Posted on by Jón Frímann

New dike intrusion into Katla volcano caldera

A new dike intrusion has started in Katla volcano caldera. So far only few earthquakes have taken place. But the largest one so far is ML2.8 in size with the depth of 0.8 km (800 meters). It appears clearly on my geophone at Hekla volcano. But it seems that new area in the Katla volcano caldera has been increasing activity during past few weeks. Based on the number of earthquakes that are currently taking place there.


The earthquake as I did record it on my Heklubyggð geophone. This are all the directions on the gephone. This picture is released under Creative Commons licence.


The North-South component of the geophone shows the nature of this earthquake clearly. This picture is released under Creative Commons licence.


The vertical component of the geophone did also show the nature of this earthquake clearly. This picture is released under Creative Commons licence.


The area inside Katla volcano caldera that is responsible for the current earthquake activity. Copyright of this picture belongs to Iceland Met Office.

The earthquakes in Katla volcano now are created by magma intrusion into the rock layers. There is not a lot of about tectonic earthquakes in Katla volcano today. But they cannot be completely ruled out. But the signature of those earthquakes is different then by earthquakes created by magma movements.

Note: I have been recording earthquakes since the year 2006. I have learned a lot during that time.

841 Replies to “New dike intrusion into Katla volcano caldera”

  1. Ok, thanks for this Jón. However, the largest quake has now been downgraded to a 2.4. 🙂

  5. is katla starting to show signature notes where she is talking before eruption in the near future?

  6. Jon said in another post:
    “For those how where wondering about the eruption prediction. I was trying to use the old sayings about the earthquakes. But those documentations might not have captured what did happen earlier in the process too a Katla volcano eruption.”

    http://icelandgeology.net/?p=1584

    When the last (great) eruption came up 1918, there was no measurement equipment, so no one knows for sure, how Katla will behave. That’s what I learned in this blog (and i hope it’s right :))

  7. It seems that there’s a Swedish photographer missing in S. Iceland at the moment, not sure if they are on Myrdalsjokull, let’s hope he/she is found safe and well.

      1. Look at yesterday’s post and comments, we’ve discussed this already and there are some links to icelandic news about this. Did they manage to find him yet?

      2. Oh sorry didn’t realise it was yesterday’s news, I’d just heard via Twitter from the former head of ICE-SAR, so bearing in mind his credentials I take it sadly the photographer has not been found as yet. Thanks for referring me to yesterdays posts I’ll have a look.

      3. No, person was not found today. The search, centered at Sólheimajökull (part of Myrdalsjökull & Katla Volcano) continues. During the deepest night there will be reduced effort, but increased effort in morning, and all weekend. So (IF anything happens in Katla) there will be about 200 search & rescue personnel there this weekend…

      5. I have seen this kind of stuff happening so often. People often go hiking in Iceland badly prepared, because the weather can change very suddenly and be extreme. And in winter, hiking is much more dangerous. Last year, two men died hiking during a snowstorm close to Eyjafjallajokull. Another was rescued barely alive close to Hverargerdi, during another snowstorm. These people should be more aware of the great risks they face.

        Furthermore, glaciers are dangerous, especially now, there are crevasses from the summer, the nights have been icy. I hope that the guy didn’t went to the glacier. After all, the whole Myrdalsjokull area has been forbidden to hiking because of the dangers of glacial runs.

      6. And I wish that he is of coursed rescued alive. Hopefully he has found shelter somewhere.

      8. Irpsit: I hope that, too. But the odds are very bad if you take the weather in account and the fact, that the initial emergency call is now 48h+ in the past.

    1. Nah, just me who has been sitting on airplanes the entire day… Which probably made Hjalmar happy to not see my 50+ posts in one day 😉
      Bloody plane dropped me in Schiphol, not in Stockholm. Then from Schiphol to Stuttgart, then to Stockholm, then to home.

      2. It was not ment to be that long. I was just going to do my normal 3ish hour flight, then the pilot mysteriously decided that Holland was a good place to be.

        @Oldcowboy:
        Just give her the adress, she will read for five minutes, then go for a fever thermometer for you… 🙂

      3. Well, at least they got you home for the night and you are not stuck at Shiphol (although there are worse airports to be stuck at).

      7. Sympathies on the flights, but it could be worse… I’m in Beijing airport at the moment, with one leg left – started in Minneapolis yesterday morning. The day before I was on a bus for 30 hours, going from Toronto. Thanks to a snorer in the hostel I’m now on four straight days with no sleep, so don’t expect me to make any sense from now on.

        Hengill’s hired a dalek to exterminate Katla! I heard rumours from Shivelich as we were passing Kamchatka – I think the sheep persuaded it. There’s a preacher involved someone as well, but I don’t think he understands barbecues, so don’t count your hedgehogs before they’ve Burfelled. Wurble. Goodnight.

      9. gotta stop reading this blog in the w/e – my wife thinks I have a mistress called Joni’s blog….

