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. Awesome picture today at 12 am in the # # ElHierro Via Volcano: twitter-Canarias7 # photo # ElHierro stain from satellite # Canary http://pic.twitter .com/CBg2FKe9 Source: Twitter

  2. Hi Jon.

    I’ve been following your blog for a year and a half and I love it. I have learn so much from you and everyone commenting on your posts.

    But, I find it very hard to keep track on comments when people comment about Canary island in a blog post about Katla. Is it possible to keep comment obout Canary island in blog posts about Canary islands and Comments on Iceland’s volcanos in Iceland’s volcano blog posts?

    Thank you for your great blog.

    1. Quite right, some scaremongerer might soon bring up a correlation between these two volcanic systems !

    2. If you stick around here you’ll get used to it.

      If we had to follow two separate threads we constantly have to flip back and forth to read the punchlines of most of the jokes.

      Plus if our streams of consciousness ran through separate mental valleys, we would never have discovered that the name of the Hierro volcano is actually EldfjallþessierþekktursemBob.

      qed

    3. This is would be impossible to do. But older blog posts remain open for comments for 30 days. So you can always leave a comment there. But the discussions move a long with new blog posts when I post them.

      It is hard to keep up with the comments here. Not because they are sometimes on many subject. It is just the volume that makes this difficult. I even find it hard to watch all the comments here on this blog since there are some many of them. You should not expect anything less then flood of comments if something major happens in Iceland, Canary Island and Spain. At least that is what I prepare for.

    4. I find the comment noise much more damaging to this blog than the mixing of the two subjects.
      There are threads here, that would be better suited for a social network than for a blog, because they are in essence private conversations on subjects unrelated to the blog.
      It’s annoying to have to sift through 100 comments to find two that actually say something about the subject at hand – be it El Hierro or Iceland.
      It’s easy to miss useful comments this way and with time will lead to people stop reading comments and just come here for the author’s posts, which are always a good and interesting read.

      1. I fully agree. I am working on a solution. I hope that it is going to be up in few days time. Off-topics are a problem that is growing and I am going to stop that from being a problem on this blog. Since discussions here needs to be on-topic.

        There are many, many place to discuss other things on the internet. But given how big this blog is I also need to expand it anyway. As that became clear few weeks ago.

    2. My condolences to his family. It was not for want of a magnificent turn out of the rescuers. What a shining example of coordination and team work from all the Icelandic rescue services and volunteers.
      Sadly a lesson learned. Icelandic mountains and wilderness is not a place to go at this time of year no matter how experienced you may think you are.

      1. My condolences, too.

        No, of course, it is not recommendable to go alone to the Icelandic mountains or highlands in the winter time – or anytime that is. But on the other hand, it is possible to travel and also to go hiking in the Icelandic mountains even in winter time, if it is done in groups (e.g. some jeep clubs going to Landmannalaugar or hiking clubs on excursions), with the right equipment (incl. radio telecommunication, there is still not everywhere a connection for portable phones) and after close studies of the weather prognosis.

      2. I agree Inge. It all comes down to using common sense and thought for others and respect for nature.

    3. I am so sorry to hear of his death. :(. I pray for his family and friends, for it is always difficult to lose a loved one but especially in such seemingly senseless manner. I am reminded of how fragile we all are – and how hard the world can be.

      How many times have each of us overestimated our own abilities and underestimated the power and mysteries of nature? I have, too many times to count. Only Grace can account for why I am still here, but I know too well someday it shall be me…

      2. Whilst I do get an enormous kick out watching quakes, eruptions and mother nature in all her glory, I am truly humbled by her immense power. It’s easy to forget how fragile life is and that we are anything but master on this planet. We are only short lease tenants. Our ancestors understood this connection. She is the boss of mankind and always will be.

        My heartfelt condolences to those who knew him. As Carl said, he is someone’s son.

  5. Katla is getting more active:
    Stærð Tími Gæði Staður
    3,1 12. nóv. 08:44:07 90,0 7,2 km A af Goðabungu
    3,0 12. nóv. 08:44:21 Yfirfarinn 8,0 km ANA af Goðabungu
    2,9 11. nóv. 14:57:25 Yfirfarinn 5,2 km A af Goðabungu
    2,8 12. nóv. 13:06:02 Yfirfarinn 34,6 km SSA af Kolbeinsey
    2,4 12. nóv. 04:40:05 Yfirfarinn 6,1 km NNA af Hábungu
    2,3 11. nóv. 00:27:28 Yfirfarinn 4,3 km A af Goðabungu
    http://www.vedur.is/skjalftar-og-eldgos/jardskjalftar/myrdalsjokull/

  7. Hengill seems to be having a few swarms and i believe the contractors not drilling any more. What i do not understand is the following quake there, can someone explain how you get a minus something quake?

