Volcano and earthquake activity in Iceland
The progress of moving from dedicated hosting to shared hosting has started. When that part has finished I am going to update the DNS information. That progress might take up to 2 days to finish updating for everyone.
Until then. I am not going to post anything. Also note that if comments are made during this time period. They might get lost in the transfer process.
Due to lack of money (I am doing this before I get seriously broke again). Because there is not enough traffic or donations to keep me on dedicated server. I am going back to shared hosting. This is just pure budget issue that I am currently having. But dedicated hosting costs me around 850 DKK a month. At current status it is a price that cannot afford in any way or form. Due to lack of income from this web page, and the fact that I am low social income and this web page among my other web pages have not made any major improvements to that status.
It is also going to be a while until I publish anything and get income from my book publishing. Until that happens. I am going to be living rather poor. In the worst case I might have to move back to Iceland (but it is a idea that I do not like for many personal reasons. But sometimes there are no good option to have in life).
The move to shared hosting is going to take place in next few days. I am hoping for smooth transfer this time around when I switch hosting again.
This morning there was an short earthquake swarm on the Reykjanes Ridge. This earthquake swarm only lasted for about 1 hour. The largest earthquake had the size around ML3.1 (automatic size estimate).
The earthquake swarm on the Reykjanes Ridge this morning. Copyright of this picture belongs to Iceland Meteorological Office.
There is still a risk of this earthquake swarm is going to resume at any point for the moment. But it still might just be over. It is hard to know for sure at current time. The strongest earthquake was visible on my geophones in Iceland. The web page can be viewed here.
Icelandic news about this short earthquake swarm
Skjálftahrina á Reykjaneshrygg (mbl.is)
Yesterday there was an interesting swarm of small earthquakes in Hekla volcano system, or to be accurate. The earthquake swarm took place on the edge of Hekla volcano system. How far into the SISZ it was I do not know. For some unknown reasons, the earthquakes have not yet been reviewed. So errors are in there location and depth.
The earthquake activity on the edge of Hekla volcano system. Copyright of this picture belongs to Iceland Meteorological Office.
I have no idea what this means in terms of possible eruption in Hekla volcano. But this activity is interesting. But this is however not something that is new to this area. But it is uncommon anyway.
Activity in Hekla volcano system can be monitored on my web page with webicorders. Some of them have high human and wind noise however. As this is not expert setup that I am using.
Yesterday (21.04.2012) an earthquake swarm started in Hengill volcano at 18:57 UTC on 21.04.2012. The area in question is well known for having earthquakes swarms during past few months. It seems that this earthquake swarm is not over, and there is also a risk of stronger earthquakes in Hengill volcano than have currently happened. But the largest earthquake so far was event with the magnitude ML2.8.
Earthquake activity in Hengill volcano at 00:50 UTC on 22.04.2012. Copyright of this picture belongs to Iceland Meteorological Office.
Icelandic news about this earthquake swarm.
Jörð skelfur við Hellisheiðarvirkjun (mbl.is, Icelandic)
I have been having issues with Skeiðflöt geophone stations for the past few months. The problems is that I use WLAN (Wireless Network) to get the data from the geophone to the internet, and soon to my main earthquake computer. However, I have been having connection issues. This is because the wireless signal where the computer is located is quite bad. The signal is only 11dB according to the planet wireless hardware that I am using, I think that is quite poor signal. I have already tried to increase the gain by sending and bigger antenna to the people how are hosting the hardware for me. But it did not work as I hoped for.
Two new AP points (one acting as a repeater for the signal) would solve this issue permanently. But they cost 529DKK (current exchange rate), €71, $93, 58GBP (+1 Ethernet cable). Currently I am moving and bit short on cash because of that, at least I want to spend the little money that I have carefully at the moment. I am not sure if I can buy this at the moment my self. I would have to check my bank account first. But any donations to help me solving this issue are welcomed.
Thanks for the help!
Moving
I am currently moving to Denmark in next few days. So updates might bit lacking or late of anything happens in Iceland because of that. I will do my best to keep this blog updated if anything happens. My laptop hard drive is dying due to old age. There nothing I can do to fix it at the moment (it costs money that I do not have).
