Month: July 2022

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Magnitude Mw5,4 earthquake 3,2 km east of Grindavík town

Today (31-July-2022) at 17:48 UTC an earthquake with magnitude of Mw5,4 took place 3,2 km east of Grindavík town. This earthquake was felt over a wide area of Iceland and all the way to Westfjörd in few towns that are there. Damage has been reported in Grindavík town, with cold water main breaking and damage to house items, damages to houses is unclear at the writing of this article. New news reports show that items in grocery stores have been thrown out of their shelf.

The red dots continue to grow on the Icelandic Met Office earthquake map. Green stars are also many on this same map of Reykjanes peninsula
The earthquake activity on Reykjanes peninsula and close to Grindavík town. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

This earthquake is a fault earthquake and as such not directly connected to a magma movement in Fagradalsfjall mountain, however, the magma movement in Fagradalsfjall mountain is the engine that makes this earthquake possible in this location. There is a chance that two magnitude Mw5,4 earthquakes took place at the same time east of Grindavík town. This was mentioned in Rúv news about the earthquake, such earthquakes are a lot more complicated and harder to get correct magnitude for. More earthquakes like this can be expected in this area or closer to Reykjavík city at any time without warning.

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Update on the earthquake swarm in Fagradalsfjall mountain (Krýsuvík-Trölladyngja volcano)

This is going to be a short update because the situation is constantly changing. This update is written at 12:07 UTC on 31-July-2022.

At the writing of this article at 11:32 UTC no eruption has started in Fagradalsfjall mountain or nearby area. Over 3000 earthquakes have been recorded in the last 24 hours in and around Fagradalsfjall mountain since the earthquake activity started yesterday (30-July-2022). There have not been any major changes in the crater in Fagradalsfjall mountain, it does seem to release more gas than normal. That is at least how it appears, if that is real or not I don’t know.

A lot of red dots on Reykjanes peninusla as the heavy earthquake swarm continues. A lot of green stars in a line close to Fagradalsfjall mountain, showing the location of the strongest earthqaukes
Heavy earthquake activity on Reykjanes peninsula. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
The time index of the earthquake activity for the last 48 hours. Since 12 yesterday, there have been a continuos earthquake activity. Now the dots are yellow, orange and red after the age of the earthquakes
The earthquake activity in the last 48 hours. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

I think this might be a stronger activity than last year, but if that is correct estimate is a wait and see. There has not been any major change in GPS location and that suggest that the area is as inflated as it possibly can be. It is impossible to know when the magma breaks up in the crust, but earthquake activity suggests that it has reached the depth of 2 km, meaning the magma has moved up a lot in the last 24 hours, since this earthquake activity started on the depth of 8 km yesterday.

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Massive earthquake swarm in Krýsuvík-Trölladyngja volcano

I was busy today so I only just got home and this article is going to be a short one.

Today around (09:00 UTC) a small earthquake swarm took place in Fagradalsfjall mountain. At around 12:00 UTC an stronger and more massive earthquake swarm started in Fagradalsfjall mountain. At the writing of this article more than 700 earthquakes have been recorded and that is possibly an underestimate. At the writing of this article, largest earthquake had a magnitude of Mw4,4 and more than eighteen earthquakes with magnitude above Mw3,0 had taken place. Many of them were felt in Reykjavík and other nearby towns.

Dense earthquake swarm on Reykjanes pensinsula in Fagradalsfjalli mountain. Many green stars in a row in a swarm of red dots
A lot of earthquake activity in Reykjanes peninsula in Fagradalsfjall mountain. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
Horizontal gram of the earthquake mangitudes of the earthquake swarm in Fagradalsfjall mountain. Most earthquakes from 06:00 and then a sudden jump in activity at 12:00. Several earthquakes reach magnitude 4 line and a lot the magnitude 3 line.
The time overview of the earthquake activity in Reykjanes peninsula and Fagradalsfjalli mountain. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

It is difficult to know when a eruption is going to start. I find that the most likely outcome of this earthquake swarm. The magnitude of the harmonic tremor suggests that an eruption would be larger than last eruption in Fagradalsfjalli mountain. It is impossible to know if that is going to happen until an eruption starts. Currently the harmonic tremor was or is dropping. I do think it is going to increase again since that seems to be a pattern in this cases of magma intrusion until an eruption starts.

I’ll post more updates as this continues. Rúv and mbl.is have turned on their web cameras. They can be found on YouTube.