    Magnitude -0.1 as in minus

    Reminder that as many cams as i can find are added to following page for convenience, if other data you want on there then tell me
    http://www.floodwarn.co.uk/hierro_volcano.htm

    1. The quakes are not measured linearily, they are measured exponentially, that makes the automated quake-list wonky on the really small ones. Of course they are not negative, but the equation gives the smallest recorded quakes a negative number. Just disregard those 🙂
      Yes, Hengill is an active volcano known to be very seismic since it sits on a tripple junction.
      You have 3 active volcanos there, and the 3 most likely to erupt is Krisuvik, Brennisteinsfjöll and Hengill. All 3 of them have uplift and Hengill and Krysuvik has regular quake-swarms. One of those 3 will most likely erupt during the next hundred years.
      Another one to keap your eyes on is Svartsengi, that might be or not be, a part of the Reykjaness volcanic system. Personally I would say that the sub-aquatic part is a separate system from Svartsengi, but that is highly contested. Svartsengi had a heavy quake swarm a while ago, but no uplift data is known.

      1. Thanks Carl, do you think 100 years for one of those, or do you think something much sooner, i believe you think Hekla is one to watch more so than Katla which seems to be media’s favourite.

      2. If I am correct Hekla will go somewhere between december this year to may next year.
        It is a statistical prediction over known behavious, and the grade of the signs of an upcoming eruption. IMO published a warning on july 7 of an upcoming eruption. But, she might also go back to bed and sleep for the next 100 years.

        There are quite a few more volcanos that are more likely to erupt than the volcanos on the Reykjaness Peninsula.

        In order of likelyhood I would say that during the next 100 years we will see this.
        Grimsvötn 10 eruptions, Hekla 4 eruptions, Katla 2 Eruption, Bardarbunga 1 Eruption, Krafla 1 eruption, Askja 2 Eruptions and at least 3 eruptions from the rest of the volcanos. That boild down to about 1 eruption every 5 years.
        This is quite normal for Iceland.
        Problem is just that I think 1 of those eruptions will be a rifting fissure flood basalt eruption.

    2. This is due to the logarithmic scale being used in calculating the Magnitude according to the Richter-Scale.

      The reason for negative magnitude quakes is simply the choice of where the zero is, which is an arbitrary choice. According to Wikipedia:
      «Richter arbitrarily chose a magnitude 0 event to be an earthquake that would show a maximum combined horizontal displacement of 1 µm (0.00004 in) on a seismogram recorded using a Wood-Anderson torsion seismograph 100 km (62 mi) from the earthquake epicenter. This choice was intended to prevent negative magnitudes from being assigned. The smallest earthquakes that could be recorded and located at the time were of magnitude 3, approximately. However, the Richter scale has no lower limit, and sensitive modern seismographs now routinely record quakes with negative magnitudes.»

      Hope this helps

      1. You also have the IDDP-2 and the carbofracking experiments there. All of the these things are currently on a moratorium after the last large quakes swarms and public protests.

      3. Sorry Wagabond, but you are wrong. Orkuveita got external funding for it. A lot of it too. Thing is that OR had to take in money somehow, and in desperation they agreed to some things that was not clever. Among them is the bellow thingamabit. IDDP2 is also on the way.
        So the hold you are refering to does not aply any longer.

        http://www.or.is/English/Projects/CarbFix/

  10. Hi Carl

    So u think that Hekla will erupt sooner then Katla?. What do u think about this earthquakes last few days in Katla caldera…

    1. Hi Sid,
      I myself think that Hekla will erupt before Katla, as she’s filled to the brim and needs very little warning to erupt, i.e: few earthquakes. I woudln;t be surprised if she erupted before march next year! While with Katla I would expect to see this around August-September!

      Sam 🙂

    2. The quakes during the last few days have been going on for more than a decade. The magnitude, number and magmatic quality of them has been slowly rising on average during the last couple of decades. Does this mean that an eruption is near? Well, yes it does, at least on a geological timespan.
      I do think that Katla will erupt really soon, and by that I mean within the next decade, but that she needs a minimum of a year more.
      Hekla is so ready to erupt that it currently takes about 1 hour of small earthquake activity before she erupts.
      I would say that at any given moment Hekla is more than 100 times more likely to erupt than Katla. So I am a bit stumped about the Katla mongering out there. Yes it is a big and powerfull volcano and she is ready for an eruption, or close to, but she is not the volcano closest.
      Also, Hekla has produced 2/3s of all the ash found in europe, with 1/3 coming from all the other volcanos put together.

    3. It must not have been easy or pleasant for the rescuers today feeling the tremors on the hills there. I think it is Katla’s way of sending warnings out. Sid, I think Katla will produce some stronger quakes, many and more constant tremors before she erupts. But who knows? Remember it is only in the last few years that so many monitoring devices have been used. Prior to that nobody could “see” the “action” beneath these volcanoes so really all there is is is either memories from those who live nearby or very scanty written records . It is really only in the last 20 years continuous monitoring has provided so much more information.
      So as Jon always says, “we must wait and see”. I am sure though that, like El Hierro, there will be some clear indication that an eruption is about to start. Except for Hekla who has a nasty habit of shaking heavily a couple of times then erupting within the hour.

      1. Corrrection, Hekla shakes very moderatly before an eruption. Last time she only had 1 quake at 2m, the rest of the few quakes was below human capacity to feel.