    1. after “some time” I am adicted to this blog – looking forward to get home from work and just follow “whatever comments show up”. Friday and Saturdays are even better – I can “defend” a Gammel Oppland aquavit with the “blog-reading”.
      That’s why I commented “low activity” – Bob and Katla can do whatever they want as long as they keep this “community alive”.
      Hopefully there will be more to read as the evening passes 🙂

      Earlier today I went throug a blog from October ’10 – I was surprised to see that many of you guys were already very active back then – NICE !

    1. I think somebody has been messing around with the webcam – position and focus, for a while the picture’s been moving around been very unsharp, now the cam is showing nearly the same image as the one called “Panoramica general de La Restinga” in the first tab.
      But, I have to admit, I’ve seen some faint glow before myself.

      1. Lovely pictures Islander. I should have done a screen capture. I get all excited and forget to do these things! I reallymust get more organised.
        My guess is Bob has gone off to the party .:)

      2. Diana, I guess he is partying in the deep! Tremor plots from CHIE (link abowe) indicate some kind of “explotions” (hickups) are still ongoing.

        While everything is quiet, here is one set for Carl, from Hekla eruption in year 2000 and “her” dazing off in last years summer. http://www.flickr.com/photos/35133216@N05/sets/72157623813691993/

        And another set for them that missed Grimsvötn eruption earlier this year. Just a remainder anything can happen there still.
        http://www.flickr.com/photos/35133216@N05/sets/72157626671292061/

      3. Thanks Islander!
        Really nice pictures that I’ve never seen before.

        And the scale of the Grimsvötn eruption is stunning. Yes, Eyjafjallajökull was a VEI-4, but it lasted for long. A VEI-4 that last just mere days, with the bulk of it happening during the first day. That is hellishly stunning.
        Grimsvötn is majestic really.

      4. Islander thank you for these wonderful photos.I enjoyed the descriptions too, they give a personal and real perspective on the event. The scale of the ash wall was amazing, it looks really scary!
        Now…. For all visitors who visit Katla, Eyaf and Hekla webcams, when you see little puffy clouds on the tops…that is Icelandic weather…… When you see this……
        http://www.flickr.com/photos/35133216@N05/5745676351/in/set-72157626671292061/
        That is an eruption……. RUN!!!
        As Jon and Irpsit and many others say…” You will not see small puffs of steam when an eruption starts”

  13. Son de Bueu

    “…graphic that relates the index for each day with earthquake-activity

    September max: from 10-14 and from 24 to 30
    October max: 9-11 and 23-29
    November, max today 10, andl 21-27 ”

    I think that is covered by this plot.

    http://i43.tinypic.com/ojjy93.png

    Jack @ Finland

    “I’d like to see the plot done on quake energy release vs. tide height. That would really tell us, who’s driving who.”

    http://i43.tinypic.com/2rdubup.png

    And for all, a histogram of the tide height covering the periods in the plot. (shows what the tide heights are is usually at.

    http://i40.tinypic.com/9iebr7.png

    1. Essentially, the tides tend towards higher water levels and spend only 4.2% of the time below mean sea level. (probably seasonally related). This will skew the dominant water level to the high side.

    2. Interesting that tide height has such a clear bimodal distribution. I wonder why is that?

  15. Lurking in the this plot
    http://i43.tinypic.com/ojjy93.png
    On a cursory overview most earthquakes occur when the tide height is approx 1.3. I cannot think of any tidal or gravitational pull/ force/pressure system that could be strong enough to move magma, however fluid, with enough force to inject it into faults triggering a quake. Maybe, but I really can’t see it, a small tremor but not a quake.
    It is indeed a strange pattern and I have no idea why. Unless….. as Bob’s mouth is nearer the surface than the surrounding sea bed , the pressure of water is released a little as the tides rise and fall and so magma is able to “chuff” it’s way up a tiny bit….

    I think that last comment is a good example of my blonde moments but I had to say it… more thinking aloud really….
    Another coffee is called for now!

    1. Well.. nothing wrong with being blonde… it keeps the brunettes busy.

      1.3 is pretty close to the upper peak in the tide histogram.

      http://i40.tinypic.com/9iebr7.png

      In other words, like the Eyjafjallajökull – Katla relationship, it’s hard not to have a Eyjafjallajökull eruption with out being temporally close to a Katla eruption. (close in time)

      Likewise, it’s difficult to not have a quake near the 1.25 meter tide level.

  16. I haven’t been fully keeping up with this eruption, but has anyone else noticed the straight line raises at El Hierro? Look at the latest chart for example..

    http://i39.tinypic.com/w1d92g.jpg

    look at the way the line goes right through the middle of all the quake clusters. Surely this means something, but I’m too dull to know what? lol

    why is it so predictable, so linear?

    1. I’m far away of beeing an expert, but this the energy thats accumulating. I think it goes always up. And sometimes there are greater jumps, when a greater earthquake adds up.
      OK, I don’t know how to explain it …hope it helps a little bit.
      Later someone could it explain better, i think…

      1. Mafl, I think that’s exactly right. This is a cumulative plot, which tracks total released energy up to each moment in time. Whenever there is a larger earthquake (e.g. like the 4.6 mag last night), there is a straight up jump and the jumps are exponentially proportional to increase in magnitude (because magnitude is measured on logarithmic scale). So if you have many quakes at magnitude 3 and then one of magnitude 4, the mag 3 ones will raise the point up at the same level of increase, while the mag 4 one will move the point up 10x further. Hope this helps, I don’t know how to explain in another way.

