Volcano and earthquake activity in Iceland
At 22:41 UTC a magnitude 3,3 earthquake took place 6 km north of an area called Gjögurtá. This earthquake had a magnitude of 3,3 and was followed by several smaller earthquakes. Activity seems to be ongoing at the moment.
The earthquake 6 km north of Gjögurtá in Tjörnes Fracture Zone. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
Earthquake activity is common in this part of Iceland. There are no active volcanoes in this area and no known volcanism in this exact area.
The day after increase in earthquake activity in Öræfajökull volcano a second earthquake swarm started. This earthquake swarm was slightly bigger in magnitude than the earthquake swarm that happened yesterday (20-June-2018).
The earthquake swarm in Öræfajökull volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
Largest earthquake in this earthquake swarm had a magnitude of 2,6 and all other earthquakes were smaller in magnitude. The largest earthquake was felt on nearby farms.
Böðvarshólar geophone station
Due to a computer hardware (damaged motherboard) the Böðvarshólar geophone station is offline and is going to remain offline until I can afford upgrading it to a Raspberry Shake seismometer. At the moment I don’t know when that is going to happen but that is going to require a different hardware set-up and for the gif image to appear that requires me to have the main earthquake computer online. Currently that computer is offline due to lack of housing I am having in Iceland (that is going to resolve it self when I move to Denmark or Germany in next few months [I hope]).
Today (20-June-2018) a swarm of small earthquake happened in Öræfajökull volcano. Current earthquake activity is vastly different than what appeared during the months and weeks before the eruption in Eyjafjallajökull volcano. There was less earthquake activity happening in the months and weeks before an eruption eventually happened.
Earthquake activity in Öræfajökull volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
Largest earthquake in this swarm had a magnitude of 1,8 and all other earthquakes where smaller. Most around magnitude 0,5. Depth is 5 to 8 km at present time. In my view this earthquake activity suggests that Öræfajökull volcano is going to be a major problem in the future.
A magnitude 3,0 earthquake was felt in the village of Grindavík today (18-June-2018) at 10:24 UTC. This earthquake happened 4,3 km north of the village. There were few minor earthquakes that followed the main earthquake.
The earthquake north of Grindavík village. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
Earthquake activity is common in this area and nothing special about this earthquake activity.
Moving back to Denmark
I am moving back to Denmark because I can’t get a apartment in Iceland. This attempt in moving to back to Iceland was a massive mistake on my part and I only blame my self for it. I should be back in Denmark in about 9 to 10 months if everything goes according to plan (and I’ll make sure that it does so). That means from mid-January-2019 to mid-February-2019. Until then I’ll be running at limited capability in writing on this website. This is at least until November when I stop working (because there won’t be any more work to have). If anyone wants to help in moving back to Denmark, donations are welcomed. Thanks for the support. 🙂
Today (14-June-2018) a large earthquake swarm happened in Bárðarbunga volcano.
Largest earthquake had a magnitude of 4,9 (at 15:05 UTC) and this is the strongest earthquake since January. Other magnitudes where 4,1 (at 13:04 UTC), magnitude 3,3 (at 13:25 UTC), magnitude 3,1 (at 13:36 UTC), magnitude 3,5 (at 16:35 UTC). Other earthquakes were smaller in magnitude.
The earthquake swarm in Bárðarbunga volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
This earthquake swarm is the strongest since January-2019 (article here). The difference is that this earthquake swarm seems to be larger then the one in January. This earthquake activity is the result of a inflation happening in Bárðarbunga volcano. There was no harmonic tremor following this earthquake activity. I don’t know how much Bárðarbunga volcano has inflated since end of the eruption in February-2015. This type of earthquake activity (swarm with large earthquakes) should be expected few times a year for next few years.
Thank you note
I’ve been having a bad time in last few days. What I did think as a solution turned into a major problem. The result of this is that I am going to move back to Denmark soon as November (it might get delayed until mid-January to February) if I have all the money issues in order and enough to pay for transport of my belongings back to Denmark (that is expensive, but I am going to sell some stuff now to lessen the amount along with stuff I’ve never transported to Denmark). This instability spilled a bit into this website, Facebook and twitter (both sites). I’ve removed the articles in question with comments and everything since I felt it was not right to keep the articles online.
I want to thank people that supported me with good and positive comments in the last few days. I decided do refund few donations that I got during this. I felt it unfair to keep them after the situation did calm down.
Work hours
I am working now 08:00 – 16:00 until September. From September until mid to end of October I am going to be working 07:00 – 18:00 (some days longer).
Yesterday (29-May-2018) there was a minor increase in earthquake activity in Öræfajökull volcano. The increase in earthquake activity was mostly in line with what has been happening in recent months.
