Monitoring – Page 115 – Iceland geology

January 21, 2014

Waiting for the eastern Skaftá glacier cauldron

The glacier flood in Skaftá glacier river is almost over or is over at present time (21-January-2014). This however does not mean that everything is over. Since there are two cauldrons in the Vatnajökull glacier in the Hamarinn volcano it means there is more water stored there now then has now flooded from the glacier. It is now clear that the eastern Skaftá glacier cauldron in Vatnajökull glacier has not emptied it self in this flood from the western Skaftá glacier cauldron.

The eastern (Eystri) and western (Vestari) cauldrons in Vatnajökull glacier. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

When the eastern glacier cauldron empties it self they are expecting a lot larger glacier flood to take place. Since there is a lot more water holding up in the eastern Skaftá glacier cauldron. It is also longer since it flooded and emptied it self. Last glacier flood from the eastern Skaftá glacier cauldron was in the year 2010. More information on how this flood system works can be found here (in Icelandic) on Icelandic university website geology department.

January 19, 2014January 19, 2014

Glacier flood started in Skaftár glacier river

It was announced today (19-January-2014) that glacier flood has started in Skaftá glacier river (or connected rivers) from Skjaftár cauldrons in Vatnajökull glacier. Currently the water is discharging from Skaftár cauldrons at the rate of 370 m3/s according to Icelandic Meteorological Office. So far no changes have taken place in harmonic tremors close to Hamarinn volcano where the Skaftár cauldrons lie within Vatnajökull glacier.

Smell of hydrogen sulphide has been detected by people living close the rivers that the glacier flood is discharging into. There is a considerable risk of poisoning if people get to close the rivers that hold the flood water. It is currently believed that it is the western Skaftár cauldron that is now emptying, that one did empty it self back the in the year 2012. That is however not going to be confirmed until the area can be checked by flying over it and see what is taking place at this location. That might take few days since it is dependent on weather when it is possible to do such flight.

Location of Skaftár cauldrons in Vatnajökull glacier. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office. Picture is taken from Icelandic Meteorological Office Facebook page.

The current flood in Skaftár glacier river. The water monitoring stations around Vatnajökull glacier. Red stations are monitored for floods, black ones are normal flow stations. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office. Picture is taken from Icelandic Meteorological Office Facebook page.

Uncertainty level has been declared in the area do to this glacier flood by the Civil Protection and Emergency Management in Iceland. It is advised against people travelling in the area while this glacier flood takes place. On Vatnajökull glacier there is also a risk of new cracks forming in the glacier was the cauldron is emptied of water in the next few days. This cracks are dangerous and really deep and wide on the top, but get narrower closer to the end of them. It is possible to monitor the glacier flood here on Icelandic Meteorological Office website.

Icelandic news about this. Some English text is in some of the news. It is possible to use Google Translate on this, but result can be unreliable.

Skaftárhlaup er mjög líklega hafið (Rúv.is, maps, English text)
Skaftárhlaup hafið en það vex óvenju hægt (Rúv.is, Icelandic, maps)
Óvissustig vegna Skaftárhlaups (Rúv.is, Icelandic, maps)

Skaftárhlaup er hafið (mbl.is, English text)
Óvissustig vegna Skaftárhlaups (mbl.is, Icelandic)
Fundað um næstu skref (mbl.is, Icelandic)

Post updated at 20:34 UTC on 19-January-2014.

January 15, 2014January 15, 2014

Increased conductivity continues in Múlakvísl glacier river (Katla volcano)

Last week I wrote about increased conductivity in Múlakvísl glacier river that comes from Mýrdalsjökull glacier (Katla volcano). This trend has continued into second week with the conductivity. The conductivity in Múlakvísl is now on the range of ~327 to ~360 µS/cm. There has also been a slight increase in water levels following this change in Múlakvísl glacier river. Normal value for this time of year according to Icelandic Meteorological Office is ~180 µS/cm in Múlakvísl glacier river. Since 31-December-2013 the conductivity in Múlakvísl glacier river has always been over 220 µS/cm.

Conductivity in Múlakvísl glacier river. Top: conductivity. Middle: Harmonic tremor. Bottom: Windspeed. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

Animated image from Icelandic Meteorological Office showing changes in Múlakvísl glacier river during this time period. Original image can be found here. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

No harmonic tremors or earthquakes have been detected (besides normal activity) following this changes. What is taking place is that a cauldron in Mýrdalsjökull glacier is now leaking melt water that has been built up due to hydrothermal (hot springs) activity under the glacier. So far it does not appear that current changes in Múlakvísl glacier river mean anything at all. If that is going to change is impossible to know at this point.

Icelandic News about this

Rafleiðni há en enginn órói mælist (mbl.is)

Donation notice: Please remember to support me so that I can continue to report on volcano and earthquake activity in Iceland.

Post updated at 19:09 UTC on 15-January-2014.
Post updated at 20:49 UTC on 15-January-2014.

January 15, 2014

Main geophone network computer is down due to a hardware failure

As many have noticed, my webicorder website is no longer updating and has not done so since 9-December-2013. The reason why it is not updating is simple. The computer that handles the updates is now totally ruined. It was the victim of the capacitor plague that took place few years ago, the main-board that failed is from the year 2007 (7 years old) and it clear that this issue with capacitor was not over when this motherboard was made.

The blown capacitors on the motherboard. As can be seen, it is totally ruined. Image is under Creative Commons Licence, please see CC Licence page for more details.

Second picture of the damage to the capacitors on the motherboard. Image is under Creative Commons Licence, please see CC Licence page for more details.