Snæfellsjökull volcano is not often in the news in Iceland. But today there was a short news about it due a study that was done last summer on earthquake activity in Snæfellsjökull volcano. The study was to see if there where any earthquake activity in Snæfellsjökull volcano. The results are really interesting, the main result was there is a lot of earthquake activity in Snæfellsjökull volcano. But also that most of the earthquakes take place on the depth from 9 to 13 km depth. This study was done by Matteo Lupi and Florian Fuchs at Bonn University in Iceland.
The reasons for earthquake activity in Snæfellsjökull volcano is magma. There are not a lot of tectonic movement in Snæfellsjökull volcano area. As it is a volcano zone, but not a rift zone as is the case in most areas of Iceland. But so far it seems that there is no risk of volcano eruption for now. At least that is the opinion for the moment.
Image removed at the request of its author.
Currently there is no permanent SIL network (IMO wants to install SIL stations, but they lack funding to do so) or other type of Seismometer network on Snæfellsnes peninsula. This is bad, because this area has three active volcanoes that erupted around 1000 years ago. Along with populated areas close to this volcanoes. I plan on trying to setup few geophones in that area if I can. But currently I do not have any money or way to install and run geophones on Snæfellsnes peninsula. My closest geophone to Snæfellsnes peninsula is at Hvammstangi village. Closest the distance is around 84 km or so to the Ljósufjöll volcano. But that means I can record earthquakes down to ML1.0 in the best weather. But since I just have one geophone in this area at the moment. I cannot locate any earthquakes. I just know that they take place.
This is based on blog post from Haraldur Sigurðsson, geologist.
Blog post and news about this in Icelandic
Jarðskjálftar undir Snæfellsjökli kalla á skjálftamælanet (blog.is, Icleandic)
Þörf á skjálftamælum við Snæfellsjökul (mbl.is, Icelandic)
Blog post updated at 20:10 UTC on 17.04.2012
Blog post updated at 20:13 UTC on 17.04.2012
Blog post updated at 15:23 UTC on 20.04.2012
A short update on Askja volcano ice-free lake.
There have been news about the tour of geologist to Askja lake this week in the news. So far the result are puzzling. It turns out that Askja lake is just 1C, but that is normal for this time of year. So why it is ice-free remains a mystery at current time. Data from GPS and seismometers. Samples of the water has been taken also for a analyze and review of weather condition’s is under way. But so far the Askja lake mystery deepens.
News about Askja volcano and new video of Askja volcano. Use Google translate in the hope to understand what is sad.
Ísleysið á Öskjuvatni er ráðgáta (Rúv.is, Pictures, Icelandic)
Loftmyndir af Öskjuvatni (Video of Askja lake, Icelandic)
According to news on Rúv scientists are now on there way up to Askja volcano to see what is going on and why Askja volcano has become ice-free. But it now believed that increased hydro-thermal activity in Askja volcano is the reason why Askja lake got ice-free during middle of winter.
The tour is expected to last for around 3 to 4 days if the weather is good. GPS data is also going to be collected in this trip to Askja volcano.
Iceland news about this. Use Google translate in order to try and understand this.
Aukinn jarðhiti bræddi ís á Öskju (Rúv.is, Icelandic)
This blog is shorter then normal because the hard disk in my laptop is giving up. I am going to try and setup linux based USB stick to boot the computer up. That should resolve any major issue that I am currently having like speed, sometimes just opening up a new browser window takes up to two minutes due to how slow the hard drive is now.
Tonight there was an small harmonic tremor event in Hamarinn volcano (Loki-Fögrufjöll, Bárðarbunga). This event was not big. But did appear on the Skrokkalda SIL station and on Grímsfjall SIL station. The pattern that is now appearing is the same one that did appear in July 2011 in the minor eruption in Hamarinn volcano. But that event took place week after Katla volcano minor eruption.
The harmonic tremor pulse on Skrokkalda SIL station. This is most likey from Hamarinn volcano. Copyright of this picture belongs to Iceland Meteorological Office.
The harmonic tremor pulse on Grímsfjall SIL station. This is most likey from Hamarinn volcano. Copyright of this picture belongs to Iceland Meteorological Office.
What gives clues that this Hamarinn volcano is that few days ago it had minor earthquake activity. But this area does not seem to need a lot of earthquake activity before a minor eruption takes place. Why that is I have no idea at present time.
I am going to update this blog post as event progress.