Deep earthquakes in Askja volcano. Data on how Japan Mw9.0 earthquake was recored in Iceland

I see that in last week (week 10) that there was a deep earthquake swarm that took place under Askja volcano. This time around the earthquake swarm lasted for about 75 seconds and the depth of this earthquake swarm was about 20 km. The location of the earthquakes was north-east of the main Askja caldera, but within the Askja volcano system it self. The largest earthquake last week in Askja volcano was ML2.2 in size. Last year there was also a deep earthquake swarm in Askja. But that time around it lasted for few hours, not second. That activity took place in Week 09 of the year 2010. Here is a map of that weeks activity. But this deep earthquake swarm suggests that magma is on the move under Askja volcano, as was the case in the year 2010 when a similar event did happen.

Above: Picture of the Vatnajökull glacier area. The deep earthquakes north-east of Askja volcano can be seen here.

Above: The 75 second earthquake swarm north-east of Askja volcano.

Japan Mw9.0 earthquake

Strong earthquakes like the Mw9.0 earthquake in Japan appear all over the world on seismometers. In fact the effect from this earthquake could be seen up to five days at least on long period seismometers. Icelandic Met Office did release in last week overview.

Above: How the earthquake did appear on the IRIS seismometer in Iceland.

Above: This is how the earthquake did appear on the SIL network. Aftershocks can also been seen in this plot.

Copyright of this pictures in this blog post belong to Icelandic Met Office or other parties unless I notice otherwise.

Blog post updated at 21:57 CET on 16.02.2011.