Katla / Mýrdalsjökull – Page 13

July 7, 2014

Update at 21:27 UTC on earthquake activity in Katla volcano

This is a short update on what is now taking place in Katla volcano. This information might go outdated quickly after it is being written.

Currently the earthquake activity in Katla volcano is increasing. However there are no signs of imminent eruption as is. However that might change without notice under my current estimate. It is impossible to know if this activity in Katla volcano is going to continue to increase or slow down again. It is my estimate that activity in Katla volcano is going to continue to increase (based on past experience) before it quiets down again. That might not result in a eruption, since this type of activity does not mean that an eruption is going to take place. This activity in Katla volcano has increased that risk at current time and until this earthquake activity stops or gets to lower levels, that risk is going to remain higher then normal. As things stand now there are no signs of that an eruption is going to take place in Katla volcano.

The earthquake activity in Katla volcano during the past 48 hours. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

During the minor eruption in Katla volcano in July-2011 (I wrote about it here and here) a minor earthquake swarm like this was also detected in Katla volcano. Back then as now it did start about one month earlier before the minor eruption took place. That activity took place in different part of the caldera then the activity that is now taking place. Today the activity in Katla volcano is the area that might have erupted during the 1918 eruption in Katla volcano (I think).

The magnitude 3,0 earthquake in Katla volcano yesterday. This image is under Creative Commons licence. Please see CC Licence page for more details.

This earthquake clearly shows the sign of magma under pressure creating a earthquake. This is a possibly a tornillo event. Since it is a low frequency, monochromatic and with long tale in it’s end. I don’t know what is going to happen next in Katla volcano, if anything happens at all other then just this earthquake activity. More water has been reported in Múlakvísl along with higher conductivity taking place, that however might just be rain water in the area since it has been experiencing heavy rain for the past few days. I am going to continue to watch the activity in Katla volcano.

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July 3, 2014July 4, 2014

Ongoing earthquake activity in Katla volcano

There is currently an ongoing earthquake activity in Katla volcano. So far this earthquake activity has been small in terms of magnitude, with the largest earthquake only having the magnitude of 2,7.

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

Updated image of the activity in Katla volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

The earthquakes that I have recorded so far are low period earthquake. Suggesting that they are being created due to magma or hydrothermal change inside the volcano. So far nothing suggests that an eruption is imminent. But I find this activity in Katla volcano suspicious and something that needs to watch, since I think this might be a risky situation and it might change on short notice.

Hekla volcano

A magnitude 2,3 earthquake with the depth of 9,9 km took place in Hekla volcano system on 02-July-2014 at 23:48:57 UTC. No other activity took place following this earthquake. It is not clear why this earthquake activity is taking place in Hekla volcano.

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Article updated at 22:05 UTC.

June 30, 2014June 30, 2014

Earthquake in Hekla volcano, continued activity in Katla volcano

Today (30-June-2014) at 03:52 UTC a magnitude 1,0 earthquake took place in Hekla volcano. This earthquake had the depth of 0,1 km and that means it a an surface earthquake due to crust movement. No other activity has been detected in Hekla volcano following this earthquake.

Earthquake activity in Hekla volcano and Katla volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

Earthquake activity has continued in Katla volcano (see picture above). The main area of activity is close to an place in Mýrdalsjökull (Katla) that is called Hábunga. The largest earthquake in the past 24 hours is a magnitude 1,6 and it has the depth of 0,2 km. Deeper earthquake continue to happen, the deepest earthquake in the past 24 hours has the depth of 20,6 km. Shallower earthquakes have also taken place in the same area. So far nothing suggest that eruption is going to happen any time soon in Katla volcano. It is however important to monitor this activity in Katla volcano since it might be leading up to something, this activity also might not lead to nothing at all. There is no way to know currently what is going to happen in Katla volcano.

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June 27, 2014June 27, 2014

Deep earthquakes in Katla volcano

Today (27-June-2014) deep earthquakes where recorded in Katla volcano, the earthquakes had the magnitude of 0,8 and up to 1,5 with the depth from 23,7 km and down to 25,7 km.

