Posted on by Jón Frímann

New pictures of Eyjafjallajökull Gígujökull glacier lava field

Rúv News has just published new pictures of Eyjafjallajökull volcano. The pictures are from Fimmvörðuháls lava field and the lava field that is in Gígujökull glacier. But in that area a lava flow did take place during the eruption. That lava field has not been explored before. According to the news, a moss has already started to grow on the new lava on Fimmvörðuháls. The Gígjökull glacier has already started to cover the lava field that did melt it during the eruption of 2010 in Eyjafjallajökull volcano.


From Gígjökull glacier. Picture from Rúv News. Copyright holder of this picture is Rúv.

The news of this can be found here. This is in Icelandic.

News from Rúv.

Undraveröld í Gígjökli (Rúv.is, Icelandic, Picture, Video)

124 Replies to “New pictures of Eyjafjallajökull Gígujökull glacier lava field”

    1. Yepp, I guess no one will read my long post about Katla and the signs before an eruption now… Pooty! 🙂
      But the images are stunning so I am happy!

      1. I did! Your posts are always a delight to read Carl. 🙂
        What also has to be realized that if, yes IF Katla will erupt. It would most probably a one in a lifetime experience! This baby is not like Grimsvötn or Hekla who pop at least every 20 years. Katla save’s her fury for decades for one impressive eruption, lasting probably only one week, up to one month.

        A human life is so incredibly short on a geological timescale. It can sometimes be very frustrating. We can unravel the geological history back to the dinosaurs, but we will only witness a small and probably insignificant part of geological history ourselves. 🙁 We can create theory’s about the future of continental drift and future mega-eruptions, but we’ll only see a tiny-winy glimpse of the real process. Still, every day is more exciting than the previous with new developments and discoveries all over the world because there are so much unknown features and complex structures which we are just beginning to understand.

        That’s it as regards to my melodramatic geo-philosophy. 😀

      2. I was thinking quite a lot about this when I visited Krakatoa a while back, for some reason I have a tendency to go there… Wonder why… 🙂
        I though think we will see in our lifetime a large eruption at Iceland. I even have theory of what it would be, but I know that most volcanologists would be laughing so hard that they fell over if I wrote how that one would be. It would still not be an apocalyptical one, but quite stunning.
        But if one would look for a likely brute of an eruption happening I would say that the Azores are in for it, and sooner than later. A couple of years ago when I landed on the mini-island of Formigas I could feel with my posterior how the entire Islet was humming when I was sitting down. And since water carries sound well I could hear and feel muffled booms all the time when I was in my boat. And apparantly this has been going on for more than a hundred years according to the local fisherman who from time to time visit this remote place of the earth.
        But I would never write “if” about Katla, the only thing I am sure about regarding that volcano is that it is going to erupt, the question is more “when”. 🙂

      3. Azores! That one heck of a place. I spent a long week on Sao Miguel in May this year. One of the most impressive caldera’s I’ve seen (yes, more impressive than for example Santorini). It certainly felt like if these volcanoes would blow, it would really be something exceptional and large. What striked me the most was the fact that the locals in Furnas village (located WITHIN the double-caldera) were completely unaware of the fact that there even was a remote risk of any eruption. They all stated that all these volcanoes were extinct, because ‘they had not erupted for ages’. The thermal springs in Furnas were also impressive and extremely vigorous compared to other geothermal sites I’ve visited. There was, like you described, a permanent rumbling from beneath with almost permanent local magnitude 2-3 earthquakes. Massive mud pots and small geyser-like structures were all present. All located within this medium-sized village. At some places the steam came out of the sewers or cracks in the ground, at random places in the village. There were also reports of some geothermal features suddenly appearing in houses, which had to be abandoned because of that. Still no one seemed to really take interest in the possible dangers of these phenomena. The same actually goes for the Sete Cidades caldera, also a nice quiet littly village which almost seems too peacefull to be a volcano.
        I can recommend the Azores to anyone who’s remotely interested in volcanoes and a nice small hike.

        And Carl, I’d love to hear your theory. Doesn’t matter if it’s nonsense. The great thing about the many mysteries of geology, is that it leaves room for your fantasy. 🙂

      4. I am still considering moving to Azores Islands. But if I move there, I am going to pick my place really, really carefully. Since as Pieter mentions most of the islands are volcano active.

