Day: October 19, 2011

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Large landslide in a valley in north Iceland

A large landslide did fall last Friday in a valley called Eyjafjarðarsveit. This is the largest landslide in this area for 17 years, when a smaller landslide did fall from a different mountain in this area. This landslide was large enough to block a small river that is in this area. Next farm to this landslide is about 7 km away from it. They do not tell what direction (north or south) the farm that is closest to this landslide is. The mountain that this landslide did come from is called Torfufell.

New from Rúv about this landslide.

Stór skriða féll í Eyjafjarðarsveit (Rúv.is, Icelandic, Pictures)

Update 1: Here is a new news about this landslide. It says that the area is going to be up to 30 years to recover in terms of flora and plants in the area that is just mud at the moment. The main rock in this area is Rhyolite. It is now also believed that two landslides took place in this area. But when it came down. It did travel 1.5 km down the valley. It also did create a lake (I have no idea if it is permanent new lake or not) where the landslide did block the river.

Landslagið gjörbreytt eftir skriðuföll (Rúv.is, Icelandic, Picture)
Fréttir: Gerbreytt landslag eftir skriðuföll (Rúv.is, Icelandic, Video, Flash)

Note: Next blog post about the eruption in El Hierro is going to be tomorrow. It seems that not a lot has been happening in the eruption of El Hierro today and yesterday.

Blog post updated on 20 October, 2011 at 22:16 UTC.

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Possible harmonic tremor spike in Katla volcano (it might just be the weather)

With all the bad weather in Iceland during the past few days it is hard to be sure on this. But it seems that a harmonic tremor spike is about to start in Katla volcano. So far this spike is rather small from what I can tell at the moment. At the moment it is impossible to know how this develops, if this is a harmonic tremor spike to begin with in Katla volcano.


Current earthquake activity in Katla volcano. Copyright of this picture belongs to Iceland Met Office.


Current tremor levels in Katla volcano. The harmonic tremor spike can be seen at the end of this plot. Copyright of this picture belongs to Iceland Met Office.


The possible harmonic tremor spike in Katla volcano. Copyright of this picture belongs to Iceland Met Office.


The possible harmonic tremor spike in Katla volcano. Copyright of this picture belongs to Iceland Met Office.

This might just be bad weather. It is hard to know at the moment. But currently the weather is decent. But there is a new storm coming over Iceland in the next 12 hours or so, at least that is the weather forecast now from what I can gather.

In September over 480 earthquakes where recorded in Katla volcano caldera. But this is the most earthquake activity since at least the year 1999. The largest earthquake in September in Katla volcano was a ML3.4 with the depth of 5.2 km.

More the earthquake activity in Iceland during the month of September.

Jarðskjálftayfirlit í september 2011 (Vedur.is, Icelandic, Picture)

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Special report: Update 5 on El Hierro eruption, Canary Islands, Spain

This is a special report on the eruption in El Hierro, Canary Islands, Spain.
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From the harmonic tremor data during the current eruption in El Hierro. It seems that the eruption has dropped in strength during the past 48 hours or so. But that most likely means that the current eruption crater is closing up. But this does not mean that the eruption is over, as new fissures might open up without any warning close the El Hierro Island or on the island it self. It is impossible to know that for sure at this moment. As it currently stands it is unlikely that a new Island is going to form offshore of El Hierro island, as the current eruption crater does not seem to have the energy to break the surface of the ocean. Earthquake activity in El Hierro volcano remains about the same as it has since the eruption did start on 10 October, 2011.


Harmonic tremor in El Hierro volcano at 18 October, 2011 at 23:26 UTC. Copyright of this picture belongs to Instituto Geográfico Nacional.

For the moment, the only thing that can be done is to wait and see what happens next. But it is clear that the eruption in El Hierro is far from over from the data that I have seen so far. But this eruption might pause for days to weeks, as that is not uncommon thing for a volcano to do during a active eruption cycle.