The earthquakes in Katla volcano. The deep earthquakes are the ones the have the colour orange and inside Katla volcano caldera. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

Earthquakes that are taking place at this depth happen due to magma movement and possibly dike intrusion of magma at depth. This does not mean that Katla volcano is about to erupt, it however clearly shows that something is happening inside Katla volcano system. Far as I know no surface changes have been spotted due to this activity, it remains unclear of that is going to change since what happens before a large eruption in Katla volcano is currently not well known or understood.

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Post updated at 19:12 UTC.

June 18, 2014June 18, 2014

Magnitude 3,2 earthquake in Katla volcano

Today (18-June-2014) at 10:20 UTC a magnitude 3,2 earthquake took place in Katla volcano caldera. A swarm of smaller earthquakes did happen after the main event. Depth of the main earthquake was 2,5 km.

The magnitude 3,1 earthquake in Katla volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

Following this earthquake few minor earthquakes appeared. None of them had a magnitude above 1,0. So far things remain quiet in Katla volcano and it is difficult to know for sure if this is something more than just summer earthquake activity in Katla volcano. I am at least going to keep an eye out for activity in Katla volcano.

The magnitude 3,1 earthquake as it did appear on my geophone in Heklubyggð. This image is under Creative Commons Licence. Please see CC Licence page for more details.

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Post updated at 14:45 UTC.

June 7, 2014

Deep earthquake swarm in Katla volcano

Yesterday (6-June-2014) there was an earthquake swarm of small earthquakes in Katla volcano. The depth of this earthquakes was from 24 to 28 km. None of this earthquakes had the magnitude above 2,0 and the strongest earthquake only had the magnitude of 1,5 in the caldera rim.

The earthquake activity in Katla volcano caldera. The earthquake swarm took place under the rim of the caldera. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

Today (7-June-2014) other anomaly activity has been showing up. Few earthquakes have been showing up 10 km north-east of the Vík í Mýrdal village. All of the earthquakes in question are small. There depth is from 18,4 and down to 29,2 km. The activity is inside the Katla volcano system it self, as it stretches out to this area. But this activity is taking place on the rim of the Katla volcano system as it is known today.

The earthquake activity 10 km north-east of Vík í Mýrdal village. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

Earthquake activity at this depth is not because of stress changes in the crust. This earthquake activity is most likely due to some changes in the magma inside Katla volcano. It probably does not mean anything in terms of risk of eruption at the moment, at least not while the activity remains on the low levels as it currently is. Given the experience from the minor eruption in July-2011, earthquake activity in Katla volcano needs to be considerably higher then it currently is. It is impossible to know if this deep earthquake activity signals any change in Katla volcano activity for coming months, it’s all just wait and see, same as before.

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March 21, 2014March 21, 2014

Two earthquakes in Hekla volcano. Deep earthquake in Katla volcano

Yesterday (20-March-2014) and today (21-March-2014) there were earthquakes in Hekla volcano. The earthquake yesterday had the magnitude of 1,2 and depth of 9,1 km. The earthquake today had the magnitude of 1,2 and the depth of 7,1 km.

The two earthquakes in Hekla volcano and the deep earthquake in Katla volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

This earthquake activity does not mean Hekla volcano is about to erupt. What this means is unclear at present time.

Katla volcano

Today there was also an deep earthquake in Katla volcano. This earthquake had the magnitude of 1,4 and the depth of 21,8 km. Earthquakes at this depth are due to some change in the magma at depth. This however does not mean Katla volcano is about to erupt. Far from it. Earthquake activity in Katla volcano is normal and possibly below normal activity, it is at least certainly not above winter earthquake activity at present time.

Monitoring

It is possible to monitor Hekla and Katla volcanoes here on IMO website.
I have my webicorder website here.
I have list of online web cameras here.
Live from Iceland web camera can be found here.

Icelandic news about this

Tveir jarðskjálftar við Heklu (mbl.is)

March 19, 2014March 19, 2014

Earthquake in Hekla volcano. Deep earthquake in Katla volcano

On the 17-March-2014 at 19:59 UTC an earthquake took place in Hekla volcano. This earthquake had the magnitude of 1,0 and the depth of 9,1 km. I did record it on my geophone just barley, it is possible to watch for activity in Hekla volcano here. This earthquake does not mean that Hekla volcano is about to erupt, but it is interesting anyway. What it means remains unclear at the present time.