        The last eruption in Azores was from a volcano below the sea level in the year 2002 (I think).

        The last time the volcano Furna erupted was in the year 1630, then with a crater row as sometimes happens with this volcanoes.

        What is more important to know is that Furna is a stratovolcano, like Eyjafjallajökull volcano.

        More information here, http://www.volcano.si.edu/world/volcano.cfm?vnum=1802-10=

        That volcano is going to erupt one day, like any other volcano that is this active (so to speak). So the locals are wrong for obvious reasons.

        This is not a place that I am going to live in. If I move to the Azores Islands.

      5. Azores would definitively be a great location to live. But remember that economically these islands are a mess. The youth is moving to the states for a better future and the local people hardly get any support from the Portugese government. The place however is incredibly cheap and really good if you enjoy fish or pineapple! 😀 And best of all; it’s still relatively unspoiled by tourism. The only problem for you would be finding a ‘safe place’ regarding volcanism. On Sao Miguel, with exception of the eastern part “Nordeste” (which is an extinct shield volcanoe with the impressive Povocao caldera), every town is located in a volcanic system (even the capital has been affected by the Picos volcanic system in the past). Nordeste however is one of the most beautiful places I’ve been (yes, and I have been to Iceland!), beautiful flowery public gardens (of which they have so so many on the Azores) on top of massive cliffs looking out over the vast ocean. I made some impressive pictures but unfortunately I lost them all when my computer crashed. 🙁 That means that I’ll have to go again.

      6. And it also has one of the largest calderas in existance. Running a full circle from Sao Miguel via Formigas Islets, to Santa Maria, and on back to Sao Miguel. That “puny” volcano has had at least four eruptions, about half a million years apart.

        My theory is quite simple. During the last 41 years Hekla has erupted 5 times, with the two last being the most powerfull, the last more so than the one before. The pattern seems to be repeating itself when she erupts again. Judging from the amount of filling I would say that we could expect something about twice as big this time.
        I think that this high rate of eruptions sooner or later will A) make the rate of emptying of the magma-reservoir become faster for each eruption and B) make the rock above the magma-reservoirs more fragile. I see it as quite possible that the roof above the 2 or more magma-reservoirs at Hekla will give in either during the upcoming eruption, or the next. Ie, a caldera-forming event. Hekla is after all the only main central volcano on Iceland who hasn’t calderad itself. And with an explosive volcano like this it would be nasty, real nasty. Let’s just say that it would be a likely time for a new tephra-record from Hekla. And she is the tephra-master by far in Iceland allready.
        But caveat, no volcanologist as far as I know agree with me on this one.

      7. I have also considered moving to the Azores.
        I am starting to get tired of the cold, and it is a perfect spot for sailing, and waiting for an eruption or two.
        I love to eat fish and pineapples.
        Would be a perfect spot for me to live out the reminder of my years since I am vehemently hellbent on not doing anything usefull ever again.

      8. I’ve wondered about that undersea formation! How do you know for sure that this is a caldera? I couldn’t find anything about it, or even it’s true existence. Such a large caldera would have been accompanied by massive eruptions, of which non are known?

        You Hekla theory is not that crazy, only a little. 😀
        The only thing why I would not see that happening is because Hekla does not have a ‘real’ magma chamber. Just some feeding sills at >10km depth. It’s more like one giant fissure, let’s say Krysuvik².

      9. Since it is an underwater caldera there is very little written on it. The only article I found was about the geology of the Formigas, where they described four layers of different lava-ages. With intersecting layers of sedimentary rock. On all of the other islands it is covered by other volcanic eruptions. Best part though are the radial spokes running out of the caldera, talk about flank fissure… Phew… And the floor or the caldera is littered with underwater stratovolcanos, and lava-plains. The formations are clearly visible on the naval charts, but you can also see them on Google Earth.
        Remember that chambers are not “chambers”. I once coined the expression “tubinged magma-reservoirs” after seeing a high resolution intersonographic map of the innards of a volcano. There is some debate of Heklas innards, you have the dyke structure at 10 kilometre and an inferred smaller structures between 2 and 4 km. And you also have a probable more classical “chamber” to the northwest of Hekla with a dyke running to Hekla proper.
        I think the difference between a dyke structure and a “chamber” is fairly moot. But as I said, most volcanologist would say I am crazy. 🙂

      11. As I have said before about Katla…
        I would happily place a big PA-system ontop of Austmannsbunga and hold a Zumba-class up there. That is how convinced I am that nothing is going to happen within the next few weeks.
        But you wouldn’t get me closer than five kilometres from Hekla.
        Anyone up for some Jökull-zumbaing? 🙂

      13. I read it Carl, very interesting! I always check Jòn’s previous blog post to see if someone has posted a (final) blog post that I haven’t read yet!

