Category: Eruptions

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All quiet at Katla volcano

Currently everything is quiet in Katla volcano. At the moment the harmonic tremor level have gone back to normal levels. But there appears to be some earthquake activity taking place inside Katla volcano caldera. But most of this earthquakes do not appear on the automatic earthquake list that IMO has. But it might be impossible to actually locate this earthquakes as they might just appear on single or two SIL stations.

The glacier flood is over and the flood water have continued to lower during the day.

It is hard to know for sure what happens next. But the current events started around 17. June when earthquake swarms started to appear on the Katla volcano caldera. This has been developing rather fast since then. I do not expect that to change any time soon. But what I think was harmonic tremor pulses started around 12. June.

For now however all that can be done is to wait and see what happens in Katla volcano. As I do not think that this is over. But we might be in for an few hours or days of an break until something new happens in Katla volcano.

Icelandic News about this.

Einungis brúin eftir (Rúv.is, Icelandic, Picture)
Highway no. 1 disrupted for weeks. (Rúv.is, English, German)

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Harmonic tremor still high in Katla volcano

Currently harmonic tremor remains high in Katla volcano. But at the moment the harmonic tremor is dropping. Earthquakes have also stopped for the moment. But currently the harmonic tremor is well above the background level for this area. It is still not clear if this was an eruption or just hydrothermal areas clearing it self of extra water. But in the news at Rúv noon they did report that the ice cauldrons that are normally there had deepened over the past few weeks in Mýrdalsjökull glacier.

Update 1: Earthquake activity has stopped for the moment. But I am expecting it to resume soon. As I do not think that this event is over, even if it has just paused for the moment.

Three cauldron have formed in Mýrdalsjökull glacier and large cracks have formed around them. All traffic has been banned on Mýrdalsjökull glacier and the glacier that comes from it.

Here are the current tremor charts from Icelandic Met Office web page.


Harmonic tremor is dropping as can clearly be seen on this picture. Copyright of this picture belongs to Icelandic Met Office.


Harmonic tremor is dropping as can clearly be seen on this picture. Copyright of this picture belongs to Icelandic Met Office.


Harmonic tremor is dropping as can clearly be seen on this picture. Copyright of this picture belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

I am going to post update on Katla volcano later today and earlier if anything major happens.

News with picture of the Mýrdalsjökull glacier. It is covered with dark ash from Eyjafjallajökull volcano eruption last year and volcano ash from the eruption in Grímsfjall volcano 2011.

Miklar sprungur í sigkötlunum (mbl.is, Picture, Icelandic)
Svona lítur jökullinn út (Rúv.is, Icelandic, Picture)
Þrír greinilegir sigkatlar (Vísir.is, Icelandic, Picture)
Brúin rofnaði af í heilu lagi (Vísir.is, Icelandic, Picture)
Óvissa um hlaup eða lítið eldgos (Rúv.is, Icelandic, Pictures)

Blog post updated at 13:13 UTC 9. July 2011.

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Possible small eruption in Katla volcano, small glacier flood followed it

It seems that an small eruption took place in Katla volcano caldera during the night. At the moment it seems to be over. But it is hard to be sure. According to Icelandic news there where three newly formed cauldrons in the Mýrdalsjökull glacier. The eruption is unlikely to break the glacier at current time if it remains small. Newest news reports say that cracks have formed in the glacier around the cauldrons.

Evacuations are currently taking place in Álftaver, Þakgil and any other place that might be danger. People how are close to affected rivers from Mýrdalsjökull are urged to get away from them due to danger of dangerous gases in the glacier water.

The bridge over Múlakvísl is gone, it did vanish the flood water early this morning. According to the news the bridge got flooded around 03:00 UTC last night. This means that Road 1 is closed in this area.

Currently earthquake activity continues in Katla volcano caldera. But the tremor has been dropping for the past few hours after it topped around 03:00 UTC last night.


Earthquakes this morning in Katla volcano. Copyright of this picture belongs to Icelandic Met Office.


Harmonic tremor at 09:16 UTC this morning. Copyright of this picture belongs to Icelandic Met Office.


Harmonic tremor at 09:16 UTC this morning. Copyright of this picture belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

The tremor has dropped, but is not down to background levels yet. This might be small eruption for the moment. But I fear that might change in the next hours to few days. There is also an big risk of new floods from Mýrdalsjökull glacier due to this small eruption, or if new fissures open up at new places.

I am going to post more updates when I know more. At the moment, this is just an small eruption. But as told before. That might change without any warning at all.

News in English.

Possible eruption in Katla (Rúv.is)

News in Icelandic.

