Category: Swarm

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Strong earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano

Today at 16:13 UTC (29-April-2018) a magnitude 3,9 earthquake took place in Bárðarbunga volcano. Earlier earthquake had a magnitude at 2,8 and took place at 05:01 UTC. This was also the second largest earthquake that happened today.


Earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano (green star). Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

This earthquake activity is normal for Bárðarbunga volcano at the moment. This earthquake activity happens since Bárðarbunga volcano is inflating after the eruption in 2014-August to 2015-February. Current rate of this type of earthquake activity is a magnitude 3,0 or larger earthquake every 2 to 4 months. This used to happen weekly in 2015 and 2016. Earthquakes are now fewer but magnitude is often larger.

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Article updated at 19:37 UTC. Minor text fixes.

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Small earthquake swarm in Katla volcano

On 25-April-2018 and on 26-April-2018 small earthquake swarm took place in Katla volcano. The earthquake activity took place in the south part of the Katla volcano caldera.


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

Largest earthquake in this swarm had a magnitude of 2,1 and 1,8. All other earthquakes where smaller in magnitude. This also suggests that summer earthquake activity in Katla volcano is starting and more earthquake swarms like this can be expected in next few months.

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Earthquake activity in Öræfajökull and Tungnafellsjökull volcanoes

This article contains information about two volcanoes. There is currently also a lot of earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano. But that is going to be a different article if needed.

Öræfajökull volcano

At the moment there is a continuous minor earthquake activity happening in Öræfajökull volcano. Largest earthquake in current swarm had the magnitude of 2,0 and second largest earthquake had a magnitude of 1,5.


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


Earthquake rate in Öræfajökull volcano for the last 15 days. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

What worries me about Öræfajökull volcano is that it already seems to be at stage two in its path to an eruption. Article explaining that can be read here, Seismic patterns help forecast eruptions from quiet stratovolcanoes

Tungnafellsjökull volcano

There has been minor earthquake activity in Tungnafellsjökull volcano in recent days but mostly in last few hours. It remains unclear at the moment why this earthquake activity is happening. It is a possibility that this just tectonic stress due to Bárðarbunga volcano activity in 2014 – 2015 eruption.


Earthquake activity in Öræfajökull and Tungnafellsjökull volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

As it currently stands I don’t think anything is going to happen in Tungnafellsjökull volcano for now.

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Minor earthquake swarm in Torfajökull volcano

This morning (on 20-April-2018) an earthquake swarm took place in Torfajökull volcano. This was a minor earthquake swarm and largest magnitude was 2,4. All other earthquakes where smaller in magnitude.


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

There isn’t a lot happening in Katla volcano on this image. It is all quiet at the moment. In general it is also really quiet in Iceland at this moment.

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Sharp increase in earthquake activity in Öræfajökull volcano (it’s quiet again)

During the night of 9-April-2018 a swarm of earthquake appeared in Öræfajökull volcano. This activity has quieted down again for now. Largest earthquake in this swarm had a magnitude of 1,5 but all other earthquakes appear to be smaller than 1,0 in magnitude. Depth seems to have been at 6 – 8 km, but depth information doesn’t seems to be fully accurate. I don’t know why that is. Total number of earthquakes was 22 in this swarm.


Last 15 days in earthquake activity in Öræfajökull volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.


Earthquake trends in Öræfajökull volcano since 2005. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.


The latest 48 hours in earthquake activity in Öræfajökull volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

I am not sure why this earthquake swarm activity pattern happens and then vanishes. I do find it troubling that it does this and I think this is happening more frequently now than before. Earthquake magnitudes continue to be small but that might not be the whole story of what is currently happening in Öræfajökull volcano. There is no major change in conductivity in the glacier rivers from Öræfajökull volcano.

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Monthly update on Öræfajökull volcano – March 2018

This is a short update on the activity in Öræfajökull volcano.

Over the past month the earthquake activity in Öræfajökull volcano has been mostly stable and majority of the earthquakes happening are small in magnitude and most in the range of 0,0 – 1,0. One magnitude 2,8 and magnitude 3,0 earthquake have happened in this time period (article here).


Earthquake activity yesterday in Öræfajökull volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

This earthquake activity is easily masked by strong winds and bad weather in the area. As summer approaches in Iceland risk of such storms is now smaller than during high winter. It is only when larger earthquakes start to appear that the risk of an eruption becomes serious. Until then this is just earthquake activity in Öræfajökull volcano that needs to be monitored.

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Earthquake activity east of Grímsey island yesterday

Yesterday (05-April-2018) two earthquakes happened east of Grímsey island. The first earthquake had a magnitude of 3,0 (18:12 UTC) and the second earthquake had a magnitude of 3,3 (18:14 UTC). There is a good chance both earthquakes where felt in Grímsey island even if it was not reported.


The earthquake activity east of Grímsey island. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Few smaller earthquakes followed the main earthquake events but since then everything has been quiet in this area.

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Earthquake swarm 43 km west of Grímsey island

Yesterday (31-March-2018) at 09:35 UTC a magnitude 3,2 earthquake happened 43 km west of Grímsey island. Due to distance from land this earthquake was not felt far as I know. Second largest earthquake had a magnitude of 2,6. All other earthquakes where smaller in magnitude.


The earthquake activity 43 km west of Grímsey island (green star). Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

There is also a developing earthquake swarm just off the coast of Gjögurtá (red dots on the image above). So far it has not resulted in any strong earthquake and its unclear if that is going to happen.

I would have written this article sooner but I fell asleep.

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Minor earthquake activity on Tjörnes Fracture Zone

During the night a minor earthquake swarm took place on two parts of the Tjörnes Fracture Zone. The first earthquake swarm was just 19,9 km north-east of Siglufjörður village. Largest earthquake in that swarm had a magnitude of 3,1.


The earthquake activity in Tjörnes Fracture Zone. Largest earthquake is the green star. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

The second earthquake swarm was north-east of Grímsey Island and it was a minor swarm. Largest earthquake in that swarm had a magnitude of 2,8. Other earthquakes that happened were smaller in magnitude.

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Magnitude 3,0 earthquake in Öræfajökull volcano

Today (24-March-2018) at 16:32 UTC a magnitude 3,0 earthquake happened in Öræfajökull volcano. There has been a lot of smaller earthquake activity in Öræfajökull volcano in recent days and the earthquake activity has been continuous for most of that time.


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

I am unclear at the moment if there is any change happening at this moment. There has been slight increase in earthquakes that have magnitude larger than 1,5 in recent days. Overall there has been no major increase in earthquake activity so far in Öræfajökull volcano. But it has been mostly continuous for last several weeks and that might be a sign of trouble in near future.

The magnitude 3,0 earthquake was felt in Öræfasveit and other nearby areas.

I’ll update this article later if anything major happens.

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