Yesterday (20-November 2024) at 23:29 or 23:30 UTC an eruption started in Sundhnúkagígaröðinni in Svartsengi volcano. This is the earliest that eruption has started in this location for the last year since this eruption sequence started in Svartsengi volcano. The time between eruption is however among the longest ones or 77 days. The fissure that the eruption is happening in is at current time around 3 km long.
The earthquake activity in Sundhnúkagígar crater row. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.Early in the eruption in Sundhnúkagígaröðinni. Screenshot from Rúv web camera.The eruption at 00:53 UTC in Sundhnúkagígaröðinni in Svartsengi volcano. Screenshot from Rúv web camera.
The harmonic tremor signal at the start of the eruption was very small. Suggesting that this eruption is not that large. If that holds true, it is possible that this eruption is not going to last that long and might be over by next week at the longest. Only time is going to tell if that happens or not. The main eruption happens in the first 6 to 8 hours.
If needed. I’ll write a new update on what is going on.
This is a short update on the eruption in Sundhnúkagígar in Svartsengi volcano.
The eruption is now the longest eruption in Svartsengi volcano since this eruption cycle started on 18. December 2023.
There are five to seven craters erupting at the writing of this article. Bad weather has blocked the view to the eruption site for most of yesterday and today (22. March 2024).
The outflow of lava, based on my own estimate (that might be wrong) is that the flow is around 20m3/sec. Its not a lot at the moment and that means the lava flow goes shorter distances.
Large lava ponds have formed and those empty regularly, resulting in a fast moving flow of lava going down to any area downhill from the eruption.
One person working at the be Blue Lagoon got sick from SO2 poisoning on 20. March 2024. That person did go to a hospital and is now recovering fine, according to the news.
A gravel mine got filled with lava yesterday (21. March 2024) when the lava pond broke and emptied it self.
Bad weather makes it difficult to monitor the eruption. Next good weather won’t be until Saturday (23. March 2024).
Early GPS data however suggest that there is not much of a deflation or inflation happening in Svartsengi volcano. That means the magma is flowing directly to the eruption and making minimal stop on the way to the surface.
This is all for now. Next update is going to be when something new happens. If this eruption is going to last for a long time. I’ll post regular updates on it. But for now, this eruption is just going to continue as is now doing.
This is a short update since there has not been a lot of change in the last twenty four hours.
The eruption is stable at the writing of this article. This might change without warning.
Harmonic tremor has been stable in the last 24 hours. With almost no fluctuation.
GPS stations around Svartsengi volcano show a deflation around 200 to 300mm at the writing of this article. There’s uncertainty in this data because of bad weather in Iceland.
The lava from this eruption has reached 5,85 km2 according to Icelandic Met Office.
There is little to no earthquake activity in this area, but measurements might be blocked by bad weather.
Crater build up continues in this eruption.
The lava is around 350 meters from Suðurstrandarvegi and around 700 meters from reaching out in the ocean.
If there is a change in the eruption. I’ll write about it quickly as I can. Next article should be by 21. March 2024 if the eruption is still ongoing by that date.
This is a short update on the eruption at Sundhnúkagígar.
Four hour GPS data shows that inflation has already started in Svartsengi volcano, that is currently erupting. This inflation seems to have started soon as the eruption started to get lower around 13:00 UTC.
The lava flow damaged the hot water pipe from Svartsengi power plant and now around 26.000 people on the Reykjanes peninsula are without hot water. There is also some damage to the power infrastructure, but that is minimal and that power has been restored on the power lines that are next to the lava flow. The situation on the cold water is unclear, but it was at risk of damage.
This eruption was larger compared to the eruptions on 18. December 2023 and on 14. January 2024.
Small ash cloud formed today and the reason for that, according to experts in the news. Was that the eruption in part of the fissured ended so suddenly with a pressure drop that the fissure walls collapsed, allow ground to get in touch with lava and then ground water started to flow on the lava. Resulting in two clouds, one dark and a steam cloud. This was large for an about hour or two. Steam cloud was ongoing at writing of this article, but darkness prevents me from seeing if this has stopped. It is likely though.
The eruption is ongoing in two to three craters at the writing of this article.
It is expected, based on current rate of how much the eruption is slowing down that it is going to end tomorrow, 9. February or on 10. February.
