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Update on Hekla volcano status

Here is an update on Hekla volcano. First of, for the moment the inflation in Hekla volcano is deflating at the moment. This is following the same pattern as before last time this did happen. But that does not mean this might not happen again soon. For the moment, nobody knows what exactly is going on inside Hekla volcano as there are no earthquakes following this inflation period. The magma that is on the move down there is most likely moving deep down in the crust also, as Hekla volcano does not have shallow magma system that I know of (or is known of anyway).

What did happen inside Hekla volcano was most likely an dike intrusion somewhere in the volcano system. This dike intrusion did not create any earthquakes, that suggests to me that it was travelling trough an old dike system already in place inside Hekla volcano system. This is most likely to happen again in Hekla volcano, if that starts an eruption is hard to know for sure.

In regards to possible ash cloud from eruption in Hekla volcano is impossible of know for sure now what happens in next eruption. There might be an ash cloud, but then again there might not be. All that can be done is to wait and see what happens in the next days, weeks or years.


The GPS movement of Hekla volcano. The inflation and the deflation can clearly be marked here. There is an inflation spike around 2011.45 on this plot. But this did also happen in April/May I think (but it might be wrong). Daily updated chart can be found here. Copyright of this picture belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

It is also important to notice that Civil Emergency Authority (Almannavarnir) in Iceland advice against it travelling up to Hekla volcano at current time. Since an eruption can start in Hekla volcano without any warning at all and the maximum time that people have evacuate the mountain is from 1 hour and up to 1 hour and 30 min. No more then that. Being on top of Hekla volcano when an eruption starts is deadly to everyone. If you want to go up to Hekla volcano. Please let somebody know about and have an fully charged mobile phone with you at all times. As the Civil Emergency Authority send out an SMS message to all mobile phones in the area around Hekla volcano if an eruption is starting (I think they do that).

Icelandic News.

Almannavarnir: Hekla tilbúin í gos (Rúv.is, Icelandic)
Almannavarnir vara fólk við Heklu (Vísir.is, Icelandic)

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Magma movements under Hekla volcano have been confirmed

According to the news on Rúv the GPS movements that many have been seeing around Hekla volcano in the past few days are real. At the moment the civil disaster authorities have been notified and also local emergency authorities. Nobody seems to know what is going on with this magma moments for the moment. But they can be tracked with the GPS network to some extent. What is more interesting is that this does not seems to have started until few days ago. But first signals of this happening did take place in April and May, but at lot smaller scale. What is interesting is that fact that no earthquakes appear during this magma movements, there is also no harmonic tremor when the magma is moving around in the crust close to Hekla volcano. But if there is any earthquakes, noise or whatever coming from Hekla volcano it is going to appear on my geophone that is located about 16 km away from peak of Hekla volcano. The distance is even less from the actual edge of the Hekla volcano system it self.

Normally, there are no changes in the GPS network before an eruption in Hekla volcano. So this is highly unusual event in Hekla volcano since instrumental monitoring started few decades ago.

It is an question if this means an fissure style of eruption is going to take place in Hekla volcano. But that does sometimes happen, as with any volcano in Iceland. For the moment however the only thing that can be done is wait and speculate (within reason).

No eruption has started in Hekla volcano. But it can be assured that it might start without any warning and I might not be around the computer when that start, since I am working during the day and feeling tiered during the evening. But I am getting slightly better on that front, thankfully.

I am going to post more on this when I do know more, or if anything happens in Hekla volcano related to this.

Icelandic News about this.

Hræringar í Heklu (Rúv.is, Icelandic)

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Still quiet in Iceland

It is continues to be quiet in Iceland in regards to earthquakes. Just small earthquakes swarms have been taking place in Krýsuvík volcano and in Hengill volcano.

Sadly I currently don’t have a time to write an decent blog post about other interesting things in Icelandic geology or historic eruptions in Iceland (translated to english). But if nothing interesting happens, I plan to do so next weekend.

Other: My plans are not going as I planned. I am only going to be in school until the end of this year (starting from August) since I cannot afford it (yea, I am that broke). But school is going to give me more time to write on this blog rather then I am not working. In the new year of 2012 I am just going to do what I do so well now. Write, and write some more on this blog and a book or two. But I don’t think that I can manage to write more then that in one year.

I also want to thank my readers for this patents for the lack of updates and blog post this summer. As I am working all days now, except weekends from 08:15 to 16:15 UTC. It is an hard work that makes me tired, so I don’t have an lot of energy to write after the day.

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Glacier quakes seen in Mýrdalsjökull glacier and Vatnajökull glacier

It seems that there have been few glacier quakes in Mýrdalsjökull glacier over the past few days. This glacier quakes are created by rain or some other movement in the glacier it self. This glacier quakes normally take place when there is heavy rain, or when the glacier is just moving because of water that is flooding below it. Sometimes glacier quakes also appear to happen around hydrothermal areas, but those might be harder to detect due to distance.

While not on the automatic earthquake list due how poor quality the glacier quakes are. It is still possible to see them on the tremor charts that Icelandic Met Office has on-line.

Glacier quakes seen on tremor chart of Icelandic Met Office. The quakes create an pattern of spikes on the tremor chart, it mixes into the other earthquake activity currently taking place in Katla volcano. Copyright of this picture belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Same as above. Bust just stronger then on Lágu Hvolar SIL station. Copyright of this picture belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

This glacier quake activity has also been taking place in Vatnajökull glacier. But the force for the glacier earthquakes in Vatnajökull glacier seems to be weather (rain and sun), rather then hydrothermal activity.

Glacier quakes can be seen close the 28th June line on the tremor chart. But most of the activity does not get recorded due to strong wind at the same time. Copyright of this picture belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Other then this, it is quiet in Iceland. Both in earthquakes and volcanoes.

