Author: Jón Frímann

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Minor earthquake activity in Iceland

There isn’t a lot taking place in Iceland at the moment. This is somewhat down to stormy weather in Iceland during the past few days and weeks. As strong storms reduce the sensitive of the Iceland Meteorological Office SIL network.


Quiet Iceland. Copyright of this picture belongs to Iceland Met Office.

Activity in Iceland happens in jumps. Between high activity episodes there are long episodes of low to none activity at all in Iceland. This period of low activity are different in length. Some can last for few weeks. While others can last for many years and up to thousands of years.

Global activity

Global earthquake activity is slow this days. Few earthquakes over Mw6.0 in size. The activity for earthquakes smaller then Mw6.0 in size is about the same as normally. Volcano activity seems to be about normal. But it is hard to know that for sure as reports appear late on global volcano activity.

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Strong earthquake in Vanuatu yesterday

Yesterday there was an Mw6.7 earthquake close to the Vanuatu Islands. The depth of this earthquake was 29 km. I do not know if was felt or not. But no report have appeared that suggest that any damage was done from this earthquake. More information about this earthquake can be found here, on EMSC web page. This earthquake size is known as strong according to the Richter scale (Wiki link).


The earthquake regional view from EMSC. Copyright of this picture belongs to EMSC.


The local view of the earthquake according to EMSC.Copyright of this picture belongs to EMSC.

This earthquake is among the strongest ones in past several weeks. But it has been rather quiet in earthquakes all over the globe during past few weeks. While volcano activity has remained about the same during the same period (but I do little to report on it at current time due to lack of time and I not yet know how to gets the report in decent time).

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Analysis of the Helgafell mountain earthquake on Reykjanes

Icelandic Met Office has posted an interesting analysis of the last weeks earthquake on the Reykjanes. But this earthquakes where connected to Krýsuvík volcano activity. By relocating the earthquakes, it is possible for Iceland Met Office to see better how long and how deep the fault that created this earthquakes is. In this case, it was around 2 km long and the movement was east-west, like the one found on SISZ.


The re-located earthquakes. The green ones are normal locations, the orange ones are re-located earthquakes. Copyright of this image belongs to Iceland Met Office.

The orange ones are re-located using relative locations. I am not sure how this technique works. But it often gives better image on what is going on with the earthquakes. Both in terms of the fissure making the earthquakes and the depth where they are taking place.

The fissure in question was on N-S axes and is inclined about 70° in west direction. According to IMO, the aftershocks suggest that movement of this fissure was right slip, along with minor drop in it. That means this according to IMO. The west part of the fissure moved to north and down, while the west part of the fissure moved to the south and little bit upwards. According to IMO. This movements happens in SISZ on large fissures there (when they break).

I am currently waiting for more earthquakes in this area. This activity is not over in my opinion any time soon.

Source of data: Week 9 – Iceland Met Office (Icelandic).

Other: I am sorry for lack of updates. There has not been anything special going on and I have been working on confirming getting an apartment in May 2012.

Blog post updated at 09.03.2012 at 17:37 CET. Fixed spelling error.

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Web site news for March 2012 [Updated]

This are the web site news for March 2012.

More pictures planned for this blog

I am planning more pictures and graphic stuff for this blog. How exactly I am going to do so is bit unclear at this moment. But this is an idea that I am currently working on.

Infolinks

Infolinks is an advertiser that inserts links into web pages by links. I am considering setting it up here to increase my income from this web site (being always broke is getting really old for me, more on that little later). But I want to know what the readers feel about such change. But the ads would insert them self into the text automatically based on keywords. Some people find this annoying. But the ads would only show them self if the links are hovered over.

Broke again, need help

I am travelling in Denmark at the moment and I am waiting for an apartment. The downside of this the fact that I am yet to pay my hosting bill of 800DKK for this month. But I did just send donations of 1102 DKK to my bank account from paypal. But give that my bank account has an -407DKK already. It means that there are only going to be around 695DKK available when the bill is due. I might be able to run an overdraft for few days without actually having one as I am doing now. But that is not welcomed by the bank that I am with.

