Author: Jón Frímann

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Hekla volcano is quiet

I have been seeing some rumors about Hekla volcano might be about to erupt. This is wrong. For the moment Hekla volcano is quiet as it has been since the last eruption in the year 2000. For few years Hekla volcano did erupt for about every 10 years. That might have change already. Nobody is sure on that now. But one thing is clear Hekla volcano is going to erupt one day. But when is always the question.

People have been speculating on the earthquakes west of Hekla volcano. This earthquakes do not belong to Hekla volcano. They are part of activity in the SISZ (South Icelandic Seismic Zone). Earthquakes in this area tectonic in nature, not volcanic. So in worst case, this earthquakes might be sign of new major earthquake preparing to take place some day in the future.

For the moment however. Everything is quiet in Hekla volcano.

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Website news for January 2012

Here are the web site news for January 2012. This is the first web site news on this blog after the name change.

Name of this blog has changed

On the 1st January 2012 this blog changed about name. It did go from being Iceland volcano and earthquake blog to Iceland, Spain and Canary Island earthquake and volcano blog. This name change had been announced in the beginning of December. I now cover what happens in Iceland, Spain and Canary Islands with best efforts. Currently I do not understand Spanish, so that might be a bit of an problem when it comes to understanding what officials are saying if an eruption or an earthquake happens in Spain or Canary Islands. But in any case I am going to do my best interpretative the data that I have access to.

Donations

As I did say in December. My main income of this blog is from advertisements and donations. Due to my plans on moving to Denmark. I have to make a little shift in my personal economic setup until I am back to Denmark. But I have been transferring money from my social welfare to my danish bank account to pay for the cost of this web site and my danish phone number (I want to keep that number). From January February 2012 I am going to stop doing that until I move back to Denmark (at least, I am going to try to do so). But that should work I hope, if it does not. Then I have to resume sending money to Denmark to pay the bills there. The reasons for this is that I want to save as much money that I can before I move back to Denmark. For that reason I am going to be more depended on donations to keep things afloat for me. As being poor is not cheap at all. The cost of running the web hosting has also increased from $14 to $145 during the month (about 800 DKK with current exchange rates). But I had move this blog to an dedicated server as the traffic had gotten too high for the shared hosting plan that I was on before. But traffic on slow day is around 3000 to 4000 page loads. It gets up to 30.000 page loads or more if something is going on in Iceland. I do not yet have any idea on how traffic is going if something happens in Spain or Canary Island. But that is going to become clear one day.

As I say here above. I am currently trying to save for the moving cost to Denmark. But that puts strain on my other financial parts as I have limited income at the current moment. But I am on social welfare and that is fixed income, as I have written about before here on this blog. Donations also help me to maintain the hardware that I run in connection with my geophone network.

Geophone network

In January 2012 I am going to fish expanding my geophone network for the time being. But I am going start the geophone at farm Skeiðflöt. But that farm is located just south of Katla volcano. That that is going to give me really good overview of what is happening in Katla volcano. However, the geophone station at Skeiðflöt has been a bit more expensive that I did originally plan. As I have to buy lcd screen, keyboard, mouse, wireless network hardware and few cables. The extra cost is about 28050 ISK, 1.313,58 DKK, 176,72€, 228,61$, 147,54 GBP. This is not an cost that I like (I am trying to save money, as I planning on moving to Denmark). But I have already bought the computer that did cost 25.000 ISK, 1.170,75 DKK, 157,50€, 203,75$, 131,50 GBP, for the Skeiðflöt geophone station. So any donations to cover this cost are welcomed. But the geophone station is important because it is located close to Katla volcano and is hopefully going to give good information about the activity in Katla volcano, earthquakes and harmonic tremors. That is why I am doing my best to setup this geophone station soon as possible. As Katla volcano might erupt sooner rather then later.

The move to Denmark

As I have sad before. I am going to move back to Denmark later this year. I am not sure when exactly. But I do know that this going to happen. Until that happens, I am working with limited options. My main earthquake computer is down (offline) and is going to be offline until I move back Denmark into my own apartment. That means no high resolutions traces of earthquakes. As the software that I use to make that is on my main earthquake computer.

I am also looking for apartments outside Copenhagen. The max price that I can handle is about 3500 DKK for the monthly rent. I like to deal with rental companies that are in Denmark rather then with individuals. So any suggestions for 2 rooms apartments are welcomed. Just leave the suggestions in the comment.

This is also (as sad before) why I am still dealing with a bit of economic hardship until I move back to Denmark. But I think that I am still going to be dealing with money issue after I move back to Denmark. I am not yet out of those problem until I start publishing e-books and normal books. I am not yet sure when that starts for me. But it is in the works.

E-mail newsletter

For those who like to watch what is going on in Iceland, Spain and Canary Islands in terms of earthquake and volcano activity. It is now possible to subscribe to an automatic email list that sends you the newest blog posts update on what is going on in this blog. Just fill out the form here below, or click on this link.

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Volcano and earthquake forum

I also want to remind people of the volcano and earthquake forum. But it has been having slow traffic since I did start it in December. But on the forum it is possible to add pictures, ask questions, discuss volcanoes and earthquakes, among other things that do not fit so well into any discussions on this blog.

I do not think that there is anything more for web site news for January 2012. But if there is. I am going to update this blog post with that information.

Update 1: So I did start my extra savings from January 2012 rather then February. As that allows me to save more money faster then I otherwise would have done.

