Posted on by Jón Frímann

Minor increase in conductivity in Múlakvísl glacier river from Mýrdalsjökull glacier (Katla volcano)

Over the past few days there has been a minor increase in conductivity in Múlakvísl glacier river that comes from Mýrdalsjökull glacier. This is the glacier that is on top of Katla volcano. There is no unusual earthquake activity taking place in Katla volcano at the moment.

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There is little activity in Katla volcano today. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

The reason why conductivity is higher in Múlakvíl glacier river over the past few days is that there are cauldrons in the glacier. Those cauldrons are created by hydrothermal areas in Katla volcano caldera. They empty them self on regularly during the year. There is no risk of eruption in Katla volcano at the moment. Activity is well below normal background activity fro Katla volcano.

33 Replies to “Minor increase in conductivity in Múlakvísl glacier river from Mýrdalsjökull glacier (Katla volcano)”

    1. EMSC is so far just reporting magnitude 4,2. That might change, far as I can tell the strongest earthquake today took place in Bárðarbunga volcano.

      There is going to be new post on it soon. I am still working on it in my head.

    2. Not on IMO site, but they sometimes don’t put the big ones up until they have checked them.

  5. Nice uptick in seismicity, another stronger quake, should be 4+ on this one. About time something starts happening

    1. lots of activity under DYN area glaciers today according to 3dBulge !! I wonder if we will see some activity in the cauldrons ….

  7. My knowledge of volanoes compared to some of you is very lacking.
    However, I can contribute this, as one who has followed earthquakes since 1967.
    The USGS has gone OFF the Richter scale to measure quake magnitude.
    There are at least 2 perhaps more instruments of measure worldwide to measure earthquakes. I am not botherd by variation in magnitude, sometimes quite a bit of variance.
    Hence different websites will post different magnitudes.
    🙂

  8. I have the bareing site c/w Mila camera up and if you look go the right of the fissure eruption towards the glacier that looks an interesting cloud formation?

    Thoughts?

  9. 1.5 with 99% recorded over 38km below katla… Fresh injection of magma on the way I think.

  10. Now strong seismic activity again. will show up in 20-30 minutes on the IMO site. Definetly something going on

    1. So, its a slow caldera collapse.. The question woud be, what does that mean for future events. I dont think a caldera collapse of this scale would be happening quietly. Jón, what are your thoughts on the possible scenarios of a caldera collapse in Bardabunga

      1. Data indicate slowed subsidence over the weekend. Don’t assume the rate of subsidence will necessarily be stable in the future. We’ll have to see how the on-going process unfolds.

  17. REally no earthquakes for an hour?
    Can someone post a link that shows the location of Mila 1 and Mila 2 relative to the fissure, glacier and caldera?

  18. On the bardabunga 1 webcam, there seems to be now steam beeing emmited just in the center of the image, barely visible just above the edge of the mountain. New vent opening perhaps? Or did the lava just reach the river?

  21. I can vouch for the rainy weather as I’m sitting in Vik right now waiting for my boots to dry. After a day without wifi it’s great to get caught up with Jon’s posts and all of your comments. What an irony that I can be up to-the-minute on eruption details from my couch at home but completely in the dark in Iceland, where no one is paying much attention. It’s not even on the news except a short bit at the top of the hour. I wish I could describe the déjà vu being physically present after all the hours of my life spent watching Eyjafjallajokull before and during that eruption. But I digress. Anyway, thanks for the great info and I’ll greatly anticipate the updates over the next week.

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