Month: February 2011

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Continued quiet time in earthquakes and volcanoes

It seems that the quiet time continues in Iceland. Besides small earthquakes swarms in Pesthnjúkar volcano and small earthquake swarm in Hengill volcano, there was also a earthquake swarm in Bárðarbunga volcano that did get into the world press. Other then this it has been quiet and no volcanoes have been showing signs of starting a eruption soon.

It is all quiet in Iceland, so not a lot of activity updates coming from me at the moment. But I hope to write soon a information post about one of Iceland volcanoes or earthquakes zones to pass the time.

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Fundraiser for items and trying to be a professional blogger





Euro foreign exchange reference rates (ecb.int)

While I am thankful for the all the readers that I get on this site it does not change the fact that I need to earn a good living. Currently I am on a fixed income (Welfare) due to my Asperger’s syndrome, but I have a really mild version of this syndrome. This fixed income is not a lot and never has been. But due to my move to Denmark is going to get even less. In Iceland I got 159000 ISK (about 997€, the exchange rate euro/ISK is poor at the moment) but when I moved to Denmark it is going to get lower and in the line of something about 138000 ISK (about 865€). So I don’t have a lot of money to work with over the month.

While this blog originally started as a minor blog about earthquakes and volcanoes in Iceland it grew fast. From September 2010 and until today this blog has had 424,518 page views. My helicorder web pages have had 2,090,461 page views since I did set those pages up (the year 2006). Based on this fact I did decide to try being a professional blogger. That includes getting enough money to live from this blog. I do not know how long that is going to take. But given how long it took University today (started as a blog) to get into that status I might have to wait few more years until I get enough income from this blog to get a stable living from writing on the blog site about Icelandic volcanoes and earthquakes.

This leads me to the ever ending results that come from this type of situation. I need to get a job. That evidently is going to give me less time to attend to this blog. I also plan going to school here in Denmark to learn programming, languages and electronics (if I can learn electronics). So work with that is going to give me less time in the end to write here. But the school is few months off so I am just going to wait and see how that goes. As I sad in a comment yesterday there might be a delay until updates return to normal because I lack the tables to setup my computers properly. There also might be a delay until everything gets back to normal updates, as it might take a good time to get connected a ADSL2+ service. I do not know when I get ADSL2+ connection, as I do not know the service time here in Denmark. Currently I am on poor 3G connection for the internet.

I am a writer and my plan is to write and publish eBooks to sell on Amazon. I am also thinking about releasing them in a blog format (I am still considering that option). I hope to get a income from that in the future. But there is going to be a while until I can start selling eBooks on Amazon and get a income from that sale.

Due to how low income I have. I have decided to do a little fundraiser here. For two tables that I need and a new (or used) PC monitor. I am going to do this as cheap as possible.

Computer Table price is 400 DKK (they did rise the price, damit!) – This is just a normal table. I do not like computer special boards.
TV table price is 300 DKK.
23″ LCD PC monitor price is 999 DKK last time I did check. There might be cheaper 23″ LCD PC monitors for sale in Germany. But I do not know the price on them. I might also buy a used PC monitor to use for a short time while I try to get the money for a new PC monitor. This are the prices where I live locally. But I want to buy this locally so I can get this items right away.

All other support besides this is also welcomed. I must point out that I can only transfer funds that go into my PayPal account into my credit card at the moment (I do not know if that changes when I setup a new PayPal account for Denmark). So any usage that I have there is going to minus first from whatever I transfer into that card. PayPal also takes 5% of whatever I transfer into my credit Card.

Here is the PayPal donate button. This the first time that I do this type of button. So please let me know if there are any issues with it.





Euro foreign exchange reference rates (ecb.int)

Thanks for the support! This blog is going to remain free as always. That is not going to change.

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Earthquake swarm in Presthnjúkar volcano (Langjökull glacier)

A earthquake swarm of 70 something earthquakes have been taking place close to Presthnjúkar volcano in Iceland. This activity is tectonic in nature and is because of the rift zone. This volcano is located close to south end of Langjökull glacier, but Langjökull glacier covers two volcanoes (north Hveravellir and south Presthnjúkar). One at the north end and a other at the south end. This volcano last erupted in the year 3500 BC (?) according to GVP.


Picture is from Icelandic Met Office web page. Copyright belongs to them.

The earthquake swarm in south Langjökull volcano.

Earthquake swarms are common in this area and happen regularly. But last large earthquake swarm in this area was in June 2009. The largest earthquake that did happen today was felt in nearby area according to Icelandic news.

Icelandic news about this earthquake swarm. Use Google Translate at own risk.

Skjálftahrina á milli Langjökuls og Þórisjökuls (Vísir.is)
Jarðskjálftahrina í Langjökli (Rúv.is)

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Eartquake swarm in Hengill volcano

The Icelandic volcano known as Hengill did have a minor earthquake swarm of 20 something earthquakes today. This earthquake swarm might be related to geothermal power plant activity nearby (by pumping down or up water in the area). But at the moment I do not have it confirmed and this has also not been confirmed by the news.

