Day: February 14, 2023

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Strong earthquake swarm north of Kolbeinsey island [Updated]

Today (14. February 2023) at 01:24 UTC an earthquake swarm started around 70 to 90 km north of Kolbeinsey island. It might be in Kolbeinsey island. Largest earthquakes recorded at the writing of this article had a magnitude of Mw3,5 according to Icelandic Met Office. EMSC is reporting two earthquakes with magnitude of mb4,5 at the writing of this article.

Two green stars far north of Iceland in the ocean. Showing the location of the earthquakes north of Kolbeinsey island. This is all view map of Iceland and shows all the other earthquakes that have taken place in Iceland for the last 48 hours.
Earthquake activity north of Kolbeinsey island. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Distance from land makes it difficult for the SIL network that Icelandic Met Office runs to detect the smallest earthquakes. This means there can be a lot more going on that appears on earthquake maps. There’s always a chance of stronger earthquakes in this area north of Iceland.

Update
Update at 16:50 UTC on 14. February 2023

Icelandic Met Office has finished reviewing the earthquake activity north of Kolbeinsey and around eight earthquakes with magnitude above Mw3,0 took place. Largest earthquake had a magnitude of mb4,6 according to EMSC. Information about that earthquake can be found here.

Ten green stars far north of Iceland showing the earthquake activity north of Kolbeinsey island. Other earthquakes that also happen in Iceland are visible on this map.
Earthquake activity far north of Iceland. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

This earthquake activity appears to be over, but distance from seismic detection networks in Iceland prevents detection of smaller earthquakes that might be happening at this location.