Month: December 2011

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Harmonic tremor continues to drop in El Hierro volcano

It seems that currently the eruption in El Hierro volcano is coming to an end. I do not know if this is an permanent end to the current eruption or just an short break in it. The reports that I have seen so far suggest that the main crater out of the coast of La Restinga has stopped erupting. The current harmonic tremor however suggests that an eruption is still taking place somewhere. But I have no idea where that might be at current time, and so far no clues where that might be. But the lack of earthquakes north of El Hierro Island suggests that an eruption might be taking place there. But that is just speculation.


The harmonic tremor in El Hierro volcano at 20:36 UTC. Copyright of this picture belongs to IGN (Instituto Geográfico Nacional).

Other then this. There is not that much to report from the eruption in El Hierro volcano, or what is left of it at current time. If there are any major changes. I am going to report them soon as I can. But at current time. It does not look like there is isn’t a lot needed to be reported on the eruption in El Hierro volcano.

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More man made earthquakes in Hengill volcano

Since 04:49 UTC this morning (17 December, 2011) there has been an earthquake swarm in Hengill volcano. This earthquake swarm is due to hydro-thermal power production that is currently taking place in this area. But the Orkuveita Reykjavíkur (OR) is obligated to pump down cold water into the bedrock at depth that is greater then 800 meters. This water is used hot water that they pump up from the ground to warm houses and make electricity.


The earthquake swarm at 12:45 UTC on 17 December, 2011. Copyright of this picture belongs to Iceland Met Office.


The evolution of the earthquake swarm since it did start. Copyright of this picture belongs to Iceland Met Office.


The earthquake swarm as it did appear on my geophone at Heklubyggð. But the geophone at Eyrarbakki is scheduled to be up and running in next week. This picture is released under Creative Commons licence. See top bar for more information under CC Licence.

The earthquake swarm in Hengill volcano is currently ongoing. So far the largest earthquakes have had the size ML2.1 according to the automatic SIL system. Due the high number of earthquakes, the earthquakes have been wrongly placed on the map of Iceland that Iceland Met Office has. This are not real earthquakes in most cases, just wrongly located earthquakes that are taking place in Hengill volcano. The earthquake swarm is currently ongoing. If there are any major changes to this earthquake swarm. I am going to update this blog post with information about it.

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Short overview of volcano eruptions in Canary Islands

Here is an short overview of volcano activity in Canary Islands during the past 1000 years. But I do not want to go any more back in time. But this is similar to what I did about Iceland few months ago. For refrence I am using Global Volcanism Program data. I do not have any other data point at the moment. This blog post is going to be updated as more eruptions takes place. This is the same thing that I do with historical overview about volcano eruptions in Iceland.

Year of eruption

Gran Canaria has not had any eruption in past 1000 years.

Fuerteventura has not had any eruption in past 1000 years.

Year ~1060, eruption starts in Tenerife.

Year ~1480 eruption takes place in La Palma.

Year 1492, eruption starts in Tenerife on ~24 August.

Year 1585, May 19. Eruption starts in La Palma. It lasts until 10 August.

Year 1646, eruption starts on 2 October in La Palma. It lasts until 21 December.

Year 1677, eruption starts on November 17 in La Palma. It lasts until 21 January 1678.

Year 1704, eruption starts in Tenerife on 31 December. It last until 27 March in the year 1705.

Year 1706, eruption starts in Tenerife on May 5. It lasts until 13 June.

Year 1712, eruption starts on October 9 in La Palma. It lasts until 3 December.

Year 1730, eruption starts on September 1 in Lanzarote. It lasts until April 16 in the year 1736.

Year 1798, eruption starts in Tenerife on June 9. It lasts until ~14 September.

Year 1824, eruption starts in Lanzarote on July 31. It lasts until 24 October.

Year 1909, eruption starts in Tenerife on November 19. It lasts until November 27. It lasts until November 27.

Year 1949, eruption starts on June 24 in La Palma. It lasts until 30 July.