Next eruption is going to be in March around 6th to 18th March if current pattern holds for Svartsengi volcano. There’s nothing to rule out that a new eruption might happen sooner. It is impossible to know what happens next in Svartsengi volcano eruptions.
If anything more happens. I’ll post update soon as I can.
I am sorry that I am late on this. I’ve been working on my new server computer and its taken longer then expected.
The eruption has ended and it only lasted about 41 hours. The lava did burn down three houses and cause damage to road, cold water lines, hot water lines and electric lines into Grindavík town. A new rift valley formed east of the rift valley that formed on 10. November 2023. This has resulted in that Grindavík town is now an extreme danger area because of cracks in the ground that are up to 40 meters deep until a ground water level is reached. GPS data is a mess because all this been moving the crust up and down, depending if the area is either east or west of the rift valleys that have formed. It takes few days to see how fast the inflation is now in this area. The magma that erupted now did come from a sill that is located in Skipastígahrauni and Eldvörpum area to the west of the eruption site. It doesn’t seems like the sill close to Svartsengi erupted this time, since no deflation was detected there during this eruption.
The maximum amount of time until next eruption is around 30 days, with error of eight days at maximum. This might be shorter, because it seems that inflation speed is increasing. There’s lot of uncertainty in this because how the crust is now around Grindavík town.
Map of the rift valleys that have formed in the activity on 10. November 2023 and 14. January 2024. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
The eruptions are moving south along this area and that’s bad news, because that places the next eruption in middle of Grindavík town, once it happens in around 30 days. As is, the town of Grindavík can’t be lived in because of dangers from the faults and cracks in the ground. There has also been a major damage to infrastructure inside Grindavík already and added to the already damaged houses, roads and more.
This is a short update and information here might go outdated quickly and without warning. This update is written on 22. December 2023 at 20:50 UTC.
Inflation has resumed in Svartsengi volcano. It also seems that inflation started again just before the eruption ended in Sundhnúkagaígar. At the writing of this article, the inflation is only around 5mm to 8mm a day. That is fast, by any standard, but still lower than before the eruption when inflation was around 10mm a day. There seems to be a slowdown of inflation before an eruption happens and a new dyke creations. Not all dyke that are going to happen are going to end in a eruption, maybe, since the magma has only limited space to expand into in the rift valley, because of the dyke that was created on 10. November 2023.
Earthquake activity along the rift valley today. This is a lot of earthquake activity. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
Earthquake activity along the rift valley increased quickly as the eruption that started on 18. December 2023 started to slow down. That means the magma in Svartsengi volcano is trying to find a way out and erupt all at once, or close to that in my personal view. The 4,1 km long fissure that erupted last time doesn’t seems to have been a enough for the pressure that is in the volcano at the writing of this article. That is interesting but might also be a clue that things are about to get really dangerous in this area. I also don’t know if this is going to happen, because clues are one thing and reality is a different thing.
If anything happens. I am going to write an article soon as I can.
This is a short article, written on 21. December 2023 at 18:47 UTC. Information here might go outdated quickly and without warning.
The eruption that started on 18. December 2023 at 22:17 UTC is over, best I can see. This was large eruption, but a short one. Total lava flow covered an area of 3,7 km2 (square kilometre). Most of the eruption happened in the first 24 – 48 hours of the eruption. There are early indicators that inflation has resumed in Svartsengi volcano, if it inflates at the same rate as before this eruption it is only going to take 8 to 10 days until next eruption. This is a big question since there’s a lot of magma in Svartsengi volcano and that magma can move towards the surface, even if the inflation doesn’t happen and can result in a larger eruption. If that happens is a wait and see situation.
Videos from the eruption areas show a lot of degaussing in the eruption fissure. This is interesting and I am not sure why that is. There’s a chance a lot of magma is in the dyke that is just releasing gas into the air without having the energy to erupt. There’s a small chance that a new eruption might happen in the same location. If that happens is impossible to know.
Earthquake activity along the rift valley. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
This earthquake activity is interesting, it started yesterday (20. December 2023). This follows the same pattern as the earthquake activity before the start of the eruption on 18. December. If that is what is happening remains a wait and see situation for now.
This is the last update unless something happens in this area. Based on current information, that is what is going to happen, the question is just when.
This is a short update and information here might go outdated quickly and without warning.
This eruption is a short one and that’s how eruptions in Iceland are normally. This eruption might end by Friday to Monday, depending on what happens.
