This article is going to be updated as needed.
Since yesterday (30-September-2016) Katla volcano has been quiet. For the last 24 hours no major earthquakes (above magnitude 3,0) has happened. Only few minor earthquakes have happened in this period and almost all of them where less then magnitude 2,0 earthquakes. Only two earthquakes had the magnitude above 2,0 and none above 3,0.
The earthquake map of Katla volcano for the last 48 hours. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
Conductivity in Múlakvísl glacier rivers continues to be high and the glacier river has unusual low amounts of water in it. When this is written the value has dropped down to 104 µS/cm from the high of 221 µS/cm. The folk tale for this are is that sometimes Múlakvísl glacier river goes dry just before an eruption. I don’t know if that phoneme gets confirmed or not when a eruption starts in Katla volcano.
The reason for this earthquake activity in Katla volcano is due to magma trying to push it self to the surface from depth. If experience is anything to go by it is clear that current activity is not over, even if there is a drop in activity at the moment. I’ve seen this type of drop in activity before, few hours before the eruption (the first one) in Eyjafjallajökull 2010 and in Bárðarbunga volcano 2014. The lack of earthquake can have many reasons behind it. The magma might now be flowing without a resistance, the pressure has equalised for the next few hours (if that time is not running out already) or something else. Currently all that can be done is to wait and see what happens next.
Streaming web cameras of Katla volcano
Here are two streaming web cameras for Katla volcano.
Rúv live web camera of Katla volcano.
Live from Iceland web camera of Katla volcano.
Storm warning for Iceland Sunday to Monday
On Sunday and Monday there is going to have strong storm in Iceland with wind gusts up to 40m/s in south Iceland to start with. Heavy rain is going to follow this storm according to the weather forecast at the moment.
Article updated at 22:16 UTC. Links to live cameras of Katla added.