        Henk Weijerstrass
        Zwaag, Holland

    2. I did! I always check when Jòn has posted a new blog post if someone has posted a (final) item on the previous blog post that I haven’t seen yet!

      Henk Weijerstrass
      Zwaag, Holland

    3. I did! When Jòn has posted a new blog post, I always check if maybe someone has posted a (final) blog post on the previous blog post from Jòn that I haven’t read yet!
      Henk
      Zwaag, Holland

  2. Carl, I was going to reply to your comment, but I will do it on this new thread.
    I also agree with everything you said, and that Katla is getting too much spotlight, when in fact we are still quite a long way from an eruption (at least a couple months, but more likely 1-5 years), because we need to see yet larger inflation and larger earthquake swarms.

    I really think Hekla will erupt before Katla, and probably will, as usual, get everyone by surprise, and I think we are not very far from a Hekla eruption, sometime this or next year. I think this one will be bigger than in recent decades (inflation is larger now).

    Askja is another volcano which everyone ignores, an often with quakes around 2.0 and has been showing signs of considerate unrest, locals in the Askja area have told me. I think whatever happens there is going to be probably an eruption like 1961, maybe somewhat larger and with minor explosive eruptions, probably even in several locations, in the eastern and northern side. And I have a feeling that Askja is still at least quite a few years before its show.

    Bardarbunga is the one that worries me most. Because I think we are getting close to a fissure eruption to its southwest in Hamarinn, and there has been plenty of warning signs, like earthquakes, floods and also inflation. It really could happen in soon. So far, I think it will be a repeat of 1910 or even 1862, with a somewhat large volume of lava (but this only happens if the eruption happens in a ice-free location, otherwise it will be a ash eruption). As an eruption there doesn’t happen for a century, it will be large and will have much warning beforehand. By the way I really like the photos of the station there: http://strokkur.raunvis.hi.is/~sigrun/HAMA.html

    Two other volcanoes which I guess are preparing towards a eruption, but this is even more unknown, are Krisuvík and the southern flank of Langjokull, but this will be I think many years in the future, but likely this century (and finally breaking the sleeping of nearly 800 years).

    Carl, have you heard of the cycle 120-160 years in Icelandic hotspot activity, when larger and more often eruptions happen. Last time was in late 19th century and early 20th century, precisely the last times when Askja, Katla and Bardarbunga last erupted, and when Grimsvotn erupted very often until its sleeping after 1938. Before that, in the mid 18th century, volcanic activity was also very high in Iceland, particularly in the decade 1720-1730.

    1. About Krysuvik; in my opinion people expect too much of this in the near future. Yes, there is uplift (only very little, about 20mm in 2 years). And yes, there is earthquake activity, but this mostly due to tectonic processes. I wouldn’t say nothing is going on.
      My theory? I support the cycle idea of the western rift zone & Reykjanes peninsula. The volcanism here is directly related to tectonic rifting. Most volcanoes do not have a magma chamber, with some exceptions. (Hengill, Prestanuhkur etc)
      My idea is that volcanic activity is preceeded by decades of increased tectonic earthquakes, with at the peak effusive eruptions from several volcanic systems in the western volcanic zone.

      1. I agree with almost everything you say here.
        I would just like to point out that there are nothing as far as I know that indicates that more than one volcano will erupt at a time.
        And also, remember that you have several volcanos out in the Reykjaness Ridge, with some suspected smaller eruption during the last decades, and the level of quake swarms since 2009 is like running on a clockwork.
        But I agree, I think it is more then 10 years untill either Hengill or Krisuvik would be able to erupt.

      2. Remember that when pressed, Erik K admitted the possibility that what erupted at Eyjafjallajökull could be residual and through intrusion remobilised magma from the 920 eruption? That’s why I’m not as sanguine about what’s going on at Krísuvik – geothermal activity, a fast-disappearing lake Kleifarvatn(?) etc. Since it’s only 20 km from Reykjavik I hope to God that I am utterly wrong, but a potential eruption of magma that’s been quietly fractioning for 3/4 of a millenia would produce rhyolitic magma. Add to that a lake on top and you have a recipe for an extremely explosive eruption.

      3. Big difference: Eyja is a stratovolcano with a nice magma resevoir. Krysuvik is just a weak spot in the thin crust were, after tectonics did their job, magma flows out. I imagine it is like Laki, but on a much smaller scale. Remobilised magma could not be the case because Krysuvik has no central volcano and no central magma chamber.

      6. When you look at the earthquake maps of all weeks. There is permanent earthquake activity in Krysuvik for quite a long time already.. Think there is happening more than we might expect.. More than only tectonic movement..

        Sander

      7. @Sander, eruptions here are caused by tectonic movements rather than outbursts of a magma chamber.

      9. This is actually a case of which came first, the hen or the egg. Is the tectonic motion here caused by upwelling magma, or is it the tectonic rifting that is acting as a suction pump for the magma.
        Privately I believe it is the latter.

      10. If there was no rise I’d agree, Carl. As it is, there’s a rise of 60 mm, so I think we can rule out your “suction-pump” analogy. Something provides enough energy to lift several cubic kilometers as much as 60 mm against gravity. If we assume an area 25 km in diameter and that it’s only the top 5 km that are being lifted, we end up with some 1.2 x 10^12 tons. Just calculate the energy required to lift that mass!

      11. Hehe, you see, hen or egg! 🙂

        I think I can find that energy for you. Because at the same time you have rifting with 25mm a year over a significantly larger area. If you then give room for assymetric displacement of the suctioning. Or in plain Swenglish, låter the Crap komma up through the dasshål (Engdish, Let shit come upp genom the toilett) Joke set asside, if you think that a large area is giving the energy for a smaller (and probably thinner) to suck up a heck of alot of magma.
        Currently we are seeing two areas receiving magma, Krysuvik and Hengill going up, but the entire region is moving, I guess that could give enough energy… But I have done the math obviously. 🙂

      12. @Henrik
        So what you are saying is that the Krysuvik area is lifted up by magma and entirely by tectonic movent? Like the SISZ for example

        Sander

    2. I am aware of the cycles, but there are large exceptions to it. Hekla, Hengill, and quite a few other volcanos are out of the cycle, and I think even Katla is a bit of a fluke in that cycle. I would say that Bardarbunga, Grimsvötn, Askja and Krafla are on that band. There seems to be some sort of mechanical connection between those. But we are closing in one a high now. We will just have to wait and see if it will be a regional fissure event or “just” a heck of a lot of eruptions.

      As I wrote before, I would also expect to see eruptions fairly soon at Reykjaness Ridge (judging from those large quake swarms that are running like a clock nowadays), Vestmannaeyar region has started to have some odd quakes, but it is Hengill that worries me the most. I still think it is more then 10 years off, but it is the volcano that has had the largest eruptions in the postglacial era, and even a small eruption at that location would make a lot of trouble for Raykjavik. It would probably not be that explosive, but lava beyond what we have seen for a long long time… Think Veidivötn. But the rate of root-filling is steady and the quakes are ticking in.

      1. @ Carl le Strange, just read your long post on the previous blog post, very informative for those of us who don’t know a great deal about volcanoes (like me). I do think you are right about Katla, which is part of the reason why i posted ‘A watched kettle never boils’ (literally it was just that) a few weeks ago!

      3. Don’t know about that… Was it you, who talked about pre-eruption hyperinflation?

        Hamarinn (SKRO), Hekla (HAUD) and Katla (SOHO) are all showing clearly quite rapid inflation during the last few days…

        A busy autumn and/or winter is coming? ;o)

      4. Ah, but that is another proverb at work…
        “When you talk about the Devil…”

        Ad to that Krisuvik and Askja inflating like buzy little squirrels hording nuts and magma.