      2. Oh and the linear line that mark has pointed out, I don;t know about that, but Enrique over at AVCAN has figured out that there is a pattern of jumps (larger earthquakes) at every 45-48hrs, if I remember correctly and so was able to “predict” the correct time spot in which last night’s 4.6 mag earthquake happened. He said he doesn’t know why this pattern though and it has been a subject of quite some discussion over at AVCAN.

    2. Check this, here’s the most recent comment by Enrique at AVCAN about this graph: http://www.avcan.org/sismica/graficas/G627.jpg?t=1321048572
      Original text and link below.

      In the chart of the cummulative released energy or the so-called “devil’s scale”, we can see how the second swarm has an exponential pattern of increase with time, which indicates the presence of a seismo-volcanic swarm being reactivated, which has been consistently present since the start. The reason for this morphology is nothing else but the fact that the system is being pressurised, where the pressure is rising and breaking the rock, as it becomes too much and it depressurises itself.

      Since 29 Oct this volcanic system seems to have fallen into a pattern of releasing the energy every 36-48h. This happens every time in two separate depressurisations (earthquakes), about 6 (or sometimes 12)h apart. This morning the scale increased rapidly with the release of energy of the latest 4.6 mag earthquake last night, accumulating energy impact needed to eventually break the seal that is keeping the system pressurised.

      We do not know if this seal has been broken yet. Seems that not, because the pattern on the scale continues and in principle, the moderate seismicity could reoccur with another pair of earthquakes in the next window of time, which will be between tomorrow midday and 1-3am next night. Tomorrow night could therefore be a very movable night.

      And, as if this was not enough, if the pattern continues, one of the next earthquakes has to be stronger than 4.6 and that could very well be the earthquake that breaks the seal and causes depressurisation. It will most likely occur in one of the next windows of activity and according to the pattern on the scale it could be expected to have the magnitude between 4.6 and 5.2 (Enrique).

      Source and original text:
      http://www.facebook.com/pages/Actualidad-Volc%C3%A1nica-de-Canarias-AVCAN/163883668446

      En la gráfica de evolución de las energias sísmicas liberadas acumuladas o “escalera del diablo” o función de carnot, se puede ver como este segundo enjambre tiene un patrón típico de aumento de la liberación de energia a medida que avanza el tiempo lo que indica la presencia de un enjambre sismo-volcanico en reactivación, que es lo unico que ha funcionado desde el principio. La razón de esta morfologia no es ni más ni menos que el sistema se va presurizando cogiendo presion y rompiendo la roca a medida que coge presión, hasta lograr salir y despresurizarse.

      Este sistema volcánico presenta un patrón con liberaciones de energia cada 36-48h desde el pasado día 29 de octubre ademas de dos en dos separados por unas 6h (a veces 12)h y que tras atrancarse el sistema la semana pasada, esta madrugada ha seguido escalando en la escalera de energias con el último sismo de 4.6, acumulando energia para romper el sello que mantiene el sistema presurizado.

      No sabemos si lo ha roto ya el sello, parece que no, por lo que si continua el patrón de la escalada en la escalera de energias, en principio la sismicidad moderada deberia repetirse con un otro par de sismos en la proxima ventana de actividad que sería entre el mediodia de mañana y 1-3h pasada la medianoche. Mañana puede ser una tarde noche movidita.

      Ademas por si esto fuera poco, deberia producirse un sismo más fuerte que el 4.6 como sismo de disparo que rompiera el sello de despresurización y será seguramente en alguna de las próximas ventanas de actividad que sigue como patrón la escalera de energias con una magnitud entre 4.6 y 5.2. (Enrique).

      1. Enrique was dead on predicting the quake of 4.6 that happened yesterday night, 11/11/11 at 00:20AM local El Hierro time; I just hope he’s wrong about an even bigger one; not just because it may set off an explosion, but also because there may be landslides and falling rocks. That may make moving about on the island very difficult.

  17. About Katla. There has been at most only one deep earthquake per day. I expect to see many deep earthquakes before a major eruption in Katla, and this has not happened at all, yet.

    All these shallow earthquakes only show that magma has been pushing a bit upwards, near the surface, but without significant pressure for a large eruption. At most, the only thing that it can happen now, is a minor sub-glacial eruption and flood, like in July. I don’t think a large eruption can happen without the pressure of deep magma inflow. Can someone confirm this?

    1. I suppose some new magma is needed (not expert on this), but then nobody seem knowing how much more is needed. Recently IMO added “real time” strain rate of Stórólfhvoll strain meter (Orange colour). It´s closer to Eyjafjallajökull and Katla than the others. It shows more activity (unrest) than any others. I wonder if this comes from Katla or Eyjó, or some other place is brewing. http://hraun.vedur.is/ja/hekla/borholu_thensla.html

      3. Storolfsvoll is Hekla, nothing else.
        Storolfsvoll and Hella will go up, and Búrfell and Heklukriki will go down about 4 times as much when Hekla erupts.

