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Earthquake in Þórðarhyrna volcano

Today (29. June 2023) at 07:48 UTC an earthquake with magnitude of Mw3,1 took place in Þórðarhyrna volcano. This was just one earthquake and a minor Mw1,3 earthquake happened at 08:17 UTC and since then its been quiet. Þórðarhyrna volcano is inside Grímsfjall volcano fissure swarm but is an independent volcano in this setting. Sometimes Þórðarhyrna and Grímsfjall erupt at the same time.

Green star in south part of Þórðarhyrna volcano. Not many other earthquakes on the map. Time on map is 29. June, 23, time 13:20 Icelandic time.
Green star in Þórðarhyrna volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Last eruption in Þórðarhyrna volcano took place around late 1890 or early 1900. I am not sure what year exactly, because eruption often attributed to Þórðarhyrna volcano took place in Grímsfjall volcano and sometimes the reverse happened. Last eruption took place around 120 to 140-ish years ago.

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Earthquake swarm in Krýsuvík-Trölladyngja volcano (Kleifarvatn lake)

Today (28. June 2023) an earthquake swarm took place in Krýsuvík-Trölladyngja volcano in Kleifarvatn lake. Largest earthquake had a magnitude of Mw3,2 at 09:21 UTC and was felt in Reykjavík area and other nearby towns.

Green star and red dots in Kleifarvatn lake in Krýsuvík-Trölladyngja volcano. There are red dots and orange dots in nearby Fagradalsfjall volcano.
Earthquake activity in Krýsuvík-Trölladyngja volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Its unclear what is going on at this location. Most likely explanation for this activity is stress changes because of inflation in nearby Fagradalsfjall volcano. At the moment, I don’t think there is going to be an eruption in Krýsuvík-Trölladyngja volcano. This earthquake swarm looks like its ongoing at the writing of this article.

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Earthquake swarm in Hofsjökull volcano

Today (28. June 2023) an earthquake swarm started in Hofsjökull volcano. At the writing of this article it seems to be over, but I am uncertain if that’s the case. This was not a large earthquake swarm, with just around eight earthquakes happening. All where below Mw3,0 magnitude in size.

Red dots in western part of Hofsjökull volcano caldera. Time on map is 28. June. 23, 09:30 Icelandic time.
Earthquake activity in Hofsjökull volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Largest earthquake in this swarm had a magnitude of Mw2,6. While other earthquakes where smaller in magnitude. I am not sure what is happening in Hofsjökull volcano. There have not been any eruptions in Hofsjökull volcano in the last 8000 to 12000 years. There might not have been any eruption in Hofsjökull volcano for more than 12000 years, how much longer is information I do not have.

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Earthquake with magnitude of Mw3,6 in Katla volcano

Today (27. June 2023) at 07:42 UTC an earthquake with magnitude of Mw3,6 took place in Katla volcano. This earthquake was part of a earthquake swarm that had started few moments earlier. There is no change in harmonic tremor at the writing of this article and earthquake activity has slowed down again. This earthquake was felt in nearby areas.

Green star and red dots in Katla volcano caldera, along with older earthquakes from yesterday shown as blue and yellow dots. Time on map is 27. june. 23, 09:20 (Icelandic time).
Earthquake activity in Katla volcano caldera. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

This earthquake activity seems to happen in active time periods with quiet period between them, when there are few to no earthquake activity. This activity is ongoing at the writing of this article.

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Renewed earthquake activity in Katla volcano

Today (26. June 2023) the earthquake activity in Katla volcano increased again for few hours. Largest earthquake this time had a magnitude of Mw2,5. This earthquake activity has slowed down again. This earthquake activity is ongoing, even if there is no activity at the writing of this article.

A lot of orange dots and blue dots showing earthquake activity in Katla volcano caldera. Time on image is 26. June. 23, 19:55 Icelandic time.
Earthquake activity in Katla volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Its is still unclear what is going on in Katla volcano. There was no change in harmonic tremor following this earthquake activity. Showing that magma did not move in any obvious way when this earthquake activity took place.