  3. Thank you Carl, Jon and Pieter et Al .
    I am on my second cup of coffee after “listen in” to your discussions. There is so much to go and read up. So much I have learned. certainly much to think abour.
    A couple of poits.
    The Azores. The nearest I ever got to this little volcanic corner of the world was in 1968. We were sailing to Jamaica on a Ffyffes Line banana boat. On the evening of the second or third day we passed the Azores. They reared blackly out of the huge Atlantic swell against a beautiful red sunset. Ever since I have been fascinated by them, but have never visited. I am not sure now that I have read up on the volcanic history I would not like to invest in a retirement home there.

    Askja . Despite my lack of volcanic knowledge I have been watching this area for some time now. Skkrokalda and Askja tremor graphs produce some odd readings at times. I have often questioned this here but never had any really satisfying explanations. Hamerinn is probably the culprit for the former but Askja seems to be a “maverick” area. from the pictures I have seen around Askja the geology of area looks so interesting but complicated. I have come to the conclusion that maybe other people’s knowledge of how this area “works” is still very much in the exploration stage.

    Please Carl and others do post your various theories even though they may attract ridicule elsewhere. Without the different reasonings and conjectures how else can we move forward and learn. Let’s face it, Darwin’s ideas were not exactly accepted at first!

    1. Problem with Askja is that it is not that well understood. But exciting research is currently on the way from Professor Hazer Rymer who piece by piece get more and more information out of this volcano. But, the more she and others discover, the more confusing it gets. With the possible exception of the interaction between Grimsvötn/Bardarbunga/Hamarinn it is working in very odd ways with a clear mechanical or/and magmatic connection between Krafla, Herdubreid, Upptyppingar, Bardarbunga and probably a couple of others. Sometimes in my more odd moments I think it is the Key to understanding that entire area of Iceland.

      Azores has it all, volcanos, flowers, nice food, and it is very cheap, at least for a swede. So I am decidedly thinking about relocating in a few years when I finally had it with the cold. Making me into one of the younger retired citizens there 🙂

  5. What happened to Krísuvík seismograph? It appears the data was reset? http://hraun.vedur.is/ja/oroi/kri.gif
    And it appears something is wrong with Grindavík (grv) seismoas well. I see some mag 2+ on Reykjanes and went to check the tremor graph, but GRV is not loading.

    1. Think somebody used it for a picknick table or something 😛 And spoiled wine over it which caused a shortcircuit.. Could also be something else of course

      Sander

    1. Yes it was posted in here before.
      For once they are correct, it is unlikely normally.
      There are quite simply not that many volcanos in Iceland that can produce the Eyja type of ash.
      With the exception of Eyja I would say that the only ones able to produce a rhyolitic based ash that is that finegrained. And those two are Katla and Hekla. Katla might not actually erupt this century against all the current hype, but Hekla will.
      So, if the wind is moving exactly in the wrong way again Europe would get hit by it again. Any of those 2 volcanos would of course cause a need of re-routing of airtraffic if they erupt heavilly enough.
      But it was a comfortably non-alarmist article written by someone who actually had the brain turned on when writing. Cudos.

      1. I heard the ash of Katla (from a icelandic guide) would be too heavy to make it all the way to europe.. Is that true?

        They also said it about Grimsvotn and it did make it too however

  7. Hello Jon(and everybody else here) found this blog a few weeks ago and almost had an heart attack(might have had a small one :O) hihi) from the excitement of finding so much information(and speculation) on Iceland’s earthquake and volcanic activity. I am one of those who is absolutely fascinated by natural disasters but most of all volcanoes, so much that i have changed my studying to geology my plan was to study Biomedical Science(am also fascinated by germs specially viruses). This is a great blog you have i follow it every day and will be donating beginning next month, would have done so sooner but had some money crises my self(pretty hard not to have those in Iceland these days hihihi) but i get to live with active volcanoes so i think it is worth it most of the time, i do think it would be money well spent for all your hard work. Was going over my morning fix of GPS-measurements and skrokkalda just keeps inflating upwards is this because of lava intrusion there, should there not be more quakes following this much inflation. http://hraun.vedur.is/ja/vatnajokulsvoktun/gps_skrokkalda.html

  8. @ Diana and your comment about the SIL stations giving strange readings.