Rýma á Þakgil – tugir á svæðinu (Rúv.is)
Mögulegt hlaup í Skálm (Rúv.is)
Ekki stórt gos í Kötlu (Rúv.is)
Sigkatlar benda til að lítið gos sé hafið (Vísir.is)
Sjá sprungur í jöklinum (mbl.is)

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Eruption in Grímsvötn appears to be over (hopefully correct this time around)

It appears that the eruption in Grímsvötn / Grímsfjall volcano is over or is about to end, but authorities in Iceland might not declare the eruption over until after next weekend. No ash plume has been observed for over 24 hours now from Grímsfjall volcano. Harmonic tremor pulses are still taking place in Grímsfjall volcano and it is still dangerous to get close to the eruption site. As explosion still take place in the eruption area and that makes going there dangerous. It is not only the area where the water is that is having explosions. There are also gas and explosions taking place in the crater rims and nearby area. According to news today Icelandic Met Office did stop recoding the eruption in Grímsfjall volcano around 07:00 UTC this morning (28. May 2011). But harmonic tremor pluses might still be taking place in Grímsfjall volcano. But the SIL stations around Grímsfjall volcano have now started to record background noise again, including the SIL station at Grímsfjall volcano.

Earthquake activity has continued at similar levels as before the eruption took place. I am not sure why that is. But this might indicate that Grímsfjall volcano has already started to prepare it’s next eruption. But when that might happen is a question that only time is going to answer. The main earthquake activity is currently taking place NW of Grímsfjall volcano, and SW of Grímsfjall volcano.

According to automatic GPS data it appears that Grímsfjall volcano has started to inflate again. This inflation appears to be rather rapid at current moment. But it appears to be close to 1mm/day inflation to the south and east. This means that new magma has already started to flow into Grímsfjall volcano magma chamber and magma system from greater depth. So far Grímsfjall volcano has not started to inflate upwards and it might be an while until that happens, as there might be enough space for the magma to move into inside Grímsfjall volcano.

Measurements of the volcano tephra that did fall, along with measurement of the volcano ash that did fall have recorded the depth up to 170 cm in some areas of Vatnajökull glacier even at distance of 8 km from the eruption site. This is going to create problem in the summer when it is dry and the wind blows this volcano ash around Iceland. But mostly in the areas that where closest to the main ash fall areas.

Update 1: According to news on Vísir.is the Icelandic Coast Guard did see an plume with the hight of 1,5 km yesterday. This plume was however mostly made out of steam rather then volcano ash. The news about this can be found here, along with an picture of the plume. Here is an second news of this steam plume that was seen yesterday.

Update 2: According to news on Rúv there is small harmonic tremor being recorded. But most of the time, no harmonic tremors are being detected from Grímsfjall volcano. The Rúv news can be found here (Icelandic, Picture). It also has an new picture of the eruption crater. But this picture was taken around 10:00 UTC today (28. May 2011).

Icelandic News about this. Use Google translate on this for an risky translation.

Eldgosið mælist ekki lengur á jarðskjálftamælum (Vísir.is, Icelandic)
Enginn gosmökkur í dag (From 27. May 2011, Rúv.is, Icelandic)

Blog post updated at 19:11 UTC.
Blog post updated at 20:15 UTC.

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Explosions are still taking place in Grímsvötn crater

While the activity has almost stopped in Grímsfjall volcano, but there are still explosions taking place in Grímsvötn lake where the eruption took place due to magma going up, explosions take place all over the fissure at random times. That makes travelling to this area really dangerous thing to do. Ash fall is still taking place in Grímsfjall volcano when explosions take place. But the ash fall is limited to the local area in Grímsfjall volcano. Because of this, the official word is that the eruption is not yet over. Even if it just an small eruption at the moment. So far there is no data that suggests that new magma is currently flowing into Grímsfjall volcano. This is according to news in Icelandic media.

An new caldera (correct word?) has formed in the glacier close to the eruption site. But that suggests that a lot of heat is below in the glacier and is creating strong melt where this taking place. This is according to news on Rúv. But they don’t say where this glacier melt is taking place. But it can be assumed that this formation is somewhere close to the current eruption site. But when I know more about this location. I am going to update this post when I can.

Harmonic tremors pulses are still being detected from Grímsfjall volcano up to 200 km away from the volcano. Why they are still taking place while there is no eruption taking place is unknown to me. It is important to notice that currently the harmonic tremor is slowly dropping for now. But it might increase again without any warning. For now there is no way to know what this tremor means for Grímsfjall volcano.

Automatic GPS data from Icelandic Met Office tells an interesting story. According to this data (it might not be 100% accurate due to nature of GPS) Grímsfjall volcano has moved close to 320mm to the west, close to 350mm to the north, it has also lowered down about 250mm. This is major movement in Grímfjall volcano. To compare it with something, Eyjafjallajökull volcano only inflated about 60mm before it did erupt. This is many times more deflation that took place in Grímsfjall volcano then in Eyjafjallajökull volcano for example.

Earthquakes are still taking place SE and SSE of Grímsfjall volcano. There is no volcano at this location. So I am assuming that this are tectonic earthquakes taking place due to stress changes in the crust around Grímsfjall volcano. All earthquakes so far have been small but with the depth from 15 and up to 5 km.

Extra: According to new news (while I was writing this blog post). The Civil Emergency Authority in Iceland has lowered the alert level from danger level to alert level. News about that can be read here (Icelandic, mbl.is)

Icelandic News about this. Google Translate in an maze. It might work or maybe not.