The earthquake activity in Öræfajökull volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
Largest earthquake in this swarm had the magnitude of 2,1 and all other earthquakes were smaller in magnitude. That magnitude is from 0,0 and up to magnitude 1,0.
Moving to Iceland
I am going to be moving to Iceland in one day. That means there might be a slight delay in me writing a new article if something happens while that is in progress. At the moment I am only working on a laptop in a limited capability. At the moment I don’t know when I get up to full capability, but at the latest that won’t happen until August.
During the night of 26-May-2018 a minor earthquake swarm took place on the Reykjanes ridge. This earthquake swarm looks tectonic in nature. Only few earthquakes happened this time around and overall this earthquake swarm was small in number of earthquakes.
The earthquake swarm on Reykjanes ridge (yellow dots). Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
The largest earthquakes in this swarm had a magnitude of 3,0. Other earthquakes had a magnitude of 2,0 – 2,8. Due to distance from the SIL network there is a good chance that more earthquake activity happened then was recorded by Icelandic Met Office. There is a good chance of more earthquake in this area on the Reykjanes ridge in next few hours to days. That has been a pattern for earthquake activity on the Reykjanes ridge in recent years. It might not happen but it remains a possibility.
Donations
Please remember to support my work with donations. Everything helps. Thanks for the support. 🙂
During the night of 10-May-2018 an earthquake swarm took place in Öræfajökull volcano. This was not a large earthquake swarm as is common for Öræfajökull volcano. Less than a dozen earthquake happened this time around. At the moment there doesn’t seems to be any earthquake activity happening in Öræfajökull volcano.
Earthquake activity in Öræfajökull volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
Largest earthquake in this swarm had the magnitude of 1,5 and the second largest magnitude was 1,4. All other earthquakes where smaller in magnitude. At the moment this seems to be the normal earthquake pattern for Öræfajökull volcano. When that changes is impossible to know.
Donations
Please remember to support my work with donations. At the moment I am extremely broke due to my bill situation. The good news is that May is final month (I hope) were I am going to have this problem. Thanks for the support. 🙂
Future plans
My plan on moving to Spain failed due to how limited amount of money I can save to buy an apartment in Spain (it would take me over 10 years to save up for a payment [30% + 11% costs]). That means I am going to move to plan B. That plan means I am going to be moving to Frankfurt Am Main, Germany. I don’t know for sure when that happens. I am at the moment estimating that I’ll be living in Iceland for 3 to 4 years as things currently stand. I can move to Frankfurt Am Main, Germany soon as I have 9000€ (around maximum amount) saved for all the costs (plus 300.000 ISK for transport of my belongings to Germany).
Article updated at 18:36 UTC. Minor text fixes and addons in Future plans section.
Yesterday (05-May-2018) and today (06-May-2018) a earthquake swarm took place in Öræfajökull volcano. In yesterday earthquake swarm the largest earthquake had a magnitude of 1,5 and most other earthquakes had magnitude lower than 1,0. In today earthquake swarm largest magnitude was 1,0. Today earthquake swarm was considerably smaller than yesterday activity.
Earthquake activity in Öræfajökull volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
Earthquake activity in Öræfajökull remains at low levels but well above background levels for Öræfajökull volcano. At the moment there are no clear signs of when or if a volcano eruption is going to happen. Some time ago Icelandic Met Office moved Öræfajökull volcano from Yellow to Green status.
Donations
Please remember to support my work with donations. I am going to be extremely broke this May due to bills I have to pay in Denmark. Thanks for the support. 🙂
Please note that at the end of May I am moving back to Iceland because I got annoyed and sick of being always broke while living in Denmark. I’ll post more details when I get closer to moving back to Iceland.
Since yesterday (01-Maí-2018) has been a minor earthquake swarm in Hengill volcano in area of Raufarhólshellir cave. Largest earthquake had a magnitude of 2,9 (at 03:46 UTC) and all other earthquakes that happened were smaller in magnitude. Most common magnitude was 0,3 but few magnitude 1,0 earthquake also happened.
The earthquake swarm in Hengill volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
This earthquake swarm seems to be in a location that might had a dike injection in the years 1995 – 1998 (I don’t have older data). Data from 1995 and until today can be viewed here (this website is in Icelandic). Since 2000 SISZ earthquakes this area has been quiet and I guess this area is mostly going to be quiet besides this minor earthquake swarms that are currently happening.
Donations
Please remember to support my work. Currently I am having problem with paying all the bills in Denmark since they come in three month cycle. The good news is that this is the last time I have to deal with this issue since I am moving away from Denmark at the end of the month. Thanks for the support. 🙂
Article updated at 23:18 UTC. Minor year fixes.