What did create this situation is that I had to buy an air-plain ticket to Iceland both ways. This air-plain ticket did cost me 2394 DKK and when I did buy it. I did think that my balance was around 4000 DKK. Sadly, that was not the case and I was 2000 DKK less then I did was expecting. So now I am broke, with an air-plain ticket to Iceland and no good way to surviving the month without having to cut into my savings before I move to Denmark. But that is something I really do not want to do. As it would delay me on several things for many more months to come.

I also have to pay for glasses (I am going to pay for them slowly over several months (12 or 24 months)). That is not the big problem. As that is all accounted for properly and in an good plan.

What was not planned was getting broke now. This is also what I hate about my life at current time. I can’t move one inch with out getting broke or to have some money problems in the short term or the long time.

If anyone is willing to help me in this problem. It is possible to donate with paypal or directly to my bank account with SWIFT number. I really hate to ask for this. But I am having big problem now. I am planning some emergency plans so that I can pay the hosting bill on time. But that is going to mean that I have to cut into my saving a little bit to keep this web site up and running.

My current status is due to small income from the social welfare. But my income is only 151000 ISK. But that is at current exchange rate only 6713 DKK, 903€, 1.192$. It is my opinion that nobody should live on this small amount every month. But sadly this is what I have to deal with at current time, due to small traffic to my web page and that fact I have not been able to publish any book as of yet.

Thanks to everyone who support me!

Update 1: I am moving back to shared hosting soon as possible. I do this to cut down cost. As current lack of traffic does not support me buying dedicated hosting. But I need no less then 5000 pages loads pr day in order to support me buying dedicated hosting package. I am going to announce it when the move takes place.

Update 2: I have changed my mind. I am going to keep shared hosting. It is going to be worth it in the long run I think. What I did yesterday was an rather typical response due to the fact that I am most of the time broke. Something that I have to stop doing.

Update 3: Here is the traffic data for the years 2010 until 2012 (today). This gives an good idea of the traffic to this web site and how it spikes around earthquakes or volcano activity in Iceland.


Traffic of this web site since 2010 until today (year 2012). Picture is from Statcounter.com. I am unclear on copyright on this image at the moment.

Blog post updated earlier today.
Blog post updated at 01:24 CET on 06.03.2012.
Blog post updated at 09:54 CET on 06.03.2012.
Blog post updated at 17:51 CET on 06.03.2012.

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More earthquakes should be expected on the Reykjanes

The earthquake swarm on the Reykjanes has slowed down considerable since it did start yesterday. But it is still ongoing in my opinion. Even if there are no earthquakes currently taking place at the moment. There are several reasons for this. The biggest one is that this area seems to be getting more active now then it has been for many decades now. The fissure that is currently moving is connected to Krýsuvík volcano, but this was reported in the news. I do not know every fault line in this area and how they are connected (plus, my volcano map is in an box until I move back to Denmark) together. But I do know that

During the past 2 to 3 years the volcano Krísuvík has been showing more activity. With inflation and deflation episodes that lasts from few days to weeks at the time. Followed by an earthquake swarms both before and after each episode of activity. This activity seems to be increasing, at least that is my opinion on what is happening at the moment.

While this earthquake swarm is still ongoing. It might have long periods of no activity at all. This is common for faults that have not moved in an long time. As seems to be the case in Helgafell mountain and nearby area. But the fault lies close to that mountain or under it (I am not sure). But this started this year with an magnitude ML3.2 earthquake in this area earlier this year.

It is hard to know exactly when next episode of this activity is going to continue. But I am sure that it is going to be soon.

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Earthquakes in north and south Iceland [Updated]

This evening has been busy in Iceland. There was an ML3.5 earthquake just outside an area called Gjögurtá (part of TFZ). Followed by an ML3.2 aftershock. Earthquake activity seems to have stopped there for the moment. This took place at 22:06 UTC on 29.02.2012. The largest earthquake was felt over an large area that was closest to its location.