      2. Ooooer! That makes her even more difficult to monitor. Definitely not a place to plan a picnic! Errrrrrm! Do you think our party on Burfell is a good idea? The stomping of feet and the bawdy singing may just send her over the edge. 🙂

      3. She actually should be done erupting by then. But even if she blew, we would get a view of a lifetime, say cheers in her general ashy direction and then go to Reykkjavik to finnish of the celebration 🙂

    4. Oh great King of Lurk!

      It’s been nigh on a month since you posted that fabolius 4d plot of the eq’s under Katla. Think you could whip up one showing the last month’s activity?

      I gots to learn how to do those. I know you posted a tutorial a while back…I’ll have to find that…

    1. @Carl.
      well maybe you are right, but anyway they keep it a secret to us owners 🙂
      I understood that IDDP-2 was planned at Nesjavellir.
      I was there last week with tourists and there was no rig there.
      Carbfix is then quite an other story. They get all the fundings they like for that.
      I think that they are only doing a small scale, there not likely to disturb anything.
      I am more interested in getting rid of all the bl…. H2S they produce.

      1. The IDDP-projects are funded externally, and they are very interested. I used to have a bit of sway with one of the largest foreign funders of the Krafla IDDP1 project. We pulled our part of the funding since we had a bit of a snag with our own Deep Drilling Hydrothermal Project. Ie, the Company decided that they should discontinue the planned powerplant at another place in another country.
        Personaly I am still a great advocate of it, and I think that Iceland should go through with it. But I think the most logical site is Krafla and Svartsengi, not the Hengill volcano.
        CarbFix is just an idiotic dream of people who wishes to be able to say that they are doing something for the environment. They are paying coffee money to OR to be able to say that thy do something about the environmnet since it is much cheaper than doing something usefull. Ontop of it, it wont work, and even if it had been possible to work, it would still have been on a useless scale.
        I still regret not buying OR. Would have been very usefull.

  12. Have you seen the hypothesis of Juan Jesús Coello, who suggested that the pyroclastic material is a perlite? The question remains an open whether the matrix is trachyte or rhyolite. http://www.avcan.org/?m=Noticias&a=noticia&N=911
    Which brings me to question whether the earlier analysis, which was published here (76% Al2O3 = Millosevichite), still applies?

    1. The Millosevichite was from the really first run of stones. It was collected by one of the fisherman in the area during the first day or two of the eruption.
      The ejecta of today is something completely different.
      So yes, and no. The test result stands as it is hard to argue with analyzis results, but does not stand since the ejecta has changed.

      1. I also should say that the Millosevichite probably was a part that was inside the crust that was knocked loose and thrown out be the very very hot gasses. It was of magmatic origin, but from an earlier eruption that had percolated into Millosevichite, then been semi-melted and thrown out by the new eruption.

    2. It would seem, that if the earlier observation/analysis cannot be repeated – and it seems it wasn’t – then this may either indicate a mistake in that analysis, or it may indicate that the rock analysed was not really related to the eruption or than it may have been brought to the surface by same.
      Maybe other samples will give the same result, that would of course be interesting.

      1. I think they should take some drag samples from the fresh pillowlava at the bottom to clear this up.
        Maybe they have.
        seems to bee very hot to handle. 🙂

    1. I’ve looked until I have spots in front of my eyes but still can’t see it. has it gone now?

      1. Newby, it is just a small normal little harbour whirlpool caused by the changing tides and the current.
        Nice to watch, but not worth popping your eyeballs out over.

  14. Look at the ocean its going one way and then returns the other way as if its doing a circle its more nearer the pier not in the distance.

    You need to be looking at the webcam thats pointing to the pier not the one from a distance.

  15. There are two webcams the first one shows the houses and the pier in the distance and this looks as if the sea is calm.

    The second webcam shows the pier and the ocean and the whirlpool is definately there .

    1. I am watching the harbour cam. I have not seen anything out of the normal yet. But I am not saying there is nothing there, I might just have missed it 🙂

  16. Carl

    This whirlpool only started when there was bubbling in the ocean i have been watching the web all afternoon it was not there before all the activity started in the ocean earlier.

    1. I’m looking at the webcam for hours (but only sometimes!). Sometimes I see bubbles, sometimes the water in circles, sometimes white spots…
      and I think perhaps i saw nothing then wind in the waves. Who knows..

    2. And I didn’t see the bubbling in the ocean either. No hope for me I reckon. I need a massive fountain of water jetting in the air like I saw when Surtsey was formed (on the TV news) before I notice anything these days. Actually seeing Surtsey erupt from the sea was the begining of a lifelong fascination with all things Icelandic (love their jumpers) for me. I have vowed on day I will find the money to visit. I haven’t managed it yet and in a couple of years it will be 5 decades gone by.

  17. The bubbles have definately been there earlier and were forming a semi circle there have not been sightings of them recently .

  18. Good afternoon.
    Went out for work and now I’m back to check on Katla.
    She’s keeping the sheep busy, ain’t she?
    Sad story about the Swedish man. I don’t think it is a good idea to walk over those glaciers after all the cracking from recent geothermal activity.
    How about the tremor component at GOD? Seems to me that it’s still ongoing…

    1. Hello Renato IGN again have it at a different depth but nor far off, just a 19 km depth this time.

  21. It looks like they have started to pump down water at Hengill volcano again. Given the current earthquake swarm. If it evolves into major earthquake swarm I am going to write about it.