        Hekla is brewing hard, and has done so since the IMO warning on the 7th of july.

    1. The report says that the alert is probably real and they waiting for an eruption in Frontera because the most recent earthquakes have been in this area, and especially the last and strongest of 4.6. And it has been identified two distinct tremors.

      1. Disclaimer – Spanish is not my first or even second language, so I may have misunderstood.
        But as I understood it the report also mentions a load of rubbish about the possibility that it’s something to do with the date 11-11-11 or the moon, or whatever else takes your fancy. But it did sound like they might be reporting facts verbatim when they reported that “scientists had detected two distinct tremors, and that the scientists think that might indicate an eruption (besides Bob) most likely in the region of frontera that had the 4.6 quake”

      2. More or less what they said was that scientists thinks there are two different tremor-signals, one in the south and another in the north. But since the signals are getting mixed together, its not so easy to locate the other signal. They have been moving the seismographs to try to detect where the second signal is located, but most probably its near Frontera in the north.

        The part about fullmoon and date was only referring to people on the island who had heard rumours about both this and that many times after a big quake there was increased activity in the volcano. Thats why there were a lot more people looking at the volcano today, to see if something would happen 🙂

      1. Sorry, that was trite.

        What it all comes down to is that a volcano is gonna do what it wants to do, given the forces acting upon it.

        My plots point to that being a possibility, but it’s just that, a possibility. There is enough slop in my data to equally point to a subsea area of El Golfo.

  20. HELP!!!
    I’ve had to have the b…..y PC repaired (again) and the fool erased all me favourites list.
    Could some kind soul post the links for the 11minute median plots for GOD and GRF and the link for the BUR etc strain gauges – I can’t find ’em anywhere
    Thanks Folk
    Alan

  22. Disturbing.

    But, on the bright side, I’m not a geologist so I don’t know what I’m doing.

    In the spectral traces on CHIE, are some rather noisy bursts that we have all been thinking are steam explosion or such. This is probably pretty accurate. Of late, some of them have been rather defined. A few even show up on EGOM or EHIG.

    Okay, well defined noise spike, probably a quake. Until you look at it.

    http://i43.tinypic.com/9ab9kp.png

    Okay… so not a quake.

    A few weeks ago, I used a cobbled together technique to measure the time offsets and to derive a bearing cut, (not accurate, but somewhere in the ballpark) to where the source of the tremor was at. This relied on nuanced in the signal that could be seen on the two outlying stations. I would like those up on the spectral display and measure the arrival times.

    In this case, the artifacts are showing up at EGOM and EHIG at almost the same time. That means that whatever the source is, it’s pretty close to being equidistant to the two stations.

    So… it should have a pretty good bearing cut. Just drop a line that is equidistant to both stations.

    That’s the disturbing part. Again, than God I’m not a geologist and that I don’t have a reputation to defend… I’m just some idiot yammering away on the Internet.

    Here is why:

    http://i44.tinypic.com/6puaad.png

    In my opinion something is going on under Frontera.

    Discuss at will, remember, I am not an expert. That’s just where the plots like up.

    1. Well, I am not a geologist, but IGN agrees with you, from here:
      http://www.canarias7.es/articulo.cfm?id=237877

      En todo caso, detalló la portavoz científica, los parámetros sometidos a observación en la isla -la emisión de gases, la deformación de la corteza y la sismicidad- indican “claramente”, sobre todo esta última, que hay una fuente de tremor (el indicador de riesgo de erupción) distinta de la del sur, en el mar frente a La Restinga

      In any case, said the scientific speaker, the current parametres from the observation on the island – the emission of the gases, the deformation of the crust and the seismicity – “clearly” indicate (in particular the last one – i.e. seismicity) that now there is another second source of tremor (indicator of the risk of an eruption), different from the one in the south, in front of La Restinga.

      1. Maybe this next paragraph is also very relevant:

        También precisó que de registrarse una erupción en tierra provocada por este nuevo “centro emisor” en el norte, se observarían variaciones en la emisión de gases y en la deformación y por el momento, los parámetros no indican unos picos “tan altos” ni tan acusados como en el proceso eruptivo del sur.

        She also said that to monitor a possible eruption on land started by this new “tremor source” in the north, they are measuring variations in the emission of the gasses and in the deformation. For the moment, these parameters do not show any particular “very high” peak values nor are they focused on any particular location, such as in the eruptive process in the south.

        To summarise the rest, they say there is a high risk of high seismicity in the north. There is this second tremor source somewhere in the north, but noone can say if/where the next vent will open and if this will be under the sea or on land. Ramon Margalef will continue taking bathymetric and other data. The public safety measures continue as until now and everyone is monitoring seismicity in the north closely.

      2. Wonder if they have prepared for an evacuation of Frontera yet, in case it might be necessary. Really hope (and believe, for some reason) that they do more than they tell us.

    2. If somebody can press IGN to release their raw seismic data in real time to IRIS so that everybody will be able to download it, more accurate analysis would be possible. Audio conversion of waveform data especially makes it much easier for laymen to discern, with little practice, what is noise and what it’s not.

