Here is an overview of the current events in Katla volcano. This is the short version, as I have not had the time to go over all the data collected so far.
12 June: On this day I did notice the first harmonic tremor spikes. This tremor spike was small and only noticed on few SIL stations around Mýrdalsjökull volcano. No earthquake activity was detected following this event. At least no earthquake activity that was unusual in my opinion.
17 to 18 June: The first earthquake swarm took place on this day that I connect to the current events. This earthquake swarm was special and different from the normal earthquakes that I see in Mýrdalsjökull volcano caldera. It was how dense this earthquake swarm was. There was no or little harmonic tremor following this earthquake swarm.
21 June: New harmonic tremor spike took place in Katla volcano on this day. It was a bit stronger then the first one. But lot smaller then what did happen this weekend.
28 June: What appears as an glacier earthquakes did appear on this day. Along with normal earthquake activity inside the Katla volcano caldera.
After this the events of July 8 start, it did end on the 9 July after what is most likely an minor eruption inside the Katla volcano caldera. This event is over it seems and Katla volcano has once again paused. But that has happened repeatedly over the past few weeks. The time between stops is different and it is impossible to know when the current pause ends. It is also impossible to know what happens next time activity picks up in Katla volcano caldera. Currently the earthquake activity continues in the Katla volcano caldera, but there are few earthquakes happening now then earlier this weekend.
For now all that can be done is to wait and see what happens.
Icenews, thinks these events are a non story and Katla is still seen a quiet.
http://www.icenews.is/index.php/2011/07/09/katla-volcano-in-iceland-remains-dormant/
I will think i will leave my thinking to Jon and some others.
I notice the red line moving up in a similar way to how it behaved on July 8 at some locations in the Katla area.
http://hraun.vedur.is/ja/oroi/alf.gif
http://hraun.vedur.is/ja/oroi/hvo.gif
Is something else causing this that just makes it look like a harmonic tremor?
It is just background noise from what I can see. But background noise is wind, human traffic or something else non-volcanic.
Ok. Thanks for explaining.
Hi Jon/All.
Long time reader of your blog and I just wanted to say thanks for keeping us up to date on what happens in Iceland. I never knew volcanoes could be so interesting.
Your English is very good but just a little tip regarding the word an. It is mostly used when the word after it starts with an a, i, e, o or u. Examples would be an eruption, an orange. All other times the letter a is used. Examples a pair of glasses, a volcano.
Keep up the good work and i’ve learned allot of interesting stuff about volcanoes.
Stephen.
or even more pedantically, ‘an’ is used before a vowel and ‘a’ is used before a consonant….
Except when the written from of the word begins with a vovel, but the pronounced form begins with a consonant, then we’ll have to use ‘a’. One example would be ‘a European volcano’.
The past three times that Eyjafjallajökull erupted Katla did too and the longest duration of time in between was 1 year and 5 months. I got this from “the global volcanism program” website. The other two times Katla erupted less than a year after and then less than 2 months after.
We’re now 1 year and 3 months after the the Eyjafjallajökull eruption. So, not being an expert, I reason from this that if Katla is going to erupt it will probably be within a couple months since that’s the time frame it has in the past. But that’s just going by probability alone.
Now come into play Hekla, records of strain moving toward HEL days you did not see down to -50 so fast and it’s not weather conditions
Can you explain the meaning of this and where you are seeing this? Thanks
In this graph there is a strain of HEL almost continuous decline that long since I have not seen it, but certainly does not mean anything but it is curious
http://hraun.vedur.is/ja/hekla/leidr_thensla_hella.html
SAU is no greater than tremor in HAU Hekla near a small growth of the low frequencies and only of 2-4 Hz, I do not think that influences Katla
http://hraun.vedur.is/ja/hekla/oroi_hau.html
http://hraun.vedur.is/ja/hekla/oroi_sau.html
It’s just a comment, that within an hour may be worthless
This behaviour seen in HEL strain is daily, and perfectly normal.
The most interesting figure to follow is http://hraun.vedur.is/ja/hekla/borholu_thensla.html When BUR shoots down (thousands) and simultaneously HEL shoots up (hundreds), then we’ll very likely have an eruption within one or two hours.
Interesting to note that in this video of the caldera there appears to be 3 distinct loci of ice melt.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTgLe_BmyrM&feature=player_embedded
Great footage!
I am not concerned about the possibility of an eruption. People in Iceland are well prepared and the volcanoes are very well monitored.
But you don’t need to be an expert to verify the amount of heat required to cause such a massive (yet, small ) amount of melting ice .
Magma is close to surface, no doubt about that. Katla will erupt, no doubt about that. The efficient monitoring system is proving to be ready to sound the alert when it happens.
All we have to do is wait, and try to think in geological time.
@Stephen Thanks for this. I was about to say the same thing!
Keep up the good work Jón and everybody else that participates here!
Look at the Katla webcam, the sun is just setting over the back, looks so beautiful.
You’re referring to this site right? http://www.ruv.is/katla
New blog post is up!
or conversly if you want to be a pedent “an hotel” because the H is silent in French (yes, really). Stick to forecasting volcanos, they’re more predictable.