    1. Hekla only has earthquakes in Hekla volcano proper, and only during the last couple of hours before erupting. The quakes is a sign that the volcano is starting to open up the fissure.
      Hekla has an active plumbing system up to a very shallow volcano chamber, and partly into the volcano itself. That is why there is so little quaking. It just flexes a little bit, then borehole strain with a few small quakes, and then boom…

      2. Yepp, if the dot is ontop of Hekla, then we will most likely see an eruption. On July 7 there was a quake, and then a whopping big borehole transient. It almost erupted back then.

  23. Something going on in the zoomed-in webcam, can’t tell if it’s a ship moving or something else showing up in the eruption area.

    1. Never mind, it’s a boat, going straight through the stain. Ramon Margalef? But maybe not, it looks like a small sailing boat or something.

    2. Don’t know. It’s gone now, just passed out of the picture towards the left. But I thought this was excluded zone for normal boats – strange! Maybe someone like those French tourists that were found a week or so after the eruption started, who wanted to swim in the green water and were admiring the colour…

      1. I missed it, but the people over at AVCAN are saying that the camera moved and shaked and then became blurred. Was it an earthquake? Has anyone here seen this?

  28. @Diana & Islander
    many thanks for the links you posted yesterday evening – I’ve only just logged on since
    A

  29. In case anyone was interested I’m back from having my epidural injections. They were incredibly painful and appear at this point to have done nothing. Should have read the label.
    Lot’s been happening while I was away I see. Will I be sweeping up Katla ash soon then?

    3. You could do with a hot thermal bath Brian but I don’t think a flight to Blue Lagoon over on the Reykjanes peninsular can be obtained on the NHS :).

      1. There is a thermal bath in El Hierro. The spa is the Hotell where the mysterious H04 is.
        Perhaps Cabildosar would pay for it to renew the tourist industry.

    4. Sometimes it takes up to a week for improvement to be felt. The pain of the shots is worth the relief you will feel before too long.

      1. The light is coming and going, I think it is the ship. Just checked on localizatodo and it’s still more or less in the same position as it was earlier when I made this screendump:
        http://i40.tinypic.com/2poz9r8.png
        So this would fit with the light position.

      2. Or it could also be the reflection of the moon? The moon is almost full and at least here very very bright (not sure what’s the weather in El Hierro though, if it’s clear or cloudy…).

      3. It’s still there and looks like a ship. But was the flickering ligtht before from the boat or has it changed direction because of something …?

    1. That is harmonic tremor spikes. Probably caused as magma is pushed upwards into the system. There seems to currently be quite a lot of magma pushing into the system. It has been going on for about a day and a half now.

      Pevolca and IGN seem to think that it is reason to believe that there will soon be an eruption over at El Golgo area.

      3. To early to tell, and I think we would not know untill it actually happened. IGN and Pevolca is guessing that any of them could happen, or even both. They have now swung into our view of things.

    2. Well.. I don’t know what the flying @#$ they are… I think they are pockets of gas (you pick the gas, my guess is SO2, H2S, or CO2) exsolving at depth.

      The time of arrival at EGOM and EHIG are not consistent… in some cases EGOM has arrival times as much as 40 seconds before EHIG, other times they are simultaneous. The simultaneous ones point towards a location near Frontera. The “EGOM early” ones point toward a source closer to Restinga.

      Does anyone know of a place where the activity bursts at the Jacuzzi’s is logged? You know, “frothy at hh:mm”?

      Meanwhile, here are the burst durations by time from what I have collected.

      http://i41.tinypic.com/v4311d.png

  33. The Director of the Observatory Geophysicist of the Institute geological survey national (IGN) Carmen Lopez, requests the herreña population “which rely on labour científco” developed by experts who are following the evolution of the eruptive phenomenon, as well as the messages that is giving the address of the Emergency Plan de Canarias (Pevolca).

    In this way responded López to be asked about the feeling that they have some citizens on the island that is not providing all the relevant information to the citizens or are altered the actual data to not generate alarm.

    In this sense, he denied that IGN has detected a second signal of tremor indicating a submarine eruption ye underway in the Gulf, contrary to what is becoming more widespread in some Internet forums. “With current data from the monitoring network there no evidence that there is another sign of tremor”, says the news sheet. What has it done the IGN is to install equipment to distinguish different simultaneous sources of tremor, so it made it clear that “in case a second source, have ability to be able to distinguish which is linked to La Restinga”.

    At the headquarters of IGN in La Restinga campaign far moved in the morning of Saturday Journal of notices, López insisted his request citizens so that they rely on the Pevolca. “The management of the plan is being good, and there is complete coordination with scientific groups, enabling measures sensible and well implemented.”

