Category: Magma

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Strong earthquake swarm in Bárðarbunga volcano

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).

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Earthquake activity in Öræfajökull volcano

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.

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Two strong earthquakes in Bárðarbunga volcano

Today (17-May-2018) at 15:56 UTC an earthquake with magnitude 3,7 took place in Bárðarbunga volcano. Few minutes a larger earthquake happened at 16:00 UTC and had a magnitude of 4,0. A earthquake with magnitude 1,9 happened at 16:01 UTC. No other earthquake has happened since then.


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

The location of this earthquake swarm was at the normal location that has been seeing earthquake activity in last few months. Currently there is a bad weather in this part of Iceland but nothing is suggesting that an eruption is going to happen in Bárðarbunga volcano following this earthquake activity. The reason for this earthquake activity is inflation of Bárðarbunga volcano.

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Fresh earthquake activity in Öræfajökull volcano

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.

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Earthquake activity in Öræfajökull volcano

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.

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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.

Donations

Please remember to support my work with donations. I am going to really broke in May due to bills and that is the only issue. Thanks for the support. 🙂

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.

Donations

Please remember to support my work. It helps me to keep everything working. Thanks for the support. 🙂

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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.

Donations

Please remember to support my work. As it currently stands I am going to be super broke in May. But that is also going to be the last month that is going to be the case (I hope). Thanks for the support. 🙂

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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.