Posted on by Jón Frímann

Last update on Hekla volcano (for now). Correction on mobile emergency SMS. Earthquake swarm at Reykjanes Ridge. The media hype. Help needed!

Here is an short update on few things.

Hekla volcano: Everything is quiet at Hekla volcano. Movements of magma deep down in the crust have not changed that fact. Nobody knows when it is going to stop begin quiet. Until it does. There is no need to worry about it. Update 2: The movement on the GPS instruments was most likely an deep dike intrusion in Hekla volcano. It was not followed by any earthquakes for some reason.

Correction: I did say that in my earlier post that if there was an emergency in regards to Hekla volcano due to an eruption. The Public Emergency Authority in Iceland would send out an SMS to everyone in the local area. This is half wrong and half correct. They are going to send an SMS, but apparently only to registered locals in the area. Few years ago there was talk of setting up an system to send SMS to everyone around Hekla volcano if an eruption would start. But that system appears not to have gone past the idea stage. I do not watch the changes in this field, so I did miss that. For that I am sorry.

Earthquake swarm at Reykjanes Ridge: Few days ago there was an minor earthquake swarm at Geirfulgasker on the Reykjanes Ridge. This was normal tectonic activity for this area. But it has been having earthquake swarm every few months now for an long time. This earthquake swarm was an small one compared to many other earthquake swarms that have been taking place there.

The media hype: To Daily Mail in the UK. I am not an volcano expert. I also don’t claim to be one. You can’t find that claim on this blog. Because I am not an volcano expert. You also got an wrong volcano in your news and you spelled the name wrong on Hekla volcano. You should correct your news if you want to call your self an newspaper. Also, nobody sad anything about possible size of an ash cloud from Hekla volcano. You just made that up. The media should also relax, drink less coffee. There is nothing going on at the moment. You can hype all you want when something interesting is going on. If the media doesn’t get what I am saying, this here (Youtube, Newswipe) should help you get the clue. I at least remain hopeful, or something.

Help needed!: I need help. I am broke again (demit!). I might be having an low paying job. But my pay goes mostly up to my debts and July was an bit harder then I expected (I try to leave something for food, but this time around it did not work out as I planned it). But that was due to the last VISA payment that I am ever going to make. I am going to get paid on the 1 of next month at least. I am now only left with 2500 ISK (€15) and €24 (182 DKK) to buy food (total 39€) for the rest of the month or until I get paid from my job. My social welfare (that I working toward getting off one day) is always paid on the 1st of every month. My rule about asking for donations is that it is the only option that I have left. Besides not eating anything. But I don’t really regard that as an good option. My status is that the worst is most likely over now, since no more surprise VISA bills (I closed it and I am glad!) and now it is just steady payments of the overdraft until it is finished. But that going to take about 6 to 11 months to finish. Depending on the work income that I have until the end of October this year. If anyone wants proof of how broke I am, I can provide it.

So I once more ask again for donations so I can eat something this month. I am living cheap, but at the moment it did not work out as I planned. Thanks for the help in advance! 🙂

Other: I cancelled going to school this autumn. I am going to work more to pay down my debts faster. Then I plan moving to Denmark in the year 2012, when I have the money to move again. But from end of October I am going to provide regular and good updates in regards to volcanoes and earthquakes, since I won’t be working from that time in companies. But I am going to be working on a book that I am going to publish early 2012 (I hope).

Update 1: For everyone how donates there is going to be an e-book (pdf format only from me) about Icelandic volcano eruption for anyone how wants a copy. But I plan on writing book about volcano eruptions in Iceland soon after they happened. I finally made up my mind on how to write that type of book. It won’t take me an long time write those books, since it is just facts and details about the eruption. I am also going to sell those books on Amazon Kindle and web page named Smashwords. I hope to release the book about Eyjafjallajökull volcano eruption 2010 in December 2010 or January 2011.

Blog post updated at 00:27 UTC on 8. July 2011.
Blog post updated at 07:19 UTC on 8. July 2011.