The earthquake in Hekla volcano. It is marked with an blue dot. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

Katla volcano

Yesterday (18-March-2014) an deep earthquake (in the picture above, in the central caldera) took place in Katla volcano. The magnitude of this earthquake was 0,7 and this earthquake had the depth of 28,9 km. As was mentioned in comment yesterday. This earthquake in it self is no important from the looks of it. No special harmonic activity took place following this earthquake.

All quiet. Just wind and ocean waves. The spike on the 19-March-2014 is due to earthquake in Goðabunga part of Katla volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

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I did try to go advertisement free (for the second time) and it failed again. Since I need the extra income from this website and from my writing work to make a proper living. I want to be advertisement free, as I did explain here (I have updated this post now). Going advertisement free requires donations that I am simply not getting and it is an fact one cannot be without money. Without it it’s just hunger and pain. As it is not far from what I am currently experiencing (I got €0,49 in my bank account at current time or 3,61 DKK). The thing however is that I am well advised in not having any money so I prepare a little in terms of buying food but currently I am at my limit. I am not sure what the rest of this month (March) is going to be for me. This site might one day be advertisement free, that is however not going to happen until I can afford it. When that might be I have no idea.

The job question:

Many people wonders why I don’t have a job and many people expect that I have a job and don’t ask for donations. I have asperger’s syndrome [Second link here]. I have problem with working a normal job. It’s not that I am not physically able, because I am. But I have problem with communications and dealing with work social things. I have issues with normal social stuff on every day. I can and I have worked for a short period of time, but such things always drain me mentally and make things difficult for me in the long run. It would also prevent me from monitoring earthquakes and volcanoes as I do now. I am also writing more stories and I have already published one, even if I have not yet sold many copies so far.

Blog post updated at 20:45 UTC. Time of the earthquake corrected.
Blog post updated at 21:55 UTC.

February 17, 2014

Minor earthquake swarm in Katla volcano

Over the past two days minor earthquakes have been taking place in Katla volcano. This is just minor earthquake activity. None of the earthquakes so far have reached the magnitude 1,0 that I know of.

Earthquake activity in Katla volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

What is interesting about this earthquake activity is that it is taking place inside the caldera of Katla volcano and it is taking place in high winter. When earthquake activity is normally low. What this means is unknown as is and I do not think an eruption is imminent in Katla volcano. This activity is however something to keep an eye on. Since Katla volcano is known to have erupted as early in May. Last such eruption took place in the year 1721 and lasted until October that same year (+-45 days). It is not known if eruptions can take place earlier, I am not going to rule it out even if it is not documented in historical documents about past eruptions in Katla volcano.

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January 15, 2014January 15, 2014

Increased conductivity continues in Múlakvísl glacier river (Katla volcano)

Last week I wrote about increased conductivity in Múlakvísl glacier river that comes from Mýrdalsjökull glacier (Katla volcano). This trend has continued into second week with the conductivity. The conductivity in Múlakvísl is now on the range of ~327 to ~360 µS/cm. There has also been a slight increase in water levels following this change in Múlakvísl glacier river. Normal value for this time of year according to Icelandic Meteorological Office is ~180 µS/cm in Múlakvísl glacier river. Since 31-December-2013 the conductivity in Múlakvísl glacier river has always been over 220 µS/cm.

Conductivity in Múlakvísl glacier river. Top: conductivity. Middle: Harmonic tremor. Bottom: Windspeed. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

Animated image from Icelandic Meteorological Office showing changes in Múlakvísl glacier river during this time period. Original image can be found here. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

No harmonic tremors or earthquakes have been detected (besides normal activity) following this changes. What is taking place is that a cauldron in Mýrdalsjökull glacier is now leaking melt water that has been built up due to hydrothermal (hot springs) activity under the glacier. So far it does not appear that current changes in Múlakvísl glacier river mean anything at all. If that is going to change is impossible to know at this point.

Icelandic News about this

Rafleiðni há en enginn órói mælist (mbl.is)

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Post updated at 19:09 UTC on 15-January-2014.
Post updated at 20:49 UTC on 15-January-2014.

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