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Earthquake activity update on 16.11.2012

Here is a short update on earthquake activity in Iceland. It has been stormy few weeks so recorded earthquake activity has not been a lot in Iceland.

Tjörnes Fracture Zone

Earthquake activity continues in TFZ. A bit less then when it did start on 20. October 2012. But it still moves along. The risk of large earthquake area remains for this area. When, where and how big remains unknown factors so far.


Earthquake activity in TFZ. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

Herðubreiðarfjöll volcano

Herðubreiðarfjöll volcano is a small volcano (no GVP entry that I know of) just north of Askja volcano. But Herðubreiðarfjöll volcano are in fact part of Askja volcano fissure swarm. But I do not think they are part of Askja volcano as such.


Earthquake activity in Herðarbreiðarfjöll volcano (the blue dots). Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

The earthquake activity in Herðurbreiðarfjöll volcano was most likely a minor dike intrusion into the volcano. What that means is too early to say at this moment. But most likely it does not mean anything for now at least.

There has been some minor ice-quake activity in Iceland when the temperature drops below 0 degrees in Iceland.

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End of my geophone network in December 2012

It is not easy for me to make this decision. But I have dedicated to end my geophone network as it is today in December 2012. The reason is cost of running it. I just can’t afford it. I am also dealing with cost of hardware, maintaining that hardware and so on. That is just how it is. Dealing with technical problems is also a factor in this. Computers die, hardware needs to be replaced after certain amounts of years. This all costs me money. Technical assistance by the people who are hosting the geophone hardware also costs time for them. It also costs money for them in electricity cost (not a lot. But something as all the hardware uses electricity).

While it is great being able to track earthquake activity in real time (5 min delay on my web page). I just cannot afford it. I am also not going to move back to Iceland. So that makes maintaining my geophone network today even harder. So in December 2012 this is going to be all over. All my geophone network stations are going to go offline and that is going to be end of that. I am going to keep the hardware for later use somewhere else. Where and when that might be is unknown at the moment.

I want to thank everyone how did support my effort in building my network as it is today (buying Skeiðflöt and Eyrarbakki geophone stations). Sadly I can no longer maintain the geophone network as explained above. But that is just how it has to be.

Following geophone stations go offline in December 2012

Hvammstangi
Skeiðflöt
Heklubyggð
Eyrarbakki

Following geophone stations are going to remain online

Bov, Denmark (but the web page is going to move soon to a new server)

Future network

While the current geophone network is coming to an end. It does not mean that I am going to quit my plans so easy. I plan on building a new network of seismometers (proper ones) in Iceland when I can afford it. When that might happen I do not know. But I am going to build it in a SIL style. The seismometers are also going to be located far from any human traffic so I won’t have any noise from that or any other cultural noise source (at least, keep it at minimal). I am also going to hire people and create a company around this to take care of the hardware and process the earthquake data gathered.

I am going to build seismometers network in the following place when I can afford it (this means. When I am rich).

Iceland
Canary Islands (maybe. Not sure yet.)
Falkland Islands (Details pending)

The new network is going to be a proper network. It is also going to be in places that Iceland Meteorological Office has no SIL stations at the moment. But this is going to take a while until it happens. So all that people can do is to wait until I am ready to do this. It is going to take a few years at least.

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Renewed earthquake activity in TFZ

Earthquake activity has renewed at TFZ. The area that is activate is the same area that had earthquake swarm from about 1 month ago. But largest earthquake in that swarm was a Mb5.6 earthquake. The largest earthquake today was a magnitude ML3.3 earthquake at 12:12 UTC. A magnitude 2.8 earthquake did take place at 13:08 UTC.


Current earthquake activity in TFZ. Green star mark the magnitude magnitude ML3.3 earthquake. Copyright of this image belongs to Iceland Meteorological Office.

The risk of large earthquake in this area still high. When it might happen is impossible to know for sure. There have been reports of the largest earthquake being felt in the town of Siglufjörður and other nearby areas. I fully expect earthquake activity to continue in this area. There have been stormy conditions in Iceland for the past 24 hours. This winter storm is making it more difficult to detect smaller earthquakes in this area, as in other areas of Iceland.

This earthquake activity appears clearly on my geophone in Hvammstangi. Even if there is a lot of wind noise taking place.

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Survey of dangerous Icelandic volcanoes has started

Rúv News reports that survey on Iceland volcanoes and possible risk factors has already started in Iceland. It is expected that this survey is going to take about 20 years. But there is a lot of science research following this survey.

This survey is going start with the volcanoes that are closest to populated areas in Iceland and cover risk factors like volcano ash, lava flow and field, earthquake risk and so on. The list is long and so is the work ahead for the people doing this survey and study.

Rúv News about this survey

Byrjað að kortleggja eldstöðvar

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Earthquake swarm in TFZ continues, little earthquake activity in Katla voclano, new earthquake activity in Askja volcano

Here is a short update on activity in Iceland for the past few days.

Tjörnes Fracture Zone

Earthquake activity continues in Tjörnes Fracture Zone. But this earthquake activity has been ongoing since 20 October, 2012. Every once in a while a magnitude 3.0 earthquake takes place, or larger. The risk of large earthquake taking place in this area remains. General alert for this area is also in effect because of this danger of large earthquake taking place in this area.


The earthquake activity in TFZ. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

Katla volcano

Winter has come. At least when it comes to earthquake activity in Katla volcano. But little to none earthquake activity is now taking place in Katla volcano. Earthquake activity is now well below background level. It can be expected that current status is going to remain in Katla volcano until next summer.


