Posted on by Jón Frímann

Special report: Update 6 on the eruption in El Hierro, Canary Islands, Spain

Special note: Please notice that my (personal) watching system is also going to include the mainland of Spain (mainland Spain has two volcanoes that I am aware of, along with some earthquake activity) when I change it next month, along with Canary Islands. Everything else is also going to be a subject to a special reports if the event is important enough. That is not always going to be case however. But I am going to post more details on this in the beginning of next month.
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Little seems to have changed in the eruption of El Hierro since my last update on it. That was on 19 October, 2011. Harmonic tremor is constant, but appears to have dropped a little in the past few days. But with the fluctuation that is often increases again before it drops down again. This means that the eruption is ongoing, but is loosing power to continue at current eruption vent. This was not unexpected. This has however not slowed down inflation in El Hierro from what I can gather on GPS data on El Hierro.

As the current eruption vents close down it seems that earthquakes have started again under El Hierro. But the earthquakes have the depth from 28 km and up to around 5 km. This strongly suggests that new magma is entering under El Hierro and is again increasing the pressure inside the El Hierro magma sill (or chamber, but note that El Hierro does not have a stable magma chamber it seems). This increases earthquakes while the magma does not have any good path up to the surface. When a new path for the magma starts to form again, a large earthquake swarm is going to take place in El Hierro. It is not going to be anything bigger then already has taken place in El Hierro already. With the largest earthquakes going up to Mb5.0 in size. That is at least my opinion.


All the earthquakes that have happened in El Hierro since magma intrusions started in July 2011. This pictures clearly shows in my view the amount of magma (in terms of size, not volume) that is under El Hierro at the moment. As it is marked on the outer layers by the earthquakes. Copyright of this picture belongs to Instituto Geográfico Nacional.


The harmonic tremor in El Hierro at midnight on 21 October, 2011. As can be seen, it fluctuates a little bit. Copyright of this picture belongs to Instituto Geográfico Nacional.

The major risk in the current eruption cycle of El Hierro is the risk that new eruption vent is going to open up nearby a human population without warning. But El Hierro has a lot of cinder cones from earlier eruption cycles. That creates the risk that a new eruption vent is going to open up on dry land without warning. But it is impossible to know when and where that might happen.

Claims that this eruption in El Hierro is going to create tsunami due to landslides are false and have no basic in fact or reality. As landslides are unlikely to happen in this eruption episode or if a eruption happens on dry land.

920 Replies to “Special report: Update 6 on the eruption in El Hierro, Canary Islands, Spain”

    1. Sadly (Oh yeah boss of drug lords 😉 ) that is the well known location of the Geochemical station in La Restinga. The name of the station you found is HIE04, we are looking for the more elusive H104. The similarity in names have thrown half of this place into the wrong places.

      1. What about the green dot between JULA and SABI ? it was not on Ursula’s older map. It would be on the escarpment above Sabinosa. So it would be well placed to detect possible landslip-related deformation. Detecting deformation /possible landslip with GPS at a coastal station on flat ground is not credible. I just wonder if we are being fed a decoy with that bit about ‘coastal site’? ( on the basis of ‘dont frighten the horses’). So where could that new green dot be? There is a road zigzagging up the escarpment south east of Sabinosa marked: Lugar la Tabla. At 812m elevation there is a substantial blanked out building. And it is below El Gretime and NW of Tunganasoga.

  3. I’ve posted a link to a supposed photo of hi04. It awaiting moderation.

    It’s on the coast under a 10×10 portable canopy no other identifying landmarks

  4. So when did AVCAN put the alert level up to red (whole island implied), & why no comment in the press?

      1. Thanks. Seems the AVCAN page I looked is confusing (at least if you are not a Spanish speaker).

    2. But having loked at it again, I noticed that I have also misinterpreted the displacement plots on the Professor’s site.

      REST, FRON and VALV have moved NE (REST having been displaced most) and SABI has moved NW. REST and FRON have moved up; VALV has moved down and it is not clear what the net vertical displacement on SABI is.

      Makes more sense and fits rifting & volcanic inflation. And the movement is consistent with the northward motion of the African plate.

      1. Tigirote has GPS and is here:
        27.7882 -17.9221
        And it is blanked on Goggle Earth

      5. And by the way, google doesn’t blank out things. Take a look at Groom Lake… Not even the new Skunk Works Hangar II is blanked out.
        So why would all of a sudden they start blanking a civilian authority research facility? We are talking about friggin’ spain, nobody cares what they do.

