Today (22. April 2024) at 04:53 UTC an earthquake swarm started in Reykjanes volcano. This was not a strong or a large earthquake swarm. Largest earthquake only having a magnitude of Mw3,1. All other earthquakes where smaller in magnitude.
Earthquake activity on the Reykjanes ridge and in Reykjanes volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
This earthquake activity suggest a magma movement. It is however too little to start an eruption at the writing of this article. That can change without warning. Since the condition that the Reykjanes volcano is in is unclear, since its in part under the ocean and that makes monitoring it properly difficult and impossible in some areas.
I am sorry how late I am with this article. I was busy yesterday (13. April 2024) and I was unable to write this article at that time.
Yesterday (13. April 2024) at 10:02 UTC an earthquake with a magnitude of Mw3,3 took place just south of Kleifarvatn lake in Krýsuvík volcano. This earthquake swarm seems to have happened on a fault that is mostly known for earthquakes that are connected to tectonic movements in the area. This is not a fault that is connected to volcano related activity, as those are more in south-west and north-east direction. Faults that are connected to crust movement in this area have the direction north-south as seems to be the case this time. It complicates matter that magma movement deep in the crust can result in earthquakes happening on both type of faults. As I suspect what happened here.
Earthquake activity in Krýsuvík volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
Krýsuvík volcano is not ready to start an eruption, best I can see. It is also missing a lot more earthquake activity before an eruption starts. But the signs that it is moving in that direction have started to appear. How long the wait is going to be when a eruption starts is impossible to know.
Today (25. March 2024) starting at 08:06 UTC and ending around 11:00 UTC an earthquake swarm started in Askja volcano. The largest earthquake in this swarm had a magnitude of Mw3,5. The area is remote and this earthquake was not felt.
Green star in Askja volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
This earthquake activity suggests that this was a dyke intrusion. Eruption is unlikely at the moment in Askja volcano. This activity might be the first indicators that Askja volcano has started to prepare for an eruption in the future. When is impossible to know.
Yesterday (02. March 2024) at 15:57 UTC an earthquake swarm started in Sundhnúkagígar, all earthquakes where small in magnitude and around 150 where recorded. This earthquake swarm was as sign of a dyke intrusion that was starting into Sundhnúkagígar. It did not result in a eruption, but might be a sign of where next eruption is going to happen, when it happens. The dyke intrusion ended around 17:57 UTC.
This is a bit early, but it seems that this dyke intrusion moved or changed the rift valley it happened in. This rift valley was created in the dyke intrusion on 10. November 2023 (Icelandic Met Office has a image of it here). It might also have moved the rift valley that was created on 14. January 2024 (image of that rift valley can be found here, its marked with a blue colour). This rift valley situation is making the geology in this area extremely complex and volatile. Since the crust, the top layer is extremely fractured in areas of the rift valley and that makes it easy for the magma to find a path to the surface.
It is impossible to know when next eruption is going to happen. But it is my own estimated that next eruption might happen between 3. March to 5. March. I might be wrong on this, that’s always an possibility.
Today (26. February 2024) at 18:27 UTC an earthquake with magnitude of Mw3,4 took place in Krýsuvík volcano. This earthquake was felt, but I don’t know over how wide area.
Earthquake activity in Krýsuvík volcano, shown as green star. Copyright of of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
This earthquake activity might be connected to the inflation that is happening in Svartsengi volcano, as it changes the stress values in the crust over a large area. More earthquake activity is possible in this area.
This is a short update on the eruption at Sundhnúkagígar.
Four hour GPS data shows that inflation has already started in Svartsengi volcano, that is currently erupting. This inflation seems to have started soon as the eruption started to get lower around 13:00 UTC.
The lava flow damaged the hot water pipe from Svartsengi power plant and now around 26.000 people on the Reykjanes peninsula are without hot water. There is also some damage to the power infrastructure, but that is minimal and that power has been restored on the power lines that are next to the lava flow. The situation on the cold water is unclear, but it was at risk of damage.
This eruption was larger compared to the eruptions on 18. December 2023 and on 14. January 2024.
Small ash cloud formed today and the reason for that, according to experts in the news. Was that the eruption in part of the fissured ended so suddenly with a pressure drop that the fissure walls collapsed, allow ground to get in touch with lava and then ground water started to flow on the lava. Resulting in two clouds, one dark and a steam cloud. This was large for an about hour or two. Steam cloud was ongoing at writing of this article, but darkness prevents me from seeing if this has stopped. It is likely though.