Blog post updated at 14:36 UTC 3. January 2012.

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Happy new year 2012!

I wish everyone a happy new year! I hope that everyone is going to have a good year 2012. Thanks for the reading and the support during the year of 2011. Without it I would not have made it as I did.

Thanks for the year 2011. Now lets see what the year 2012 has to offer.

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Name change on 1st January 2012

This is the last day that this website is only going to be Iceland Volcano and Earthquake blog. From 1st January 2012 this blog is going to get a new name.

This name change came about due to plan changes that I have in works. But after about 10 years time I am going to move to Spain or Canary Islands. Most likely Canary Islands as I like volcanoes and earthquakes. But this is in so distant future I am not yet exactly sure where I am going to end up after 10 years.

But this is what I plan for and have set in motion now. I plan to stick with it, as this is what I think is best for me at the moment. But lets wait and see what the future has to offer for me.

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Post schedule during the new year holidays

This is the blog post schedule for the new year holidays. I am not going to write any blog posts on 31. December 2011 and 1. January 2012. Some automatic posting is however going to take place during that period.

I am going to cover any major events soon as I can and with best of what I can do if there are any major events in this two days.

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Hydrothermal activity in El Hierro volcano

For the moment the eruption in El Hierro volcano has ended. The current harmonic tremor that is being detected might well be from hydrothermal activity that is currently in the area that erupted. But even if the eruption has ended, the area that erupted is going to be warm for many weeks to come. This is going to create hot springs below the sea level, among other ocean phenomena connected to this type of hydrothermal activity.


Harmonic tremor levels remain close to background levels at El Hierro volcano. Taken today at 16:05 UTC. Copyright of this picture belongs to IGN (Instituto Geográfico Nacional).

As for future activity in El Hierro volcano. It is important to remember that eruption activity might start again on a new fissure. But that would be pre-seeded by earthquake activity. After the eruption activity stopped there has been some earthquake activity. But it is not at that level I would expect before a new eruption where about to start in El Hierro volcano. For the moment however things remain quiet in El Hierro volcano. A relieve to the local people in the area I would think.

Other

I want to remind people of the volcano and earthquake forum. It allows for more discussions on volcanoes, earthquakes and other stuff that might not belong to this blog.

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Eruption in El Hierro volcano ends

It seems that the eruption that has been taking place in El Hierro volcano is over. All yesterday there was an increase in harmonic tremors in El Hierro volcano, suggesting that the power of the eruption was increasing again. But around 10:30 UTC this morning the harmonic tremor dropped and around 11:00 UTC the harmonic tremor stopped completely. Signaling the end of the eruption that has been taking place for almost three months in El Hierro volcano.


The harmonic tremor in El Hierro volcano 27. December 2011. Copyright of this picture belongs to IGN (Instituto Geográfico Nacional).


The harmonic tremor today (28. December 2011) in El Hierro voclano at around 16:35 UTC (when the picture is saved). On this picture the drop in harmonic tremor can clearly be seen. Copyright of this picture belongs to IGN (Instituto Geográfico Nacional).

The current end of the eruption does however not mean that El Hierro volcano is over. It just mean that the current eruption that lasted for close to three months is over. It might well be that eruption activity is going to continue in El Hierro volcano in few months to years time. But only time is going to tell us if that is the case or not. But for the moment, the eruption in El Hierro volcano has ended.

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Overview of activity in Iceland, Spain and Canary Islands

This is a overview of activity in Iceland, Spain and Canary Islands. This is just an short overview. So not all events are included. But it has been quiet during the Christmas holidays.

Iceland

During the 24 to 26 of December there was not a lot of earthquake activity in Iceland. Three small earthquake swarm took place in Katla volcano. In Hengill volcano there was one small earthquake swarm in a location where earthquakes swarms have been taking place for past few weeks. In Katla volcano there was a earthquake swarms inside the caldera. This earthquake swarm are an reminding sign of the activity that is currently taking place in Katla volcano. But this activity took place in north-west part of the caldera. Since Sunday the activity in Katla volcano has again dropped for the time being. But that might change at any time. The largest earthquake that happened was an ML2.3 earthquake. It appeared clearly on my geophone at Heklubyggð.

Stormy weather in Iceland has made it difficult to monitor earthquakes during the past days. This is unlikely to change in next few days. As the path of the winter storms appears to be directly over Iceland at the moment.

Other then this. There was general quiet scene in Iceland during this weekend in Iceland.

Spain

During the weekend Spain had many minor earthquakes. With the largest one going up to ML3.5 in size, based on automatic size estimate. I do not know if anyone of this earthquakes where felt by humans. This earthquake activity is normal for Spain.

Canary Islands

The eruption in El Hierro volcano continued as it has been doing for the past three months. No earthquake appeared on the IGN automatic earthquake list. Harmonic tremor remained the same during the weekend. But yesterday and today there have been reports of new fissures opening. But this does not appears to have changed the harmonic tremor levels on the seismographs on El Hierro Island. This suggests that the currently the eruption remains the same. But I do not know what main eruption vents are open at the moment. They might be at great ocean depth and there eruption signs might not appear on the surface of the ocean.

Other then this it has been quiet in Canary Islands.

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Days off schedule during Christmas

During this Christmas I am going to take few days off. This means that I am not going to update this blog unless something major happens. The days that I am going to take off are 24, 25 and 26 December. This is according to how Icelandic people hold there Christmas. Some automatic posts are going to appear on the 24th December. But that is about it.