Category: Bárðarbunga

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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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Strong earthquake swarm in Bárðarbunga volcano (30-June-2017)

Today (30-June-2017) a strong earthquake swarm took place in Bárðarbunga volcano. This earthquake swarm was in the north-east area of the Bárðarbunga volcano caldera, area that has showed the most earthquake activity since this started in September-2015. Why that is the case is unclear at the moment.


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

Strongest earthquake in this swarm had the magnitude of 3,6 but other earthquakes where smaller, one earthquake with magnitude 3,4 and one earthquake with magnitude 3,1. All other earthquakes where smaller in magnitude. This earthquake swarm seems to be over for now, but one new earthquake took place at 22:29 and had the early magnitude of 2,7 (or 2,8).

North sea earthquake

I don’t often record an earthquake this close to where I live in Denmark. This is a magnitude 4,8 earthquake (EMSC information) that happened in the North sea. This earthquake was felt in Scotland and Shetland Islands, I don’t know about Norway as the closest distance from Norway was 195 km of Åkrehamn village.


The north sea earthquake as it appeared on my geophone in Bov, Denmark. The distance is 644 km. This image is released under Creative Commons licence. Please see CC licence website for more details.

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Weekly earthquake in Bárðarbunga volcano (12-June-2017)

Today (12-June-2017) a magnitude 3,6 earthquake took place in Bárðarbunga volcano. This earthquake activity is mostly normal for Bárðarbunga volcano, there has been slight increase in earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano during the past few days (minor earthquakes), why that increase is taking place is unclear at the moment. This increased happened at the same time as a sharp increase in earthquake activity took place in Tungnafellsjökull volcano (read the article about that for more information).


The earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano and Tungnafellsjökull volcano. The green star shows the magnitude 3,6 earthquake. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Currently the activity in Bárðarbunga volcano is mostly what is now considered ‘normal’ after the 2014 – 2015 eruption. I don’t know if that status is about to change, but there are clues in current activity suggesting that might be about to happen. This increased activity however might slow down again and go back to normal background levels.

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Deep earthquake activity in Trölladyngja (volcano)

Today (08-June-2017) there have been deep earthquakes in Trölladyngja (volcano). This earthquake swarm was shallower than last earthquake swarm that took place in Trölladyngja. Several months ago the earthquakes in Trölladyngja where happening at 28 km depth, but now they are at the depth range of 18,6 – 23,3 km, this means that the magma under Trölladyngja is migrating upwards at fast phase, a lot faster then I thought was possible. Earthquake swarm in November-2015 where slight off to the side, those earthquakes had the depth of 15 – 18 km as I wrote about here. Since November-2015 here has been other activity in Trölladyngja, but that has been in the form of one or two earthquakes so I have not written about it (I never bother with just one or two earthquakes at location due to the amount that happens daily in Iceland).


Earthquake activity in Trölladyngja (volcano), north-east of Bárðarbunga volcano fissure swarm. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Last eruption in Trölladyngja was according to GVP (under Bárðarbunga volcano history) was 7000 years ago. Since then nothing has happened. There has been a lot more eruption in Dyngjuháls area and that area is also having deep earthquakes. That area is also covered with ~200 meters of glacier. It remains to be seen what happens next in the Bárðarbunga volcano saga.

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Weekly earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano (1-June-2017)

Today (01-June-2017) a earthquake swarm took place in Bárðarbunga volcano. This earthquake swarm was in the regular location at north-east part of the caldera. Two earthquakes with magnitude 3,2 took place and one magnitude 3,6 earthquake happened. Other earthquakes in this activity where smaller in magnitude.


The earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano today (01-June-2017). Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano is now getting close to weekly again. This suggest that magma inflow into the volcano is increasing again. What that means in the long term is unclear at this moment. Sometimes there is just one earthquake, but in most earthquake events there are now more than one earthquake with magnitude above 3,0.

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Strong earthquake in Bárðarbunga volcano (27-May-2017)

Today (27-May-2017) at 09:36 UTC a magnitude 3,9 earthquake took place in Bárðarbunga volcano. This is a normal earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano. Depth of this earthquake activity is now around 7 km. Other earthquakes in this swarm where smaller in magnitude.


Earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano. Green star shows the magnitude 3,9 earthquake. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Recent reports from Iceland Civil Disaster Management (Almannavarnir) and Icelandic Met Office there is considerable hydrothermal activity in the caldera and on its rim. Suggesting that Bárðarbunga volcano has not started to cool down after Holuhraun eruption. In the long run this means that there is a good chance that current eruption cycle is far from being over.

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Strong earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano yesterday (20-May-2017)

Yesterday there was a strong earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano (GVP has new information about Bárðarbunga volcano). Two of the largest earthquakes had the magnitude of Mw3,9 and Mw3,8 other earthquakes where smaller in magnitude and around 10 earthquakes happened in Bárðarbunga volcano. This activity is also different from historical activity from 1970’s and towards 1994 (Gjálp eruption), when a magnitude 5 earthquake would happen in Bárðarbunga volcano once to twice a year. Current activity suggests that magma is inflating Bárðarbunga volcano faster than in the period between 1970’s and 1994. Why that is is not known to me.