    The currently responsible for the scientific equipment deployed by IGN in El Hierro, because yesterday succeeded in La Restinga María José Blanca – Director general of the Agency in the Canary Islands-emphasizes that “the volcanology requires monitoring and can be forecast with space of a few hours or days, as nature shows signs that allow to know in advance what can happen”, so activate the appropriate civil protection measures.

    http://www.diariodeavisos.com/2011/11/12/actualidad/pedimos-a-la-gente-que-confie-en-los-cientificos-y-en-el-pevolca

    1. And since I trust Lurkings way of deciding more than Pevolca, I would say that this is utter balloney. Horking Holistic Hogwash from Perez as usuall.
      There is good evidence of a second harmonic tremor, so this time I am calling his lies. He needs to put out evidence for what he is saying since all public data shows contradictory data to his statements (as usual).
      Senor Perez, you lie.

  34. http://www.gobiernodecanarias.org/noticias/index.jsp?module=1&page=nota.htm&id=144768

    Diffuse emission of carbon dioxide Furthermore, scientists from the Institute of the Canary Islands volcanological (non-tip) have confirmed the direction of PEVOLCA that have registered an upward trend of the diffuse emission of carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere in the building subaerial volcanic island of El Hierro has reached 1481 ± 37 tons per day, an amount equivalent to 4.35 times the normal average value considered for the diffuse emission of carbon dioxide (CO2) throughout the island of El Hierro. This contrasts with the reduction of CO2 emissions into the atmosphere by the submarine volcano of La Restinga has been recorded in recent days. This is the main conclusion of the studies carried on since last July, a period in which they conducted more than 7,500 diffuse flux measurements of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the island of El Hierro, through numerous scientific campaigns on diffuse volcanic gas emissions that have materialized over the entire surface of the island of Isla Meridian.

    1. If that is true (well, it is Pevolca) it would be a sign that La Restinga could be shutting down (if it is not a lie) since the emission of CO2 is getting smaller. And at the same time (if it has anything with reallity to do) the measurments of CO2 is getting higher, and that is a sign of magmatic upwards movement under the island. Caveat, the bulk of gas could be out in the El Golfo, and would not show.
      Rememeber that 4,35 times background values is still fairly low.

      Caveat: All of the data I refer to are from unreliable sources, ie the authorities responsible.

      1. I don’t know if it’s true or not… how can we know? We can collect all this info and see if this pieces can fit. Thank’s for your reply.

      2. The Diffuse emission of carbon dioxide Inform was completed for INVOLCAN, and it´s hundred percent reliable.

  36. I wonder if the volcanic material form the 3 eruptions we have had in Iceland are making the air colder than usual in the stratosphere.
    Some phenomenons that are seldom seen have been seen quite often lately, like the Moon halo in the South West.
    I remember looking at the biggest iridescent cloud i have ever seen last year, and it lasted for hours.
    http://www.mbl.is/frettir/innlent/2010/12/09/glitsky_yfir_akureyri/
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/helgahar/5246979014/

    A month ago i was on my porch fixing my hot tub in very good weather, at least 10 C, and the sky was covered with Northern lights .
    When i was a kid i often sat out in the snow in blistering cold watching the Northern lights dancing across the sky, so it was a bit unusual.

    Lots of meteors have also been seen lately. Most recently a woman saw a bright light flying over Hafnarfjall early Oct 26 , it split into 3 different lights that kept on moving for ca 30 sec.
    The people in the Dalvik swimming pool saw a bright light fly across the sky over Svarvaðardal around 19.00, and people in Akureyri shortly after saw a bright light that had a multi colored tail fly over the fjord traveling south.

    http://www.visir.is/furduljos-saust-a-lofti-a-nokkrum-stodum/article/2011111029141

    Unusual things seem to happen more often lately for some reason.
    Maybe stuff like this is only for Icelanders, and not for the outside world.

    2. The answer is emphatically no.
      Actually this year will go to the record as the warmest in human history if December is not insanely cold.
      Do not ever confuse your local weather with the worlds weather. For me it is the warmest october and november ever. Normally we have snow and ten minus now, instead we have ten plus and rain. Does this have anything to do with it? No, my weather is also just local and unsignificant.

      1. If this year is the warmest in history, isn’t that yet another
        oddity ?.
        That makes it even stranger to see so many cold related phenomena s.

      3. Where do you live?

        You are still just thinking localy.
        Eastern US over to Iceland and Northern UK has had colder than normal. The rest of the planet above. Even though the cold area is large, it is still abysmaly small compared to the rest of the world.

      4. I live in the North of Iceland.
        Last winter in the UK was unusually cold, same goes for Norway.
        Probably much of the Northern hemisphere.

      5. So far this autumn East Anglia’s been exceptionally dry – some parts still drought conditions, the top couple of inches are dampish then dry below – we’ll need a very wet winter to make up the soil moisture deficit (8-10 inches at the mo) before any infiltration to groundwater!!

      6. Alan and I’m in Ireland and we’ve been having the wettest autumn ever measured! Two weeks ago there were huge floods on the east coast, because clouds dumped on us 2x the entire normal amount of rain for the whole month of October within 3hrs! And we had practically no summer – rain every day and cold, I didn’t even wear short sleeves outside once this summer here, not once (I did for about a week in April and that was our summer…).