      I don’t think what you pointed are noise spikes, anyway.

      1. I called them “spikes” rather than what I was thinking of. “Thumps” didn’t seem to convey the same meaning and sort of implied that something was bumping.

        “Burst” works, but that scares the hell out of people. “Surge” makes people think of base surges, and that is definitely not what I was talking about. (remember the confusion over piroclasts)

        I think we need a new word. Something like “wad of increased sound that is not an earthquake” WISNEQ?

      3. It’s probably not noise in the signal processing sense of the term, which would indicate a random error in measurement of a signal.
        In this case the signal is the tremor signal. But the spikes – or whatever you call the sudden increases – are most likely part of an separate and distinct signal and as such may stem from other events then the one that cause the tremor signal.
        Of course, if you are just interested in the tremor signal and what it tells you, than everything else is noise.

    3. I agree that something is very definitely going on under Frontera.

      Most of the EQs occuring to date (11:40 am)have been located in NW, W and SW Frontera:

      NW FRONTERA 1,589
      W FRONTERA 3,472
      SW FRONTERA 5,718

      Your own plots of displacement seem to indicate inflation at FRON and SABI.

      And our plots of depth of EQ vs latitude also indicate a lot of activity in that area.

      1. Also the gap between the earthquake blobs may be closing up. (The gap being between lat 27.75 & 20km and lat 28.8 & 15km)

        So the earlier patterns of EQs may also need to be taken into account.

    1. I guess (hope not) there might be panic there at Frontera. Is the distance “slant distant” or horizontal?

      1. Straight line bearing cut. I can’t derive a depression angle. How deep can not be determined.

      2. I guess (not expert) this might indicate that possibly new magma (or liquids) have reached the “shallowness” needed to release gas; (superheated) ground water that then turn to steam via expansion at 2,5 km deep????? Seems this was the deepness you stated some many weeks back. Should new stuff come up I hope it hits no vital structures or people. I may get this wrong, just my feeling, not expert.

      3. At about 2.5 to 2.75 km you cross the supercritical phase of water.

        I still haven’t found the reference, but I think CO2, which is much less soluble than water in magma, starts to really come out of solution at about 25 km.

        Again, I can’t remember where I read that.

      5. On the plus side, I only have one pixel resolution in the arrival time, and I could have missed the alignment by that much also, so that could swing that bearing one or two degrees either way.

      6. Location seems still in line with most recent EQs. Now the “waiting game”… No tri-angulation possible?

      7. Not much more than that. The velocity of the signal to EGOM and EHIG could be applied to CHIE, but the mode of transmission is likely different since CHIE sits pretty close to the source.

        With the errors that I already know are in the data, I am apprehensive at trying to nail it down any further. The resolution of what I have available (public data) just isn’t high enough make me comfortable in trying to do that.

        The last thing I want to do is to put out bogus conclusions.

      8. Here… I’ll show you in numbers.

        The velocity difference from the time that CHIE sees whatever it is until EGOM and EHIG see it, is 1.68 km/s. Thats way below P-wave velocity, which should be up in the 6 to 7.5 km/s realm. S-waves can go as low as about 3 km/s, so they are also too fast.

        The speed of sound in salt water is about 1.560 km/s, so it’s a good candidate for how the signal is getting to the other two stations. T-waves, seismic signals propagated through water, fun about 1.465 km/s.

        My guess is that my 5.04 seconds per pixel resolution limitation is preventing me from getting a better guess.

        But even with my slop in signal, a tangential cut from that bearing line to station CHIE would put it at 3.8 seconds and still satisfy what the plot shows. (under Frontera)

        Buy you have to remember, there is a LOT of room for error in my data. It could be in an circle easily 3 kilometers from that position.

        I just can’t give you a better guess than that.

      9. I see (but I am not expert). Accurate enough for about plus/minus 3 km around Frontera AREA is lots of terretory, both high or low ground. Seems airport area is fartheset away.
        Follow the travel speed argument. Silly maybe, but did you state speed for “Harmonic Tremor” or is that speed known?

      10. Depends on what exactly a harmic tremor is.

        Sound, as we know it, is a pressure wave in the atmosphere. In the ground, or in steel or water, it moves faster.

        P-waves, from earthquakes, are also pressure waves. When a quake occurs, the measure the arrival time differences at seismic stations to find the location. Those bursts I measured are not traveling at P-wave speeds. So, what are they?

  24. A quiet moment, time to ask those who are experts on the Icelandic language and geography a stupid question…

    It’s about Eyjafjallajökull, island-mountain-glacier.

    We all of course know that a glacier cannot erupt. But we talk about Eyja as being the volcano. Some maps show another name of the mountain under the volcano, “Guðnasteinn”.

    Is this the correct name of the volcano, or am I really confused now?

    .