The location of the earthquake in the TFZ. Copyright of this picture belongs to IMO.

At 00:29 UTC on 01.03.2012 there was an earthquake on the Reykjanes. It happened in an mountain called Helgafell. Early results suggest that this earthquake had the size of ML3.2. It was felt over an wide area in south Iceland. Aftershocks are currently taking place, and more large earthquakes in this area cannot be ruled out at the moment.


The earthquake location on the Reykjanes. Copyright of this picture belongs to IMO.

There is an chance for more earthquakes in Reykjanes. As earthquake swarms in this area of Iceland can often be tense and make many earthquakes that have magnitude 3.0 and stronger.

This earthquake activity appears clearly on my geophones in Iceland. They can be viewed here and are updated every 5 min.

Update 1: More strong earthquake activity is taking place on the Reykjanes at this moment. The largest earthquake so far is ML3.9 according to the automatic data from IMO.

Update 2: Here is the image from Iceland Met Office of the area where this earthquake activity is taking place.


The current earthquake activity on the Reykjanes. Copyright of this picture belongs to IMO.

Update 3: The size of the second earthquake has been upgraded to ML4.2. Some minor damage has already been reported according to new from Rúv.

Blog post updated at 01:14 UTC on 01.03.2012.
Blog post updated at 01:39 UTC on 01.03.2012.
Blog post updated at 01:52 UTC on 01.03.2012.

Icelandi News about the earthquake in north Iceland. All news are in Icelandic.

Jarðskjálfti upp á 3,5 út af Gjögurtá (mbl.is)
Snarpir skjálftar fyrir norðan (Vísir.is)
Skjálfti út af Eyjafirði (Rúv.is)

News about the earthquake on the Reykjanes. All news are in Icelandic.

Skjálftakippur á höfuðborgarsvæðinu (Rúv.is)
Jarðskjálfti fannst vel á höfuðborgarsvæðinu (Vísir.is)
Jarðskjálfti við Helgafell (mbl.is)

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Earthquake activity in France and Iceland

This is an collection post of events that I have been taking place while I was travelling to Denmark. This is just an short update. Not going into great details on what has been happening.

France

On 26. February 2012 at 22:37 UTC there was an earthquake with the size of ML4.8 in south France. This earthquake had the depth of 2 km. This earthquake was widely felt in France, Monaco and in nearby Italy according to EMSC reports. More details on this earthquake can be found here, on EMSC web page. Several aftershock have taken place since this earthquake and earthquake activity is still ongoing it seems. But it is mostly small earthquakes that are now taking place so far.

Iceland

There has been some earthquake activity in Katla volcano. This activity is not outside the normal range of what has been going on in past few weeks. Some activity has also been continued in Hengill volcano. But that is due to water pumping down, as has been the story since this activity started last year. Other then this activity, it has been generally quiet in Iceland.

I am most likely missing some activity. But reports of activity that I am missing can be reported in the comments section. This is just an short update. I am hoping for an better update tomorrow on what is going on in terms of activity.

Other

Good news on the glasses. I can pay them little by over period of months. But that might be an good way (even if I do not like it) to buy the glasses. As the cost is going to be around 4000 DKK for the whole thing. But that is the glasses frame and the glass in them. I do not have the money to pay for them all at once at current time. But glasses are an high priority for me, as I need them to see the world around me.

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A Mw6.8 earthquake in Siberia, Russia

At 06:17 UTC this morning (26.02.2012) there was an earthquake with the size of Mw6.8 in Siberia, Russia. The depth of this earthquake was registered at 10 km. But it might be more or less when the data gets properly reviewed. Given the location of this earthquake to villages in this area, I am expecting some damage to be reported. How much and how excessive is hard to know at current time. This earthquake was also not far from the border with Mongolia. But I have not seen any reports of how it was felt there, or if there was any damage in that area following this earthquake.


