Posted on by Jón Frímann

Update on Bárðarbunga volcano (Week 06/2016)

Short update on Bárðarbunga volcano.

Bárðarbunga volcano continues to inflate at the depth of 15 – 10 km. Making it hard to observe it on the surface. Earthquake activity continues to increase, with regular earthquake swarms with magnitude of 3,0 – 3,5 at the moment. The reason for this earthquake activity is the inflation currently taking place in Bárðarbunga volcano at depth of 10 – 15 km and at shallower depth. I expect that hydrothermal activity is going to continue to increase in Bárðarbunga volcano for the next few weeks and months as magma pushes up to shallower depths inside the volcano.

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Magnitude 3,1 earthquake (if my memory is correct) in Bárðarbunga volcano on Monday 8-February-2016. Copyright of this image belongs to Iceland Met Office.

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Today (11-February-2016) magnitude 3,3 earthquake in Bárðarbunga volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Iceland Met Office.

No other changes have been observed in Bárðarbunga volcano. Current pattern of activity in Bárðarbunga volcano is going to continue for a really long time. There is at the moment no need for to write about all of it. Unless something changes in Bárðarbunga volcano. Rift episodes like the one that has started in eastern rift zone in Iceland take a long time, the longest one can go for up to 20 years and they happen slowly most of the time. The biggest risk now is a new dyke intrusion and eruption (or both). That might start without warning and only last for few hours to days at most.

Icelandic News about Bárðarbunga volcano

Hæg at­b­urðarás und­ir Bárðarbungu (mbl.is, Icelandic) – Attempt Google Translate at own risk. It might bring trolls and elves into existence.

Noise on SIL stations

I did have a conversation about Icelandic Met Office about the strange tremor spikes I’ve been seeing on SIL stations around Bárðarbunga volcano over the past few weeks. It turns out that is connected to 3G (900Mhz) interference. It has two factors in it, the 3G stations loosing signal, creating a dropout in the data stream to Iceland Met Office and what I suspect a signal leak into the hardware that Iceland Met Office has (in the same was as I’m seeing on my Böðvarshólar geophone) when the quality of the 3G signal is poor due to ice and snow on the transmitters antenna, that forces the 3G hardware to boost it’s transmitter power up to 2W. This issue won’t go away until they move to 4G (maybe) or something else.

Other

I’ve decided that I’m first going to move to Denmark and then maybe I’m going to move to Germany. To the village of Andernach. The time frame on this plan is 10 to 15 years at the shortest. I don’t know if this plan is going to happen, it might do so and then it might not do so. I plan on to save up for a house in Germany, the reason for long preparation time is that I need to learn German and learn on the system in Germany. The town I’ve chosen is close to the West Eifel Volcanic Field. This is not the first time I’ve planned to move there (to Koblenz, but that town is too big I think), but those plans are now gone, replaced with this one. I don’t know yet if this plan is going to happen, it might do so in about 10 to 15 years if everything works out.

17 Replies to “Update on Bárðarbunga volcano (Week 06/2016)”

      1. I applaud yo Jon for your tolerance,just got booted for a week from volcano cafe after being banned for over a year ,I wish certain people there would follow their own rules.They were acting so juvenile toward me I asked their age,needless to say it did not go down well lol

      2. Banning is a last resort that I rarely use. WordPress doesn’t have a ban option (I’m sure I can get a addon for that), but I can hide comments from people that are spamming or trolling the comments here.

        As for Volcano Café, I never go there. As it is my opinion that website doesn’t have any information of value. For some people it might do so, but for me it does not.

      3. It’s definitely a stupid comment. Germans and other Europeans have worked hard over the decades and in some cases, have died to create the tolerant, liberal societies that exist today. They will do everything in their legal power to preserve those societies that also protect and nourish hard-working immigrants and their children/grandchildren. It’s just another example of the rampant fear mongering over the millions of refugees and their family members waiting to fly to Europe, avoiding that perilous journey. They only require some of our hospitality at the moment. You should be ashamed Erik to say something like that. If only other European countries other than Germany and Sweden would open their doors more freely to take the political pressure off Merkel. Countries like the UK don’t realize what an opportunity they’re missing out on.

  2. Glad the 3G related noise is sorted out. Best solution is a direct microwave link with no data limit 😉

    1. I don’t know why Iceland Met Office uses 3G connection or GSM connection. The data from SIL station is not a lot over a month, less than 1GB (or around that if a lot is happening). I guess this is the most cheapest option for them, since IMO has been suffering cuts in last few years at the hand of the government. Those cuts have always blown up in their face.

      1. Why is it that governments always cut the funding for sciences that keep people safe , before they cut funding on other less useful departments. For you its IMO for us it was lighthouses and coastguard stations!

    1. Jon when you say 7.8 million views is that all pages combined or just the home page? Also when it records the views does it record every time someone logs on from the same ip or does it show you different ip locations? Just curious as I check several times a day from several devices. ie Iphone , Ipad, Mactop, PC, Mac. Sometimes from home and sometimes from my daughters when I go there for kid sitting or to play board games.

      1. It’s just this website. I got several counters for my websites. Each visit is recorded, but only once every 6 hours. It used to be every 24 hours, then 12 hours and now I keep it at 6 hours. After that it’s counted again, either as a fresh visit or a returning visit. The total page view number is the total of that.

  4. Cuts blown up in their face – let’s hope that doesn’t become the literal explanation

    1. Amen
      I was going to say they are playing with fire but thought better but since your comment I couldnt resist!

      (sent from my mactop )

  5. 3.5 in Bardarbunga. Shallow again.

    Saturday
    13.02.2016 19:32:42 64.677 -17.457 0.6 km 3.5 99.0 5.3 km NE of Bárðarbunga

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