      6. In ’64 we could only get maps of the island through a consulate in UK……..old habits?

      7. Its odd – out germ warfare place Porton Down is clear. But white boxes all over Hierro when zoomed in.

      8. White boxes?
        You didn’t by any chance click in House Wiev in Giggle Pearth?

        Hihi, I could look straight down into the the fan chute of CDC 🙂
        Odd reference, the American CDC is just accesible via normal roads. The European Semi Military Counterpart is behind barbed wire, automated detection systems, and in the end a automated targeting system. Not a place to enter freely, and unlike CDC they do not give guided tours…
        Now it got seriously OT… But, no white EL Hierran boxes for me.

      9. CTAB
        ? possibly Las Tabladas – alongside southwest border of El Gretime.
        This? 27°43’50.22″N
        18° 5’22.64″W
        ( no idea when Google Earth image was updated in 2011 though)

      10. If you want to have fun…
        Tap in Vidsel Flygplats in Google Earth, then go to ENE untill you see an absolutly round man made circle… There you can talk about secret, and it is still not blanked out.

      11. Well, there was nothing there when the google image was taken. I even found an image of the area from 2010. There quite simply is nothing at the spot. I guess they could have placed a camper-van there or something later though.

      12. On the other hand, when I put it into Google I got Tinor which is a different volcano!

        I think on that note, I’ll head for bed.

    1. Well… he could be correct, but “NW of Tanganasoga near the coast” also fits HI03, so they should have similar deflections.

      http://www.01.ign.es/ign/resources/volcanologia/jpg/ELHIERRO_GPS_mapa.jpg

      Though not very similar they are somewhat close.

      My guestimation is this:

      http://i54.tinypic.com/333lpjn.png

      It’s based on the similarity (or lack of) between HI04, LPAL, IZAN, and TN03.

      There is no science behind it.. it’s mostly SWAG. ($hitty Wild Arsed Guess).

      I came up with it by doing a correlation run on all four stations, and took the pairs that were most dissimilar to skew a weighted bearing guess.

      Its no more valid a method than throwing a wrench at a carburetor.

      4. Go figure, I was right the first time.
        Here is your H104.
        27 43′ 44,28”N
        18 02′ 25,8”W

        You should see a radio-mast, a building and a particularly uggly statue probably made by Picasso in rusty plate steel.

      5. Name of the place Tinganar (obviously) at Malpaso.
        It is a few hundred metres or so outside your cone, but I guess it is still withing the margin of error for your method of deduction.

      6. I think we went native on this one, and with native we thought to Icelandic.
        Icelande is mostly un-electrified, so putting a solar powered station out in nowhere is fine, the worst thing that could happen is that a tourist pees on it. Also, the Icelanders are a rather open and trusting bunch.
        This is a fairly populated Island with a lot of tourists in it. The Spannish is also thoroughly Francoized. So of course it is much easier and cheaper to put all of the stations in government facilities with a lot of electricity and communications. Then you only have to pay a few hundred dollars on a GPS-dish, instead of thousands of dollars. It is also safer from drunk tourists that could steal it.
        Before I threw myself of course that was the lines of thinking I used, but…
        Well Tinganar it is. There is nothing else in any place, even remotely close to Lurkings cone that is electrified and with any protection. I’ll bet my shorts that this is H104.

      7. It still has a hight SWAG factor and no science. It’s just a guess and could be dead wrong.

        Everybody was making a prediction, so that sector is my guess.

  7. The search for agent HI04 is getting more and more interesting.
    A little guess:
    I think the Los Roquille tunnel was closed in the first place because of the fear for a landslide. So – where is the most logical spot for a new GPS station? I think somewhere very close to the tunnel (wherever that is, could not find it on Google maps).
    At one of the ends of the tunnel or upon the middle of it.

    So, sleep well everybody, in spite of all the excitement!

    1. They also ordered a survey of it a few weeks ago, to make sure that it was up to withstanding all the tremors…

    2. Sissel – this is one end of the tunnel: 27.798359,-17.986443 this is the other one: 27.818397, -17.986400 I don’t think the mystery station HI04 is anywhere near as this is more or less north part of El Hierro.

