Category: Unconfirmed

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Unconfirmed report about ash cloud off the coast of Krýsuvík-Trölladyngja volcano (Krísuvíkurberg)

This is possible mistaken reporting. There have been reporting of ash clouds or steam clouds off the coast during the evening of 7-August-2021. This would be in the volcano system Krýsuvík-Trölladyngja.

The ash cloud or steam cloud would indicate an activity off the coastline or possible eruption activity in the ocean. Explosive events like that appear a lot more clearly as harmonic tremor on SIL stations and according to news reports nothing has been seen so far in the harmonic tremor data. There have been no earthquake activity in the area where the clouds are supposed to have been seen.

The coast guard has been sent to this area, as they where nearby anyway. I don’t know if anything has been reported so far. The weather is fine in south Iceland and I don’t think there is a lot of ocean waves, but as this is the Atlantic ocean there can be ocean waves even if there is no wind, since the ocean waves can arrive from parts of the ocean with bad weather thousands of kilometres away.

If anything new is reported I am going to update this article or write a new one.

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Possible eruption under the glacier might have started in Bárðarbunga volcano [Unconfirmed!]

This is a short notice. I think that eruption has started under the glacier in Bárðarbunga or maybe in the dyke area. I base this on the change in harmonic tremor that is now taking place. Please note that this has not yet been confirmed by Icelandic Met Office or by Rúv in Iceland at the moment. So this is unconfirmed reports from me at current time (01:13 UTC on 9-September-2014).

I am waiting more details on what is going on with the harmonic tremor.

Update: If this is an eruption then it is not a large one. The confirmation on if I am correct or not is going to take several hours. Unless a glacier flood starts soon. It is difficult to know at this time. The hard problem with volcanoes under the glacier is that nobody is sure what is going on under the glacier.

Update 2: The harmonic tremor is now dropping, or at least was doing so for a short period. Nothing has been confirmed so far if there was an eruption or not. I have seen the harmonic tremor on the following SIL stations starting 8/9.

Vonaskarð SIL station.
Grímsfjall SIL station.

If there was an eruption taking place. It was small one and its unlikely that it would have broken the glacier or started a major glacier flood.

Article updated at 02:14 UTC at 9-September-2014.
Article updated at 02:18 UTC at 9-September-2014.
Article updated at 11:15 UTC at 9-September-2014.

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Possible glacier flood from Grímsfjall/Grímsvötn glacier lake (Unconfirmed)

There seems to be a glacier flood did start this morning in Grímsfjall glacier lake. Based on the tremor, the glacier flood is already subsiding or something of that nature. So far this glacier flood has not yet been confirmed by monitoring scientists. So I am unsure what exactly what is going on. But current activity seems to have started around 13. June 2012, when the tremor changed from normal background noise to higher frequency noise. This can be seen on the SIL station from Grímsfjall volcano.


Grímsfjall SIL station tremor reading. The spike marks what seems to be a glacier quake taking place. Copyright of this image belongs to Iceland Meteorological Office.

This harmonic tremor started early this morning. But it can be up to 12 to 24 hours before the glacier flood is visible in the rivers that flow from Grímsfjall volcano.


The second SIL station that tremor appears on from Grímsfjall volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Iceland Meteorological Office.

Until there is official conformation what is exactly going on in Grímsfjall volcano. It is bit hard to know exactly what is going on there at the moment. But I hope that it is going to be cleared up in the next few hours or tomorrow. There are no signs that an eruption has started in Grímsfjall volcano at current time. It is impossible to know if that is going to change following this events that are taking place in Grímsfjall volcano.

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Special report: New eruption vent (or vents) might have opened up in El Hierro volcano eruption

The current tremor data now suggests that a new vent or vents have opened or are about to open up just outside north-west coast of El Hierro volcano. The depth where the main earthquakes have been taking place is about 100 to 300 meters (but might be more). So far the largest earthquakes to take place in this area was a ML3.9 with the depth of 22 km. What is important in this is not the fact that the earthquakes are at great depth. But also the fact that a more shallow might not take place. As that was not the case when the eruption started in El Hierro on 10 October, 2011. It is unlikely that there is going to be any shallow earthquake activity before a new eruption vents opens up. As that was not the case on the 10 October, 2011 from what I can remember.


Current harmonic tremor in El Hierro. So far there has not been much change in harmonic tremor as can be seen here. But that can change without warning. Copyright of this picture belongs to Instituto Geográfico Nacional.