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

Current change is that in recent weeks there are fewer earthquakes taking place in Bárðarbunga volcano, but when they happen they are often larger in magnitude and more than one large earthquake happens during the earthquake swarm.


The magnitude (Mw) 3,8 earthquake in Bárðarbunga volcano as it appeared on my geophone in Böðvarshólar. This image is under Creative Commons Licence, see CC licence for more details.


The magnitude (Mw) 3,8 earthquake in Bárðarbunga volcano as it appeared on my geophone in Heklubyggð. This image is under Creative Commons Licence, see CC licence for more details.


The magnitude (Mw) 3,9 earthquake in Bárðarbunga volcano as it appeared on my geophone in Böðvarshólar. This image is under Creative Commons Licence, see CC licence for more details.


The magnitude (Mw) 3,9 earthquake in Bárðarbunga volcano as it appeared on my geophone in Heklubyggð. This image is under Creative Commons Licence, see CC licence for more details.

According to reports on Global Volcanism Program the most magma collection is happening at the depth of 10 km (or around that depth), no clear or oblivious signs are that magma is collecting at shallower depth at the moment. If that is required for a eruption in Bárðarbunga volcano is not know at the moment, there is a possibility that magma might collect at 10 km depth and then pump out with a dike as was seen in the Holuhraun eruption (2014 – 2015). What has been confirmed is that magma is collecting under Bárðarbunga volcano and the volcano is inflating. This inflation is either going to stop or its going to continue until a new eruption happens.

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Earthquake swarm in Bárðarbunga volcano

Today (17.04.2017) at 11:58 UTC a magnitude 4,2 earthquake took place in Bárðarbunga volcano. This is the strongest earthquake in Bárðarbunga volcano for several weeks now. Following this earthquake a earthquake swarm started and lasted for about one hour in Bárðarbunga volcano.


Green star shows the magnitude 4,2 earthquake in Bárðarbunga volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Largest aftershock activity had magnitude of 2,8 as the information is currently on Icelandic Met Office website. That might change tomorrow and it’s possible that I might update this article if any major change happens in earthquake magnitudes. No harmonic tremor was detected following this earthquake swarm. Weather is currently bad in Iceland and that’s going to last for few more hours.

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Strong earthquake swarm in Bárðarbunga volcano

Today (6-April-2017) a strong earthquake activity took place in Bárðarbunga volcano. This earthquake activity started this morning at 10:46 UTC and has continued during the day at slow phase. The largest earthquake so far took place at 15:08 UTC and had magnitude of 4,1 and second largest earthquake had a magnitude of 3,2. Other earthquakes are smaller and a around dozen or so have taken place today in Bárðarbunga volcano.


The earthquake swarm in Bárðarbunga volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

This earthquake activity is in line with earlier earthquake activity that has been going on in this area since September-2015. What is slightly different now is that I got two different seismic signals on my geophone stations in Böðvarshólar and the one in Heklubyggð on the North-South direction (Heklubyggð is west-south of Bárðarbunga, Böðvarshólar is west-north of Bárðarbunga). This difference seems to suggest that some type of slip movement took place during this earthquake. I don’t know for sure what this change in pattern means at the moment. The best I can do now is to monitor the earthquakes I detect in the future for more such earthquake signal changes like I did just see on my geophone. I’m not fully sure what is going on in Bárðarbunga volcano at the moment, what is known is that inflation is currently taking place in Bárðarbunga volcano and that process has been ongoing since September-2015.

Update 07.04.2017 – Anomaly detected on my Böðvarshólar geophone

This is the anomaly detected on my Böðvarshólar geophone. It can be seen on N-S direction. This is not the geophone, its working as expected and that got confirmed today when a minor (magnitude 2,1) earthquake took place not far from the Böðvarshólar geophone.


Böðvarshólar geophone.


Heklubyggð geophone.


Detailed image of the earthquake at Böðvarshólar geophone.


Detailed image of the earthquake in Heklubyggð geophone.

The difference is appearance of the P-wave and the S-wave. I don’t know why this is or why it happened. I’ve not seen this before.

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Article updated at 21:32 UTC on 07.04.2017.

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Earthquake swarm in Bárðarbunga volcano 21-March-2017

Yesterday (21-March-2017) there was an earthquake swarm in Bárðarbunga volcano. Largest earthquakes where magnitude 3,1 and 3,0. Other earthquakes that happened where smaller in magnitude.


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

There isn’t much to say about this earthquake activity (for those how do not know, please check older articles on Bárðarbunga volcano). This activity is happening due to continued inflation of Bárðarbunga volcano since the eruption ended in February-27 in 2015, inflation started in September that same year. Earthquake activity had started to drop in February, it now appears to be increasing again. When or if that results in a eruption soon is impossible to know.

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