Update: I did update the history list for eruptions in Iceland to include the last eruption in Grímsfjall volcano.

Blog post updated at 22:36 UTC.

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Book about Icelandic geology

It is always good to know more. This book here offers basics details into Icelandic geology and what is the driving force behind it. This book is on my “to buy when I have the money” list. So I am not going to claim that I have read it.

I think that this book is good for people how want to know little more about Iceland and it’s geology. The Amazon review on this book is good.

This is an lame sale pitch in an attempt to earn me some money with Amazon UK sale programs. I get 5% of what the book sells on.

This is an off-topic blog post.

Blog post updated at 09:22 UTC on 26. June 2011.

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Quiet in Iceland. Picture of Grímsfjall volcano new crater lake

It has been quiet in Iceland. Some minor earthquake swarms have taken place. But they where all less then 50 earthquakes with sizes for most part less then ML3.0. So this is going to be an short blog post.

At Eruptions at BigThink Erik did link to an interesting picture of the aftermath of last eruption in Grímsfjall volcano.

Due to how quiet it is in Iceland. I am not going to have this blog post longer. But on other note, I am going to make fewer blog post this summer since I am working during the day and I am really tiered after I finish working. But I am going to due my best in keeping new blog post coming.

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New harmonic tremor spike in Katla volcano

Today around 16:00 UTC there was an new harmonic tremor in Katla volcano. This harmonic tremor has two sources. Hyrdothermal activity under the glacier, or magma moving deep inside Katla volcano (without creating many earthquakes in Katla volcano). It is unclear what is the case at the moment.

This spikes are so far not related to glacier floods from Katla volcano. But that sometimes also happen without an eruption being involved.


The harmonic spike can be seen here. Close the end of the chart. It is different then the background noise as it is more powerful then the background noise. Copyright of this picture belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

It is impossible to know what happens next. But it is also important to be aware of the fact that earthquake season is starting in Katla volcano. But that is normally from end of June to beginning of October (or when it starts to snow again in Iceland). So more earthquakes are going to be seen this summer also because of more SIL seismometers around Katla volcano.

So there is no reason to panic about Katla volcano at current time. But it is worth to keep watch on it anyway.

Notice: Updates might be an little few due the fact that I am now working all day during the week and I am tired in the end of the day with no energy to write new blog posts. But I am going to do my best anyway.

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Earthquake swarm in Presthnjúkar volcano. Update on Katla volcano

Presthnjúkar volcano: Few days ago an earthquake swarm did start in Presthnjúkar volcano. This earthquake swarm is entirely tectonic in nature. There is nothing that suggests that this earthquake swarm is connected to magma movements inside Presthnjúkar volcano system. So far this earthquake swarm has been slow and small. But the largest earthquakes have gone up to ML3.3 in size according to Icelandic Met Office.


The location of current earthquake swarm in Presthnjúkar volcano. Copyright of this picture belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Katla volcano: Over the last 18 hours it has been quiet in Katla volcano. As no more earthquakes have been detected from it. I would not be surprised if there are more earthquakes swarms in Katla volcano in the next few weeks and months. It is an well known fact that Katla volcano is heading to an eruption. But nobody knows when that is going to happen.


Location of the earthquakes in Katla volcano yesterday. Copyright of this picture belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Besides this two highlights of earthquake activity in Iceland. It has been rather quiet in the past few weeks. With just from ~100 to ~300 earthquakes during the week.

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Earthquake swarm in Katla volcano

Around 17:10 UTC an earthquake swarm did start in Katla volcano. This earthquake swarm is focused inside the Katla caldera at small point. The one earthquake that I have so far been able to record was an long period earthquake, but that suggests that this earthquake was created by magma movement. At current time I am not sure from where this earthquake did originate from. But from Goðabunga area in Katla volcano this types of earthquakes are common and no surprise at all.

At current time I do not know what this means for Katla volcano. But so far no increase in harmonic tremor has been detected on the seismometers around Katla volcano. But that might not start at current time, as harmonic tremor is only going to increase when magma starts to move inside the Katla volcano, like did happen in Grímsfjall volcano few weeks ago.

The location of this earthquake swarm strongly suggests that what is going on in Katla volcano is an dike intrusion in the Katla caldera. If that is powerful enough to start an eruption is an question remained unanswered at current time.


Area of activity is marked by the earthquakes. Looks like an dike intrusion into Katla caldera. Copyright of this picture belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

I am going to update or post new blog posts as this continues to develop. I do not think that this events are over. But it is hard to know for sure, since volcanoes are impossible to predict.

Post post updated at 18:39 UTC.

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General update of earthquake activity in Iceland and other things

Here is finally an new blog post from me. This week has been busy. As I did move to Hvammstangi again for this summer. But I did move to Iceland on the 5. June 2011. But just for the next 1 to 3 years, depending on how things goes for me. My work is hard, so I might not often have energy to write new blog post during the week. But I am going to do my best.

Now, the earthquake information on what has been going on in Iceland for the past two weeks or so.

Katla volcano: Even after the harmonic tremor pulse last week. Nothing special has been going on in Katla volcano. But it did come to my attentions that Icelandic Met Office did notice that in Week 23 there have been explosions (mine for road work in the area). So when an “earthquake” appears in that area. It means that an mine explosion have taken place in that area. I do not know when they are going to stop mining operations in this area.

Presthnjúkar: There continues some earthquake activity in the Presthnjúkar area. This earthquake activity appears to be tectonic and nothing else. The latest earthquake swarm taking place there appear to be starting tonight. It is hard to be sure how it is going to develop over the past few hours.

Other: There is currently not a lot other thing going on in Iceland.

I hope to make an better post tomorrow. When I am well rested and focused.