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Magnitude Mw4,2 earthquake in Katla volcano

At 22:57 UTC on 29-July-2022 an earthquake with magnitude of Mw4,2 took place in Katla volcano. Few smaller earthquakes have happened following this earthquake. Magnitude of this earthquake might still change, since earthquakes in Katla volcano are the type of earthquake it takes time to get correct magnitude.

Green star in Mýrdalsjökull glacier in Katla volcano. Red dots inside the caldera shows smaller earthquakes.
Earthquake activity in Katla volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

I don’t know what is going on. This might just be normal summer earthquake activity and Katla volcano sometimes has this stronger earthquakes without an eruption happening. This is going to be a little wait and see on what happens next in Katla volcano.

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Magnitude Mw4,9 earthquake in Bárðarbunga volcano

Today (24-July-2022) at 13:45 UTC and earthquake with magnitude of Mw4,9 took place in Bárðarbunga volcano. Before this earthquake happened, an slightly smaller earthquake took place with magnitude of Mw4,4.

Two green stars on top of each other in Bárðarbunga volcano, that is in Vatnajökull glacier.
Green stars in Bárðarbunga volcano, that is in Vatnajökull glacier. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

According to news reports, last earthquake of this magnitude took place in January 2020. This earthquake activity is because of inflow of magma and inflation of Bárðarbunga volcano. This is not going to result in a eruption, this however shows that Bárðarbunga volcano is preparing for an eruption in next few decades or sooner.

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Earthquake swarm in Reykjanes volcano

This morning (12-July-2022) an earthquake swarm took place in Reykjanes volcano. This earthquake swarm has at the writing of this article around 30 earthquakes. Two largest earthquakes had a magnitude of Mw3,3 and Mw3,4. The second earthquake was felt in towns on Reykjanes peninsula.

Two green stars on the earthquake map from 10:00 clock this morning. Along with few red dots around the largest earthquakes
Earthquake swarm on the Reykjanes peninsula in the Reykjanes volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

It has been rather quiet on the Reykjanes peninsula in last few months. There is always minor earthquake activity happening because of inflation of magma in this area. There has been lack of large earthquakes in recent months. I don’t know why that is. GPS data show that there has not been any notable inflation or deflation in Reykjanes volcano for the last few weeks. That translates into lack of earthquakes. If this earthquake swarm means that is changing is something to watch out for. Small earthquake swarm can mean change, what it means here is unclear. It is known that not every eruption starts with a big earthquake swarm in a volcano.

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Increase in earthquake activity in Katla volcano

Today (10-July-2022), earthquake activity in Katla volcano increased. Most of the earthquakes that have happened are above magnitude Mw2,0 and that is unusual. Largest earthquake at the writing of this article had a magnitude of Mw3,0.

Red dots and a green star in Katla volcano caldera on Icelandic Met Office map
The earthquake activity in Katla volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

It is unclear at the writing of this article what this means. Glacier flood from Mýrdalsjökull glacier following this earthquake activity is a possibility. Currently there are no signs that an eruption is about to start, that can change without warning. This might also just be normal summer activity in Katla volcano. At the writing of this article, the answer of what is going on is not clear.

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Earthquake swarm close to Geirfugladrangur on Reykjanes Ridge

On Monday (4-July-2022) an earthquake swarm started close to Geirfugladrangur on Reykjanes ridge. Largest earthquake on Monday had a magnitude of Mw3,2 and on Tuesday a magnitude Mw3,1 earthquake took place.

Green star on the Reykjanes ridge out in the ocean. Showing the centre of the earthquake activity
Earthquake activity on the Reykjanes ridge. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

This earthquake activity is what seems to be increase in earthquake activity overall on Reykjanes peninsula and on the Reykjanes ridge. The ocean is deep at this location and an eruption would have to be a big one to break up to the ocean surface because of depth in the area. I don’t know how many earthquakes have happened in this area, because of more activity on Reykjanes peninsula in last few days.

Earthquake recordings

Because of how old my hardware is and difficulty keeping it running. I have for now stopped recording earthquakes. This is going to be the situation until I can get new hardware. When that happens I don’t know. Raspberry Shake has few stations in Iceland. They can be viewed here. This is the hardware I am going to be using once I can afford to buy it. When that happens I don’t know.

Donations

Please remember to support my work with donations. I am currently really broke, because moving is expensive and I had to pay a lot of bills in July. Thanks for the support. 🙂