Enn sprengivirkni í Grímsvötnum (Rúv.is, Icelandic)
Jarðeðlisfræðingur: Orðum ofaukið að gosinu sé lokið (Vísir.is, Icelandic)

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The eruption in Grímsvötn / Grímsfjall volcano most likely not over

Here is a interesting paradox. While the eruption it self has currently stopped in Grímsfjall volcano. The tremor chart around Grímsfjall volcano is still acting like there is a eruption ongoing. I do not know why this is like this. But because of that I don’t think that geologist that monitor Grímsvötn eruption in Iceland are not ready to call off this eruption at current time. At least that is what the news did say at 12:20 UTC on Rúv.

They are also issuing warning to people not going to close to the volcano. As explosions due happen and they can throw up rocks that weight up to 1 ton. If anyone gets hit by that rock, that person does not have to worry about what happens next. The save distance for viewing the crater is estimated to be 2 km or more.

I have no idea what happens next. But I am guessing that this eruption might resume soon and without an any warning at all.

The tremor plot at 15:00 UTC. Pictures are from Icelandic Met Office.

This pattern of tremor is interesting. I am yet unsure what it means. But my guess is that this eruption is not over. Even if it has just stopped for now. I normally consider eruption over when the tremor has gone back into background noise (wind, ice, ocean etc..). That has not yet happened with Grímsfjall volcano eruption at this moment.

Update 1: Here is an tremor plot that Icelandic Met Office has released. The article where this picture is from Icelandic Met Office can be read here, it is in english.


Click on the picture for full size. I must point out that this picture is big. Copyright of this picture belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Blog post updated at 20:46 UTC.

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Less powerful eruption in Grímsvötn / Grímsfjall volcano

It has been reported in the news that the eruption in Grímsfjall volcano (also known as Grímsvötn) is getting less powerful as the time passes. This is perfectly normal for an eruption in Grímsfjall volcano.

This can also be seen on tremor plots around Grímsfjall volcano. They clearly show the eruption getting less powerful over time. It has also been reported in the news that the material that is being erupted is now estimated to be 100 tons/second at the moment. But just yesterday it was 1000 tons/second and up to 2000 tons/second. The eruption is currently stable, even if it smaller then it was in the first few days. It is also not certain if this eruption is going to turn into lava eruption. As there seems to be enough water to continue ash phase of the eruption for the next few days.

Grímsfjall SIL station. It clearly shows the eruption getting less powerful over time.

Kálfafell SIL station. It shows the same pattern as Grímsfjall SIL station. Copyright of both pictures belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

In the news it has also been suggested that there might be less or no influx of new magma from great depth. But I do not know for sure if that is just speculation or not.

The ash plume has only got up to 3 to 5 km according to news reports. This means that has dropped a good distance in the last 24 hours. But yesterday it did reach up to 5 to 9 km. So ash is not spreading far away as it did earlier in this eruption. What is creating flight disruption in Europe and over Iceland is the volcano ash that was ejected in the first few days of the eruption. It has also been an big problem in Iceland is the volcano ash that is getting air blown on the ground. The ground is dry so the volcano ash moves easily because of that. Update 1: It has also been reported that the ash that did was ejected on the first day of Grímsvötn eruption was like all the ash ejected in the Eyjafjallajökull volcano eruption in the year 2010. They also say that this eruption was about the size of normal Katla eruption in there own estimate. News about this can be found here (Icelandic, picture)

Scientists did go today up to Vatnajökull glacier in an attempt to get close the eruption site. Flight over the Grísmfjall volcano is also taking place in an attempt to see the eruption site and take measurements of the eruption.

Update 2: There has been an minor spike in the tremor plot in the last hour or so. I do not know why that is. But this suggest that the eruption is growing in power again.

Icelandic News about it. Use Google Translate if you want some funny reporting.

Dregur úr gosvirkni (Rúv.is, Icelandic)
Dregið hefur úr eldsgosinu – umtalsvert minni gosefnaframleiðsla (Vísir.is, Icelandic)
Dregur úr gjóskuframleiðslu (mbl.is, Icelandic)

Please note that information here might get outdated really fast and with no warning at all!

Post updated at 17:57 UTC.

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General overview of Grímsvötn eruption on 23. May 2011 at 20:33 UTC

This is a general overview of Grímsvötn eruption on 23. May 2011 at 20:33 UTC.

Ash cloud: The ash cloud is still going strong. It is however a bit lower then in first few days. Measurements of the ash plume now says that it is between 5 to 9 km. Because of that it does not appear on the radar at IMO. The ash cloud has now been detected all over Iceland, except for the most western part of Iceland (Westfjod). In the areas closest to the main ash cloud the visibility is from 1 meter and up to 500 meters when it is at it’s best. Ash fall is expected to last for the next few days, or until the crater does not get any water into it to make the ash. The ash cloud is expected to reach Scotland tonight (Rúv, Icelandic). BBC News about cancelled flights due the ash cloud. Farmers live stock has started to die due to the ash cloud. It is unknown how the wild life is doing while the ash cloud covers part of south Iceland. Current output of the Grímsfjall volcano is about 1000 to 2000 tons of ash pr second. It was around 10,000 tons of ash pr second during the first days of the eruption.

Rúv News, Öskufall næstu daga (Icelandic, