Posted on by Jón Frímann

Sharp rise in harmonic tremor on Skrokkalda and Grímsfjall SIL station (among others)

There is a sharp rise in harmonic tremor on the Skrokkalda and Grímsfjall SIL station. I do not know yet what volcano is responsible for it. But the Hamarinn volcano is a suspect at the moment.

Current tremor plot.


The tremor spike is at the end of this tremor plot. Copyright of this picture belongs to Icelandic Met Office.


The tremor spike is at the end of this tremor plot. Copyright of this picture belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

I am going to post more information about what is going on when I know more. This blog post might get updated soon if needed.

40 Replies to “Sharp rise in harmonic tremor on Skrokkalda and Grímsfjall SIL station (among others)”

    1. This looks familiar. Like what did happen before the large glacier (surprise) flood from Hamarinn volcano week after the glacier flood from Mýrdalsjökull glacier.

      But I think that this event might be bigger then what did happen few weeks ago. We might be in for a new glacier flood at this area.

      Comment updated!

    1. No, the ML2.5 is a lot earlier then the spike. This looks like a new minor eruption in Vatnajökull glacier. But it hard to know for sure, since no earthquakes as of yet and it is under a glacier.

  3. I think that there is a minor eruption taking place in Hamarinn volcano. It remains to be seen if that changes to something bigger or not.

    This would the 4th eruption this year in Hamarinn volcano. As there where 3 eruptions in middle of July in Hamarinn volcano. But they created a massive glacier flood from Hamarinn volcano soon after it happened (few hours).

  5. There’s very little to go on here and there is little full low-frequency component. Pending further evidence I fail to be convinced that this is magmatic activity, honestly.

  6. Jon they’ve changed the graphs, why they keep doing that?

    I noticed it before when there was a tremor spike in katla.

    1. lol sorry my mistake, just that for some reason I didn’t realise the rest of that line filled in on next update, I thought where it stopped was the bottom and it would go up from there.

    1. Hard to know for sure if there is a glacier flood or not. It depends on where this happens under the Vatnajökull glacier and how big it is.

  8. A second spike has already taken place. I am not sure when it did happen, but it was sometimes this morning. I am going to post a update on this later today.

  9. Jón, we haven’t seen anymore quakes.
    Do you think those two quakes could point to an eruption?

  11. I think more melt water is coming through from Vatnsjokull.
    I know the tide is ebbing but this looks really more powerful than usual.
    http://live.mila.is/jokulsarlon/
    Also another 0.9 quake at depth 7.4 Km near Askja Volcano
    All very interesting but as yet I think nothing too active here and not related to Hamarinn.

    1. It’s now 20:45 and there seems to be a funny looking incoming tide at Jokulsarlon which I’ve never seen before.

      You can see a distinctive boundary between the incoming tide and a body of water in front of where the ice is. This looks as if it’s trying to ride over the incoming tide

  13. Sorry folks, I have been away for a few days so have missed all this action, is there an actual eruption happening under Hamarinn or the surrounding area?

  15. Have any of you noticed a change in the position of RUV’s Katla cam?
    It has been foggy for so long, that I can’t recognize the landscape exactly as it was before and have no photos to compare.
    Thanks in advance.

    1. Renato,

      The webcam position has not changed. I just compared it to the pictures in my “collection”.

      1. Sissel:
        Thanks for the feedback.
        I think I got the impression from the sun shining on the foreground, which is no longer there.
        But thanks for that.

      2. It’s the same here, everything looks more familiar when the sun is shining 🙂

  16. Hello all out there. It seems like Katala etc is back to low levels. Perhapes an eruption i 10 years or so.

  17. @ Diana Barnes: It seems that the glacier is disappearing -http://live.mila.is/jokulsarlon/

  18. @ Pyter: As far as i’m aware all of Icelands glaciers are melting, the lagoon at Jokulsarlon gets a bit deeper every year!
    Any hoo, it looks like things could be once again getting interesting in Iceland!

      2. Wednesday
        03.08.2011 19:53:05 64.631 -17.425 0.5 km 1.7 69.41 5.0 km ESE of Bárðarbunga

        could this be it – i know it is smaller than thought????

      3. Wednesday
        03.08.2011 20:08:58 63.678 -23.226 14.9 km 4.0 90.03 2.3 km SSW of Geirfuglasker
        Wednesday
        03.08.2011 20:08:57 64.024 -22.098 20.5 km 3.5 59.03 3.2 km SW of Straumsvík
        Wednesday
        03.08.2011 20:08:49 63.751 -23.153 15.7 km 3.4 90.02 6.6 km NNE of Geirfuglasker
        Wednesday
        03.08.2011 20:08:49 63.720 -23.206 11.7 km 2.3 90.01 2.6 km N of Geirfuglasker

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