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Earthquake swarm in Reykjanes volcano

Today (26. June 2023) an earthquake swarm took place in Reykjanes volcano. This earthquake swarm is in a location in Reykjanes volcano that has been having repeated earthquake activity over the last few months. This strongly suggest that at this location there’s an active dyke that might erupt in the future.

Earthquake swarm out in the ocean close to Reykjanestá in the Reykjanes volcano. A lot of red dots piled on top of each other. Blue to orange dots located elsewhere on the Reykjanes peninsula. Time on map 26. June. 23. 16:05 (Icelandic Time).
Earthquake swarm in Reykjanes volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Largest earthquake in this swarm at the writing of this article had a magnitude of Mw3,0. Other earthquakes have been smaller in magnitude. I am unclear on how many earthquakes have happened in Reykjanes volcano at the writing of this article. This earthquake swarm is ongoing at the writing of this article.

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Earthquake swarm in Katla volcano

Today (24. June 2023) an earthquake swarm started in Katla volcano. Largest earthquakes had magnitude of Mw3,8 and Mw3,3. Other earthquakes have been smaller. This earthquake swarm is ongoing but has slowed down since this morning.

Two green stars in Katla volcano caldera along with blue and red dots that show this earthquake activity. It is spread over some area in the caldera. Time on image is 24. june 23, 13:45.
Earthquake activity in Katla volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

At the writing of this article there is no clear sign that an eruption is about to happen. That might change without a warning. This earthquake activity might stop and nothing more is going to happen until next time. That is what has been going on for the last few months and years.

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Second earthquake in Bárðarbunga volcano in June (2023)

This month of June 2023. Bárðarbunga volcano has had it second earthquake with magnitude of Mw3,1. This is a normal inflation earthquake in Bárðarbunga volcano.

Green star in Bárðarbunga volcano. Few other earthquakes in other volcanoes that are close to Vatnajökull glacier area.
Green star in Bárðarbunga volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

This is normal inflation earthquake in Bárðarbunga volcano. It is going to be a long time until next eruption happens in Bárðarbunga volcano (expected, anything can happen).

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Earthquake activity in Eyjafjallajökull volcano

In rather unusual activity, there have been earthquakes in Eyjafjallajökull volcano since yesterday (7. June 2023). It started with a small earthquake of magnitude Mw1,1 at 20,5 km depth. Earthquakes are few, so there’s clearly no risk for an eruption at the moment.

Blue, orange and red dot in Eyjafjallajökull volcano that is located west of Katla volcano and Mýrdalsjökull glacier. There are dots and red dots in Katla volcano and over the area in other volcanoes.
Earthquake activity in Eyjafjallajökull volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

It would be highly unusual if Eyjafjallajökull volcano erupts now, since it looks like that volcano is on ~200 year cycle when it comes to eruptions and between those cycles it remains quiet with no earthquake activity, or at most few earthquakes each years. This has been true since end of the eruption in 2010 in Eyjafjallajökull volcano. There however is the question is something has changed. I don’t have any answer yet, but this is something to keep an watch for. This might turn out to be nothing, as is the case most times.

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Earthquake close to Surtsey island

During the night of 6. June 2023 at 03:17 UTC an earthquake with magnitude of Mw3,0 at the depth of 15,8 km, took place close to Surtsey island. This was just a single earthquake and only one smaller earthquake with magnitude of Mw1,1 took place at 03:20 UTC, it is possible that few smaller earthquakes took place at this same location without having been recorded because of distance from seismometers that Icelandic Met Office has.

Green star next to Surtsey island, that is located south-west of Vestmanneyjar islands. A yellow dot showing a smaller earthquake north of the green star. Second yellow dot is an ghost earthquake.
Earthquake next to Surtsey island. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

No other earthquakes have happened in this location today. This is just one off earthquake activity currently and I don’t expect that to change.