Day: July 8, 2012

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Minor earthquake swarm in Katla volcano

This Sunday is not quiet when it comes to earthquake activity in Iceland. Earlier today a small earthquake swarm started in Katla volcano. The largest earthquake in this swarm had the magnitude 2.3 according to the automatic SIL system. The largest earthquake did appear clearly on Skeiðflöt and Heklubyggð geophone stations. But Skeiðflöt geophone station is closest to the area where this earthquake swarm was taking place.


Earthquake swarm in Katla volcano. Copyright of this picture belongs to Iceland Meteorological Office.


The earthquake trace on Skeiðflöt geophone station. This is filtered at 1Hz. I have not located this earthquake trace (no P and S wave markers). This image is released under Creative Commons Licence. Please see CC Licence page for more details.


The earthquake trace from Heklubyggð geophone station. This is filtered at 1Hz. I have not located this earthquake trace (no P and S wave markers). This image is released under Creative Commons Licence. Please see CC Licence page for more details.

It is impossible to know what happens next in Katla volcano. But it is monitored heavily, so if anything happens. It is going to show up almost in real time on the internet.

GPS monitoring of Ice cauldron on Mýrdalsjökull glacier

In the news on Rúv yesterday (07.07.2012) they did tell about real time GPS monitoring of ice cauldron in Mýrdalsjökull glacier. But it is hoped that with this real time GPS monitoring they can give out warning sooner when a ice cauldron empties it self of the water it holds.

The news about this can be found here on Rúv News in Icelandic.

GPS-tæki komið í sigketilinn (Rúv.is, Icelandic, video)

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Earthquake swarm in SISZ continues

The earthquake swarm that I wrote about yesterday (7. July 2012) in South Icelandic Seismic Zone (SISZ) continues. The largest earthquake so far has reached magnitude 3.1. The earthquake swarm has been ongoing for almost three weeks now. But almost all of the earthquakes that have been taking place during this swarm have been small earthquakes, often with less then 2.0 in magnitude. Earthquake activity is ongoing in SISZ at the moment. It is impossible to know if there are going to be any more earthquakes with magnitude 3.0 in this area. The magnitude 3.1 earthquake was felt in Selfoss and Hveragerði towns.


The area on SISZ where this earthquake swarm is taking place. Copyright of this picture belongs to Iceland Meteorological Office.


Map that shows how the earthquake was felt in this area of Iceland. Copyright of this picture belongs to Iceland Meteorological Office.


The earthquake did appear clearly on all of my geophones. This is from Eyrarbakki, the geophone that is closest to the earthquake swarm. Copyright of this picture belongs to Iceland Meteorological Office.


This is the earthquake seen on Heklubyggð geophone station.


The earthquake seen on my Hvammstangi geophone. This is filtered at 4Hz due to local noise. This picture is released under CC Licence. Please see CC Licence for more information.


The earthquake as it was recorded on my Skeiðflöt geophone station. This picture is released under CC Licence. Please see CC Licence for more information.


The earthquake as it was recorded on Eyrarbakki geophone station. This geophone is closest to the earthquake swarm. But is noisy. This picture is released under CC Licence. Please see CC Licence for more information.


The earthquake seen on Heklubyggð geophone station. This picture is released under CC Licence. Please see CC Licence for more information.

Earthquake activity in this area of SISZ is ongoing, and shows no signs of slowing down at the moment. This earthquake swarm started about 3 weeks ago. But has mostly been making minor earthquakes. But that are earthquakes with the magnitude of 0.0 to 2.0. It is impossible to know for how long this earthquake swarm is going to continue in this area of SISZ.