    1. Not volcanic expert, but “Guðnasteinn” is a rock peak on the craters edge. Not the volcano itself. The name of the whole (volanic) mountain is “Eyjafjallajökull”, but do not get fooled by this having -jökull ending. The whole mountain range from west to east is “Eyjafjöll” (plural) but there is NOT specific name for the volcano itself (except it has been forgotten over the ages, due rather few eruptions?), other than this. Hope this clears it up 🙂

    3. If I do not remember correctly the volcano was actually named Gudnasteinn during the latter stages of the eruption to end confusion. They took the name from the Nunatak that is the highest point of the small caldera.
      So I am calling the volcano Gudnasteinn, if it is good enough for IMO, who am I to argue. IGN deseves to get Bobed, IMO do not.

      3. I am looking forward to that time!! The new language will be know as Jónbloglandic or something even longer invented by Carl or Lurking… It will become an unfathomable language that will cause Giggle translate to finally crash and self-destruct, like an unsolvable code introduced into the Borg collective. 🙂

      4. All Swedes are Borg, resistance is futile.
        Sit still while we assimilate your leaders.

        Silly fact, our finance minister is actually named Borg. He is now assimiliting Greace.

      5. The EU will breathe a collective sigh of relief as Greece switches over to Swedish Krona!

      7. Well, If nobody corrects errors, then the error becomes fact, then the correction becomes fiction .. eh?
        That volcano is NOT “the Stone of Guðni” (btw. lots of men bear that name) but the volcano is “Mt. Eyjafjallajökull”.

      9. No, they (IMO) do not have powers to name volcanos. That power lies within special sub-committies of the education ministry or environ-mental ministry …., hork, I do not remember where that power is buried. The volcano name still is “Eyjafjallajökull” – and yes – you got it wrong. Seems someone spoofed you.

      4. The Nunatak with the jeeps are Goðasteinn.
        Lots of maps gets this wrong.
        On the pictures here you get Eyjó from different angels with the right names:
        http://www.jardvis.hi.is/page/jheyjafjallajokull
        Guðni was a outlaw that got killed at Guðnasteinn.
        Goðasteinn is named so because a headen chietain took his pagan idols of the gods up there when he should asdopt Christianity
        Hamundur is the higest 1666masl

      5. Thank you for the information and the pictures!
        Very clear with the angles included.

        So, there are at least two of them Steinn’s! And one Hamundur, together the three main peaks. Really nice to know which name belongs where.

        If Goðasteinn could speak -.

        Looking at 9071802a.gif, I wonder if Goðasteinn may be seen on the webcam http://live.mila.is/eyjafjallajokull-fra-thorolfsfelli/ (at least easier than Guðnasteinn, which is further to the south), that is, when the clouds have left.

        Gigjökull is the Africa-shaped glacier a little left of the middle of the cam picture if I’m right.

      6. By the way, took a look at all the stunning pictures in the gallery. – So you drove by car up to Fimmvörðuháls… what happened to the white car, anyway? – Didn’t know there is such a nice hut up there.

      7. I actually never been on Fimmvorduhals, i just found those photos on the web.
        Fimmvorduhals is a popular tourist destiantion, in the summer time, but people should know that even in the summer it can be very dangerous.

        When you drive a jeep in deep snow you decrease the pressure in the tires until the car floats, sometimes when the pressure is very low the tires can go off the rim, like on the white car.
        This happens often and is easy to fix.

      1. Barbecue time, July in Iceland: http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.cartoonstock.com/newscartoons/cartoonists/kta/lowres/ktan248l.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.cartoonstock.com/newscartoons/directory/b/bbq.asp&h=400&w=364&sz=31&tbnid=puZt6__MsUyEjM:&tbnh=76&tbnw=69&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dcaricature%2Bbarbecue%26tbm%3Disch%26tbo%3Du&zoom=1&q=caricature+barbecue&docid=tJHV-gEGDJxt8M&hl=en&sa=X&ei=0Yy-TpPtJIX4sgbzmZD2Ag&sqi=2&ved=0CCkQ9QEwAQ&dur=7210
        height: 669 m
        🙂

  26. From eumetsat.int:
    “An underwater volcano has been active for a couple of months close the southern tip of El Hierro in the Canary Islands. Various visible satellite images (e.g. See the NASA Earth Observatory) are showing plumes of dirty water streaming continuously from the volcano. The two images from Metop-A demonstrate that the ongoing eruption is not only spewing debris into sea, but also producing a hot spot. On 5 November the hot spot is warmer than the surrounding waters by 1-2K.”

    Photos from November 5 and 6:
    http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/6561/hierro1.jpg
    http://img267.imageshack.us/img267/669/imgiotdelhierrohotspotl.png

    It would be interesting to see some never photos. Still I haven’t found it, but I will keep looking.

    (Photos originally posted on Cazatormentas:
    http://www.cazatormentas.net/foro/general/seguimiento-de-terremotos-volcanes-o-noticias-geologicas-en-canarias/msg562438/#msg562438)

  29. El Hierro is going to erupt very very soon, or it just erupted.
    http://www.01.ign.es/ign/head/volcaSenalesDiasAnterioresHora.do?nombreFichero=CHIE_2011-11-12_00-01&estacion=CHIE&Anio=2011&Mes=11&Dia=12&tipo=2&hora=00-01

    They should start emediate evacuation of the Frontera area. I think it is coming up onland.
    I repeat, we are at most hours from an eruption, but I will not be surprised if it has just started an eruption. Seismic harmonics just went horkingly off scale 5 minutes ago.