Earthquake activity in Katla volcano for the past few days. Nothing important is taking place in Katla volcano as this image clearly shows. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

Askja volcano

While Katla volcano is getting quiet. It seems that Askja volcano is getting slightly more active. But earthquake activity in Askja volcano during the past few weeks suggests a minor magma intrusion (dike intrusion) might have taken place. But none of the earthquakes that took place where above magnitude 2.0 in size.


Earthquakes in Askja volcano during the past few days. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

I do not think this earthquake activity in Askja volcano means it is getting close for an eruption. Since there are no signs in that direction at the moment. But this earthquake activity is interesting. What ever it means in the short term for Askja volcano. It is also common that volcanoes have earthquake activity without anything happening at all following such earthquake activity.

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Earthquake activity update for Iceland and TFZ

This is update for TFZ over the past few days. Along with update for earthquake activity in Iceland during the past few days.

Tjörnes Fracture Zone

Earthquake swarm in TFZ continues. In the past days the largest earthquakes have had the magnitude of ML3.2. A second earthquake swarm is also taking place west of the village of Kópasker. That area also had an earthquake with the magnitude of ML3.2. That earthquake swarm is unrelated to the earthquake swarm taking place off north of Siglufjörður village. Earlier today an earthquake with the magnitude 3.8 took place. More earthquakes are expected to take place. This latest earthquake was clearly felt in Siglufjörður village. This earthquake swarm started on 20th of October. So it has been ongoing now for almost two weeks.


The latest earthquake in TFZ. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.


Earthquake tracker from Icelandic Meteorological Office showing the earthquakes during the past 48 hours in TFZ. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

Earthquake activity is expected to continue in this part of TFZ. The risk of large earthquake in this area has not yet passed. Most of the earthquakes appears clearly on my geophone in Hvammstangi.

Iceland activity

Other the earthquake activity in TFZ. It has been generally quiet in Iceland. For the past four days there has been really bad winter storm taking place in Iceland. With wind up to 40m/s and wind gust up to 70m/s or more. This means that fewer earthquakes are being detected by the SIL network in Iceland due to increased wind noise. But earthquake activity has been low in Iceland for the past few weeks (besides TFZ). So I am not sure if that changes anything. There is no volcano activity taking place in Iceland at the moment.

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TFZ earthquake swarm ongoing after 10 days

The earthquake swarm that started in TFZ on 20.10.2012 continues. It has slowed down a little bit. But is still making earthquakes with the magnitude above 3.0 every few hours to days as it currently stands. This earthquake swarm at current time does not show any signs of stopping. Uncertainty level is in effect for north part of Iceland at the moment.


The earthquake activity from the start in this area of TFZ. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.


Current activity in TFZ. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

It is hard to know for sure what happens next in this earthquake swarm. But I am sure it is going to continue as is. But as I sad above. This earthquake swarm does not show any signs of stopping for now. This earthquake swarm does not drop the risk of a large earthquake in this area of Iceland. At least while it is ongoing. Regardless of what happens later.

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TFZ earthquake swarm update on 26.10.2012 at 16:12 UTC

The earthquake activity in TFZ continues today, as it has done so for the past six days. Yesterday there was little change in earthquake activity in TFZ. General alert for the risk of earthquake larger then Mw6.0 is still in place and is going to remain in place for at least few more days.


The earthquake activity in TFZ on 26.10.2012. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

It is impossible to know for sure what happens next in TFZ. But the stress is high in this area of Iceland according to GPS measurements. As some of the fault lines in TFZ are locked in place, while the whole system remains on the move otherwise. This builds up stress levels on the fault lines that are locked and unable to move in accordance with other tectonic movements in the area. This lock is then released in large earthquakes in TFZ that happen once to twice a century in this area. Now it is possible that it is time for new large earthquake in this area. But when is impossible to know for sure at the moment.

Some rock collapse has happened following the Mw5.6 earthquake on TFZ. This has been reported in local news media in Skagafjörður.

Icelandic news of rock collapse

Hrun í kjölfar skjálfta (Icelandic, pictures) Note that second picture is from the year 2006. The newest picture is the smaller frame and shows two blocks of rock that is at least 80 to 200 tons that broke loose in the largest earthquake on 20.10.2012.

Update 1: Icelandic Meteorological Office has issued this information this earthquake swarm. It can be found here on there web page.

Blog post updated at 20:59 UTC on 26.10.2012

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Uncertainty level is declared in north Iceland due to risk of large earthquake from TFZ

Uncertainty level has been declared in north Iceland due to risk of large earthquake taking place in TFZ. This is done after consulting scientists that have been monitoring this area for the past few days since the earthquake swarm started in TFZ. It is still impossible to know when a large earthquake might take place in TFZ. But the earthquake swarm is still ongoing with little change.

The Civil Protection of Iceland announcement

Óvissustigi almannavarna lýst yfir vegna jarðskjálftahrinu úti fyrir Norðurlandi (Icelandic)

Icelandic news about this

Óvissustigi almannavarna lýst yfir (Rúv.is)
Lýsa yfir óvissustigi almannavarna vegna jarðskjálftahrinu (mbl.is)

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Earthquake update on TFZ at 19:00 UTC on 24.10.2012

There is little change in the earthquake activity at TFZ today. The amount of earthquake activity on TFZ is about the same today as it was yesterday. But when this is written there have been about 100 earthquakes. But that number is going to change soon, as new earthquakes continue to happen.


The earthquake swarm in TFZ as it is today at 24.10.2012. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.


The trace of the earthquake activity during the past 48 hours. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.

Earthquake activity has moved a bit to the south. In the area what is called Flatey-Húsavíkur fault. This fault is known for making up to Mw7.0 earthquakes. If that is going to happen now is impossible to know at current time. But IMO has told of this risk in an news bit from yesterday (see yesterday blog post). For the moment however. The only thing that can be done is to wait and see what happens next in TFZ.