  8. Sunday
    23.10.2011 00:11:33 64.632 -20.360 3.9 km 2.0 90.02 15.6 km S of Eiríksjökull

      3. Nothing to be sorry about:)
        Prestahnukur volcano under the Langjökul glacier is on the old wstern rift zone, so the quakes is comparatively not that deep really. Most icelandic rift zones have fairly shallow quakes compared to the rest of the world. Example of this is El Hierro who prefers to quake deeper than 15km.
        Prestahnukur is probably dead as a door-knob for being an Icelandic volcano with no eruption for 5300 years. But north if it is Hveravellir that is still counted as heavilly asleep.
        Both of these volcanos are of the 10km^3 type of volcanos. The others are of course Hengill, Katla, Grimsvötn, Bardarbunga and Theistareykjarbunga. Not many other active volcanos that can cough up that much lava on the planet.

  9. Its about 1500m west of Puerta de Estaca and 600ish east of Tinor by a bend in the road.
    What GE version are you using?

    1. Latest for Win7.
      Now I know what it is. You are in semi-street view, then as you soom really close it thinks it is helpfull and changes the house into a white-block if the picture turns to pixelated. Annoying function. It is not google blanketting, it is the Giggleification of Google that strikes back.

  12. Hard to follow, having CHIE saturated and having glitches (I get nothing beond 22.10 . tremour) Are there no good “real-time” maks, like IMO has? No good at Spanish finding the best, one week in Barcelona was not enough!

      1. Hmm.. how about that. Boletin is out of date.

        I did a quick pull off of AVCAN’s set and it looks…. interesting. Doing a grid overlay now, it will be a few minutes.

      2. Lurk:
        Take a look at this map, hope it works:
        I got the coordinates from it.
        Geodesia:
        “The display of geodetic data and services allows you to display on the basic cartography of IGN, or orthophotos Ortofotogrametía of the National Air Leveling geodetic networks of high precision, lower order, Regent and permanent GNSS stations.
        Once displayed on the mapping, it offers the possibility of obtaining review of each signal of geodetic networks, activating the appropriate layer and selecting the information tool.
        http://www.ign.es/ign/layoutIn/visorgeodesia.do

      3. The blue ball corresponding to the GPS station (when all levels are selected) displays the number 295 104. (HI04 ?)
        The coordinates are:
        18.03807 W
        27.72579 N
        Hope it helps.

  14. Just copied from Avcan.

    while the HI04 sensor (located Northwest of the Tanganasoga in the coastal area increases its deformation to station border, alejandose increasingly more.))

    1. Thank you, Lurk.
      You are beating yourself to it, getting close to “perfection”.

      1. Yeah, I updated the remarks to reflect that I misspelled my own name. It’s not like its the first time my name got messed up… in the real world, I have canceled subscriptions and accounts because some company thinks it knows better how to spell my name. Generally the discussion ends with me describing where they can stick a load of sand.

      2. Lurk:
        See my comment above.
        The blue ball corresponding to the GPS station (when all levels are selected) displays the number 295 104. (HI04 ?)
        The coordinates are:
        18.03807 W
        27.72579 N
        Hope it helps.

      4. Loved that it was showing Tinganar when I tapped in those coordinates.
        If I in the end was right about this I will open a detective agency specializing in Divination…

      5. Been there, Done that. But the funniest thing was when a RSA letter ( to be signed by the adressee only) was sent to my 10 days old daughter instead to me. And i had a halfhourlong discussion with the postman if he is going to hand the letter to me or if we are going to wait till my daughter would be able to sign.

    3. Great update.

      How do the most recent quakes compare to those occuring in July, which was the start of this cycle? i.e. are we starting a new cycle?

  18. Good morning all.
    Lurking’s new plot is interesting. It looks like a dike filling. Is there a possibility that the sedimentary rocks have been anciently fractured to form large NW-SE fissures as seen nearer to MAR and these have been filled deeply with rocks from the El Golfo slip. This slip material would be a line of lower resistance allowing upwelling of magma.
    Hence the deeper quakes on the Northside of the Island.
    Sorry just musing as to why the difference in depth and so far only one coffee 🙂

    1. So much to read here. I was away most of yesterday and had visitors last night. As a result so much to look up and follow today.
      I am sorry if I am stating obvious stuff that has long since been discussed and explained.
      The ING tremor graphs are not working for me this morning but I see recorded in detail well over 20 Quakes since midnight.
      Most North of the Island. This is where it all started is it not? Does the slip material act as a barrier or the opposite? Does it make any difference to the rising magma ?
      As for the elusive HI04…….. The Hekla Dalek suggests look for a Blue Police box that can move at will.

    2. This would well coincide with the number and location of the actual earthquake activity. If I read this (http://www.diarioelhierro.es/t26496/pag02.asp?BD=ESPECIAL%20CRISIS%20S%CDSMICA&id_registro=140486&Id=26496&BDi=INICIO&nt=p&Md=) correctly, it says that there have been around 40 earthquakes (magn. 1.6 – 3.1) being registered this morning (23rd of oct. 2010) since 8:00. All situated rather deeply between 17 and 23 km and mostly located E, NE, SE of Frontera.

    3. This would well coincide with the number and location of the actual earthquake activity. If I read this (http://www.diarioelhierro.es/t26496/pag02.asp?BD=ESPECIAL%20CRISIS%20S%CDSMICA&id_registro=140486&Id=26496&BDi=INICIO&nt=p&Md=) correctly, it says that there have been around 40 earthquakes (magn. 1.6 – 3.1) registered this morning (23rd of oct. 2010) since 8:00. All situated rather deeply between 17 and 23 km and mostly located E, NE, SE of Frontera.

    4. Hi Diana

      Yes, this is what I think, too. It was my ‘Eureka’ moment the other evening that I was thanking Peter and Carl for. They were talking about Icelandic volcanoes rifting, and it fell into place for me that this is what is happening in El Golfo. I think that as the gases and the lighter material are able to vent through the porous, sedimentary level, space is filled by movement of the magma upwards drawing more in from a deep fissure.

      This is where I worry that the vents for gas, and small, hollow rocks, are too narrow for a large body of magma to follow though. The paper I linked to supports that hypothesis.

    1. I have send my local contact person to the officials on the island to find out what is happening at IGN, strike – censorship (do not believe it), technical problems …
      Hope they will clarify soon
      The only information we still have is from the +1.5 overview list – so we can conclude it isn’t instrumental – In my opinion : censorship as sites like Jons and mine are discussing continuously what we see on their lists and graphics. By disabling to view the tremors below 1.5 we are made half blind, unless i am wrong here.

      1. We are not the only ones though. The Diario el Hierro is listing only 38 for today until 9.09am, including a 3.1 at 4.52am.

      2. It may just be a technical glitch. Information technology is like that. It mostly works, but sometimes it doesn’t for no immediately obvious reason.

    2. IGN has only reported EQs >1.5 ever since July 2011. avcan.org reports smaller ones.

      2. If it has been like this since July, it is most likely because the list would have been reaching all the way to Rome if they hadn’t filtered it. Let is guess here a bit, for ever 1,5 in Iceland there are ten below… So, we should probably thank them. But, what they should have done is to say so. If you inform people, there is never any problems.
        Let me also remind everyone, a quake below 1,5 is so shitily week that it has no influence on anything…

      3. Extract from IGN’s page listing the tremors over the last 10 days:

        “Terremotos de los últimos 10 días en las Islas Canarias de magnitud igual o superior a 1.5 o sentidos:
        La información de terremotos de magnitud inferior se puede obtener en Catálogo y boletines sísmicos.

        Esta información está sujeta a modificaciones como consecuencia de la continua revisión del análisis sísmico.”

        Google translatest this as:

        “Earthquakes of the last 10 days in the Canary Islands of magnitude less than 1.5 or senses:
        The information on earthquakes of magnitude lower than can be obtained from seismic catalog and newsletters.

        This information is subject to change as a result of the ongoing review of the seismic analysis.”

        http://www.ign.es/ign/layoutIn/volcaListadoTerremotos.do?zona=2&cantidad_dias=10

  20. There is no imformation on tremor in El Hierro at the IGN website at the moment which I can see. Instead the notice: “No existe información para ese dia” (which I’d translate as: “There is no information for this day.”) None of the stations seems to be accessible. http://www.ign.es/ign/head/volcaSenalesAnterioresDia.do?nombreFichero=CHIE_2011-10-23&ver=s&estacion=CHIE&Anio=2011&Mes=10&Dia=23&tipo=1

    Does someone else have this problem to get into this site?

    1. Yes. There is no data for waveforms since late yesterday and other graphics are not updated either.
      Only Último terremoto and Terremotos últimos 10 días are current, as far as I can see.

  23. Interesting. Seems to have been an EQ swarm at El Hierro of which three show clearly on the waveform at CHIE 04:52 approx, 07:02 approx and 07:32 approx. The three also show clearly on EGOM. But CHIEs spectrogram seems to be decreasing slightly.

    Most of the EQ swarm is NW Frontera with a couple SW Frontera – an almost linear pattern towards (or from) Frontera. A line of rifting or a dyke?

  24. The website for Canarias7 says:

    El volcán de El Hierro está mostrando nuevos signos de activación con burbujeo en la superficie marina y cambios en el color de la mancha que se extiende frete al pueblo de La Restinga.

    The Volcano on El Hierro is showing new signs of activity with bubbling on on the surface of the water and changes in the colour of hte stain which extends in front of the village of La Restinga

  25. Iceland has activity: a swarm(s) on the Reykjanes Peninsular (Hellisheiðarvirkjun, Krýsuvík and Reykjanestá) and also a few quakes Mýrdalsjökull (Goðabunga, Hábunga & Básar).

    1. – and its not Fron that shifted. Fron stays constant with respect to La Palma and Gomera etc.
      Where are you H104?

      1. The error bars on H104 have increased since it started, while the other stations show consistent error. What could cause a GPS station to do that?

      2. According to these numbers, FRON has moved up ~2,5 cm, East ~2 cm and North ~3 cm from its original position, while LPAL has stayed stationary.
        (Information is here: http://www.seis.nagoya-u.ac.jp/sagiya/Sagiyas_Page/Canary.html)
        By trigonometry, you’ll calculate a change in distance of about 4,38 cm, which is close to what the IGN GPS chart shows:
        http://www.ign.es/ign/resources/volcanologia/jpg/ELHIERRO_GPS_FRON-LPAL.jpg

        Note: The values are an approximation, as I had to read them from the chart and, of course I may have made errors in calculation, so feel free to check.

    2. Have been working on my idea this morning that IH04 is close to the tunnel on El Hierro which was closed some time ago. It was after all closed because the fear of a landslide. So movements in that area should be of great interest, a good reason to put a GPS station there.
      Unfortunately I’m not sure what the correct name of the tunnel is, but I made a guess that this is the one: Tunel del Golfo. I have marked the entrances of the tunnel on Google Earth and drawn a red circle where I guess that the GPS station might be within.
      It is close to the sea, measured horizontally. But not at all close to other points that have been mentioned as a possible location so far.

      The GE picture with the circle:
      http://i1112.photobucket.com/albums/k499/sissel59/tuneldelgolfoGE2.jpg?t=1319368284

      Take the time to have a close look with GE, the landscape is stunning.
      Here is a video of driving through the tunnel:
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzaZpYw4idY

      1. Acc. to what I found out the tunnel seems to be the tunnel of Los Roquillos between Valverde and La Frontera.

  28. OT – Turkey EQ
    Magnitude 7.3
    Date-Time Sunday, October 23, 2011 at 10:41:21 UTC
    Sunday, October 23, 2011 at 01:41:21 PM at epicenter

    Location 38.627°N, 43.535°E
    Depth 7.2 km (4.5 miles) set by location program
    Region EASTERN TURKEY
    Distances 19 km (12 miles) NE (43°) from Van, Turkey
    116 km (72 miles) N (351°) from Hakkari, Turkey
    130 km (81 miles) SSE (161°) from Karakose (Agri), Turkey
    192 km (119 miles) SSW (206°) from YEREVAN, Armenia

  33. Primeras impresiones que nos deja Pedro Canomanuel de las observaciones de ayer a bordo del Nautilux (From AVcan facebook)

    A bote pronto hacerte unas anotaciones que quizás sean de vuestro interés:

    … -Bajamos la cámara a unos 25m en la llamada baja del Anacón (cerca del Verodal) aprox. 9 millas al NNW de Punta Restinga, en esa posición observo que la cámara sufre continuas vibraciones. No se observa vida alguna a pesa…r de ser un lugar muy propicio para ver chopas y abades. Visibilidad media. Antes de llegar a esta posición pudimos ver bastantes peces aguja spbrevolando la superficie.

    The first impressions that Pedro Canomanuel on board of the Nautilux leaves to us

    a few notes that perhaps perform your interest:

    … – we lower the camera to some 25m in the so-called fall of the Anacón (next to the Verodal) aprox. 9 miles to the NNW of Top Restinga, in this position observed that the camera suffers continue vibrations. Any life is observed in spite of being a very propitious place to see chopas and abades. Visibility comes up. Before coming to this position, we could see enough fish needle near the surface.

    En el Mar de las Calmas, sobre todo desde las 5 millas de Restinga, se ven muchos peces en superficie, peces de aguas someras y aguas profundas. Muchos piroclastos enteros y muchos restos, también observamos “algo semidisuelto de color amarillo” cerca de la costa que no pude identificar. Agua con muy poca visibilidad.

    In the Mar de las Calmas, especially from 5 miles of Restinga, many fish are seen in surface, fish of shallow waters and deep waters. Many entire piroclastos and many remains, also we observe ‘ something semidissolved of yellow color ‘ next to the coast that I could not identify. It waters down with very little visibility.

    -Desde 5 millas de Restinga navegamos rumbo S y a una 1/2 milla de la costa encontramos “la mancha”, verde pistacho muy densa y nula visibilidad.

    – from 5 miles of Restinga we navigate course S and to one 1/2 mile of the coast we find ‘ the spot ‘, green pistachio very dense and nule visibility.

    -A 4,2 millas S de Punta Restinga, echamos la cámara a 25m aprox. Paramos motor. Aquí, cosa curiosa no se oye prácticamente nada, pero la cámara se mueve por lo que yo calificaría de “onda”. Agua con visibilidad media. No se percibe nada en superficie.
    Espero que os sirva. Hare lo posible por mandar fotos y una opinión más extensa.

    – to 4,2 miles S of Top Restinga, we throw the camera to 25m aprox. We stop engine. Here, curious thing does not hear practically anything, but the camera moves from what I would qualify of ‘ wave ‘. It waters with mediumvisibility. Nothing is perceived in surface.
    I hope that it serve you. I will do all the possible from share photos and a more extensive opinio

    1. Think this bit of translation didn’t come out too well

      No se observa vida alguna a pesa…r de ser un lugar muy propicio para ver chopas y abades. Visibilidad media. Antes de llegar a esta posición pudimos ver bastantes peces aguja spbrevolando la superficie.

      it came out as
      Any life is observed in spite of being a very propitious place to see chopas and abades. Visibility comes up. Before coming to this position, we could see enough fish needle near the surface

      When I think it should have said
      No life is observed in spite of this being a very propitious place to see sunfish and abbots fish. Visibility Medium. Before coming to this position we could see plenty of Marlin.

    1. I’d say this is not Hekla, but Torfajökull volcanic system. Icelandic geologists said it is one of the systems waking up, too. Hekla and Torfajökull systems are lying also parallel to each other (SW-NE).

      4. I would say that Hekla is one of the few volcanos that I could claim to know, I think I have read all there is to read at least once, and I have studied every eruption known to man from her. And thought quit a bit about her. And I am know absolutly certain that I would be lucky if I understood as much as a percent of her… It is the most confusing volcano on the planet, and that is all I know… 🙂

  35. Hekla:

    Hekla almost erupted earlier today. At 10.37 local time it was hit by a local 1,2 in the northern part of the Hekla main fissure. It was not the Torfajökull system, it is not having fissures intersecting with the Hekla main fissure.
    This started an increase in strain at the Búrfell strainmeter. Just a few minutes later the system was hit with additional energy from the Turkey EQ, this made the entire system to start a feedback loop. At 11.16 Hekla was closer to erupting than at any time since the year 2000 eruption. There was also at the same time a harmonic tremoring episode recorded at both Hekla stations.

    On a personal note, we have always said that faraway EQs cannot influence or start anything in faraway places. Here we where close to loosing that discussion. But, we should remember that Hekla is very very close to erupting and only needs a little push to go. IMO has after all published two (2) eruption warning before today, one in 2006 and one in July this year. My guess is that the next 4M in Iceland will tip it, or pretty much anything within the system.

      1. Interesting, interesting. Seems Hekla is awakened, but not shure about the Turkey EQ had “real effect”. Noticed it did not tip the scale at HAU, but as it was followed so close by the Turkey EQ, it´s showing might have become entangled in the spike made by the Turkey EQ. Long tearm shows a hour long transitient, but I think Hekla pressure is most on middle or west part of it. There have been quakes all over Iceland in last days, possibly part of longer event, involving move from North-East to South-West in west of Langjökull. Depth at 8,5 km may indicate some change but again not shure.

      2. I was perhaps unclear. I do not say that the turkish EQ caused anything, but I do think it prolonged it quite a bit. The highest acceleration of the “swings” on the borehole strainmeter at Búrfell was at 11.15, and that s well into when Hekla normally would have gone back to bed.

      3. Had an “ah” moment just now. Think east part of Hekla needs “just a little pull on its East end corner” (not push, except it comes from dead-band); an decrase-shift north of the SISZ by longer-time-event mentioned may have caused this, but totally agree. You were clear, but note: HEK strainmeter is not with us today. It may have shown even more “pull”.

      4. Is it perhaps weak Harmonic showing, now since 14:25 at HAU (visible on bottom of strainmeter chart). Wonder where they come from. Other IMO charts show no quakes????

      5. Now you see it 🙂 It only need a small “tug” to go off.

        HEK is there, but it is not visible right now. Thing is that it is Búrfell that is the big “shower” before an eruption, the rest are just there as reference really.
        Yes, there seems to be some really odd harmonics going at both HAU and SAU, mainly it is high frequency though. It could be wind, but I am not sure. Wind would affect all frequencies of Hekla, this is the normal pattern there.
        But, whatever it is, it is very weak.

      7. No real wind, I think. Not frost either, can not rule out traffic (sunday drivers) waiting for Hekla to go. Not good beeing “downwind” within 15 km radius it goes… 🙂

        If this goes way back beyond Hekla thread, its cause of Captcha.. Greek symbolics.. oh my god..)

      9. There has an ongoing dyke intrusion into a possible secondary magma-reservoir next to or under Búrfell/Isakot for years now.
        No, I think this is a mainline fissure event with Magma going up from the deep magma-reservoir into the shallow reservoir. If so, it should smell a lot of sulphur in the valley between Búrfell and Hekla.

      11. Hekla is allready filled to the brim with magma. She shot past the 2000 eruption levels back in 2006 which caused the IMO to issue the first warning of increased danger level. The then prediction was that she would erupt within 2 years. 2011 7 July they yet again raised the level of allert after a couple of earthquakes. By july Hekla had risen to twice the increase-hight of the 2000 eruption and 12 times the volumetric increase of the 2000 eruption.
        I think that Hekla this time will be a real bother when she erupts with a minimum VEI-4 eruption, and a large magmatic component. But the last part is a guess on my part.

        But, as I’ve stated time and again. Katla is still very far away from an eruption while Hekla is just minutes away all the time. All it takes is less then an hour.

      12. There was one EQ Friday…

        Föstudagur
        21.10.2011 19:06:09 63,932 -19,649 9,8 km 0,7 99,0 6,7 km S af Heklu

        suppose it was not noticed by many, all watching the El Hierro Hollywood set, missing “H007” agents, chemical stations, Generals in denial over Bob Jacuzzi etc. The Modis image (posted today) tells me it very much heavylie ongoing and likely to be ongoing for weeks more.

      13. Problem with that quake is that it is in a part that is not really in the Hekla fissure swarm.
        So, when I saw it I guessed it was just a pressure loading caused by movement in SISZ. But it could be pressure loading from Hekla too. Hard to know.
        But it is not as clearly related to activity inside Hekla as todays earthquake.

      14. I suspect “towers” (per blue line at bottom of BUR strainmeter chart) having been sunday traffic! Seems it stated about 14:30ish and dying down about 17:30ish. That whould fit for driving home (to Reykjavik area) for supper. No eruption today! (fingers crossed)

    1. Latest news (RUV 15:00 hrs) say possibly 1,000 killed in Turkey. “Icelandic Collapsed Buildings Rescue Team” in monitoring stage (lowest alert).

  38. Volcano related, but more hysterically funny than anything else.

    I think I have found the smallest ever volcanic eruption.
    The Pakistani volcano of Tor Zawar produced the only historic eruption in the area. To the enormous you of Pakistan (that they finally existed volcanowise) Tor Zawar roared into existance and produced a stunning scoria cone, and a lava-flood. Stunning and flood is used with a high amount of poetic license here. Combined volume of ejecta creating both the scoria cone and the lava-flood from Tor Zawar was…

    drumroll….

    7 cubic metres…

    Can I have that one in my garden?

    1. No, no, wasnt the worlds smallest when just a couple of stones came up from one of the Krafla bore-holes 🙂

      1. I think that one doesn’t really count since it was gas-propelled.

        But they actually had a huge part to celebrate that they had an active volcano in Pakistan. 🙂
        They actually dug up the entire volcano and carted it off to exhibit it.

      3. The story does not really tell. I found the Volcano of Tor Zawar at GVP and folloved the story. The only photo I found was of celebrating locals. I guess the volcano was to un-imposing to fit on a photo… 🙂

  39. Don’t try this at home! 😀
    Ain’t it a Discovery hit with those two waco guys and them experiences????
    Remember it.
    What I’ll like for myself is a mud volcano.
    It helps as cosmetics cream 😛

  41. first time poster but long time lurker – great info on this site. am visiting Iceland next weekend on a field trip, can’t wait – what do you reckon chances are of witnessing an eruption? thanks

      1. Many thanks, I’m out there for over a week so would be amazing to see (but obviously without anything detrimental occuring to either Iceland or her residents).

      2. My advise?

        Don’t climb Hekla.

        Not that Hekla is showing any signs of activity, only that it gives VERY LITTLE WARNING when it does.

