Category: Swarm

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The volcano Reykjanes (Þorbjörn) information and history

The current inflation that is now happening on the Reykjanes peninsula below the tuff mountain called Þorbjörn is in a volcano system called Reykjanes in the Global Volcanism Program. Last eruption is registered having taken place in Mars 1831 at Eldeyjarboði but given the location and distance on the Reykjanes ridge that area possibly is part of a different volcano system and is not connected to the Reykjanes volcano system that now has become active. Part of this volcano is below sea level. Maps of this area can be found here and here (image). Last eruption in this system was maybe in the year 1583. There is a possibility that the eruption in the year 1583 belongs to a different volcano system that is completely under the ocean. Last confirmed eruption in this system was in the year 1240 (780 years). More information on the volcano can also be found here.

The volcano that is now active doesn’t have any special name so for clarity I am just going to call it Þorbjörn. This volcano is rather large and erupts in the form of fissure vents. Þorbjörn is inside a fissure zone of the volcano called Reykjanes and that volcano might be the main volcano in this system and it can happen that both volcanoes can erupt at the same time. I don’t know if that is going to happen this time around but there has been a earthquake activity in the main volcano called Reykjanes and part of it is below ocean and eruption that would result in ash cloud with limited distribution. This earthquake activity suggests that both volcanoes are now getting active. The volcano called Reykjanes is less dangerous because its out in the ocean and not close to any populated area. Þorbjörn is close to populated area and important infrastructure on the Reykjanes peninsula.

I have written about this area earthquake activity in last few weeks here (28-July-2017), here (15-December-2019), here (17-December-2019), here (19-December-2019), here (20-December-2019), here (22-January-2020). I do think this is all of the earthquake activity in this area since July 2017 until January 2020.


Current activity in Þorbjörn and nearby area. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

I am going to continue to monitor this situation and continue to update as best I can. Since I am currently moving back to Iceland delays may happen in the days when I move (middle of February) back to Iceland.

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Uncertainty level declared because of magma intrusion in mountain named Þorbjörn on Reykjanes peninsula

Icelandic Met Office has declared uncertainty level because of inflation in the mountain called Þorbjörn (no Global Volcanism Profile) that started on 21st of January 2020. This inflation has been followed by earthquake swarm activity that is ongoing at the writing of this article. The inflation has been 2cm today (26-January-2020) and the estimated volume of magma is 0,001 km3 and that is possibly too small to erupt at the moment. The inflation is 3mm to 4mm a day at the writing of this article. This active area is just north of the village of Grindavík.


The active area (red dots). Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

I’ll update this as best I can but I am currently in the progress of moving back to Iceland. But I don’t expect anything major to happen just yet. At least I hope that is what is going to happen. I plan on having my geophone network back by early March when I can fix the rollover problem the GPS clocks I am using are having.

Icelandic Met Office article in Icelandic

Möguleg kvikusöfnun undir svæðinu við fjallið Þorbjörn á Reykjanesi (vedur.is, Images)

English article by Icelandic Met Office

Possible magma accumulation beneath Mt. Thorbjorn on Reykjanes peninsula

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Magnitude Mw3,3 earthquake on the Reykjanes ridge

Today (24-January-2020) at 05:04 UTC an earthquake took place on the Reykjanes ridge. This earthquake had a magnitude of Mw3,3. This earthquake is as far away as the SIL network can detected earthquake activity in any good way and that might explain why there has not been any record of other earthquakes in this area.


The green star on the far left is the Mw3,3 earthquake. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

There has been a lot of earthquake activity on the Reykjanes ridge in January 2020. I don’t know if that trend is going to continue or not.

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Earthquake swarm east of Grindavík village

Today (22-January-2020) an earthquake swarm started east of Grindavík village on the Reykjanes peninsula. Largest earthquakes in this swarm had a magnitude of Mw3,7 and the second largest earthquake had a magnitude of Mw3,6. The third largest earthquake had a magnitude of Mw3,2. All earthquakes were felt but the largest earthquakes were felt of a wide area.


Earthquake activity east of Grindavík village on the Reykjanes peninsula. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

This earthquake swarm appears to be over at the time of writing but it might continue without a warning in this area or nearby area.

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Removal of advertisements

I have removed all the advertisements here. I do this because the income from them was and always has been almost nothing and I no longer want to bother with them. It is going to take few dasy to remove the advertisements from all my websites.

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Earthquake swarm on the Reykjanes ridge close to Eldeyjarboða islands [updated]

Today (18-January-2020) at 12:38 UTC an earthquake swarm took place on the Reykjanes ridge close to Eldeyjarboða island. Largest earthquake in this swarm had a magnitude of Mw4,0 according to Icelandic Met Office. Both USGS and EMSC are reporting this earthquake as a mb4,5 in automatic detection. Second largest earthquake had a magnitude of Mw3,8.


Earthquake swarm on the Reykjanes ridge not far from Eldeyjarboða island. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Other earthquakes have been smaller in magnitude. This earthquake swarm appears to be over but it is possible that this is just a limited stop in earthquake activity before it starts again. That is a common feature of earthquake swarms in this area. Earthquake can reach magnitude of Mw5,5 in this area of Reykjanes ridge.

