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Sharp rise in harmonic tremor on Skrokkalda and Grímsfjall SIL station (among others)

There is a sharp rise in harmonic tremor on the Skrokkalda and Grímsfjall SIL station. I do not know yet what volcano is responsible for it. But the Hamarinn volcano is a suspect at the moment.

Current tremor plot.


The tremor spike is at the end of this tremor plot. Copyright of this picture belongs to Icelandic Met Office.


The tremor spike is at the end of this tremor plot. Copyright of this picture belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

I am going to post more information about what is going on when I know more. This blog post might get updated soon if needed.

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How donations help me

This is a off-topic post.

Here is a little background information on how donations help me in the long run and the short run.

First some background information

First when I did start the donation route. I was unsure about it. As it is not custom to ask for money in Iceland and in Icelandic culture it is short of shame. I do not know why that is. That is why it did feel uncomfortable doing this for the first time around. At current time my main stable income is social welfare that is around 150500 ISK, 910€, 1293$, 794 GBP, 6785 DKK at current exchange rate. It has moved up a little since I moved back to Iceland as it was due to some extra that I get on top of the basic social welfare when I am living in Iceland.

As can be seen this is not to live on. It is even less when I am paying down my debt as fast that I possible can. But I am going to try and pay down my debt in around 7 months. If I can do that, I can move back to Denmark in early in the year 2013. Then I can move without much problems.

Now the main story

But in order for all this to work up. I need slightly more income then I get from social welfare. As it turns out that I need to buy food (we human apparently need to eat to survive). But I also need to pay my bills. Both in Iceland and Denmark (mobile phone) but also what I need to buy to eat. Now, because I am going to school and I am going to be living in a dormitory (with a lot of 16 to 17 year old kids) I won’t have to buy food from Monday to Friday. Except snack and something of that nature. But I also plan to buy subscription to DR 1 to maintain my Danish while in Iceland.

Donations help me to pay the bills and buy food. But they also help me pay down my debt faster then I otherwise would have done.

What you get in return for donating

Endless supply for blog posts on what is going on in Iceland. I also give in details when I can what is going on in Iceland, and if I can why. People how donate also get a free e-book (only pdf format) if they want. But that is just e-books about past eruptions in Iceland. I also maintain this blog and do all the service parts that need to be done (that I can anyway) myself. I also answers all the emails that I get when I have the time to do so. I also provide live information from my geophone (started years earlier, but have now been integrated into this now).

The work behind each blog post

I do not know if people release this. But I put a great work into each and every blog post I make. I try to do my best when a eruption suddenly starts to get information on what is going on. This is also what people get when they donate. My work on each blog post about Icelandic volcano that is making it self heard in Iceland. But you also get blog post about earthquakes, harmonic tremors, glacier flood and everything else if it is related to Iceland geological activity. Sometimes if I have time I try to write about the history of Iceland past eruptions. But it takes me from 1 hour and up to 8 hours to write one blog post, depending on size and details of the blog post in question.

What about the advertisement ?

While advertisements is a attempt to increase my income with something else then donations. It is has not been going to so good, as the income is somewhat irregular and I might only get paid 1 to 4 month or not even that often. They do help, no doubt about that. But they depend on traffic and I only get high traffic when something interesting is happening.

What is planned for the future ?

This blog is going to be free as it has always been. I am considering opening up a forum with Invasion Power Board. But that also costs money, so I might not know when I get around to buy it. As it expensive and I am trying to save money to move back to Denmark. So it has made it into my todo list for now. When it might become a reality is a question. But no later then 2013 if everything goes according to plan.

I want to make a living of writing. This is just a step in that direction.

I also want to thank everything for the support so far. It helps more then you know! 🙂

P.S: I am going to publish my first short story soon as a e-book. When it might happen I am not sure yet. But it is just going to a really short story that I am about to publish.

Blog post updated at 18:13 UTC on 2.08.2011.

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Interesting earthquakes in Bárðarbunga volcano system (Hamarinn volcano)

At 02:06 and 02:07 UTC there where interesting earthquakes in Bárðarbunga volcano system. What makes them interesting is that fact they did happen at 0.6 km depth one of them. But this area did see some volcano related activity (speculated) earlier this summer, that did result in large glacier flood. But it has been suggested that a minor eruption took place there around 10. July 2011.


