Category: Magma

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Short analyse of events of Katla volcano 28th and 29th of July-2017

Icelandic Met Office released interesting graphs of the activity in Katla volcano during the 28th and 29th of July-2017. It gives clues to what might happen just before an eruption in Katla volcano.

Harmonic tremor pulses

On the 28th of July small and short harmonic tremor pulses appeared on SIL stations around Katla volcano. When 29th of July did come the harmonic tremor intensified considerably from what it had been the day before. The harmonic tremor pluses on 28th of July is close to impossible to see on the harmonic tremor plot on Icelandic Met Office website.


Harmonic tremor pluses as they appear on Icelandic Met Office tremor software on 28th of July-2017. Each frequency has it’s own line. Time is horizontal and intensity is vertical. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.


The harmonic tremor as it is by 29th of July-2017. After midnight the activity intensifies considerably from earlier levels. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

This data suggests that before an eruption happens some type of boiling or increase in hydrothermal vents takes place in Katla volcano. This is also connected to the glacier flood that followed into Múlakvísl glacier river.

Glacier flood and harmonic tremor


Blue: Water level. Red: Conductivity. Green: Tremor activity. Values are at 10 minute central value. This data is from the SIL station at Lágu Hvolar. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

There seems to be some connection between the harmonic tremor change and the changes in the glacier flood. That suggest in my view that a minor eruption took place in Katla volcano during 28th and 29th of July. How long the eruption did last is a good question. Harmonic tremor data suggests it was only for few hours before it ended. New cracks have been seen around Cauldron 10 in Mýrdalsjökull glacier according to reports. Locations of cauldrons in Mýrdalsjökull glacier can be found here on University of Iceland Earth Science map.

That would be the end of the story in most normal years. Minor eruption and then nothing more. That does not seem to be the case this time around. Small pulses of harmonic tremor have been taking place during the week (Week 31) and that seems to be ongoing process. Most of the tremor pulses are hard to see on the SIL stations and most don’t even appear on more then one or two SIL stations. At the moment Katla volcano is quiet and that might go on for a considerable amount of time due to this minor eruption (my view) and connected glacier flood.

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This financial situation is slowly getting better and is going to be fully or mostly resolved by July-2018 I hope.

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Magnitude 4,5 earthquake in Bárðarbunga volcano

Today (02-August-2017) a magnitude 4,5 earthquake took place in Bárðarbunga volcano. An earlier earthquake with the magnitude of 3,8 took place in Bárðarbunga volcano just moments before the larger earthquake.


The earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano today (02-August-2017). Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Other earthquakes in this swarm where smaller in magnitude. This earthquake swarm only lasted for 30 minutes and since after that it has been quiet in Bárðarbunga volcano. Since then there has been little earthquake activity happening in Bárðarbunga volcano.

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Future plan changes ahead (for me)

As many may know (or not) is that currently I am in financial problems. The worst of the problem I’m currently having are going to last until 2018 when I’m going to make small changes and slightly improve the situation for me. That is however not good enough for me in my own view. Due to that I’m going to take a little risk and make a plan change. After examining the situation for some time I’ve decided the following thing as my long run plan.

This might result in minor interference of update of this website when I move to Iceland from Denmark. Nothing major.

Next year I’ll temporary move back to Iceland. I plan on going back to school to finish learning electronic so that I can build my own electronic hardware and repair. Along with computer repairs. I don’t plan on staying in Iceland forever. For simplification what I’m going to do is the following.

1. July-2018. Move back to Iceland. Start in school in August-2018.
2. Start saving up to buy a house in Portugal. Where is not known at the moment. Finding the right place is going to take some time.
3. Finish school in Iceland (2023?).
4. Finish saving up for a house to buy in Portugal (2024?).
5. Buy house in Portugal (2024?).
6. Move from Iceland to Portugal (2024?).

This is going to take me 4 – 6 years from start to finish and in that time I’m going to stay in Iceland. I don’t have any way to do this while in Denmark for many reasons. It is better for me to do so in Iceland, even if Iceland is ~140% more expensive then Portugal as an example (Denmark is only ~51% more expensive then Portugal).

This ties into a new project that I’m planning once I’m in Portugal. Since I don’t agree with SETI method of searching for Alien life I’m just simply planning on doing it my self. With a group or people or alone doesn’t matter to me. How and where is not know at the moment since this plan is just in draft stage as is.

I’ll continue to update this website as always, even after I start searching for aliens (since it is mostly just a bot work anyway). I also plan on getting me a decent telescopes so I can take pictures of space, stars and galaxies and so on.

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Katla volcano update article of 29-July-2017

This article is going to be updated as activity continues in Katla volcano today on 29-July-2017. If an eruption starts (big one) a new article is going to be written for that event.