      7. Ahem?
        This is a bit confusing, Alan and Ursula was in both East Anglia and Ireland at the same time, and both of them where at the same time dried out and drowned?
        *scratchin mi noggin*

      8. Carl, it’s not diffcult, there’s about, what, 500km in-between and seems that this autumn all the fronts stayed on the east coast of Ireland and stayed either on this side of the Irish sea or else crossed into Waled or up north to Scotland, so the East Anglia remained dry…

      10. There’s the usual variation in weather, and there are shifts in the ranges of such variations caused by global warming. We call it climate change because although the majority of places will see warmer weather, some places will actually get colder, e.g. as ocean and air currents change their long term patterns. The meltdown of the arctic icecap in recent years has spread a lot of cold meltwater with different salinity than we’re used to, for instance, and the lack of ice changes currents too. Also, ironically, the huge heatwaves in Russia and Texas have decreased atmospheric instability, that is, the difference between air temperature at the surface and at higher altitudes, which has made it harder for hurricanes to grow from tropical storms, which is why the Atlantic has seen so many cyclones this year but relatively few hurricanes.

        As for volcanoes, they certainly can change the weather. Mt Pinatubo erased the effects of an entire El Nino, for instance. Lava fields like the Deccan Traps of India or the Siberian Traps wreaked as much havoc as human activity, which is saying something.

        With the world warming as fast as it is, nowadays I’m more surprised when we don’t get record years.

    3. Fonix asked about the temperatures in the stratosphere, not the temperatures close to the ground. The stratosphere HAS been getting colder, but this is one of the effects predicted by global warming models. The conditions that produce noctilucent clouds are becoming more common, but the rest of the items you mention (like meteors) I believe are unrelated to stratospheric temperatures.

      Recent volcanic eruptions have not had the characteristics or the magnitude necessary to produce a noticeable effect on temperatures.

      1. Sudden stratosphere warming SST can cause a negative North Atlantic oscillation NAO. As the air in stratosphere warms it expands and forces air downwards, this reverses the North Atlantic Ocillation ie negative. That air from stratosphere is obviously very cold air and it often then enhanced by oscillation now in reverese , moves down across Northern Europe.
        The sudden stratosphere warming is thought to occur when the flow of proton from the sun increases due to sunspots and CME which charge the particles in the upper atmosphere.
        Volcanos can also cause cooling by dust and smoke particles reflecting / blocking sunlight and radiated heat.

      2. Well, in Sweden it has been one of the warmest and nicest summers ever, so I guess the northern oscillations went somewhere else.
        Southern sweden though rain the entire summer.

  38. Just gathered information from shallower quakes at El Hierro area. Do’nt no if the coordinates cover all the area involved:
    1110336 05/11/2011 00:16:00 27.6452 -18.0214 11km IV 3.6 4 SW EL PINAR.IHI [+] info
    1110931 07/11/2011 20:51:48 27.8423 -18.0592 9km 1.0 4 NW FRONTERA.IHI [+] info
    1111036 08/11/2011 02:26:28 27.7533 -18.0569 10km 1.5 4 W FRONTERA.IHI [+] info
    1111168 08/11/2011 08:46:32 27.7668 -18.0659 11km 1.9 4 W FRONTERA.IHI [+] info
    1111196 08/11/2011 10:31:46 27.6350 -18.0374 13km 2.6 4 SW EL PINAR.IHI [+] info
    1111260 08/11/2011 13:45:08 27.8375 -18.0744 10km 1.5 4 NW FRONTERA.IHI [+] info
    1111855 10/11/2011 15:47:31 27.8906 -18.0878 12km 2.0 4 NW FRONTERA.IHI [+] info

  39. is there a chart like the El Hierro seismic energy release chart available for Katla as well?

    I’d be interested in seeing that.

      2. Hi Jon, I think that Mark meant was there a chart like that for Katla… thankyou anyway though. 🙂

      8. There is another site of IMO that has the cumulative seismic plot since 98…
        That is the one I was thinking of.
        Diana, could you post it for us?
        I would also want it here in Sweden.

      2. Oh Good grief! I shall have to stop reading the posts from the latest upwards……:(
        Carl was right I had hidden the links.but too late as everyone had found them first. I shall have to hide them better:)

  40. * The white point of the webcam in Restinga now in the afternoon *

    Sat in the afternoon and looked at the webcam pictures from La Restinga, looking at the zoomed image of a ship. A little later the ship disappears to the left of the picture and you could see a little black dot to the left of the non-zoomed picture. Of interest is that the moment shows a white dot to the right of the big picture. I looked exra closely at the white point and it came and went a bit like “explosions”. After a while I saw that the white point is not lost, but remained in the picture and grew. In comparison to the ship (black dot) was the white point substantially higher.

    Just before the zoomed image was poor and I think in all honesty that it was actually quite ok. But the camera needs to zoom out tomorrow. (!)

    When darkness came (the big picture) disappeared almost completely white spot but instead appeared briefly a different light from that direction.

    The ship (I guess, Ramon Margalef) disappeared to the left of the pictures before dark and a good bit of the phenomenon I am trying to describe.