47 Replies to “Last update on Hekla volcano (for now). Correction on mobile emergency SMS. Earthquake swarm at Reykjanes Ridge. The media hype. Help needed!”

  1. Hi Jon,

    Some money coming your way…

    Actually to defend the Daily Mail (and I never thought I’d say that), the image of Eldfell they went with appears to have been sent with the original AFP article – so in the finest tradition of Britain we can blame the French for this one.

    As for the Mail, it helps to remember that it is scare stories on the left-hand side of the page along the lines of ‘Will immigrants give you cancer?’ and ‘Europe bans [insert random thing here]; and on the right-side of the page it will be photoshopped long lens photographs of people who are vaguely famous for something or another.

    We got rid of one terrible paper today, who knows, maybe the Mail will come to an end one day.

    1. The mail prints garbage. They even printed that I had a plutonium factory is on ordinary garage! It was titled Atom secrets os a suburbab housing estate. “It started with What is the difference between secret nuclear Installation of Col Gadaffi, Secret Installations only had in Iraq and the garage of my house. Their answer was that the US didnt bomb my garage. In fact had a rock collection with a few specimens on pitchblende but they claimed I was making plutonium! with can not even be done in a place as small as a garage!
      I have a low opinion of the press

  2. Dear Jon,
    I am following your blog with great interest and sure i want to help you with some donation. How can I do ate? I just read it on iPhone format and i can’t see anything about how to donate. Keep up the good work!

    1. The donation buttons can only be found in the full web page. Not the mobile format. The reason for this is that I want to keep the mobile format as minimal as possible. But I am also learning on that format too, so I have not yet added anything extra too it yet.

  3. Jon

    Keep up the good work and am learning a lot about Volcanoes. I have sent you a donation to help you on your way.

  4. Just so people know. My plan is to switch to debt free life style. Or to an life style that is as debt free as I can possible have it.

    I have gotten tired of the problems having debt. So I am changing my ways around money in that regards. Moving to Denmark also gave me that opportunity and I am took it, and I am going to continue to keep that opportunity when I move back to Denmark next year hopefully.

    But it is bit hard to impossible to keep an debt free life style in Iceland. But no problem in Denmark.

  5. Update 2: The movement on the GPS instruments was most likely an deep dike intrusion in Hekla volcano. It was not followed by any earthquakes for some reason.

    So what does that mean? The Hekla volcano is not quiet anymore? Or did I misunderstood something…

    1. Just before the eruption of Hekla, BUR strain shoots down, and HEL increases fast. They seem normal to my eyes now.

  8. Anyone paying attention to Katla? Very deep quake yesterday and four small quakes last 30 minutes.

      1. There is a strange long period type of sigh at Jón’s helicorder.
        Is it Hekla’s or Katla’s? Or just human nose?

  10. Hello everybody.

    My girlfriend and me have planned the route form Landmannalaugar to Thorsmork on early august. I think it is about 15 km from Hekla. If there is an eruption of the Hekla, do you have any idea about if this track could be affected, or if it is dangerous? Which can be, more or less, the radius affected by the eruption?

    Thank you

    1. I’m no expert but if Hekla is doing something by then it depends on the type of eruption, the wind direction (Hekla is known for producing flourine gas) etc. I think it’s best to check locally & let people know where you are going & keep a fully charged mobile to hand. Perhaps come up with an alternate route before you go, just in case! Perhaps someone else here can be a bit more informative!

  12. I have not budgeted for anything this month as I thought all would be ok with you back in Iceland, but my next payday I will give you something.

    1. I suspect Katla is on a slow build up slowly to an eruption. It is not quieting down. Its a stready drum beat.

      2. Its not erupting, its a small swarm of earthquakes deep below the surface of the mountain. If anything happens at all at Katla we might have to wait weeks, months or even years for any eruption. Then we might get a small sub-glacier fissure eruption or something similar to Eyjafjallajökull 2010 eruption, or Grímsfjall’s eruption this may. Less likely, but possible, a Pinatubo-sized eruption. We will never know for sure until we see an eruption.