Overview of the activity during the night and today

It seems that during the night a minor eruption took place (this is just my view). This based on harmonic tremor pulse that appeared in Katla volcano after midnight, the source of the activity seems to be north-west part of the caldera. Possibly where a magnitude 3,0 earthquake had taken place at 00:48 UTC. Harmonic tremor remains unstable and above background levels, at the moment however it seems that current harmonic tremor when this is written is due to glacier flood pushing it self from under the glacier. The water that is moving under the glacier is few hours away from (at best) from appearing in glacier rivers that come from Katla volcano.


The earthquake activity in Katla volcano during the last 48 hours. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.


Harmonic tremor in Austmannsbunga in Katla volcano at 12:09 UTC. It clearly shows the minor eruption and ongoing harmonic tremor pulse. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.


Harmonic tremor in Austmannsbunga in Katla volcano at 13:04 UTC. This image shows ongoing activity in the tremor. This is mostly high frequency tremor and that is interesting. What that is not known. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.


Harmonic tremor in Goðabunga at 12:09 UTC. It clearly shows the night minor eruption and ongoing harmonic tremor. The harmonic tremor is however a lot less visible now on Goðabunga. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.


Harmonic tremor as it appears on Rjúpnafell (SIL station). This station is at more distance from the source of the harmonic tremor pulse and shows a weaker signal as a result. The night minor eruption is also clear on this SIL station but current harmonic tremor is less visible, it does appear but at much lower level. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Katla volcano has been moved to yellow alert. It is now possible to watch the glacier flood live from here (Rúv.is). Currently the glacier flood is getting smaller, but that might only be a temporarily thing if more water is on its way from Mýrdalsjökull glacier. There has also been a drop in conductivity for now in Múlavísk glacier river.

Announcement in English on Rúv

People advised to stay away from Múlakvísl (Rúv.is)

This article is going to be updated as needed today.

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Update on Reykjanes peninsula earthquake swarm (Fagradalsfjall mountain)

Since 26-July-2017 there has been a earthquake swarm on Reykjanes peninsula close to a mountain called Fagradalsfjall. This earthquake swarm has been one of the larger ones in the area in recent years. Total number of earthquakes that have been detected so far is well over 600 at the writing of this article. There is some magma involved in this earthquake swarm, it has stayed deep in the crust and there are currently no signs of it moving upwards more then it already has at this point. This makes an eruption extremely unlikely, unlike what some news reports about this earthquake swarm might suggest an eruption is not imminent in this area of Iceland.


Earthquake activity close to Fagradalsfjall mountain for the last 48 hours. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Largest earthquake during the last 24 hours is a magnitude 3,2 earthquake that took place at 05:56 UTC. In 1968 a magnitude 6,0 earthquake took place in this same area. I don’t know if that is going to happen now, what is a risk is this earthquake swarm increasing again from current drop in activity. This area is in part a rift valley and plate interaction can get complicated and last for a long time. With quiet period between high periods of activity. At this moment the earthquake activity in this area is decreasing, that does not mean it is over yet, just that a decreasing in activity is currently happening.

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Magnitude 4,5 earthquake in Katla volcano

Today at 22:18 UTC (26-July-2017) a earthquake with the magnitude of 4,5 took place in Katla volcano. A earlier earthquake happened at 22:15 UTC and it had the magnitude of 3,2. The magnitude 4,5 earthquake was felt in Vík í Mýrdal and nearby area.


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

A considerable number of smaller earthquakes have been happening in the last hour. There is nothing at the moment that suggest an eruption is about to happen. There is no magma signature on the tremor plot at the moment. With total of 55 earthquakes having happened in Katla volcano over the last 48 hours.

Update 28-July-2017

Current 24 hours have been quiet in Katla volcano with no major earthquake activity taking place at the moment. This is normal and was also observed last year when a sudden increase in earthquake activity took place.

Here is a over-view of that activity, from earliest earthquakes on 29-August-2016 until 29-September-2016. More articles can be found on Katla volcano activity during that time period just by searching. This are the articles when the most activity took place.

Katla volcano earthquake activity update (29-August-2016)
Magnitude 3,9 earthquake in Katla volcano (25-September-2016)
Heavy earthquake activity in Katla volcano, high conductivity in glacier rivers (29-September-2016)
Katla volcano update at 10:48 UTC (30-September-2016)

This article is going to be updated as needed.

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Article updated on 28-July-2016 at 00:26 UTC.

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Strong earthquake swarm on Reykjanes peninsula

Currently there is a strong earthquake swarm on the Reykjanes peninsula. Largest earthquake so far was a magnitude 4,0 with second largest earthquake having magnitude of 3,8. This earthquake swarm is currently ongoing. Over 150 earthquakes have been detected so far (this number is going to get obsolete soon).


The earthquake swarm on Reykjanes peninsula at 15:10 UTC. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.


The earthquake swarm is highly active at the moment. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

According to the Icelandic Met Office (news at 12:20, Rúv) this earthquake swarm is a mixture of tectonic forces and magnetic (magma) forces in the ground. It is currently too early to know if this is going to result in a eruption.