    I believe the problem with this whole area is that there is alot of activity originating from few sources but with many “outlets”. For example the plumbing beneath Bardarbunga central volcano which fuels among others Hamarinn seems to be very complicated and no one knows for sure how it works. I remember vaguely somewhere that I read that there is even one theory linking Grimsvötn to Bardarbunga in some way.
    Given that there can be alot of activity simultaneously in different locations which gets picked up by the SIL stations you mentioned I can agree that the charts sometimes looks a bit strange.

    Add on top of that glacial movements, severe weather and the very recently debated issue of the ocean affecting the charts…Well then you have a rather confusing mix of information compressed to three different coloured lines.
    😉

    1. Nicely put Daniel!
      And that is why I try to look at more than the tremoring. Nowadays I want the GPS, tremoring and quakes before I get excited.
      Or in the case of Hekla, a borehole transient and tremoring, or those two and a quake. But with Hekla as an exception I think the other volcanos would give more signs across the board, even Grimsvötn did so… 🙂

      1. As they say..You cant make a soup of water only, you need to add a few more ingredients.
        And a soup made of tremor, GPS readings, earthquakes, a pinch of borehole transient and finally topped off with a bit of logic should give a better picture than the soups most mainstream media serves now a days.

        😉

      4. There’s one problem with the strain chart: It is one hour behind live time! So at the moment we see the eruption transient, it has been going on for half an hour already, and the first blood-sucking journalists are on it before you can say your favorite xyz-word…

        I guess, we’re left with the initial earthquakes, tremors shooting up to the sky, and the webcam on Jon’s pages.

  9. I just found this one from yesterday, although technically not in Iceland, it was located in the northern lock of the MAR, so it might have shaken something loss up towards Reykjaness.

    Magnitude M 4.5
    Region NORTHERN MID-ATLANTIC RIDGE
    Date time 2011-08-14 14:57:00.0 UTC
    Location 51.88 N ; 31.57 W
    Depth10 km
    Distances
    1473 km SW Reykjavík (pop 113,906 ; local time 14:57:00.0 2011-08-14)
    1465 km SW Hafnarfjörður (pop 22,289 ; local time 14:57:00.0 2011-08-14)
    1248 km SE Nanortalik (pop 1,509 ; local time 12:57:00.0 2011-08-14)

    1. Lorcan rk, thank you there is no words that can be said that pictures can show of how powerful a volcano can really be. So thank you again for sharing this video with us. dave

    2. That’s nice! Which direction did you fly, to the north or to the south?
      Thank you for posting.

    3. Thank you that was really good, it complements Jon’s thread very nicely.
      Amazing all that ash by the crater piled on top of ice, a geological mess, thick ash thick ice, thick ash thick ice etc. The gorge created by the eruption is is a lot higher and longer than I first thought.

    4. Lorcan ! What a fascinating video. It is good to see THE crater and surrounding icecap. It helps me to understand the maps and also gives me a concept of size and distance. What is the mountain you can see across the bay/plain/ valley ?

      1. ok, here are the three videos I made during the flight.

        The first is over the crater http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbBqRHEw8Iw

        The second is from the crater down to the river, where the logoon used to be. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCmK1_jKG-A

        Third video is flight along the river and then climbing and landing on the new hills (the first eruption last year ) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbNZf66TmJo

        I didn’t take any video on the way down, as I proposed to my geologist girlfriend when we landed (she said yes) and was a little distracted on the way down.

  11. @ Sander. What I am trying to say is that when you have local uplift, you have to find a mechanism that accounts for it. Were it tectonic in origin, it would affect the entire area/region, not just the local area. What you have here is something that is sufficient to lift a localised area irrespective of general tectonic uplift. With the manifest increase in hydrothermal activity, the only mechanism that fits the bill is – using Ockham’s razor – magmatic intrusion.

    Right now, with 60 mm, the Krísuvík uplift is almost as much as the 65 – 75 mm of Eyjafjallajökull just prior to the eruption. What is unknown is how large an area is affected, how much magma is involved and how much pressure the “top” can withstand before the lid comes off.

  12. Now that was one oddly placed earthquake. Can´t recall ever seeing one at this location before. Maybe an old fracture acting up?

    Monday
    15.08.2011 11:56:26 63.583 -21.602 11.8 km 1.0 99.0 32.4 km SSW of Þorlákshöfn

    What would you make of this?

