Category: Swarm

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Magnitude 4,3 earthquake in Bárðarbunga volcano

Yesterday (21-March-2018) at 22:56 UTC a magnitude 4,3 earthquake took place in Bárðarbunga volcano. This earthquake is at the usual place inside the Bárðarbunga volcano caldera, but this location that had activity now is also the place that has high energy hydrothermal hot springs. This area of hydrothermal activity is high enough to melt trough the 100 meters of glacier at this location.


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

Earthquake activity appears to be ongoing at the moment in Bárðarbunga volcano and nearby SIL station show that more smaller earthquakes are currently happening in Bárðarbunga volcano than are showing up on the map of Bárðarbunga volcano.

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Earthquake swarm in Askja volcano

Yesterday (14-March-2018) a earthquake swarm started in Askja volcano. The area the earthquake swarm is happening in has been having smaller earthquakes for several weeks already. Currently this earthquake activity is ongoing.


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

This is the strongest earthquake in Askja volcano since August-2014 when a magnitude 4,5 earthquake happened in this area due to activity in Bárðarbunga volcano and the connected dyke intrusion. That also resulted in a deformation in Askja volcano that later did go back to normal. At the moment there is no harmonic tremor being detected and that means no magma movement and no eruption.

Donations

Please remember to support my work with donations. I am broke at the moment due to my financial problems that follow me while I am living in Denmark. Thanks for the support. 🙂
My move to Iceland by the end of May is going to change this to the better. Specially after I finish paying the debts I have in Denmark (that is going to take until November).

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Earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano and south-east of Bárðarbunga volcano

Today (07-March-2018) there has been deep earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano. This earthquake activity was in two areas. In the main volcano and south-east of it.


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

The earthquake swarm in the main volcano is normal and is connected to current inflation activity of Bárðarbunga volcano. Earthquake activity happens mostly when magma is pushing the crust upwards when it flows into the volcano from depth. The earthquake swarm to the south-east of Bárðarbunga volcano is more interesting. That is a dyke and it has been in this area for numbers of years already. At the moment this dyke remains at depth of 15 – 23 km but this increase in activity might be increasing the risk of eruption if it does not quiet down. The increased magma activity in Bárðarbunga volcano has increased the earthquake activity in this dyke over the last few months.

There is a high risk of strong earthquakes in Bárðarbunga volcano in the next few days to weeks.

What also happened in this earthquake swarm was a high intensity tremor on the mid-band (1-2Hz) during the earthquake swarm. This is highly unusual. What it means is less clear.


The tremor activity (close to the end) on a SIL station close to Bárðarbunga volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Donations

Thanks to donations I was able to buy the moving boxes I need to pack my stuff into before I move back to Iceland. But I always welcome donations since they help me writing articles and in general making this work in Denmark while I am living in Denmark. Thanks for the support. 🙂

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Ongoing earthquake activity in Öræfajökull volcano, fresh earthquake activity in Tungnafellsjökull volcano

At the moment the earthquake activity that started in Öræfajökull volcano on 25-February-2018 is currently ongoing. Most of the earthquakes happening are small, most are smaller than magnitude 1,0.


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

Tungnafellsjökull volcano

Directly north-west of Öræfajökull volcano is a another volcano making earthquakes. That volcano is named Tungnafellsjökull volcano. Most of its earthquake activity is also small earthquakes with magnitude smaller than 1,0. After the eruption in Bárðarbunga volcano 2014 – 2015 earthquake activity increased in Tungnafellsjökull volcano. Earthquake activity was also high during the eruption in Bárðarbunga volcano due to stress changes in the crust. It is likely that current earthquake activity is due to adjustment of tectonic stresses.

Donations

Please remember to support my work with donations. Currently I am broke due to how bills work here in Denmark. I am moving to Iceland by the end of May and that is going to resolve this issue but until that happens I am stuck with the problem of being broke. Thanks for the support. 🙂

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Fresh earthquake activity in Öræfajökull volcano

Yesterday (24-February-2018) and today (25-February-2018) earthquake activity increased in Öræfajökull volcano after a long quiet time. Largest earthquake recorded had a magnitude of 2,2. Other magnitude where from 0,6 and up to 1,2. All earthquakes are marked as at shallow depth, but that might not be correct.


Earthquake activity in Öræfajökull volcano (south to the right on this image). Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

This earthquake activity in Öræfajökull volcano is due to magma pushing up into the volcano. This is above background level of activity in Öræfajökull volcano since background level activity is around 1 – 2 earthquake a year (up to 10 earthquakes a year).