        Using the last eruption as a guideline, had you been standing up on the mountain, the first indication that something was up would have been felt in the earthquakes… which only crossed the threshold of human senses about 10 to 15 minutes before it went.

    2. Slim, nobody can tell. Times for eruptions in Iceland are from 30 min to some days in advance (but thats just how it goes); have fun!

      1. Hmm…& here I was thinking that they taken the afternoon off to have a picnic on Hekla while the webcam was down.

        Hope they fix it soon.

      2. Someting contagious going on today? EMSC -CSEM and IGN sites are also partly out of function.

      1. It gave similar activity yesterday about 4pm, which I am assuming was the buildup. Thank YOU for your informative blog.

      2. Note really a build-up.

        If we could get that sort of head up then quakes would be of no concern. Yesterday there were about four 5.0s, some of which were related to the 7.4 in the Kermadec Islands on the 21st.

  48. I have just come back after an amazing TV programme about Iceland. I saw so many places I knew as the presenter hiked on this trail LANDMANNALAUGAR – THORSMORK.
    It was amazing and so breathtakingly beautiful.
    We walked up to the base of Eyaf then a helicopter ride to the top.
    It was so exciting.
    Even my husband was spell bound and said he would like to go.

    Now back to earth and was surprised to see no quakes anywhere… then I realised that
    there was something wrong with the IMO site.
    There looks to have been a harmonic tremor at Skrokkalda
    http://hraun.vedur.is/ja/oroi/skr.gif
    But of course there has been that huge M 7+ quake in Turkey so I guess it may have been that.
    Lots more reading to do now to update onEl Hierro and other happenings.

      1. Yes! So sad! Many lives lost and awful damage. My thoughts are with those poor people..

      1. Harmonic tremoring, but it is very hard to say if it is Krafla north of the transverse Graben, or Theistareykjarbunga since levels at Skildingaholshraun are the same level.
        Even though a massive influx of magma into Theistareykjarbunga would be really cool, it is not very likely.
        We had a quake swarm a week ago at the spot of the Krafla-fires eruption, I guess that this could be related. A couple of days before that swarm we had a harmonic tremoring episode.
        I for one would not be surprised if Krafla made a bit of a revisit.

      3. Skildingaholshraun is part of the Thestareykjarbunga network. Potentially Theistareykjarbunga is a very powerfull volcano, but it is almost comatose for being one of the Icelandic Mega-volcanos.
        No, it is by several magnitudes of order more likely to be Krafla that is having indigestion.

  50. Whats going on at (kvo) ? And what is that noise on your Helicorder, Jon? Can’t be wind, cause the weather at IMO shows 3 m/s at Hekla..

    1. I use to be a geophysicist and used an instrument for measuring gravity. You could not take readings until at least 12 hours after a major (7 or higher) earthquake even if it was the other side of the world, with aftershocks the delay can be days. This 7.2 quake in Turkey I assume would have an impact on these sensors in Iceland.

      1. Hello Al!
        I totally agree with you (nice to have a real geophysicist here), problem is just that Hekla had a hickup a few minutes before the quake in Turkey, so right now we are trying to see small signs from Hekla amid all the aural artifacts from the 7,6 in Turkey. Nuisance to say the least.

        Please, I hope that you will hang on here, would be good with someone who knows what is up or down from a bouguer plot.

    2. I seriously hope it is either Jóns hut-dweller listening to Metallica, or a freak wind over it (low winds recorded there). But I am afraid it is from Hekla. The Helicorder has recorded small tremorings and quakes all day long, but the IMO has been dead all day so I have not been able to cross reference.

      2. 17 years doing grav and mag along with all the other geophys. Even helped plant a few instruments for the UK seismic network.

      3. A bit OT here. Welcome aboard Al. Maybe you can please explain what makes the Stoke (uk) seisometer so messy! Is it just traffic? I would have though there could be a quieter place to set up a monitoring device near there!
        As Carl says do stay and join in. We need all the expertise we can on here 🙂

    3. Also shows a bit at SKI, REN, MEL, SKR but not at SVA.

      Is the geothermal power plant at Krafla near these?

      1. Karen, the pattern from the Kraflavirkjun is very even over at KVO. You can easily see that monday to friday is larger, and saturday and sunday is active but lower due to need of less power. The big uppity last week is from what we then believed was a storm.
        What we are seeing today is way more than has ever been showing, even when they cleaned the IDDP-1 borehole.
        My guess is that this is magmatic infusion into the Krafla fire area, it after all had a quake swarm a couple of weeks ago.

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