Day: March 19, 2021

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Eruption confirmed in Fagradalsfjall mountain

This article is going to go get updated soon as possible or a new article is going to be written. This information is going to get outdated quickly. This is Krýsuvík-Trölladyngja volcano.

This volcano eruption seems to have started without any earthquake activity or major harmonic tremor as of writing of this article. More information later this evening.

Update at 22:46 UTC

Here is a web camera link from Rúv. It might work. But all the web cameras are getting heavy traffic now.

Update 22:56 UTC

This is the possible location of the eruption based on satellite images of the area. This is in eastern side of Fagradalsfjall mountain. This is from Icelandic Met Office.

Update at 23:13 UTC

This the first picture of the eruption. The fissure is about 200 meters long at the writing of this article. Picture is from Icelandic Met Office.

Update 00:05 UTC on 20-March-2021

Video of the eruption. Video from Icelandic Met Office. Downloaded from Twitter.

Update at 00:56 UTC on 20-March-2021

Here is a new video of the eruption on Rúv website.
Title of the article was also fixed.

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Inflation slows in Krýsuvík-Trölladyngja volcano system

This is a short article that because the situation can change without warning and article is written on 19-March-2021 at 21:07 UTC. There have been updates to names used and now Krýsuvík-Trölladyngja name is used by Global Volcanism Program and Icelandic Met Office. Suggesting that the magma that is about to erupt has its origin in Krýsuvík volcano system eat of current centre of activity. This sometimes happens in Iceland when magma travels long distances deep underground.

Earthquake activity in Krýsuvík-Trölladyngja volcano system with two green stars showing two earthquakes with magnitude larger than three
Earthquake activity in Krýsuvík-Trölladyngja volcano system. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Today at 15:01 an earthquake took place with magnitude of Mw3,1. This earthquake has in my view clear signs of magma movement close to the surface as the depth of this earthquake was just 0,1 km (100 meter).

A magnitude 3,1 earthquake that took place. Image shows P wave and a S wave and a long period after the S wave
A magnitude Mw3,1 earthquake that took place today at 15:01 UTC.

This earthquake strongly suggests that magma created it at shallow depth. It has not yet resulted in an eruption but it is a question if this the final sign before an eruption happens. The current quiet time might last up to 2 months but it is impossible to know for sure.

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Earthquake swarm in Reykjanes volcano early morning of 19-March-2021

At 04:30 this morning (19-March-2021) an earthquake swarm started just off the coast of Reykjanestá. This activity looks tectonic in nature for now but it is highly focused in one location. This earthquake activity did start on 24-February-2021 when the Mw5,7 earthquake happened. This activity was only going on for short period of time on 24-February-2021 before it stopped until now.

Earthquake activity in Reykjanes volcano off the coast of Reykjanestá shown by few green stars. A lot of earlier activity is in Fagradalsfjall mountain area.
Earthquake activity in Reykjanes volcano off the coast of Reykjanestá in the far left corner of this image. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Largest earthquakes in this swarm had a magnitude of Mw3,7 but in total of 10 earthquakes with magnitude above 3 took place in this earthquake swarm. Around 100 earthquakes where recorded at the writing of this article but after 06:00 this earthquake swarm slowed down from its peak activity around 05:50. This earthquake swarm might increase again without warning.