The eruption is ongoing in two to three craters at the writing of this article.
It is expected, based on current rate of how much the eruption is slowing down that it is going to end tomorrow, 9. February or on 10. February.
Next eruption is going to be in March around 6th to 18th March if current pattern holds for Svartsengi volcano. There’s nothing to rule out that a new eruption might happen sooner. It is impossible to know what happens next in Svartsengi volcano eruptions.
If anything more happens. I’ll post update soon as I can.
This morning (08. February 2024) at 06:02 UTC an eruption started close to Sundhnúkagígar, close to the area where the eruption started on 18. December 2023. The eruption fissure is at the writing of this around 3 km long, but the fissure is getting longer, based on views from web cameras.
This eruption is at favourable location. Since its far way at the moment from all buildings and infrastructure. That might change if the fissure stretches more to the south. This eruption started really quickly, according to Rúv, from the start of the earthquake swarm until the eruption started the time was only about 30 minutes. The time this took on 18. December 2023 was 60 minutes.
The eruption at Rúv webcamera from YouTube. Copyright of this image belongs to Rúv ohf.Earthquake activity along the fault valley and the dyke. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.The earthquake activity over the last 48 hours. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
I’ll post more information later today when it is clear how this eruption is progressing.
I am sorry that I am late on this. I’ve been working on my new server computer and its taken longer then expected.
The eruption has ended and it only lasted about 41 hours. The lava did burn down three houses and cause damage to road, cold water lines, hot water lines and electric lines into Grindavík town. A new rift valley formed east of the rift valley that formed on 10. November 2023. This has resulted in that Grindavík town is now an extreme danger area because of cracks in the ground that are up to 40 meters deep until a ground water level is reached. GPS data is a mess because all this been moving the crust up and down, depending if the area is either east or west of the rift valleys that have formed. It takes few days to see how fast the inflation is now in this area. The magma that erupted now did come from a sill that is located in Skipastígahrauni and Eldvörpum area to the west of the eruption site. It doesn’t seems like the sill close to Svartsengi erupted this time, since no deflation was detected there during this eruption.
The maximum amount of time until next eruption is around 30 days, with error of eight days at maximum. This might be shorter, because it seems that inflation speed is increasing. There’s lot of uncertainty in this because how the crust is now around Grindavík town.
Map of the rift valleys that have formed in the activity on 10. November 2023 and 14. January 2024. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
The eruptions are moving south along this area and that’s bad news, because that places the next eruption in middle of Grindavík town, once it happens in around 30 days. As is, the town of Grindavík can’t be lived in because of dangers from the faults and cracks in the ground. There has also been a major damage to infrastructure inside Grindavík already and added to the already damaged houses, roads and more.
This is a short update about ongoing eruption that can change without warning and information here can go out of date quickly.
Eruption started close to Hagafell mountain at 07:58 UTC on 14. January 2024. Two fissures opened up.
The largest fissure was at its maximum length around 900 meters. The second smaller fissure is around 100 to 200 meters long.
The second fissure is almost inside Grindavík town and has lava flowing into the town.
Lava flow has destroyed two to three houses at the writing of this article.
In the last few hours, the harmonic tremor has dropped. This suggest that the strength of the eruption is getting lower.
There’s no power, cold water or hot water in Grindavík town. Lava has destroyed the cold water, hot water and power lines that go into Grindavík town. Repairs are going to take months if Grindavík town is found save to live in after few months.
New fissures and displacement happened during the dyke intrusion phase of this eruption. Some areas of Grindavík town moved up to two meters in either direction according to Icelandic Met Office. At this time, accurate measurements have not been done because how unsafe the area is.
The eruption is happening alongside the rift valley and not in it. I am not sure why that is.
This is all I have for now. Next update should be on 16. January unless something major happens in this eruption.
Rúv has web cameras on their YouTube channel and same does mbl.is and Vísir news website.
This is a short article. I’ll post new article later today or tomorrow when I’ve gotten some sleep.
Eruption started at 07:58 UTC on 14. January 2024 in Sundhnúkagígar area, the eruption fissure around 1 to 2 km north of Grindavík town. This eruption was proceeded with a large earthquake swarm along the dyke that was created and is now erupting.
New cracks formed in Grindavík town, resulting in more damage. That’s all the information I have at the moment. The edge of the lava is at the writing of this article around 400 meters north of closest houses in Grindavík town.
Next update is going to be later today hopefully. I’ve been working on new server computer and been awake for too long at the writing of this article.
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