      4. Check this figure on tremors: http://hraun.vedur.is/ja/Katla/god_trem.gif The high spike on the left is due to Eyjafjalla’s eruption in spring 2010.

        When Katla erupts, the tremors in all stations around Katla will shoot skywards in a similar way. Now the tremors are in a anormal level.

      5. We would have to see alot more signs to say with any confidence that it is erupting. Signs such as a very large # of quakes (dozens and dozens) with some large quakes well over 3.0, consistent harmonic tremors, then some flooding starting to appear on the sides of the glacier. Then kafloooey. A small swarm like this does indicate an eruption is starting.

      6. Well, it does NOT yet state that… After we see daily swarms with tens of quakes we can start talking about an eruption coming in the near (days to weeks) future.

      8. Confirm on “doesn’t”

        Jack, we have had several days of mini swarms, so I am keeping an eye on this to see if it continues and ramps up.

      9. I remember reading from Jons blog posts sometime ago that now is an earthquake time in Katla area. I remember him saying that from the end of June to October. Or something like that. 😀

        But I am not sure if my memory surves me right.

      10. Lurking did a great plot once showing the trend lines year over year in which one could see a definate trending upward of quakes from June to Oct during the summer melt months in which the glacier shrinks.

        There are several studies out there that attempt to show a correlation between the glaciel shrinkage, quakes and the increased likelihood of eruptions following the summer melt. There was a debate about this recently on this blog related to correlations, statistics and these studies.

  13. Friday
    08.07.2011 14:55:20 63.652 -19.068 4.6 km 0.6 99.0 8.2 km N of Hábunga
    Friday
    08.07.2011 14:54:57 63.650 -19.086 2.7 km 0.9 99.0 7.8 km N of Hábunga
    Friday
    08.07.2011 14:47:17 63.652 -19.079 0.5 km 0.2 99.0 8.1 km N of Hábunga
    Friday
    08.07.2011 14:46:08 63.649 -19.080 0.1 km 0.9 99.0 7.7 km N of Hábunga What is this place Hábunga? It seams an african tribe name! LOL

  14. Ok. Thank you.

    Hopefully we will get a new blog post from Jon this evening! 😀

  15. CALM DOWN!
    Tectonic tickles give stretch and room for a little magma… What’s new?
    Oh! I forgot i heard it on the interweb… daily mail… news of the world… It must be apocalyptic, ELE, run to the hills/bunkers kind of thing?
    Sending well wishes, good thoughts and more @ Jón

  16. I am going to post an update on Katla volcano later tonight. I just need an little rest after today’s work.

    Thankfully it is now Friday. So more post during the weekend (and some book writing I hope).

    1. Jon, get some good rest though. Maximizes productivity and something tells me you will need it with Katla rumbling

  18. If it isn’t human noise, I see some action at Jón’s helicorder.

      1. I cab’t tell. But the helicorder is located at Hekla, but, in theother hand, it could be from this small swarm at Katla. Maybe something hydrothermal is happening under Myrdálsjökull?

      2. Hopefully Jon can tell us what is happening, if something is happening at all…

  19. Yeah that is quite the rumble. In regards to Hekla I find it quite interesting that the strain at Hella and Burfell has started to go continually in complete opposite directions:

    http://hraun.vedur.is/ja/hekla/borholu_thensla.html

    Didn’t somebody on this blog have the notion that this would happen if something was pushing its way up between the two measuring stations.

  22. Is there a good map that names the Icelandic met office seismometers? I know the black triangles on the Earthquake map show SIL monitoring and the red squares on the tremors map show the location of seismometers but I have difficulty remembering which tremor graph belongs where! The red squares do not all open if you hover your cursor over either. It would be useful to have names by each for people like myself with poor short term memory for Icelandic names …I blame my age !! Thanks for any help with this. I am slowly learning the geography of Iceland also the basic geology at the same time and loving every minute 🙂

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