means that where the earthquake swarm is happening the ground is dropping and cracking at the same time. This over time forms a rift valley (like Þingvellir). The area from Hveravellir and south into the ocean of the Reykjanes ridge is all just one big rift valley. Far as I know a period of high earthquake activity can happen in this area, last time this happened sometimes around the middle of 19th century with possible activity sometimes in the 20th (early) century. Since then it has been mostly quiet.

In the year 1789 (source in Icelandic, 1973) the area around Þingvallavatn lake dropped around 63 cm (that estimate is not accurate and it is estimated that it was far more) in a earthquake swarm. When this is going to happen next time is impossible to know.

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Earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano

In 2016 Bárðarbunga volcano kept busy all year with inflating and preparing for the next eruption.

On 31-December-2016 a swarm of earthquake happened in Bárðarbunga volcano, largest earthquake in that swarm had the magnitude of 3,6 and the second largest earthquake had the magnitude of 3,3. On 02-January-2017 few earthquake happened, the largest one having the magnitude of 2,8.


The earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

At the moment, the Bárðarbunga volcano continues to inflate at what seems to be a rather fast rate. When that might lead to an eruption is difficult to know. Other more complex factors are also at work here that I don’t know to well and are impossible to figure out.

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Earthquake activity in Katla caldera

On Monday 26-December-2016 (second day of Christmas) a magnitude 3,3 earthquake happened in Katla volcano. This was the largest earthquake that day. Following this earthquake a few dozen smaller earthquakes have been taking place, the last ones in the past few hours on 27-December-2016. The largest of those earthquakes had a magnitude of 1,6.


The earthquake activity in Katla volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

There has been some fluctuation in the conductivity of Múlakvísl for the last few days. Not all of it might be due to magma related matter getting into the glacier river (at least not new material). The bad weather is moving old volcano ash and sand and some of it is falling into the nearby glacier rivers and increasing conductivity. Along with old material melting off the glacier in the sudden heat that has been going on in Iceland for the past few hours.

Storm warning

Please be aware that if you are in Iceland that a storm is about to hit Iceland and it appears to be rather bad. It is going to start to get colder in the next few hours and start to snow again after the sudden heatwave that happened in Iceland for the last 24 hours. This means closed roads, impassible roads, heavy snow falling down and other problems that come with this type of weather. This storm is not expected to end until 29-December and then a new storm might happen. Good weather is not expected until 30-December-2016 or 31-December.

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Minor earthquake swarm in Bárðarbunga volcano

This morning a earthquake swarm started in Bárðarbunga volcano. This earthquake swarm started at 03:31 UTC and lasted until 03:35 UTC when a small break happened, the earthquake swarm resumed at 09:35 UTC with two earthquakes. Those two earthquakes had the magnitude of 3,0 and 3,1.


The earthquake swarm in Bárðarbunga volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

On Monday (19-December-2016) a swarm of deep earthquake took place in Bárðarbunga volcano. Suggesting that new magma got injected into the volcano from deep within the mantle (~100 – 200 km depth). This type of pattern has appeared before and it can be expected to happen again.

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Earthquake activity close to Grenivík (TFZ/Dalvík Fault-line area)

At 09:41 UTC on 19-December-2016 a small earthquake swarm started on the Dalvík fault-line, that fault-line is part of TFZ (Tjörnes Fracture Zone area). The largest earthquake was felt over a wide area, including Akureyri and other nearby towns. Largest earthquake in this swarm had the magnitude of 3,5 and the second largest earthquake had the magnitude of 1,6. The largest earthquake depth was 12,3 km.


The green star show the active area. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

When this text is written it seem that the earthquake activity has dropped down, just one earthquake has happened since the activity stopped at 09:49 UTC. Current level of activity is low and that might remain like that.

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Short earthquake swarm in Katla volcano

On 17-December-2016 a small earthquake swarm took place in Katla volcano. Only few earthquakes took place and the largest had the magnitude of 3,3 and the second largest earthquake had the magnitude of 2,1. Other earthquakes where smaller in magnitude.


The green star shows the magnitude 3,3 earthquake in Katla volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

This earthquake swarm only lasted for ~30 minutes. It was also slightly south-west of 15-December earthquake swarm, this is the most activity I have seen in Katla volcano in December since I started watching the volcano in 2001 (around that year). All that can be done for the moment is to continue to watch the activity in Katla volcano. Since it’s not possible to know when a eruption is going to take place.

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Please remember to support my work with donations. As I explained in the article on the 16-December I bought a new laptop so that I can work while I’m travelling. I was unable to get a loan for it in Iceland (and Denmark) so I bought it outright without having a good plan on how to pay it fully (working on that problem with a help from my bank). Thanks for the support. 🙂

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Earthquake swarm in Katla volcano

Today (15-December-2016) a minor earthquake swarm took place in Katla volcano. Largest earthquake in this swarm had the magnitude of 2,0. Other earthquakes where smaller in magnitude. Due to bad weather in Iceland at the moment the sensitivity of the SIL network is less than on a quiet wind day.


The earthquake swarm in Katla volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

This earthquake started around 12 hours after the magnitude 3,4 earthquake that took place in Katla volcano yesterday. It is difficult to know for sure if those events are connected, that might be, but without some study into this swarm its a question that I don’t have an answer to. This earthquake swarm is located almost directly in Austmannsbunga in Katla volcano caldera (SIL station with the same name is close to this location). This earthquake swarm was not strong in magnitude of earthquakes, but it was considerable in number of earthquakes that happened in Katla volcano today.

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Please remember to support my work with donations and deal with the issue of buying new laptop so I can work while I’m on the move. Details can be found in yesterday article here. Thanks for the support. 🙂

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Magnitude 3,4 earthquake in Katla volcano

Today (14-December-2016) at 14:31 UTC a magnitude 3,4 earthquake took place in Katla volcano. No other earthquakes took place following this earthquake.