This earthquake swarm in this area is normal and this volcano has several every year as it located on the main rift zone in Iceland. The last large earthquake swarm in this volcano took place during the year 1997 to 2000. Then many earthquake up to size Mb5.0 took place in Hengill volcano.

Icelandic news. Use Google translate at own risk.

Um 20 skjálftar hafa mælst (Vísir.is)

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No volcano eruption starting in Bárðarbunga volcano

The Icelandic Met Office has issued that there is no eruption about to start in Bárðarbunga volcano. News that claim that are wrong and remain that until proven otherwise.

Iceland Met Office announcement. Original announcement can be found here (IMO web site)

Specialist remark

Presently, there are no signs of an imminent volcanic eruption in Iceland. The Icelandic Meteorological Office (IMO) did not issue a warning last weekend in connection with increased seismicity beneath the Vatnajökull ice-cap. If signs of an eruption were apparent, IMO would issue a warning immediately.

A lot of earthquakes does not always mean that a eruption is immanent. It sometimes just means a lot of earthquakes and nothing more. Media dramatization does not chance this fact.

Icelandic News on this. Use Google Translate at own risk.

Gos er ekki að hefjast (Vísir.is, Icelandic)

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Minor earthquake swarm east of Grímsey Island

Today there has been a minor earthquake swarm east of Grímsey Island (is in Tjörnes Fracture Zone). The number of earthquakes that have taken place at the moment is something around 20 to 30 earthquakes. All of the earthquakes so far are less then ML3.0 in size.

This earthquake swarm in TFZ is so far quiet and mostly small in size. It remains unclear as always if this earthquake swarm changes or starts a new earthquake swarm that is bigger. But this area is known for that one earthquake swarm starts a new one in the TFZ.

So far this does not appear to be happening in the TFZ. But it is worth mentioning that TFZ is highly active earthquake zone. But there are no volcanoes there. Except at the south and north end of the TFZ. Where the rift zone ends and where the rift zone starts again.

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Geologist worry about earthquake activity in Kistufell field (Bárðarbunga volcano)

In my last blog post I did tell the news about the possibility about a eruption in the Kistufell volcano field. But that field is a part of Bárðarbunga volcano system and has a lot of earthquake activity since the beginning of earthquake recording in Iceland.

In the tonight news on Rúv about this area, Páll Einarsson geologist at University of Iceland says in the news on Rúv that there is a good reason to worry about this area. As it is one of the most active one in Iceland, but it is directly above the mantle plume under Iceland. Páll Einarsson also says in the news on Rúv that before the eruption in the year 1996, that took place in a volcanic ridge now named Gjálp there was a increase in earthquake activity in Kistufell field.

But due to continues earthquake activity there is it hard to know what is exactly going on there. Páll Einarsson also says in the news on Rúv that it is a problem that this area of Iceland lacks the proper coverage with seismometers. But they are few in this area and that makes it harder to detect the depth and the location of the earthquake that take place in this area of Iceland.

After the Eyjafjallajökull volcano eruption in the year 2010. It seems that geologist in Iceland take earthquake swarms more seriusly then they did before. As they did learn from Eyjafjallajökull volcano eruption that not all volcano start with few earthquakes just before they erupt, as is common with few volcanoes in Iceland.

The news from Rúv on this matter. Use Google Translate to understand.

Full ástæða til að hafa varann á (Rúv.is)

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There might be a volcano eruption in less then a one year time in Báðarbunga volcano (Kistufell field)

I do not know if this is Icelandic media sensationalism or just a simple misquote in the news article. But according to Morgunblaðið (mbl.is) in a interview with the geologist named Sigurlaugar Hjaltadóttir (works at Icelandic Met Office) she sad that there is more risk of a eruption in north-west side of Vatnajökull glacier due to the high earthquake activity in the area. But while the earthquakes continue to be at great depth, there is a less chance of a eruption in the area.

But she might be referring to is that a earthquake activity in the area might be increasing because of Grímsfjall volcano and Bárðarbunga volcano interaction. But it remains be seen if that is the case or not here. It is however clear that only time is going to tell us if there is going to be a eruption in this area soon or not.

The news in Icelandic. Please use Google Translate or something similar to understand.

Gæti gosið innan árs (mbl.is)

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The earthquake activity at Kistufell (Bárðarbunga volcano)

There is been a highly localized earthquake swarm in Kistufell area in the highland. This area is well known in Iceland for high earthquake activity and often makes earthquakes that are close to Mb5.0 in size. The current earthquake swarm is rather small in comparison to many earthquake swarms that have taken place in this area before.

This does not mean that there is going to be a eruption there. As this area is highly activate in regards to tectonics forces in this area. But this area can erupt and has done so in the past. But this area belongs to the Bárðarbunga volcano and it has fissure types of eruptions when it erupts.

Here is a picture with the activity of this area in December 2009. As can be seen there, this area has a lot of earthquake activity almost all of the time. The text with the picture can be found here in Icelandic. Use Google Translate with the normal risks involved.