    1. There is certainly a very real risk of it doing so. And there may already be a path up for the magma.

      See plot posted against Lurking’s comments of 22:09 this evening.

    2. The Ramon Margalef is also around, not the most usual part of the day for research.
      Let us hope whatever it is that happens, is happening in the water.

    3. Also note that the spectrogram has not been looking good for most of the evening so time may now be critical.

      1. It is really bad, there is a clear harmonic progression with darker blobs starting at 1 and running up at 3, 5.5, 7 & 8,5
        Ontop of that the red area is creaping up on 10.

  30. Good night all. I have had enough of counting EQs so off to count sheep instead. Have a quiet night in Iceland and El Hierro.

      1. I was afraid you might say something like that; I am hoping for the best and that the authorities act promptly – like now.

  31. Well you guys know what your talking about so looks like fireworks about to begin, i hope the people are safe.
    I have added all webcams for area that i can find, and the data i can so its all on one page if you wish to monitor it. Some webcams are intermittent, some take a little time to connect, but its best i could do, basically a few sources added to one page to make it easy to monitor. http://www.floodwarn.co.uk/hierro_volcano.htm
    Let me know if it helps or not

      1. Being wrong and nothing happening is good; being right but the authorities get it wrong is hell.

        I am really going to bed now. Getting grunpy is a sign that I need shleep.

      2. Yes, its not easy predicting what mother earth will do, but been alot on here that have been proactive warning of its potential, and very knowledgable.

      3. Get me right here, El Hierro is not a large powerfull volcano, it will just have a long and effusive eruption. Problem is that it will be a bit gassy when it does that.
        They should move people away from at least the most likely places to erupt.
        I do not think that they need to evacuate the island totally. Just relocate people for a while from Frontera.
        I would say that the volcano will go from anytime from half an hour ago up to 36 hours from now. The 4,6 either cracked it or weakened the crust. Or the next large quake will clear anything left away. We will see.

      4. No, it IS a large volcano with a lot of older vents. It is a very complex system and has a lot of features that you see on just about every volcano type. Its a strato volcano if you drop the water level (9500 feet), its a shield volcano-seen that before, its a subsea vent (happening now). Lava tubes like Hawaii.

        It has it all.

      5. M Randolph Kruger:
        Complexity wise you are absolutly correct. I think I was unclear.
        It has the works. But it is of a type that erupts slowly and effusively, therefore it is not of a particularly deadly type. But it can go on for a loooong time. I would gues that the eruptions that producd El Golfo was running for hundreds of years. Please note that it will erupt at the same pace as the incoming magma allows. It is a low pressure volcano that just goes on and on, compared to high pressure volcanos that just go Boom! and are done with it. I think the slow ones in many aspects is more interesting.

      1. It’s my experience that something dramatic will usually take place just as I am about to go to bed. 😛

  35. does anybody know the coordinates/locations of the ElHierro seismic stations: Chie,Ctab,Ccum,Cjul, et. al. ?

    1. Not off hand but Peter Cobbold, I believe, listed them in an earlier post when Avcan initially published them. The info may still be in Avcan.org’s site.

      CHIE might be Las Playas (but I could be wrong as it is late).

  36. I too am waiting to see… I am deeply concerned for the people of Frontera. :(. Unfortunately, I am just “tuning in” tonight so I haven’t had time to catch up on any safety measures that may be in place for them…

  39. Not wanting to be a Cassandra or anything but the omens aren’t looking good. 😀

    A friend sent me this knowing my interest in all things Icelandic. It’s been transgiggliased.

    “News | 9th November 2011 | 09:35:48
    Rosabaugur the Reykjanes

    Rosabaugur the moon attracted considerable attention last night at Reykjanes. Rosabaugur the moon is a rare phenomenon and an old superstition says rosabauginn courier deadly news.

    But what is rosabaugur under Science University? “Light Baugur, usually called Rosa Circle, sometimes seen around the moon, but more often, however, the sun. The reason that these rings are seen less frequently on the moon is that the moon is so much fainter than the sun. Display circle around it will be proportionally smaller. This is also the reason why circle instrument been seen when the moon is full, where the moon is far brighter than it twelve times brighter than when it is “half”.

    Rosa Baugur formed by refraction in the crystal chairs in háskýjum, usually twinkle clouds. These rings are seen only if a cloud cover is in heaven. Crystal Stall They are hexagons and when light passes through the converter that direction, but much different in how it falls on the prism. The most common policy change is 22 degrees, and therefore formed a circle the distance from the moon or sun in the sky. This happens if the crystal pedestal facing rely on all possible ways the clouds; we see a patchwork of light that passes through the crystals that have moderately policy. ”
    http://www.vf.is/Frettir/50593/default.aspx

    1. We call that a rain sign. The way the lore goes down here is that the number of stars you can count in the ring is the number of days until it rains.