The intensity map of the earthquake according to EMSC data. Copyright of this picture belongs to EMSC.


The regional view of this earthquake. The borders with Mongolia are marked with black. Copyright of this picture belongs to EMSC.


Local view of the earthquake. There are several small villages close to the epicenter of this earthquake. Copyright of this picture belongs to EMSC.

There is continued aftershock activity after this earthquake, the largest aftershock so far has had the size Mb5.3. More information about this earthquake can be found on EMSC web site here. USGS information about this earthquake can be found here.

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An ML4.2 earthquake close to Sicily coast, Italy

At 20:34 UTC on 25.02.2012 there was an ML4.2 earthquake close to the coast of Sicily, Italy. The depth of this earthquake was registered at 10 km. But this is based on early and automatic data, and is subject to an change.


Intensity map of this earthquake as it was felt in Sicily. This map might change as more data comes in about this earthquake. Copyright of this picture belongs to EMSC.


The regional map of this earthquake. The red line in the map is the fault line that separates the tectonic plats in this area. Copyright of this picture belongs to EMSC.


Local view of this earthquake. It also shows the towns that are closest to this earthquake location. Copyright of this picture belongs to EMSC.

More information about this earthquake can be found on EMSC web site. Along with updated information about this earthquake and where it was felt.

Other

On Monday I am going to Denmark. So that might mean lack of updates while I am travelling. So if anything happens. It can be discussed in the comments. I have also decided to change the comments in such way that comments are not held for moderation unless they contain more then 4 links. But I am planning more changes on the comment system in the future in order to battle spam that is an big problem on this blog. Update 1: This is just an test, if the results are poor. I am going to change it back until I can do the changes to the comments that I am planning. The changes are nothing big and I am not going to install any 3rd party comment system up here.

Donations

While I am not yet broke at current time. I am soon to be. As I am moving to Denmark in April (as it looks now). I am also have to buy new glasses, as my current glasses are damaged due to old age (the glass is getting damaged due to old age, it as anti-refection skin on it that is getting damaged). Because of that I need to buy glasses, but without glasses I do not see an anything. I am in fact blind without glasses. But I also need to buy an round plane ticked in March when I finally get an apartment in Denmark to get my belongings in Iceland and finish moving to Denmark. I have saved up for all this cost in the past few months, everything except the glasses and the plane ticked. As moving in April was bit sudden for me, but I was expecting to get an apartment in May, rather then April. But with this all I am cutting it close money wise (I am hoping to be good money wise without donations). So I am asking for donations if people can spare them so that I do not hit the financial strain too hard. But I am hoping for the best if I do not get many donations. Thanks for the support!

P.S: I have not forgot about the Eyjafjallajökull eruption e-book that I am planning on writing. But with everything that has been going on with me in the year 2011 and the part of the year 2012. I have not yet been able to write it. But I do hope to have time to write it after I finish to move to Denmark. Along with few other stories that I have been working on in past few months. Those how have already requested the e-book copy get it when it is ready. I have not forgotten about this.

I am going to post more information on updates when I move in April. Just before I move.

Blog post updated at 00:09 UTC on 26.02.2012.

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Two minor earthquake swarms in Hengill volcano

Yesterday, last night and this morning there has been minor earthquake swarm in Hengill volcano. This earthquake swarm is more or less over for now. But it might pick up at any time. This time around only around 140 earthquakes where detected in this two earthquake swarms.


The earthquake swarm in Hengill volcano. The location of this earthquake swarm is quite common. Copyright of this picture belongs to IMO.


The earthquake swarms in terms of each earthquake being marked. This clearly shows the two earthquake swarm pattern. Copyright of this picture belongs to IMO.

More earthquake swarms should be expected in this area. As Orkuveita Reykjavíkur (OR) continues to pump down water in this area. But that is creating this earthquakes it seems. This earthquake activity takes place at random times.