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Magnitude 3.2 earthquake in TFZ

At 04:03 UTC on 29.01.2013 an magnitude 3.2 earthquake did happen at TFZ. This earthquake was not felt according to news on this earthquake. Several aftershocks where detected following this magnitude 3.2 earthquake.


The magnitude 3.2 earthquake in TFZ. Along with aftershocks in the same area. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

There is a lot of tension in TFZ. But this earthquake swarm does not mean it is ready to break yet. When that happens is impossible to know at this time. Earthquake detection is difficult in Iceland at the moment due to bad weather and strong winds.

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Magnitude 3.1 earthquake on the Reykjanes peninsula

At 00:41 UTC on 25.01.2013 an magnitude 3.1 earthquake did take place on Reykjanes peninsula. This earthquake was felt in Reykjavík, Hafnarfjörður and few other nearby populated areas. Two aftershocks did follow this earthquake. Both had the magnitude 1.5. It is impossible to know if this earthquake activity is going to start an earthquake swarm in this area. Sometimes that happens, sometimes it doesn’t.


The green star marks the location of the magnitude 3.1 earthquake. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

No further earthquake activity has so far taken place in this area during the past two to three hours. This earthquake activity does not appear to be volcano related. But this is normal tectonic movements of the rift zone that makes up Reykjanes peninsula.

Icelandic news about this earthquake. Please use Google translate and hope for the best.

All snarpur skjálfti á Reykjanesskaga (Rúv.is)
Jarðskjálfti fannst á höfuðborgarsvæði (mbl.is)
Jarðskjálfti við Keili (Vísir.is)

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Magnitude 3.8 earthquake in Bárðarbunga volcano

During the night at 04:50 UTC there was an earthquake with the magnitude 3.8 in Bárðarbunga volcano. This appears to be a minor dike intrusions into Bárðarbunga volcano. This happens regularly in Bárðarbunga volcano. Often resulting in a lot larger earthquakes then current earthquake swarm that is taking place in Bárðarbunga volcano.


Earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano. The star is the magnitude 3.8 earthquake. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

It is impossible to know what is going on in Bárðarbunga volcano. But there is no risk for volcano eruption for now. Even if there is possibility of minor dike intrusion taking place in Bárðarbunga volcano at the moment. I am not expecting anything more at the moment. But more earthquakes can not be ruled out, as Bárðarbunga volcano is a earthquake active volcano.

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Earthquakes deep on the Reykjanes Ridge

Yesterday (20.01.2013) there where few medium sized earthquakes deep on the Reykjanes Ridge. This earthquakes where far off the coast of Iceland (around 1340 km from Reykjavík). So this earthquake swarm is just being noticed on instruments. What is going on there is impossible to know. The largest earthquake in this swarm is a magnitude Mb5.2 earthquake that did happen at 21:40 UTC. Earlier and earthquakes that did follow this earthquake had the magnitude from Mb4.7 to Mb5.0. But any smaller earthquakes are unlikely to be detected at this distance from any seismometer network in Europe or America.


Location of the largest earthquake in this swarm. A magnitude 5.2 earthquake. Copyright of this image belongs to EMSC.

More earthquake activity might take place on this location. But it is hard to know due to lack of data. But it is worth keeping an eye on it. As things remain quiet in Iceland at the moment.

Blog post updated at 00:37 UTC on 21.01.2013.

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Picture and video of Eyjafjallajökull volcano

Here is a picture of Eyjafjallajökull volcano that I took in December 2012. This is not a good picture. But that is mostly down to bad weather and strong wind at the time.


Click on the image for full size. This image is released under Creative Commons licence. Please see the CC Licence page for more details on this licence.

Here is a video that I took from this same area. It shows how bad the weather was.

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Comparison of volcano eruptions

When there is nothing going on in Iceland. It is good to prepare for the future by checking out what has happened in the past. Here is a comparison of harmonic tremor data from few past eruptions. I only have limited set of data to work with here.

Grímsfjall volcano eruptions 2004 and 2011

Harmonic tremor indicates how strong the eruption is when it is happening. This is clearly visible on the harmonic tremor plots from the Grímsfjall volcano eruptions in the year 2004 and compared to the eruption in Grímsfjall volcano eruption in the year 2011.