The two earthquakes can be seen as spikes at the end of this tremor plot from Icelandic Met Office. Copyright of this picture belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

What makes this earthquakes so interesting is that they seem to have a low period component in them. But it was seen on the Kálfafell SIL station, and other SIL station that was decent distance from the source of the earthquake.


The two earthquakes can be seen as spikes at the end of this tremor plot from Icelandic Met Office. Copyright of this picture belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Currently there is nothing that suggests that a eruption is about to start in this area. But that can change without warning given the current status of Hamarinn volcano system.

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Glacier flood has started in Skaftá river

The latests news is that a glacier flood has started in Skaftá river. At the moment this glacier flood does not appear to be big, as there was also a glacier flood in this river last year. Because of this short time, there has not been a lot of water collected in the western cauldron that is emptying now. It was clear today that it was the western cauldron that had emptied when scientists did fly over the area earlier today.

This glacier flood is often early event and has been since the year 1955. Following this glacier flood there is often spike in harmonic tremor because magma goes on the move due to sudden pressure release in this area. So far it has not been able to trigger a eruption in Hamarinn volcano. It remains to be seen if that has changed or not.

Icelandic News about this

Hlaup hafið í Skaftá (Rúv.is, Pictures, Icelandic)
Rennsli eykst í Skaftá (Vísir.is)
Hlaupið komið í Skaftá (mbl.is)

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No glacier flood yet from Hamarinn volcano, but it is on it’s way

At current time (around 20:30 UTC) it has been observed that no glacier flood has started in Skaftá river. But the glacier flood is expected to start in the river around midnight, but the river might start to grow around 19:00 to 21:00 UTC. According to latest news the river has however started to get darker and conductivity in the water has started rise since this morning, but that was the signal that a glacier flood was about to start. Glacier flood tremor have also been dropping in the last few hours according to the latests news that I have seen (but I am hoping for a update on that detail).

The source of this glacier flood is a hydrothermal area in Hamarinn volcano (part of Bárðarbunga volcano). This area also did have a glacier flood last year. But last year there where two glacier floods in Skaftá river in June 2010, see reports here in Iceland at Icelandic Met Office web page.

This hydrothermal area in Hamarinn volcano is in two cauldrons in the Vatnajökull glacier. With time they fill with water that then breaks ice when the pressure is enough in the cauldrons due to water levels. It remains a question if the surprise glacier flood earlier this month from Hamarinn volcano has something to do with this. But at current time that is only speculation. But if the hydrothermal area is unusually highly active, or there has been some change it is hard to know for sure the size of this glacier flood.

Currently however the experts are expecting a small glacier flood due the fact there where two glacier floods from this area last year. But we however have to wait until midnight until we know what is the actual size of this glacier flood.

Icelandic News about this

Skaftárhlaup ekki enn hafið (Rúv.is)
Skaftárhlaupið komið í byggð eftir sólarhring (Vísir.is)
Engin merki um hlaup ennþá (mbl.is)

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Grímsfjall volcano inflates after the large May 2011 eruption

It can be sad that Grímsfjall volcano did not waste any time starting to prepare for next eruption after the large May 2011 eruption. But that eruption was the largest one in at least 140 years or so. This large eruption did mean that there was a large deflation that took place during the eruption. Where the most deflation was around 250mm down, and around 300mm north, and around 350mm east.

Since then Grímsfjall volcano has however been inflating at interestingly high speed. Currently the GPS data shows that it has reached around 250mm east, north and 200mm up since the eruption. But the magma chamber is going to expand horizontal before it expands upwards (think of this in 3D). So it is going to be a while until a inflation upwards is going to be seen.

The GPS data is clear on this as can bee seen here.


Current inflation at 27. July 2011. Copyright of this picture belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

It is hard to know when Grímsfjall volcano is going to erupt next after this big eruption. But it might take few years until we see a new eruption in Grímsfjall volcano.

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Earthquake swarm and minor harmonic tremor in Katla volcano

There has been a minor earthquake swarm in Katla volcano today. This earthquake swarm started around 09:00 UTC and lasted with breaks until 14:39 UTC. The largest earthquake in this swarm was ML1.7 with the depth of 3.5 km. Following this earthquake swarm there was a small harmonic tremor spike seen on few SIL stations around Katla volcano. It is unknown at this time if there has been a small glacier flood taking place. But if that is the case, it should be known in the next few hours if that is the case or not.


The earthquake swarm in Katla volcano caldera. Copyright of this picture belongs to Icelandic Met Office.


