Today (07-March-2018) there has been deep earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano. This earthquake activity was in two areas. In the main volcano and south-east of it.
The earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano and south-east of Bárðarbunga volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
The earthquake swarm in the main volcano is normal and is connected to current inflation activity of Bárðarbunga volcano. Earthquake activity happens mostly when magma is pushing the crust upwards when it flows into the volcano from depth. The earthquake swarm to the south-east of Bárðarbunga volcano is more interesting. That is a dyke and it has been in this area for numbers of years already. At the moment this dyke remains at depth of 15 – 23 km but this increase in activity might be increasing the risk of eruption if it does not quiet down. The increased magma activity in Bárðarbunga volcano has increased the earthquake activity in this dyke over the last few months.
There is a high risk of strong earthquakes in Bárðarbunga volcano in the next few days to weeks.
What also happened in this earthquake swarm was a high intensity tremor on the mid-band (1-2Hz) during the earthquake swarm. This is highly unusual. What it means is less clear.
The tremor activity (close to the end) on a SIL station close to Bárðarbunga volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
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