This failure was so bad it crashed my router and internet connection until I was able to reboot it when I got back home. Cost of a new computer (motherboard+cpu+graphic card+memory) is 268,16€ (350€ if I want to have some space to adjust if something isn’t available) according to my best estimate. I just want to buy and install it my self. I guess the hard drive is fine, but I have not yet tested it and I guess that I won’t test it until I get new computer. As my finances currently stand there is no hope that I am going to be able to afford this any time soon. So any donations in order to help me fix this problem are welcomed.

Without the webicorder website and this computer I am not going to be able to post high resolutions of earthquakes and it is not going to be possible to monitor earthquake swarms in Iceland in close to real time. Since this computer did handle all geophones in one place. It also uploaded the images for the geophones and I had on it the software to locate and analyse earthquakes that took place in Iceland and worldwide. This computer also allowed me to monitor for earthquakes in Denmark and other nearby countries if anything major did happen (earthquakes over magnitude 5,0). I hope that I can replace this hardware soon. Just how soon that is going to be I do not know at the moment.

January 13, 2014

Two earthquakes on the Reykjanes ridge on 10-January-2014

I am sorry for this late post of this events. I have been having computer problems and more then just one computer problem. More on that in next post.

On the Friday the 10-January-2014 three earthquakes took place on the Reykjanes Ridge. There magnitudes where 3,1 and 3,5. The third earthquake had the magnitude of 2,5.

The earthquakes on the Reykjanes ridge on the 10-January-2014. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

This where tectonic earthquakes and nothing suggests that they where connected to any magma movements in this area of the Reykjanes ridge.

January 8, 2014

Increased conductivity in Múlakvísl glacier river

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It has been reported in Icelandic media today that there is an increased conductivity in Múlakvísl glacier river that comes from Mýdalsjökull glacier. This increased conductivity started in Múlakvísl on 31-December-2013 and has lasted until today (it might last for few days longer).

Mýrdalsjökull glacier is on top of Katla volcano. There are no signs of increased activity following this and according to the news this is most likely a cauldron under the glacier empting it self of water melted by hydrothermal area under the glacier. So far there is no risk to this increased conductivity in Múlakvísl glacier river.

There are no signs of glacier flood is about to take place, at least it is not going to a large one if it happens. That is the current idea at the moment anyway. No earthquake activity or tremor activity has taken place following this changes in Múlakvísl glacier river.

Icelandic News about this

Aukin rafleiðni en ekki útlit fyrir hlaup (Rúv.is)
Fylgjast vel með Múlakvísl (mbl.is)
Vaxandi rafleiðni í Múlakvísl (Vísir.is)

January 7, 2014

Magnitude 3,5 earthquake on the Reykjanes peninsula

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Today (7-January-2014) at 12:11 UTC an magnitude 3,5 earthquake took place on the Reykjanes Peninsula. This earthquake was part of an swarm that has been taking place in this area of Reykjanes peninsula for past two weeks.

The earthquake swarm on the Reykjanes peninsula. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

I am not sure how this earthquake swarm is going to evolve, but there is a risk of more earthquakes in this area. But most of them are going to be minor, or less then 3,0 in magnitude.

January 6, 2014

Earthquake swarm in Hveravellir

During the night of 6-January-2014 an earthquake swarm started in Langjökull volcano, the northern one. The nearby area is known as Hveravellir geothermal area. So far this has just been a minor earthquake swarm. With largest earthquakes not exceeding magnitude 2,0 at the moment.

The earthquake swarm in Hveravellir geothermal area. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

The tremor plot of nearby SIL station shows that more earthquake activity is taking place then appears on Icelandic Meteorological Office website. This are then earthquake that are too small to be detected by other nearby SIL stations.

The earthquake activity at Hveravellir SIL station. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

I do expect this earthquake activity to continue for some time now. It is impossible to know for sure if this activity is going to increase or not.

December 20, 2013

Earthquake activity in Esjufjöll and Kverkfjöll volcanoes

Earthquake activity started again in Esjufjöll volcano today (20-Desember-2013). The largest earthquake had the magnitude of 2,9 and had the depth of 5,0 km. So far only two earthquakes have been recorded, but it is not uncommon that earthquake activity in Esjufjöll volcano starts slow before it picks up. Earthquake activity remains low in Esjufjöll volcano, but there is now more earthquake activity in Esjufjöll volcano for the past few years then in past several decades (perhaps, recording is missing in the past)

Kverkfjöll volcano

Earthquake activity continued in Kverkfjöll volcano today. None of the earthquake did reach the magnitude of 3,0. The largest earthquake had the magnitude of 2,0 and the depth of 5,3 km.

Earthquake activity in Esjufjöll volcano and Kverkfjöll volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

I am expecting more earthquake activity in Kverkfjöll volcano. But I expect it to remain small as it currently is at least I do not expect any earthquake above the magnitude of 3,0 to take place as is.

December 19, 2013December 19, 2013

Magnitude 3,1 earthquake in Kverkfjöll volcano

Today (19-Desember-2013) at 09:30 UTC a magnitude 3,1 earthquake took place in Kverkfjöll volcano. The depth of this earthquake was 5,0 km. No aftershocks have been recorded following this earthquake.

The magnitude 3,1 earthquake in Kverkfjöll volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

This is the first activity in Kverkfjöll volcano for some time now. But overall activity has been slowly increasing in Kverkfjöll volcano for the past few years. So far however there is nothing to suggest that volcano eruption is going to take place in near future.

Update 1: Three aftershocks took place in Kverkfjöllum volcano. The largest one had the magnitude of 1,7. The other two earthquakes had the magnitude of 1,3 and 1,5. With the depth of 6,5 km to 3,4 km.

The aftershocks in Kverkfjöll volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

It is possible that more aftershocks are going to take place in Kverkfjöll volcano in next few hours to days.

Blog post updated at 16:37 UTC.

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