    Just wanted to tell you this when I saw that there were discussions about what it was at Avcan FB….

    / Giggle from Swedish to English, sorry /

    1. Titta, en till Svensk!
      Snart har vi världsherraväldet 😉
      Jag tror att det suddiga ljuset som syns någon gång per timme är vulkanen, medan det andra ljuset var/är skeppet som cirklar runt.

      I just said that the blurry light visible about once an hour is the volcano, and that the sharp light is most likely a ship.
      The rest was just about the coming world domination 😉

      1. Heh, men det jag tycker är det bästa med den här bloggen är att det finns människor från så otroligt många länder och nationaliteter som debaterar och det blir inte bara geologi samt massor av “stuff” om vulkaner som man lär sig, men också mer “intangible” kulturella saker. Typ gosology. 😉

        Jag skulle dock helst säga det på engelska…

        What I think is the most amazing thing with this blog is that we have people from so many different nationalities here, that we don’ t just learn about geology and volcanoes, but also more intagible cultural things. I mean, just look, Jon has brought together people from Iceland, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Switzerland, the Netherlands, UK, Ireland, Slovenia, Germany, Brazil, USA, Spain, and probably many other countries that I have forgotten (please, speak up if I’ve missed your country). In my opinion, it’s incredible.

      2. Portugal – Luisport and Alyson (who lives 7km from me) and myself (UK ex-pat in the Algarve for 28 years)

      3. Alyson, from Portugal? This is novelty to me. And Irpsit and Vince (Azores – geologically, not exactly Portugal). 🙂

      6. I’m Welsh – now living in South Australia. …….and hoping for clear skies in March for my next European jaunt!

  41. Ladies and Gentleman
    I have been following this blog with great interest. I am not a Vulcanologist nor have ant ology in Earthquake. I am however a retired Firefighter/Fire Engineer living in Spain. I gained a MSc in Combustion, Fire Explosion and Detination. So leaning about combustion below our feet is new. Can i just say that it has been proved that CO2 above 5% is a Toxicant as well as an Asphyxiant. So has 2 ways of affecting humans

    1. Welcome Fred :)Oh! Firefighter, we may need you at our Iceland party next year in case the BBQ or Carl gets too out of control 🙂

  43. Espacioblog Forestman 1 News have commented that there is already a mouth opened in the North and that they are trying to locate it.
    Há near um minute · Third.

  44. There was no blurry lights but it was something that we might see tomorrow. Yes, it is certainly something to the volcano but the later light came not from a ship when it already had sailed from there …

    Personally know nothing about volcanoes, but wanted to observe you on what I actually saw the web cam.

    Thanks for the informative blog and your wisdom!

    Going to La Gomera in February and monitor only mode for my own sake … ash on such

    Heja Sverige 🙂 (to Carl le Strange)

    /Sorry, giggle again/

  46. Regarding Godabunga and Katla.
    When I went through and ponderd this map year for year I noticed how important Godabunga is. Last year during the Eyjafjallajökull (Gudnasteinn) eruption the quakes ran all the way to Fimmvörduhals from Godabunga. And this year that is the most quakeastic year so far of Katla, there is an odd distinct shape of Godabungas quakes. The odd shape is triangular, but that is not the important thing I think. What make me lift my eyes is that the quake-group of Godabunga, does not merge at all with the quake-group of Katla.
    First of all I have for quite some time believed that Godabunga is a volcano of itself. The quake pattern quite simply does not match neither Eyjafjallajökull, nor does it match Katla. The second thing is that I have started to wonder if and when Godabunga will pop the lid and go from being a cryptodome into an erupting volcano.

      1. @Hi Lurking. That would perhaps be something interesting to do to build a plot around these quakes showing the different groupes of quakes in the area, depth, long and lat. Or did you do it on a former thread and I have missed it?

      2. A 3d plot that goes around would be nice… 🙂
        Since you do the spinnyish plots with overlay maps nowadays there would be no need to separate the different volcanos… 🙂

      3. Got to give me a few… been counting WISNEQs.

        Got to drag out the SIL data and update it.

      6. Lurking called the harmonic tremors for “spikes”, which is what we normaly shorten down “harmonic tremor spikes” into.
        And with spikes we of course mean the burbly tremors that is magma moving.
        Some carped on Lurking and declared that it was not a “seismic SPIKE”… Lurking then renamed them WISNEQs (Whiseneck, a version of Whiseass and Redneck (my guess)), I then christened them into Buddhas, since they are fat, gassy, and just sit there on the plot smiling at you while you try to understand their stinky existance.

      7. I see, those are the “thick high tremor areas” from my earlier question then. Now it’s all clear, just the Buddhas we’re talking about. 🙂

      2. Thanks a lot luisport. That one works for me and an interesting image! Lot of quaking causing instability it seems.

      3. INSTITUTE VOLCANOLÓGICO DE CANARIAS
        During the flight of the day of today, the members of INVOLCAN as well as those of the Civil Guard in the area of the Canary Islands helicopter unit, they were surprised by a slip of land and rocks in the northern part of the island. Fortunately it happened in a depopulated area and the snapshot could be captured, here we her we show

      4. Interesting pic, looks like it’s steaming/venting?? And I bet the tsunami-freaks will be pissing their knickers with excitement now.