    1. I have been scratching my noggin’ about that one since it happened. When I looked at the seabed on the sea-charts it looks like an old lavafield, but it might also be some weird old fracture too.
      Well, I don’t have a clue actually. I have never seen anything there. But on the other hand the activity has been high in odd places at more places south of Iceland the last few weeks with some qyakes in the area west of Vestmannaeyar. I have a minimal feeling that something is getting acting on the southern edge of Iceland.
      Feel like a question for someone who is better at Volcanos in the region than I am, over to Jón! 🙂

  13. An OT question. Actually its so far OT im not even sure you will be able to see it..

    Some people have different avatars when posting. More like real pictures or such which is not in the preset (as far as i know). How to get those?

      1. Don’t know, Probably nothing. It’s probably too early to panic yet – I’ll eat my tea and then come back for another look! 😉

      2. Nothing is happening that hasn’t been happily on the way since 2008.
        This is a very large volcano, and it probably need more then ten years to get its act together. Eruption, if it happens, is years away.

    2. As I was saying before, the actual energy level has very slowly increased since 2008. Today the average energy output is twice the levels before. Also earthquakes are more frequent, and we have slow and steady GPS lift in the center of the caldera. The quakeswarms at Herdubreid is believed to be related to movement of magma towards Askja. She is not ready yet, but she is getting closer by the day. Actually, in some ways she is probably closer than Katla.

  15. Okay, sorry for the posts above. There is definitly something happening at Askja.

    http://hraun.vedur.is/ja/oroi/ask.gif

    Odd thing is that I cannot find a corresponding quake for that massive spike. This is a very large tremorspike for Askja.
    I do not think it is the beginning of an eruption, but it is a clear anomaly since this is tremor, harmonic or not I cannot say at this moment.

    1. We can see that spike in some stations… so it’s not just a local noise i think.

      1. No such event has been reported by anyone. There are hydrothermal geysers in Askja volcano. But I do not erupt in this area far as I know.

  16. I was expecting some action at Reykjanes after the MAR quake. Just didn’t want to interrupt the healthy debate. You guys rock!
    As for Askja, this station has behaved strangely lately and since only the higher frequencies have been affected, as it looks to me, I would venture a guess: some kind of human intervention at the area? 🙂
    @Jón, Pieter, Carl et al: my best friends from Italy have moved to the Azores and I have a room waiting for me whenever I go there. They even arranged for me some kind of temporary place at the theater school there, since I am a Portuguese speaker.
    Can’t wait to have the occasion to do it. They love the place and I have a collection of pics which they took from those places you have mentioned!
    Funny side of the story: they used to own a vineyard near Frascati (Colli Albani), so they are just switching volcanoes, though they are not exactly volcanophiles. 🙂

    2. Hello Renato, always feel free to barge into the discussions 🙂

      Yes, the measurments from Askja is strange, but I do not think it is the equipment since it has building steadily for years.
      Problem with all large spikes is that the higher frequencies (blue) is overlaid green and red, and green is overlaid ontop of red. The end result is that all else is hidden than blue when you have a massive spike like this.
      The duration is also wrong, it built up for a couple of hours, then the spike, and now it is calming down.
      My guess is degassing in the Viti crater-lake. I wish I had a camera so I could watch, because an event like that should be easy to see.

      3. Askja is sort of ‘in the middle of nowhere’. Even the nearby campsite had this notice up. http://twitpic.com/66mt0a

        It was last Monday when I was there and the conditions were perfect (even went for a dip in Viti). Nobody seemed worried about anything happening.

  17. Minor intrusion perhaps at Askja. But I would be very surprised if there was any visible surface action. Askja is big enough to require some noise before it decides to sing so my bet would be a intrusion of some sort.

    But that really is the mother of tremorspikes.

    1. I was thinking about gas-buildup on the bottom of Viti-lake. It has had gas release-events before.
      I think intrusion would have given more low frequency noise.
      But it is the mother of spikes 🙂

      No singing for years I think. But perhaps a bit of a burp after the first long zip of beer…

  19. What you are seeing today on the Askja SIL station is car traffic. There is a considerable traffic of cars into Askja this time of year.

    So there is nothing unusual going on at Askja this moment.

