Earthquake activity in new location in Reykjanes volcano

Today (10-May-2022) during the night an earthquake swarm started in a new location in the volcano Reykjanes. This location is about 11 km south of KeflavĂ­k International Airport, it is also close to a village named Hafnir. Largest earthquakes in this swarm had a magnitude of Mw3,0 and Mw3,2. The second earthquake was felt in the area. A lot of smaller earthquakes also took place at this location.

Two green stars on top of each other on the most west Reykjanes peninsula in Reykjanes volcano
Green stars in Reykjanes volcano where the activity took place. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

This earthquake activity suggests that a new magma injection is taking place in this location. The chance of an eruption is in my view high for this location, when it might happen is impossible to know. There is a old lava field in this area and some say it might be from last ice age. I am not sure on the exact age of this lava field, the crater that created this old lava field has eroded away by the ocean centuries ago.

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Ongoing earthquake swarm in Kleifarvatn lake (Trölladyngja-Krýsuvík volcano)

The earthquake swarm in Trölladyngju-Krýsuvík volcano continues. The earthquake activity increased again this morning (7-May-2022). This earthquake activity suggests that magma is on the move in this area of Kleifarvatn lake.

Largest earthquakes in this swarm today (7-May-2022) had a magnitude of Mw3,3 and Mw3,5. Both earthquakes where clearly felt in ReykjavĂ­k area.

Two green stars in Kleifarvatn lake on top of each other. Dense swarm of red dots at the same location.
Earthquake activity in Krýsuvík volcano in Kleifarvatn lake. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

This earthquake activity continues with short breaks. I am not clear on why that is happening. One possible reason for this is that there is a drop in the pressure of the magma at this location or that the magma is trying to find easier path to the surface. This pattern of activity might make it longer until an eruption happens in Kleifarvatn lake.

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Earthquake swarm in Kleifarvatn lake in Krýsuvík-Trölladyngja volcano

Yesterday (04-May-2022) an earthquake swarm started in Kleifarvatn lake that is in Krýsuvík-Trölladyngja volcano. Largest earthquake had a magnitude of Mw3,4 but earthquakes down to magnitude Mw2,9 where felt in Reykjavík.

Green star in Kleifarvatn lake on Reykjanes pensinsula. This is in Krýsuvík-Trölladyngja volcano
Earthquake activity in Krýsuvík-Trölladyngja volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

It is difficult to be exactly sure what is going on. However, most signs suggest that this earthquake swarm that is ongoing is because if magma movement or magma trying to push upwards in the crust at this location. Earthquake activity is showing a small amount of fluctuation and I don’t know why that is happening. Eruption in this area is likely, it is however impossible to know when that might happen.

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Moving to Denmark

I am currently moving back to Denmark. Until middle of June or start of July updates might be slower because of limited internet access.

Earthquake swarm in Reykjanes volcano

Earthquake swarm in the Reykjanes volcano (Global Volcanism Program website remains down) is ongoing with little breaks. Largest earthquake in the last 48 hours had a magnitude of Mw3,1. I don’t know if it was felt. This earthquake activity shows that magma continues to inflate this part of the Reykjanes volcano.

Green star and a red dot on the south-westen part of Reykjanes peninsula in the Reykjanes volcano showing where the activity is
Earthquake activity in the Reykjanes volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

This earthquake activity is part of a higher than normal earthquake activity in this area. It has been ongoing since 2019, with the most quiet period during the six month long eruption in Fagradalsfjall mountain. I don’t know when the crust is going to break on that magma that is in this area. It might not happen with a large earthquake swarm or activity. A earthquake small as Mw2,5 might start an eruption in this area.

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Moving to Denmark

I am moving to Denmark in May. That means that for some time there is going to be a time where I am not going to be able to post a lot of updates even if something happens. This also means that my earthquake monitoring at Hvammstangi is going to shut down. Because of how the internet is today. I am unable to transmit data from a remote computer to a main computer over the internet. I don’t know why this is, but I suspect that there is some type of new attack going on, resulting in WinSDR server program crashing on the data transmission at random times. I am going to start recording earthquakes in Denmark after I finish moving. This are however only going to be larger earthquakes down in the Mediterranean area, Greece and that area where larger earthquakes often happen. I also consider this a fine change for me, since I’ve been recording earthquakes in Iceland since 2008 and I’ve got a lot of backlog to work through because of high earthquake activity because of volcano activity in recent years. My earthquake website can be found here.