      5. Yes, I guess that the landslide crazies actually are the last bunch wearing Knickers witch britches. And that they frequently piss in their knickers out of excitement.

      7. @Inge:
        Actually I am starting to think there is a very minute possibility of that. Or that is just ground-water being steamed out.
        But on the other hand, Bob is a gassy baby.

      8. Yes, but this could now be its mother ….

        They just should get their people out of there as long as there is still time – my opinion.

      9. OH!!! I thought it was just dust from a rockfall but zooming in it definitely DOES look like steam!!
        Wonder what the location is?

      12. “Durante el vuelo del día de hoy, los miembros de INVOLCAN así como los de la unidad de helicópteros de la Guardia Civil de la zona de Canarias, fueron soprendidos por una deslizamiento de tierras y rocas en la zona norte de la isla. Afortunadamente sucedió en una zona despoblada y la instantánea pudo ser capturada, aquí os la mostramos.”

        Giggle: During the flight of the day, members of non-tip and the helicopter unit of the Guardia Civil in the area of the Canary Islands were amaze by a landslide and rocks in the north of the island. Fortunately it happened in an unpopulated area and could be captured instantly, here we show it.

      13. And now I only wonder one thing… What in the name of Hork is “non-tip”?
        It is many of the Giggleations, and I have never understood what non-tip means.
        I have through scientific means of exclution come to the conclusion that they are not talking about Tipp-Ex… (Yes, I am that old).

      14. Isn’t it something to do with the Las Puntas area? Is that where the chopper is based?

      15. non-tip is somehow the giggle translation of INVOLCAN. Here’s what the paragraphs says:

        During today’s flight, the members of INVOLCAN and those of the union of helicopters of the Civil Guard of the Canaries, were surprised to see a landslide and rockfall in the north of the island. Fortunately this happened in an unpopulated zone. Also fortunately we could capture it on film and woudl like to show it to you.

      16. Do not worry, it’s just dust and rocks caused by this little collapse in the wall, that almost reach the helicopter. There was in the north of the island.

  48. Why is the earthquake page not updating. It is now almost 6 hours since the last registered quake. i find that hard to believe.

      1. There it is:

        1112279 12/11/2011 21:29:45 27.7651 -18.0550 22 2.3 4 W FRONTERA.IHI

        The volcano took a five and a half hour break. First time it took this long for earthquake activity to resume?

  49. Carl said:- I have through scientific means of exclution come to the conclusion that they are not talking about Tipp-Ex… (Yes, I am that old).

    I reckon I must be older, I remember rubbers and even blackboard rubbers for chalk.
    Ah, those were the days, the smell of real ink in inkpots and scratch, blotty pens with nibs. (Yes I am that ancient.) 😉

    1. I am still using my trusted old fountain-pen.

      I lived in the day of the black-board to. Nothing is as soothing as writing formulations on a big black board while the chalk covers you in snow-like piles.

      2. We had a teacher who did that on purpose sometimes when she wanted the class to shut up. Eeeek, I get goosebumps just thinking about the sound.

      5. Why don’t you make one? , just get a piece of plywood, can of blackboard paint, some wood edging, screws, nails etc, and voila, you’ve got a blackboard. Usually if i need/want something and can’t find/afford it, i build it(or something that does the job) with materials at hand….

    2. When you tell this, I have this strange feeling of remembering the same things (from another century)…. we must be about the same age.

      8. hmm… seems most quakaholics here are my age, only much more educated in the field.
        I’ll probably be the only rookie july 14th next year. On the other hand I have hats to bbq in case “the betters” forget theirs..

      9. 😉 Most definitely from another century but for me just halfway through it. Still at least I was born in the era of paper and not slates and chalk, apart from the blackboard of course. 😉

    3. My daughter mocks me for having used acetates and an overhead projector ! Already outdated by smartboards and digital everything

      4. Ah, lucky you, ours were wooden blocks with just felt on the front for rubbing off the chalk. Ouch remember it now. Wince. English teachers were a bit sadistic in those days if you didn’t pay attention. Scottish teachers were perhaps worse, they would use a Tawse (a leather strap) and I only had it once, never misbehaved after that.

      5. We had a Math teacher who threw his chalk at inattentive students …… if it didn’t have the desired effect, the follow-up throw was the board rubber (wooden with a felt front). Usually got a response!

    4. I was a blotty person … My pen nib tended to get crossed then when put to paper (I always pressed too hard) and would then uncross with a remarkable spray of small blots 🙂 and I was never chosen to be ink monitor 🙁 Only the clever teacher’s pets would be chosen for that. It is frightening when you think what psychological damage can be done in the class room.

      3. Learning a lot of new English words here. What – please – is a “horlicks”? Sth. like a “hork”?

      7. I am an Ovaltiney too :). Reading the posts below about new words. About Carl’s favourite word… Hork…. I t sounds a little iffy, so I have been too much of a lady to ask the meaning. (Blushes deep red)

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