    1. I do not think it is a car, or even a bunch of cars. The spike is to heavy, and very atypical. If it was normal ambient noise we would see it every day and during the entire day. I think it is something else, but what is the big question. It could for all I know be man-made… But of a more temporary basis.

  20. I retract on my former idea that it could be a degassing event. Those are fairly short and to the point. It is still showing odd readings. It has after all been going on for about 4 hours now.
    It is a bit to much for human noise (I think), unless someone is holding a zumba-class at Askja.
    Seriously, I am not getting what it is, but it is something.

    The zumba reference is after my slightly Godzilla-shaped neighbour, who decided to take up zumba at 9 in the morning one sunday. I awoke to a mag 6 quake with lamps swinging, paintings falling off the wall… After I wild-eyed ran outside I located the noise and banged on his door. Let me tell you, you do not want to see Godzilla in pink leotards, red in the face, sweety and panting like a behemoth without having morning coffee…

      1. I was not in pink leatords oh ya naughty one 🙂

        I am thinking more into a geothermal event.
        Or a small crack opening, and what we are seeing is water running out of Viti or “mini-viti” (have forgotten what the mini-lake is called).

      2. Well, I had one of those banned IKEA ads in my mind, not more.

        Yes, I already proposed for a geyser event.

      3. That is probably the most intelligent way of making ads ever invented. You make them, then you “ban” them and put them on Youtube. IKEA made bunches of those “banned” ads.

        I saw your Geyser-idea. I am not totally sold on it, but it might be true.
        I am more thinking that the the last quake opened a small crack under the lake, and now water has started to pour down and the spike was when it first got into contact with somewhere warm.
        But I do not know if enough water will seep down to lower the water-level.

      4. the lake in Askja is called Öskjuvatn (Askja-Lake) and the small crater on the side is called Víti. I am not even going to try to explain why A turnes to Ö in the name, just trust me on this one 🙂

      5. Thank you.
        I would still think something happened in one of these waterbodies. If I remember correctly the water surface is lower at one of them.
        I would guess that one of them had de-gassing event (not so likely in timespan), or a crack so that water seeps downwards, or if I remember correctly about the water levels, a crack through which water is running from one to the other.

  21. I am sick again, so less comments from me then normal. It is a new version of the cold that I got in week 30. It is going to take me few days to recover from it.

  22. It seems that something happened in Askja. I don’t think noise would create that type of increased tremor, there are also not so many cars visiting Askja even now, maybe 20 max, unless it was something messing around the station, or even some malfunctioning or fake detection. I also don’t think this is magma intrusion; there is no increased in other bands, but it could have been increased geothermal activity (which could of course have been caused by very minor magma intrusion)

  23. While the tremors are going down around katla, it seems like they’re rising fast around hekla.. Could something be happening?

  24. Now I think I am about to give up on understanding Hekla… Seriously!
    We have a 1,8 at Hromundartindur volcano and Hekla has a bad abortion with tremorincrease and a whomping boreholetransient.
    Or to the point, Hekla has a medium transient, then Hromundartindur has the quake, then Hekla has a tremor event, then you get whomping transient. Can somebody please explain that one. I can’t, unless there is some weird mechanic or magmatic relation between those ones.
    For those who do not know it, Hromundartindur is a dormant volcano next to Hengill. It had a severe filling at 7km (root-level) of magma during 1994 to 1998.

      1. Please tell me? What the heck is this strainmeter doing? Is it somehow related to the fact that it is analogue? If this would be related to any volcanic activity, we would see more signs right?

  27. I am on the wrong computer. Could someone take a picture of the borehole transient, and post it I would be gratefull.
    I think that something is happening, it has now changed the scale into power-potentials.

      7. Carl,

        The BUR analogue meter has had these one-point glitches many times during the last year. I do not care about them, as they are not real. When Hekla starts toi erupt, I expect both the BUR analogue and BUR (digital) to go more or less hand-in-hand.

  29. The spike is too broad (long lasting in time) for it to be a truck, Geysir event or degassing. Too high to be thought of as anything under the strength of 2R, more like +3R. Perhaps magma moving and a small underground intrusion of it in a tight place ?

    I found no quakes at the same time but an earlier one at 12:49 picked up at Hveravellir and earlier still picked up at Grimsfjall & Vatnsfell but much later (20 sec) at Skrokkalda.

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