Year 1971, eruption starts on October 26 in La Palma. It last until November 18.

This blog post is going to be updated regularly.

Blog post updated at 20:55 UTC. Fixed some errors in the text.

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Reduced information for next few months on this blog

So, the school is out for me. This means that the second phase of my plan is now on. But that means I am going to live with my mom and dad for next several months. This however has that problem that I cannot run my main computers, this means my access to the data that I have collected during the years is limited to none. I also am not able to post high resolution earthquake traces in this time period. As my main earthquake computer is going to remain offline until I move back to Denmark. The earthquake traces are going to remain online as they have been. As the remote stations them self update the images for the moment. This is also going to be case with the new geophones that go up in December (2011) and in January 2012.

My plan is to move back to Denmark sometimes around the time May to July in the year 2012. But I start to look for apartment for an rent (around 3500 DKK) in March of 2012. All suggestions on good apartments in Denmark are welcomed, I prefer renting from an renting companies. Not private individuals. I already have some idea where I might be located when I move back to Denmark. I hopeful that I am going to be just outside Copenhagen. While I am living with mom and dad I am collecting money for the move back to Denmark, as moving from Iceland is not cheap (cost just for my belongings is estimated around 300.000 ISK, or around 14.000 DKK, 1.893€, $2.469 with current exchange rate on ISK). I have already collected some of the money needed for the move back to Denmark. But I need bit more so I can also pay insurance on the apartment + one month in rent ahead of time (at least) + one month with full rent without rental benefits in Denmark (at least). I also want to collect for new television (I do not watch television that much. I just like to figure out what I can get on it. It is one of my hobbies).

This is my current status. It is all moving along for me as I had planned (even bit faster then I had originally planned).

Until I move back to Denmark. I am going to do my best to update this blog properly with pictures and everything. It is also an factor that my mom and dad only have slow 3G internet connection. It can also drop out if there is heavy snow or rain taking place. So I might be out of internet connection suddenly at times. But I hope that does not happen often.

Other: Look what Foo Fighters did in New Zealand. Foo Fighters New Zealand gig causes ‘volcanic tremor’ (BBC News)

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Update on the eruption in El Hierro volcano (13 December, 2011)

Here is a long overdue update on the eruption in El Hierro volcano. But the eruption in El Hierro volcano is now in its third month.

Overall there has not been a lot of change in the eruption that is taking place in El Hierro volcano. But from what I can gather the eruption is taking place in just one vent at the moment. But that is common with this type of eruption. As they start with an fissure, but they end up just one vent erupting and building an cinder cone. Currently the eruption is taking place underwater. But that does not stop it from building an cinder cone. If the eruption continues long enough it is going to form an new island in this location. If that happens, the eruption is going to go from ash making eruption and down to lava eruption. Islands that form in this type of eruptions stand an better chance of lasting more then few months in the ocean. As the eroding powers of the ocean can wipe out a new Island in matter of months if it is just made out of volcanic tuff material.


Current harmonic tremor in El Hierro volcano eruption. The spikes are believed to be explosions taking place in the eruption area. Copyright of this picture belongs to IGN (Instituto Geográfico Nacional).


Steam event taking place in the eruption of El Hierro volcano. This picture is from 4 December, 2011. Copyright of this picture belongs to IGN (Instituto Geográfico Nacional).

There is also an other event that has mostly gone unnoticed by people. But that is the fact that earthquakes have stopped in north part of El Hierro volcano, current rate of earthquakes is close to zero during 24 hour period. This strongly suggests that an eruption has started in north part of El Hierro volcano. I have no idea where it, as there are no signals at the surface of the ocean that give clues to where this eruption might be taking place. But an similar drop in earthquakes took place just after the eruption in south El Hierro volcano started. The depth in north part of El Hierro Island increases sharply and any eruption that is currently taking place on more depth then 1000 meters is going to be hard to impossible to detect properly.