Update on 19-January-2020

Icelandic Met Office updated the earthquake magnitudes yesterday and it now shows two Mw4,5 earthquakes taken place at 14:07 UTC and 14:17 UTC and one Mw4,0 earthquake having taken place at 15:52 UTC.


Updated earthquake map of the earthquake swarm on the Reykjanes ridge on 18-January-2020. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

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Earthquake swarm close to Hveragerði (South Icelandic Seismic Zone)

Today (10-Januar-2020) at 13:10 UTC a earthquake with the magnitude of Mw3,9 took place just 4,9 km outside of Hveragerði town in south Iceland. This earthquake was felt over a wide area. Several small aftershocks have taken place following the first earthquake.


The earthquake activity in SISZ just 4,9 east of Hveragerði town. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

It is unclear if this earthquake is a foreshock or just normal earthquake for this area. Its been 12 years since two Mw6,3 earthquakes (May 2008) took place in SISZ and the shortest time between earthquakes of this size on SISZ is around 10 to 13 years.

Currently my geophones are offline due to technical issues that I am going to fix in March after I have moved back to Iceland.

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Earthquake swarm on Reykjanes ridge (Geirfuglasker area)

Today (5-Januar-2020) an earthquake swarm took place on Reykjanes ridge. Largest earthquake had a magnitude of Mw3,2 at 09:40 UTC and the second largest earthquake had a magnitude of Mw3,1 at 11:19 UTC. Others earthquakes were smaller in magnitude but all of them were stronger than Mw2,0 in magnitude. It is difficult to know for sure if there is going to be a earthquake swarm in this area but the chances are good that is going to happen. It might take few days to weeks until it happens.


The earthquake swarm on the Reykjanes ridge (Geirfuglasker area). Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

At the writing of this article there is no earthquake activity in this area. That might chance without warning.

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Magnitude Mw4,8 earthquake in Bárðarbunga volcano

I hope everyone had good Christmas and good new year 2020.

Today (05-January-2020) at 04:32 UTC an earthquake with magnitude Mw4,8 took place in Bárðarbunga volcano. Second earthquake with a magnitude of Mw4,0 took place at 04:56 UTC. Other earthquakes that took place were smaller in magnitude. This are among the strongest earthquakes in Bárðarbunga volcano since the end of the eruption in Holuhraun in 2015.


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

This earthquake activity was at the same location as most of this earthquakes happen in Bárðarbunga volcano. At the north-east part of the Bárðarbunga volcano top caldera. This is also close to the locations were the hydrothermal activity at this location has melted though the glacier.

I was unable to record this earthquake because of GPS time rollover error in my GPS clocks that I use and it affects the software I use and time stamps on the recorded events. I need to do a software update on the GPS clocks before I can use them again. I am going to do that in late February or early March. I need to update every GPS clock that I own.

Moving back to Iceland

It has turned out that my income gap is because I am living in Denmark and there’s nothing I can do about it (lowering costs didn’t work as I hoped). Because of this I am moving back to Iceland permanently. I am going to stay in Europe (Germany?) for time to time but I am going to be permanently living in Iceland because of this.

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Please remember to support my work. Donations help me run this website and to do my work. I am also broke because of the cost of buying a airline ticket to Iceland this month. Thanks for the support. 🙂

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Update two of the earthquake swarm on Reykjanes peninsula, east of Fagradalsfjall mountain

Today (19-December-2019) at 11:20 UTC a earthquake with magnitude of Mw3,5 took place east of Fagradalsfjall mountain. This earthquake was felt in Reykjavík and nearby area. This earthquake was a continuation of the earthquake swarm that started on 15th December 2019 in this area. The activity has dropped from what was before but it is still ongoing mostly.


Earthquake activity on Reykjanes peninsula. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

There are no other updates about this activity so far. I have been waiting today to see if anything more would be happening and it has not. It might happen later if anything happens at all.

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Moving back to Iceland

Living in Denmark just isn’t working for me as I hoped and that is just how it is. That is why I am moving back to Iceland. It is either going to be in February or March depending on factors that I am looking into now (best price for moving my belongings to Iceland). I am not sure yet how I pay for this move since it is going to cost me around 1.091€ to 1.309€. I hope nothing higher than this amount. After this I won’t be moving away from Iceland. I am just going to stay there.

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Update on the earthquake swarm on Reykjanes peninsula

I am sorry for this late update.

The earthquake swarm east of Fagradalsfjalla mountain increased again yesterday (16-December-2019). According to a notice on the Icelandic Met Office over 1200 earthquakes have been recorded in this earthquake swarm. Total of 10 earthquakes had a magnitude of Mw3,0 or larger. The largest earthquake had a magnitude of Mw3,7.


The earthquake swarm on the Reykjanes peninsula. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

This earthquake swarm again seems to be over but it might start again without warning. This earthquake swarm remains tectonic in nature.

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Please remember to support my work. I am really broke this month and I don’t think I am seeing any improvement in this until February 2020. Thanks for the support. 🙂