Update 1 at 00:04 – 27-July-2017

Over 300 earthquakes have happened so far on the Reykjanes peninsula. Largest earthquake so far had the magnitude of 3,8 and second largest had the magnitude of 3,3.


Earthquake activity remains heavy on Reykjanes peninsula. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.


Earthquake activity is heavy as is shown here. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Earthquake activity is ongoing and strong when this is written.

This article is going to be updated as needed.

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Article updated at 00:04 UTC on 27-July-2017.

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Earthquake activity in Katla volcano

On Friday 22-July-2017 and on Saturday 23-July-2017 earthquake swarm activity took place inside Katla volcano caldera. Largest earthquake on Friday 22-July was magnitude 3,1 and on Saturday a magnitude 3,2 earthquake took place. Before and after the main earthquakes a swarm of smaller earthquakes took place.


The earthquake activity in Katla volcano during the last 48 hours. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Interesting earthquake activity has been appearing in the south-west part of the caldera. That area had a minor eruption in 1999 (lasted for ~6 hours maybe). This is directly above Sólheimajökul glacier (tourist attraction). Currently Katla volcano is quiet but that can change without warning given recent history of earthquake activity in the volcano.

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Earthquake swarm in Katla volcano yesterday (13-July-2017)

Yesterday (13-July-2017) an earthquake swarm took place in Katla volcano. As earthquake swarms goes this one was minor one and largest magnitude was only 2,7 all other earthquakes where smaller in magnitude.


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

One magnitude 2,5 earthquake happened today (14-July-2017) at 16:29 UTC. Since then everything has been quiet in Katla volcano. This current repeating earthquake pattern is starting to look like long term signs that Katla volcano is going to erupt soon. How long is not known, but it is my best guess that an eruption might happen either this fall or next year (2018). It is not possible to get any better idea how long it might be until an eruption happens in Katla volcano.

Update 1 (July-15 earthquake activity)

At 19:12 UTC on 15-July-2017 a magnitude 3,3 earthquake took place in Katla volcano. Earthquakes that followed where smaller in magnitude, with only one having magnitude 2,8 today (16-July-2017) at 10:51 UTC. I was unable to record it due to high noise level on my geophone.


The earthquake activity in Katla volcano during last 48 hours. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Earthquake activity has quieted down again for now in Katla volcano.

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Please remember to support my work with donations. At the moment I’m completely broke and this is going to be a problem for me until the end of this year (2017). I hope this going to be a less of a problem first part of 2018 and I hope to have no problem at all in the second half of 2018. I also need to get paid for my work like anyone else and on the internet that is only done by donations and advertising income. Thanks for the support. 🙂

Article updated at 22:22 UTC on 16-July-2017. New information added.

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Deep earthquakes in Katla volcano yesterday (09-July-2017)

Yesterday (09-July-2017) there was a minor earthquake swarm in Katla volcano. Deepest of the earthquakes in this swarm had the depth of 28,9 km, the most shallow of the earthquakes that happened had a depth of 21,1 km. At this depth it is only magma that can create earthquakes.


The earthquake activity in Katla volcano during the past 48 hours. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Since the earthquakes yesterday Katla volcano remains quiet with no oblivious sign of increase in earthquake activity. It is worth noting that it doesn’t seem that Katla volcano goes over 100 years between eruptions. If an eruption does not happen this year it might happen next year. There is a lack of data, but research on time between eruptions suggests that maximum quiet period between eruptions is 100 years. I don’t know if there is any error margin on that number, there might well be one.

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Please remember to support my work with donations. They help me to keep working on this website and keep everything going. There is more work in this website then just writing articles. I monitor earthquake activity live with my geophones and I also monitor large events globally via EMSC website just in case anything major happens. Thanks for the support. 🙂

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Ongoing earthquake activity north-east of Flatey in Skjálfanda fjord (north-east Iceland)

Earthquake activity that started in March 2017 in TFZ (Tjörnes Fracture Zone) is ongoing. I don’t know yet how many earthquakes have happened so far, but at last check Icelandic Met Office reported that the mark was at 800 and that was more then a month ago. The fluid that is pressuring up at this location between fault lines is most likely a magma in my view. If that results in a eruption is harder to say, at the moment the magma seems to be stuck at 10 km depth (in or around that depth).


The current earthquake at Flatey in Skjálfanda fjord. The location is where the yellow and orange dots mix (slightly east of Eyjafjörður fjord). Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

The earthquake activity at this location continues with little signs of stopping. What is also interesting is the fact the magma doesn’t seems to be making any progress up the crust at the moment. With fault line already in place the path to the surface is almost direct in this area if nothing is preventing the magma from moving upwards (impossible to know). At the moment this earthquake activity is limited to minor earthquakes and this magma seems to be lacking pressure to reach the surface at the moment. At this location there are no known volcanoes.

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