Strong earthquake swarm in Reykjanes volcano

Yesterday (12-April-2022) at 21:21 UTC an earthquake swarm started with a magnitude Mw3,9 earthquake. There is a chance there have been a swarm of smaller earthquakes in last few weeks in this area. Since there has been almost always on earthquake swarm activity on this part of Reykjanes peninsula in recent months. The largest earthquake was felt over a wide area in south and west Iceland. Over seven earthquakes with magnitude Mw3,0 have taken place, accurate number is difficult to know for sure at the moment.

A lot of red dots showing the massive earthquake activity on Reykjanes peninsula in Reykjanes volcano, some of this earthquake activity extends into the ocean
Strong earthquake activity on Reykjanes peninsula in Reykjanes volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

The activity now is happening in a volcano named Reykjanes. Last eruption might have happened last time in the year 1831 but that is difficult to know for sure. At the writing of this article around 264 to 280 earthquakes have been recorded by Icelandic Met Office. This number changes every few minutes because the earthquake swarm is strong and ongoing currently. Earthquake activity seems to be increasing at the writing of this article. This situation can change quickly. I am seeing clues that this earthquake swarm is because of magma movement. I think it might result in a eruption, but that is impossible to know for sure now.

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Earthquake swarm north of GrindavĂ­k town

Around 14:00 UTC an earthquake swarm started north of GrindavĂ­k town. This look like a tension breaking earthquake swarm and that suggests an inflation is happening again in Fagradalsfjall volcano (mountain). Largest earthquake so far had a magnitude of Mw3,3 and second largest earthquake so far had a magnitude of Mw3,0.

Green star on the map north of GrindavĂ­k town shows the main earthquake swarm
Earthquake activity north of GrindavĂ­k town. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
Red dots north of GrindavĂ­k town showing the main area of earthquake activity
Area of earthquake activity. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

This earthquake swarm is ongoing, but like with all earthquakes swarms in this area it shows a sign of slowing down for few hours before continuing. There is a chance this earthquake swarm might be over. But I am not yet sure if that is the case.

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Earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano

This morning an earthquake swarm took place in Bárðarbunga volcano. This earthquake activity is because of inflation of Bárðarbunga volcano. Largest earthquake had a magnitude of Mw4,1. Other earthquakes where smaller in magnitude.

Green star in eastern part of Bárðarbunga volcano showing the activity. Few red dots showing smaller earthquakes in western part of Bárðarbunga volcano.
Earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

This earthquake activity is normal since the end of the eruption in Bárðarbunga volcano in February 2015 it has been inflating. This earthquake activity is going to change and longer time is going to be between larger earthquakes. This type of earthquake activity is only going to go down to 1 to 2 earthquakes a year in next few years. Then down to one earthquake every few years.

Earthquake swarm in Krýsuvík-Trölladyngja volcano

This morning (17-March-2022) an earthquake swarm took place in Krýsuvík-Trölladyngja volcano.

Green star close to Kleifarvatn lake to the east. Green star shows the strongest earthquake in the area
Earthquake activity in Trölladyngja-Krýsuvík volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Largest earthquake had a magnitude of Mw3,0. Other earthquakes have been smaller in magnitude. Bad weather in last few weeks have prevented good detection of small earthquakes. More earthquake activity might have taken place than appears on Icelandic Met Office maps.

Strong earthquake in Bárðarbunga volcano

At 10:11 UTC today (22-February-2022) an earthquake with magnitude of Mw4,8 (Icelandic Met Office) or Mw5,0 (EMSC) took place in Bárðarbunga volcano.

Two green stars in Bárðarbunga volcano showing the strong earthquake activity in the volcano. Two smaller dots show smaller earthquakes.
Earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Yesterday (21-February-2022) at 14:08 UTC there had been a earthquake with magnitude of Mw3,0 in Bárðarbunga volcano, along with few smaller earthquakes. This earthquake activity shows that Bárðarbunga volcano continues to inflate after the eruption in the year 2014 to 2015. It is impossible to know when next eruption happens in Bárðarbunga volcano, it might be 10 years from now or 100 years from now. Last eruption in Bárðarbunga volcano before the 2014 eruption was in the year 1902.

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