Month: January 2021

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Earthquake activity and more in Grímsfjall volcano (Grímsvötn)

Yesterday (29-January-2021) at 23:34 UTC an earthquake with magnitude of Mw2,4 took place in Grímsfjall volcano (Grímsvötn). There where few smaller earthquakes before and after this largest earthquake. There where no signs of change in harmonic tremor following this earthquake activity.

In the center of Vatnajökull glacier there is a volcano Grímsfjall. East of that a yellow dot shows the location of an earthquake with magnitude of Mw2,4. Grímsfjall volcano is marked by a triangle that shows the location of a seismic sensor to record earthquakes in this area.
Earthquake activity in Grímsfjall volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

It has also been reported in the news that glacier plate that is on top of Grímsfjall volcano is now the highest since 1996. Inflation is now taking place in eastern part of Grímsfjall volcano, in a location called Eystri Svíahnúkur. Magma pressure is today (30-January-2021) equal or higher than when the May 2011 eruption took place in Grímsfjall volcano.

Sources / News in Icelandic

Íshellan í Grímsvötnum ekki mælst hærri í 25 ár (Icelandic, Rúv.is)
Fundur í vísindaráði almannavarna (Icelandic, Almannavarnir.is)

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Earthquake swarm in Prestahnúkur volcano

Yesterday (27-January-2021) an earthquake swarm started in Prestahnúkar volcano. Largest earthquake in this swarm had a magnitude of Mw3,0 and other earthquakes where smaller in magnitude.

Yellow earthquake on the south-west side of the volcano. In the former glacier Ok.
Earthquake activity in the volcano Prestahnúkar. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

This earthquake swarm has stopped but it might start again since earthquake activity in this area is often slow to start and goes on for a long time, up to 1 to 3 years. There is no sign that magma is at work in this earthquake swarm.

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Ongoing earthquake activity in Reykjanes volcano

On Friday 22-January-2021 an earthquake swarm took place just east of Grindavík town. This earthquake activity then stopped but resumed at midnight on Sunday 24-January-2021. All of the earthquakes where small in magnitude and only few did go above magnitude Mw1,0 in size.

Yellow dots east of Grindavík town on Reykjanes peninsula. Few blue dots showing earthquakes that are older then 1 day.
Earthquake activity in the Reykjanes volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

The earthquake swarm that started on Sunday lasted for 12 hours according to Icelandic Met Office website. There is no change in GPS location data (can be viewed here) and there is no change in harmonic tremor. Currently there is a bad weather in Iceland preventing automatic detection of small earthquakes all over Iceland.

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Earthquake in Kolbeinsey island

Yesterday (24-January-2021) at 09:16 UTC an earthquake with magnitude Mw3,1 took place in Kolbeinsey island. Two unconfirmed earthquakes with magnitude of Mw2,5 and Mw2,6 took place at 17:37 UTC and 19:06 UTC.

Green star at the edge of the image shows the location of Mw3,1 earthquake of Kolbeinsey island
Earthquake in Kolbeinsey island shown by the green star. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

The area is remote and it is difficult to know if there has been any more earthquake activity there. There is also a storm going on and has been going on for last several days and that limits detection of small and remote earthquakes in Iceland.

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Earthquake activity in Katla volcano

Yesterday at 23:31 UTC (16-January-2021) an earthquake with the magnitude of Mw3,1 took place in Katla volcano. Last earthquake of this magnitude was in November 2020. No other earthquake activity has been detected since the earthquake yesterday.

Green star in north-east caldera of Katla volcano. Few minor earthquakes around the green star. Earthquakes west of Hekla volcano in South Icelandic Seismic Zone.
Earthquake activity in Katla volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

There has been slightly more earthquake activity in Katla volcano in December 2020 and in January 2021. Currently there is nothing suggesting that an eruption is about to happen in next few months to week. Earthquake activity remains too low for that too happen based on past experience (minor eruption in July 2011). I am not expecting any major changes in activity in Katla volcano for the next few weeks to months. Nothing might happen all year and that would be perfectly normal for this volcano.

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Strong earthquake swarm in Reykjanes volcano

Today (10-January-2021) at 03:15 UTC an earthquake with magnitude of Mw4,1. This earthquake was felt far away as Reykjavík. A swarm of small earthquakes is currently ongoing in this area. This earthquake activity is in the Reykjanes volcano.

Green star north of Grindavík town. Groups of small earthquakes north and east of Grindavík town on the map little from the coastline. Earthqukake activity in Krýsuvík lake and in Hengill volcano.
The earthquake activity in the Reykjanes volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Over 100 earthquakes have happened in this area for the last 48 hours. Most of them are small, less than magnitude Mw1,0 in size. There are not many earthquakes with magnitude over Mw1,0 currently in this earthquake activity. There is no sign that magma has started to find a way to the surface. Currently the magma remains in the crust. GPS data suggests that there is some type of change going on but I am unclear what that means. The GPS data can be viewed here.

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Earthquake activity continues in Reykjanes volcano

Today (07-January-2021) two earthquakes with magnitude of Mw3,1 and Mw3,2 took place in Reykjanes volcano. A swarm of smaller earthquakes is currently ongoing in the volcano.


The earthquake activity in the Reykjanes volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

This earthquake activity has been going on for one year. Inflation was detected on 21-January-2020 by Icelandic Met Office and it has continued since then. Area of activity is now larger then it was at the start of this activity. There is currently no sign that an eruption is about to start but that might change without warning.

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Strong earthquake swarm far north of Iceland

I hope everyone had a good Christmas and New Year even if current situation is difficult in the world.

Current break in eruptions is the longest in 60 years according to expert in the news from few days ago. It is not possible to know when this break of eruption in Iceland ends.

Today (04-January-2021) an strong earthquake took place far north of Iceland. Largest earthquake had a magnitude of Mb4,7 according to EMSC (information here). Icelandic Met Office did register this earthquake at magnitude of Mw3,6. Few other earthquakes where recorded with magnitudes from Mw2,5 to Mw3,0 but exact magnitude is difficult to know for sure due to distance.


Green star far north of Iceland is the location of the earthquake. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

There is some uncertainty of location due to distance of the earthquake from any seismometer network. I don’t know if any more earthquakes have happened due to location and only largest of earthquakes are being registered by Icelandic Met Office and other seismometer networks.

Article updated at 22:14 UTC.