The flow from the craters that are erupting is around 10m3/sec. This is low compared to the start of the eruption on Monday 18. December 2023 and suggest that this eruption is going to end soon.
GPS data shows that Svartsengi volcano has only lowered around 80mm since Monday. This means there’s a lot of lava in Svartsengi for new eruptions to happen without much warning.
Earthquake activity along the fault valley has resumed, after stopping soon after the main eruption took place. This is interesting and I am unclear what this means at the writing of this article.
Icelandic Met Office is reporting that the eruption, even is small, is stable at the writing of this article. This can change without warning.
The lava field is now, according to best measurements around 3,7 km2 (square kilometres).
According to University of Iceland Earth science department, the chemical makeup of the lava shows that its more evolved in part than the lava in Fagradalsfjall volcano. This can be read here (new link, now in English). This means that this magma stopped on its way to the surface and cooled a little and changed chemical makeup before erupting.
This new lava is different than the lava that erupted 2400 years ago at the same location. Why that is I don’t know. It is going to take few years to maybe get an answer to this question when the experts have done their research and published their science papers.
Earthquake activity along the rift valley. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
It is interesting to see that Þorbjörn mountain continues to get lower, based on GPS data from today (20. December 2023). Icelandic Met Office has released new danger map and that can be found here in English on Icelandic Met Office website.
This is all the information I know of today (20. December 2023). Next article should be tomorrow (21. December), unless something happens then I’ll try and write article soon as I can.
This is a short update and information here might go outdated quickly. This article is written on 19. December 2023 at 21:46 UTC.
I am trying to collect and read all the information I can find. I don’t have access to everything my self, so I am depended on news and reports from Icelandic Met Office and others on what is happening in this eruptions. This is not unusual and has always been like this.
The eruption is now in 2 to 4 vents. I am little unclear at the writing of this article now many are erupting.
The new dyke seems to go into the dyke from 10. November. This can result in reactivation of the dyke from 10. November and result in an eruption along it, all 15 km at random location.
Current flow seems be around 50m3/sec at the writing of this article. I’ve been hearing that highest flow yesterday (18. December) was around 800m3/sec, but that number is for me unconfirmed. It dropped to 100 – 500m3/sec soon after the eruption started.
Early GPS data from today seems to suggest that Svartsengi volcano has lowered about 50mm since the start of the eruption. I am waiting for new GPS data on Icelandic Met Office website. That data hopefully shows up tomorrow (20. December).
There’s a lot of uncertain things that can happen with this eruption at the moment. Since there’s a lot of lava in Svartsengi volcano that has not erupted so far. New inflow of lava from the deep mantle is also a possibility and those can happen without warning as the pressure drops in Svartsengi volcano sill (or magma chamber).
I’ll post next update tomorrow (20. December 2023) or sooner if anything happens.
This article is short and is written at 16:10 UTC on 19. December 2023. Information here can go outdated quickly and without warning.
There has been a reduction in the eruption since it started at 22:17 UTC on 18. December 2023. This was to be expected. Since the eruption seems to be coming from a small sill in Svartsengi volcano, rather than a large magma chamber.
The eruption is now limited to three to four eruption vents. The largest one is where the eruption started. Crater building is ongoing.
The lava is flowing towards Fagradalsfjall volcano (mountain) at the writing of this article. This area is empty, outside of the the parking lots south of Fagradalsfjall. They are not at risk for now.
The problem with eruptions of this type is that they can grow again in size if different sill breaks and starts flowing into the established flow channels that magma is now flowing and creating the eruption. If that happens is impossible to know. This can also result in a eruption that goes on for a long time. If that happens, an lava might end up reaching far away areas.
It is going to take few days for GPS data to show what sill is deflating in Svartsengi volcano and what is going on in the crust in Svartsengi volcano.
Weather might be a problem for next few days on Reykjanes peninsula.
This area is not to hike around on. Its dangerous and the weather makes difficult walk extremely difficult. Just watch the online web cameras.
The lava field is large and it creates its own strong wind as the lava warms up the air around it. That can be difficult to deal with in the snow for anyone close the the eruption.
The dyke is longer than the part that erupted according to the news and measurements. The dyke is more south and it ends just 1,5 km north of Grindavík town. That area can erupt without warning if pressure starts to build up in that part of the dyke. That same goes for the north part of the dyke, how far more north the dyke is I don’t know.
I’ll post next update when I have more information what is going on or sooner if anything happens.
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