Update on Bárðarbunga volcano at 15:29 UTC

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This information are going to get outdated fast.

Please note that I have to split the coverage of Bárðarbunga volcano. The amount of information on what is happening is more then I can put into one post. This also allows me to post more detailed information on what this information means.

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Earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano for the past 48 hours. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Earthquake activity did drop a little yesterday (19-August-2014). Today (20-August-2014) it increased again. What is also a interesting development is that earthquake activity has increased in Bárðarbunga volcano caldera. The caldera is filled with 700 meter thick ice so an eruption in it would be extremely bad. Largest earthquakes today (when this is written) have the magnitude of 3,0. Other earthquakes have been smaller. Over 500 earthquakes have been recorded since midnight (best number that I have).

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Earthquake activity remains dense as it has been since the start of this activity on 16-August-2014. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

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Harmonic tremor remains high as can be seen on Dyngjuháls SIL station. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

This high harmonic tremor means that magma continues to flow into Bárðarbunga volcano at same rate as before. There is a small fluctuation in the flow of magma into the volcano, other then this minor drop in harmonic tremor. Earthquake data shows that the magma is pushing north-east at slow rate. It is unclear how much magma the sill that is now forming can hold or how long it is going to fill up. I however see clues that magma is already looking for paths up to the surface.

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Long period earthquake that I did record today at 00:58 UTC. This image is released under Creative Commons licence. Please see CC Licence web site for more details.

This earthquake is a long period event. It is created when magma breaks into the crust and creates a pathway for it self. In doing so a gas is released under pressure, this also a creates earthquake and due to how this earthquake is created and due to influence of magma and gas the earthquake has long period signature. This means at some magma is breaking an path to the surface, if that magma is enough to start an eruption is not known at the moment. This magma is under high pressure, since the glacier on top of it is at least 600 meters thick.