    2. The giggle english in that post doesn’t make sentences that make any sense – and those sort of scattered sentence fragments that are present – makes the article sound like a lot of ‘new age sprituality crystal theory scare mongering’. I can’t be bothered even looking at the posted link.
      Either giggle has messed up, or this doesn’t really belong in this rational blog. I’d suggest Jon could delete this thread (and take my comment with it).

      1. Hi Jón, here are again some of our special friends, the scare-mongers at work. Pls. delete the thread. Thanks.

      2. @Edward and Inge – no need to get your knickers in a twist. I’m certainly not one of your special friends or at least more irrational than the usual poster here. 😀 It was just a link an Icelandic friend passed on to me that I thought would make enjoyable OT reading.

    1. Ohhh! Someone else is thinking about my blonde theory of last night! Maybe blonde is infectious 🙂 But Wagabond has found something to support his idea.
      I think though the constant weight of an Ice caps that melt and lose mass fairly rapidly over a period of months with a Jokullhaup to act as a final release trigger is different from a regular small tidal effect.
      However that brings me to this question. Is it possible to compare the pressure exerted of the icecap at Eyaf with the pressure of the water above Bob?
      ( I have a nasty feeling here that Carl or Lurking will be ready with some very complicated Maths 🙂 ……Time for coffee # 3 and a break from this brain storm, it’s far too early on a Saturday morning.

      2. I did the calcs in june I think.
        It was pretty brutal on the theory. Normal summer melt can not affect anything, but if you have de-glaciation, then there will be an effect, a quite large one.
        In between the summer melt and the deglaciation would be a global warming melt of the Jökulls of Iceland. It will affect I think, and it will cause larger and more frequent eruptions for a time of the next 200 to 300 years as the ground resettles.

      3. Thanks Carl. I will try to go back and look at your calculations. Not this afternoon though. I have just finished putting marzipan on the Christmas cake and had to test the brandy for my own personal quality control system 🙂 Feeling full of the Christmas spirit already 🙂

  41. What the heck is going on at Katla?
    New green star (showing in Jón’s helicorders). And a new swarm.

  42. Hi,

    Don’t normally post but need someone to double check my eyesight this early in the morning, has someone stuck a sheep at the end of the pier thingy (for want of the correct term) on the new webcam – the close up of the eruption sight? This is where you say it’s always been there … … … 🙂

    http://hierroendirecto.movistar.es/

    1. Oh Good grief! I think it may be a Canary Dalek, these are very rare and a sub species of the Icelandic sheep Dalek. It is believed that sheep Dalek spores were carried round the world during the eruption of Surtsey and so Daleks can be found in volcanic regions around the world. Each pioneer colony evolved to suit their new climate and habitat but never really lost the protective fleece that is believed to protect the organism from high levels of gasses and other volcanic emissions. Even lava bombs can bounce off it! 🙂

      2. But you must very lucky to see the dalek sheep. I wonder if it rearranged the webcam for not beeing caught… 🙂

    2. Missed another sheep sighting! But at least it looks calm off La Restinga at the moment.

  43. Good morning Katla, some action for the weekend perhaps, or are we just rumbling a bit because of all the attention to the Canaries 🙂 3.1 mag on the chart at the moment, we will see.

      1. Thats right. But when you look on Jons helicorder, this quake looks pretty much like the strong one yesterday. So its most likely not very much weaker.

      1. That is a Big sheep. But it is not a Dalek. You only find those in volcanic regions:)

      2. But it is a Dalek sheep! That is actually the temple they have just erected – look at the portico and monoliths – to worship the appearance of Kate (short for Bob)

      4. They’ll for sure find some of these in about 2 million years from now (and miniture examples in volcanic caves) and will (rightly of course) think that we were a sheep-worshiping society.

        There will be written a lot of dissertations about this by historians in the future … 🙂

      5. Do not forgett all of the hecatombmeters of dissertations that will be written by alien archaeologists in a million years about the prayer-thrones in the solar-temples.
        And they will be amazed that we tried to mimic suns in those temples.

        What is it that they are going to write about?
        Toilett-seats in nuclear power-plants. The two things that will last the longest from our civilization.

        Somthing to ponder during the saturday crap-time 🙂

  46. Seems so to my untrained eye … Wind looks minimal too and you can see it across most nearby stations.

  47. Havent been able to sleep in a week. Quakes in the US… 3.3. south Texas and the Oklahoma ones. Yep, I am up. Good morning Renato.

    1. Something is going on at El Hierro. Look at the webcam. Think its bubbling again.
      Someone turne the cam in another directions!
      Don’t know what that means…

      2. Eeeeee by gum lad! You’re right! It was the Britannia coconut dancers… (Look them up on you tube! they do exist!)

      1. I though he’d survived, or I’d have been less flippant, my condolences to anyone who knew him.

    3. That is wonderful news- lucky chap! He bet he’s in a for a right bollocking from his mum 🙂

      1. The news so far only says that he has been found – there is no word about his conditions except he was unconcious.

      2. My thoughts and prayers are with him and his family.

        What a salutory lesson this is for all of us who follow the Icelandic story. Human life is so fragile.

    6. This is so sad. The only good thing is that he was found, so his family and friends do not have to ask themselves the same sad question for the rest of their lives.

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