Harmonic tremor in Grímsfjall volcano eruption in the year 2004. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

This harmonic tremor plot is from the early start of the eruption. It clearly shows when the eruption starts and how it progressed during it’s first few hours.


Here is the volcano eruption start in Grímsfjall volcano on 23. May 2011. This is the start of the eruption. It clearly shows the difference from the eruption that took place in the year 2004. Both is that starts sharper. But is also a lot more powerful then the eruption in the year 2004. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

Eyjafjallajökull volcano and Katla volcano

Sometimes it is useful to compare two eruptions of two different volcanoes. This is useful when you really don’t have anything else to compare with.


Harmonic tremor in Eyjafjallajökull volcano eruption back in the year 2010. This is from the second phase of the eruption. But I seems to have misplaced or not saved harmonic tremor data from the first phase of the eruption (at least I cannot find them for the moment). Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.


Harmonic tremor connected to a minor eruption in Katla volcano in July 2011. This eruption was minor. But created a flood that took out a bridge. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.


Diffrent SIL stations from the same minor eruption in Katla volcano in July 2011. This clearly shows that this minor eruption in Katla volcano was possibly larger then eruption in Eyjafjallajökull volcano year earlier (2010). But it did not manage to break the ice of Mýrdalsjökull glacier. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

Past data show and are useful to learn what happens in a volcano. For this reason I now save important information on what is happening in a volcano. So I can compare it with future activity when it takes place.

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Typical geophone station that I run

Here is a picture of a typical geophone station that I run in Iceland. This is the computer and other needed hardware on the Böðvarshólar geophone station that I am running. This hardware used to be the Hvammstangi geophone station until December 2012 when I had to move it.


Click on the image for full size. This image is released under Creative Commons licence. Please see the CC licence page for more details.

What is not shown in this picture is the geophone it self. But it is in the white box on the table. The readings from all my geophone stations can be found here.

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Donations needed for January

As always this months. I am broke after paying all my bills. I have explained this before. So I don’t see any reason to do so again. But what I can add is that I am working hard to fix this (with the help from my bank as can be helped. But this is a long standing problem at the moment and my bank has limits). But this progress is far from easy and I am doing my best in this regards.

The case now however is that I have no way to reach my budget ends together this month. In fact. I am not sure even how I am going to buy food this month. I am being serious on that.

Thanks for the support! 🙂

Update 1: Thanks to donations I won’t starve this month as I was afraid of. But this is not the greatest food budget ever either. But I hope that it is going to last all of January or close to it. I am close to Germany (It is just a bus trip to Flensburg). So I can go there and buy food more cheaper then in Denmark.

Update 2: I have made this blog post a sticky on the front page. So it won’t go down when I post new blog post. This blog post is going to be a sticky until end of January.

Update 3: I got a complaint about this blog post today. I wrote blog post about it. I called it, Why don’t you just get a job?

Update 4: I got a comment today (link to comment in the blog post). My view did turn into a blog post that I did call, Writing is a job and it is not easy doing it

Update 5: January 2013 was bad for me in terms of bills. But February 2013 is going to be terrible. In short. The amount of bills that I have to pay is higher then my total income during the month. Yea, this is how is to be poor. I am looking into taking a loan here in Denmark to cover my monthly cost this time. Since loans in Denmark are more stable in terms of interest rates and payments then in Iceland (interest rates go up in Iceland and is a lot higher then in Denmark).

Update 6: I might even have to start searching for a job. Even if that is going to cut into my writing time on this blog. I just might not have any other option right now.

Update 7: The Oatmeal tells about it what it is to create continent for the internet. But that is exactly what I am doing here and on my other blogs.

As for Icelandic geology. It is all so quiet at the moment. Nothing to report at the moment.

Blog post updated at 15:03 UTC on 10. January 2013.
Blog post updated at 15:14 UTC on 12. January 2013.
Blog post updated at 21:34 UTC on 19. January 2013.
Blog post updated at 21:50 UTC on 23. January 2013.
Blog post updated at 15:59 UTC on 25. January 2013.
Blog post updated at 16:07 UTC on 25. January 2013.
Blog post updated at 02:17 UTC on 27. January 2013.
Blog post updated at 02:33 UTC on 27. January 2013.