I am not sure how strong earthquake this area can make. But I am guessing that it might well be in the upper Mb5.5+ range. The earthquakes that are now taking place are due to magma injection. Not a tectonic one. There is a difference between the two. But this rifting in El Hierro might trigger a earthquake close to El Hierro Island in near future, that earthquake would be a tectonic one. Not a earthquake created by magma movements.

So far the new vents are still unconfirmed. But there are signs in the harmonic tremor data that new eruption vents might be opening up or have already opened up. But at this moment I am waiting for a confirmation on this actually taking place. That is going to take a few hours, given the experience so far.

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Minor harmonic tremor in Katla volcano

There seems to have been minor harmonic tremor in Katla volcano this evening. This harmonic tremor seems to have started after a ML0.7 earthquake with the depth of ~3.7 km did happen inside the Katla volcano caldera. Last harmonic tremor spike did take place on the 24th of August according to the tremor plot on Icelandic Met Office web page.


Harmonic tremor mixed in with the earthquakes from Katla volcano on this tremor plot. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.


Here is the harmonic tremor that I see on the tremor plot. It is the second spike. But the first spike is actually a earthquakes that did happen earlier today. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.


This harmonic tremor can also be seen on this SIL station clearly. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

On other SIL stations around Katla volcano the signal is not so clear. But this is really a small event and unlikely a pre-eruption event. But it is hard to know it for sure, as Katla volcano has done this before and there was no eruption following this type of events. All that can be done now is to wait and see what happens next. It is also important to notice that Icelandic Met Office has not confirmed this harmonic tremor spike yet.

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Possible minor eruption in Hamarinn volcano yesterday. Update on Katla volcano

There appears to be more in this new hydrothermal activity in Hamarinn volcano then at first sight. It seems that this actually might have a eruption in Hamarinn volcano (Bárðarbunga volcano). If this event is confirmed, this is the first eruption in Hamarinn volcano since the year 1910.

This also mean that there is a chance of more activity in this area in coming weeks or months. But when it might happen is impossible to know.


The new cauldrons are marked with a “X” on this map. Copyright of this picture belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

This eruption was really small and did just last for few hours. But it was able to melt a lot of ice and create rather large glacier flood from Vatnajökull glacier. If the activity resumes in this area this is going to repeat it self in terms of glacier flood.

Icelandic News about this event.

Innskot af kviku (Rúv.is, Icelandic)
Eldgos gæti hafa brotist upp við Hamarinn (Vísir.is, Icelandic, Pictures)
Fundu nýjan sigketil (mbl.is, Icelandic, Pictures)

Sigketill við Lokahrygg (Icelandic Met Office, Icelandic, Pictures)

Update on Katla volcano

Here is a short update on Katla volcano. There have been repeated short burst of harmonic tremors taking place inside the Katla volcano caldera. This harmonic tremor spikes have been small and they are hard to see on the harmonic tremor graph that Icelandic Met Office has on-line. Other then this it has been quiet so far in Katla volcano.

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Sharp increase in harmonic tremors in Grímsfjall volcano

Something is happening at Grímsfjall volcano. The SIL seismomter on Grímsfjall volcano is shows a sharp increase in harmonic tremors in Grímsfjall volcano. It also appears that earthquake activity in increasing in Grímsfjall volcano.

I do believe (based on the data so far) that a eruption is about to start in Grímsfjall volcano. I am going to post more updates on this when I know more. But please note that I might be wrong. But this is what the data suggests so far.

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A small ash plume over Eyjafjallajökull volcano today ?

A few of my readers reported today in comments that they did see a small ash plume or something of that nature today over Eyjafjallajökull volcano. While I stress that this is still unconfirmed at this stage it might well have happened.

There are two options that might explain what did happen today. One is that a ash was moving due to wind in the area. But this happens quite a lot during the dry times in the winter and summer. The second option is that a older magma from the eruption earlier this year was on the move and made a small eruption that did go unnoticed on the seismometers around Eyjafjallajökull volcano. I do not know how long this event in Eyjafjallajökull volcano today is supposed to have lasted. But it appears to have been for several hours in the longest.

But other then this it appears that Eyjafjallajökull volcano is mostly quiet. But some deep earthquakes have started again in the past few weeks. But so far they have not been increasing in numbers so a new eruption is not expected at this time by me or the experts.