The harmonic tremor spike can be seen on this SIL station. It is located close to the end of tremor plot. Copyright of this picture belongs to Icelandic Met Office.


The harmonic tremor spike can be seen on this SIL station. It is located close to the end of tremor plot. Copyright of this picture belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

This harmonic tremor is small, but larger then last harmonic tremor that took place in this are about one week ago (far as I can remember). Currently there is nothing that suggests that eruption is imminent. This is just earthquake activity in the same place as it has been for the past five or so weeks.

Sorry for the short blog post. I have gone sick with some cold. No advice needed on how to get rid of it. That is going to take few days on it’s own.

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Currently all is quiet in Iceland

At the moment it is rather quiet in Iceland in earthquakes and volcanoes. When that might change is impossible to say. But in the last few days there have been minor earthquake swarms on the Reykjanes Ridge. It is not related to volcanism, but rather tectonic movement along the rift zone.

There is continued minor earthquake swarm activity in Katla volcano. But it has quieted down from about two weeks ago. For the moment, the glacier floods seems to have stopped.

Other then this minor earthquake activity, everything is quiet in Iceland.

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Small glacier flood from Mýrdalsjökull glacier (Katla volcano)

During the night (and when I had unstable power) there was a small glacier flood from Mýrdalsjökull volcano. Some minor harmonic tremor change was detected following this glacier flood. This even was small one, many times smaller then what did happen on the 8 to 9 July 2011. Due to security concerns the Civil Emergency Authority did close the main road in Iceland for this area. Since they never know how big the flood can actually be. The main road was closed for about one hour. This glacier flood was detected around midnight 20 to 21 July 2011.

This flood is actually so small it is hard to see it on the harmonic tremor plot from the SIL stations around Katla volcano.


Tremor plot from 07:50 UTC this morning. It is hard to see the harmonic tremor from this minor glacier flood. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.


Tremor plot from 07:50 UTC this morning. It is hard to see the harmonic tremor from this minor glacier flood. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.


Tremor plot from 07:50 UTC this morning. It is hard to see the harmonic tremor from this minor glacier flood. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

What happens next is impossible to know for now. But it seems that activity continues to be high in Katla volcano. All that can be done is to wait and see what happens. But I am going to continue to monitor the changes in Katla volcano as best that I can do until I finish my summer job (29. July).

Icelandic News about this.

Aukin leiðni í Múlakvísl og órói í Mýrdalsjökli (Vísir.is, Icelandic)
Náið fylgst með Mýrdalsjökli (mbl.is, Icelandic)
Hringvegurinn opinn á ný (Rúv.is, Icelandic)
Breytingar í Múlakvísl (Rúv.is, Icelandic)

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Interesting earthquake activity in Katla volcano

Sometimes there is a strange earthquake activity in volcanoes. I do think that this qualifies as one of that cases. But there has been odd and what appears to be grown earthquake activity in SE part of the caldera rim in Katla volcano.


The earthquake activity is the earthquake spot the SE in Katla volcano, out side the caldera. Copyright of this picture belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

From what I can gather this activity started in Week 27 or about that time. Since then it appears to have been growing in number of earthquakes. I do not know yet if there have been any changes in the area, like hydrothermal activity.


Week 27. One earthquake can be seen in this area. Copyright of this picture belongs to Icelandic Met Office.


Week 28. More earthquakes in the same area. Clear sign that the activity is growing. Copyright of this picture belongs to Icelandic Met Office.


Weeek 29 (crurrent week) . Even more earthquakes at the same location. Copyright of this picture belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

While I do not yet what is going on there. This is something that might be interesting to watch and see what happens. Because small amount of magma might just have found a new pathway up the surface in this area. Even if it does not erupt, this might create new hydrothermal area if this is in fact magma. But given that this is in a volcano and really dense earthquake swarm. It is my guess that it is the case.

Power outage: Due to some maintenance work on the local power grid where I live I lost all power from 01:00 until about 06:20 UTC this morning. But that means that this blog post is late by several hours and my geophone webicorders have been off-line at the same time. Sadly I cannot afford few UPS like this one to keep my system up and running when the power goes out. As I need at least four of them at home and one with each webicorder computer (at location).

I am going to post update on what did happen during the night around 09:00 08:00 UTC. When I know more and after some more sleep.

Blog post updated at 07:29 UTC on 21. July 2011.