I am going to continue to monitor the eruption in El Hierro volcano. If there are any major changes. I am going to report it soon as I can do so.

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Earthquake activity continues in Katla volcano

Even if it is December and Mýrdalsjökull glacier has added around 6 meters of snow on top of it self. It seems that the earthquake activity in Katla volcano is rather strong, even if it winter already in Iceland.


Earthquake activity in Katla volcano past 48 hours. Some of this earthquakes might be frost-quakes due the freezing weather in Iceland for the past few days. Copyright of this picture belongs to Iceland Met Office.

The earthquake activity in Katla volcano is resistant in the Katla volcano caldera and has been that for several weeks already. I cannot interpreted this earthquake activity other then Katla volcano is preparing for an eruption. But when I am not sure at this moment. There is an pattern of earthquakes in Katla volcano caldera, this pattern has been in place since Week 27, but that is the week when the minor eruption took place in Katla volcano caldera last summer (summer 2011).

It is clear that this earthquake activity in Katla volcano is going to continue. I am assuming that this earthquake activity is going to continue until a eruption takes place in Katla volcano. But there is also the chance of the year 1999 event. When a small eruption took also place and earthquake activity remained high for several weeks after that. But after some time the earthquake activity started to drop. For the moment I find that to be unlikely outcome given how long the earthquake activity has remained high in Katla volcano after the minor eruption this summer.

Donations: I am going to try and setup the geophones in Eyrarbakki village and the geophone close to Katla volcano in December. But that trip is going to cost me some money (I pay for the car benzine), but the cost might go as high €157, 1169 DKK, $210, 25.000 ISK (current exchange rates) just for gas (on an car) for that trip. So if anyone can help with this cost it would be welcomed. Thanks for the support! 🙂

Update 1: I am most likely going with the bus. But that also costs some money, around 3900 ISK, 182 DKK, 24€. $32, 20GBP (Current exchange rates).

Blog post updated at 13:12 UTC on 12 December, 2011.

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Iceland this morning

I am just testing to see if everything works properly on the new server. That means I am looking for bugs.


This is the town of Sauðárkrókur, where I have been for the past few months in school. This picture is released under Creative Commons Licence. Please see the top bar for more information.

If you see any bugs. Please let me know about them. Thanks!

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Move to a new host complete

If you are reading this blog post. Then you have arrived to my new web host. This host should perform better then the shared hosting that I was on. But it is more expensive, as the cost is now $145 a month (around 800 DKK, depending on exchange rate). But this should also handle better in high load situation (when something major happens). The fact is that this blog alone had outgrown its shared hosting by an large margin since I did start this blog over one year ago.

I hope that you all enjoy better experience with this new web hosting that I now have. Since it makes the web site load faster and be more smooth then it used to be. I want to thank you all for the patience when this host transfer took place.

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Moving to a new host

This blog is moving to a new and bigger host in the next 24 hours. Please be aware that this might mean some loss of comments if you leave a comment between transfers. The total length of this progress should take around 24 hours from from start to finish.

This is going to increase the loading speed of this web page and handle better in high traffic (when something happens).

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Earthquake activity in Katla volcano

Even if there is December and Katla volcano is supposed to have less earthquake activity during this time of year. It seems to be that currently that is not the case. But the earthquake activity is less then it was this summer after the minor eruption in July 2011. No major earthquake swarm has been taking place in Katla volcano for the past few weeks. But there is a lot of earthquakes taking place, without it being a earthquake swarm at one single location inside Katla volcano.


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

Many people might ask if this earthquake activity is something to worry about. The answer is no. Katla volcano is unlikely to start an eruption in December. But if this pattern of earthquake activity it is clear that Katla volcano is going to erupt sooner rather then later. But the question after the mini-eruption last summer (July 2011), if there are going to be around 10 years until next eruption takes place in Katla volcano. For the moment nobody knows for sure.

Other: I want to remind people about the forum. It can be used to ask questions, chat, share pictures and so on.