The earthquake in Katla volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

This is just a single earthquake, it is difficult to know why it happened without any other activity also taking place. Far as I know, not much has actually changed since Katla volcano begin to warm up for an eruption in August (this is my view only). This is even if the earthquake activity has slowed down in last few weeks, since that can happen sometimes in a volcano (why that happens is not known far as I know).

Donations

Few weeks ago I got a hardware donation (as always, I’m thankful for the support), a laptop from 2009 that was in used condition. Unfortunately that laptop had faults that made it unusable for me, faults that I’m sure previous owners did not know of, but made it such that I was unable to use it when I travel. So I have now bought a new laptop at the price of 748,83€ (89.950,00 ISK). The problem is that my attempt to get a loan failed, since I’m living in Denmark (new system based on new laws targeted at payday loan companies that appeared in Iceland after the recession in 2008) and the new system does not allow for a loan payments (besides bank) for Icelanders living outside Iceland. My business bank in Iceland helped me buying the computer, since without the computer I cannot work (writing about volcanoes in Iceland and other things). The main problem starts in January-2017 on how to pay for the computer (and buy food and pay all the bills at the same time, I’m working on a solution in the case I can’t pay it all at once [current chance of that is 98%]). If people want to help me with this hardware buying they can do so with donation, since I plan to let as much of donation as I can go up to this payment (debt) until it is paid down. Thanks for the support. 🙂

Note: Currently I’m having money issue (since 2012 actually due to interactions of many issues and problems), since hardware has been failing due to old age in the last few weeks and months. There is not much I can do about but to respond to it best to my abilities and those abilities are limited at the moment. I have a plan to resolve this debt issue by 2018 (majority of it) and the rest in 2019 and 2020 if needed.

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Strong earthquake swarm in Bárðarbunga volcano

During the night of 12-December-2016 a earthquake swarm took place in Bárðarbunga volcano. This earthquake activity happens because the volcano is inflating currently after period of deflation during the eruption from August-2014 to Februar-2015. As before, most of earthquake activity happens in the north-east part of the caldera. Why that is the case is not known to me at the moment.


The earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

The earthquake swarm lasted for about ~1 hour this time around. Slower and smaller earthquake swarm has been going on for the past ~10 days in Bárðarbunga volcano. I call those “slow earthquake swarm” [not a scientific term], they are more difficult to detect, but they often happen (but I have not yet seen them mentioned in any science papers yet, so this is just my personal view). Largest magnitudes in this earthquake swarm where 3,9 (04:10), 3,8 (04:24), 4,2 (04:29). Other earthquakes where smaller in this swarm.

This earthquake activity is due to the fact that magma is flowing into Bárðarbunga volcano magma chamber at depth (~10 km) and inflating the volcano after it collapsed during the eruption 2014 – 2015. This inflation is faster then anyone expected I suspect, since after the eruption ended in February-2015 it was expected that Bárðarbunga volcano would be quiet for a long time after such large eruption. That has not happened, even if no new eruption has happened so far.

It is not possible to know when next eruption happens or where it is going to happen. Deep earthquakes have been happening under Trölladyngja, suggesting magma movements under that area. Last two eruptions in Trölladyngja took place in the year 5000 BCE and 7100 BCE (GVP information), that means eruption can happen again in this shield volcano (inside Bárðarbunga volcano fissure swarm). There are many other locations that eruptions can happened, at the moment it is expected that possible next eruptions continue to happen north east of Bárðarbunga volcano, close to Holuhraun lava field or in that direction. It is good to remember that if the magma cannot go to the sides, its either going to stay in its place or if the pressure is high enough, it is going to go straight up along the caldera fault line. Hydrothermal activity on the rims of Bárðarbunga volcano caldera suggests that this has already happened and magma now sits at ~1 km depth already. It just didn’t erupt during the last eruption sequence in 2014 – 2015 (it at least has not yet been confirmed).

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Overview of the earthquake activity in Iceland of the last few days

Over the past few days it has been quiet in Iceland. There hasn’t been overall lot happening. Biggest earthquake activity that is currently taking place is happening around 340 km north of Kolbeinsey Island (it’s a tiny Island, with nothing on it, not even birds make use of it).


The earthquake activity north of Kolbeinsey Island. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Largest earthquake have had the magnitude around 3,3.

Bárðarbunga volcano

Currently there isn’t much happening earthquake wise in Bárðarbunga volcano. Current earthquake activity has however exposed the ring fault in the caldera, suggesting that its moving upward at decent speed (few mm/month). This also means that Bárðarbunga volcano is inflating as is.


The earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Deep earthquake activity is also around Trölladyngja (shield volcano). This deep earthquake under Trölladyngja is unusual and that is my view eruption might happen there soon. It is impossible to know when such a event happens.

Katla volcano

Earthquake activity in Katla volcano has been quiet. It is normal that earthquake activity drops in Katla volcano this time of the year. I’m expecting quiet few weeks in Katla volcano.


There is little earthquake activity in Katla volcano at the moment. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Hekla volcano

Two earthquakes appeared in Hekla volcano on 8-December-2016. No other activity happened after that.

Reykjanes ridge

A minor earthquake swarm took place on the Reykjanes ridge on 8-December-2016. Largest earthquake in this swarm had the magnitude of 2,9.


Earthquake activity on the Reykjanes ridge. The earthquake swarm is where the blue dots are. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

I think this is most of the earthquake activity that has happened in and around Iceland during the last few days. Due to software problems on my server and on my desktop computer I was unable to write an update about what was happening in earthquake activity for the past few days.

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