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Magnitude 3,2 earthquake in Hengill volcano

Today (22-February-2018) at 09:50 UTC a magnitude 3,2 earthquake took place in Hengill volcano.


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

This earthquake activity doesn’t suggest anything and appears to be just normal tectonic activity in this area.

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Please see earlier article for details.

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Earthquake swarm west of Kópasker village

Early morning today (22-Februar-2018) at 07:34 UTC a magnitude 3,6 earthquake happened west of Kópasker village. This earthquake was felt in Kópasker and in 90 km distance from where it happened.


The earthquake activity west of Kópasker (green star). Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Before the main earthquake two fore-shocks took place according to Icelandic Met Office. It is not known if current sequence of event is going to result in a larger earthquake on Tjörnes Fracture Zone.

Donations

Please remember to donate as I am completely broke at the moment. The time period of me being always broke is coming to an end since I am moving back to Iceland. Living in Denmark is the reason why I am always broke (taxes and how things are billed here in Denmark is the reason). Thanks for the support. 🙂

Moving to Iceland

I hope to confirm by that tomorrow I can confirm a new move date to Iceland. That new move date is on 31st May 2018 (hopefully). Any help with donations is welcomed since I am going to have problems in terms of money until I move from Denmark to Iceland.

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Nafir volcano (TFZ) update at 17:45 UTC on 20-February-2018

Information in this article is going to get outdated quickly.

Currently there activity in Nafir volcano in the TFZ has quieted down since yesterday. Only one earthquake with the magnitude 3,0 has been detected since midnight. This earthquake swarm is ongoing as is even if it is just making smaller earthquakes at the moment. There has not been many earthquakes with magnitude above 2,0 since midnight. Most earthquakes currently happening are earthquakes with magnitudes below 2,0.


Current earthquake activity in Nafir volcano, TFZ. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.


Current earthquake activity is not that dense at the moment. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Currently there is extremely bad weather on the way to Iceland. That weather might have an effect on detection of small earthquakes in Tjörnes Fracture Zone and other parts of Iceland.

If anything happens I’ll update this article.

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Nafir volcano update (TFZ) at 21:50 UTC

Information in this article are going go outdated quickly.

Here are the latest magnitude updates from the earthquakes this morning as reported by Icelandic Met Office and USGS.

Magnitude 4,9 at 05:34 UTC. USGS reports this as mb4,8.
Magnitude 5,2 at 05:38 UTC. USGS reports this as mb5,0.
Magnitude 4,0 at 06:32 UTC. USGS reports this as mb4,5.

In the last 48 hours 68 earthquakes larger than magnitude 3,0 have happened in Nafir volcano east of Grímsey island. In total 1497 earthquakes have been detected in the last 48 hours.


Current earthquake activity in Nafir volcano east of Grímsey island (TFZ). Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.


The current earthquake activity seems to be dropping a little for the moment. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Currently the weather forecast in Iceland is really bad and that is going to prevent any proper detection of smaller earthquakes. Larger earthquakes are going to go above the wind noise threshold (possibly) and be properly detected. Large enough earthquakes are going be detected by monitoring networks outside of Iceland where weather is not a factor.

Next update is going to be tomorrow about this earthquake swarm. Unless something major happens in Nafir volcano.

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Update at 12:03 UTC on earthquake swarm in Nafir volcano, TFZ, 19-February-2018

Information in this article is going to go outdated quickly.

Uncertainty level has been declared in Grímsey island and nearby area due to the strong earthquake activity in the night. Largest earthquake during the night was a magnitude 5,2 the second largest earthquake had the magnitude of 4,5 at the moment. Based on how it appeared on my geophone it possibly close to being a magnitude 5,0 earthquake. Revision takes time when a large earthquake swarm like this happens. The largest earthquake was felt over a wide area in north, north-east and north-west Iceland according to reports by Icelandic Met Office.


Current earthquake swarm in Nafir volcano east of Grímsey island in the TFZ. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.


Earthquake activity is high at the moment. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

There is currently no end in sight for this earthquake swarm. It remains unclear if this is due to a possible volcano event in the making or just tectonic activity. Currently there is no eruption happening at this location. Unlike what appears on the live updated maps all of the earthquake activity is located east of Grímsey island. The SIL network has problems properly locating the earthquakes automagically when a large earthquake swarm like this happens.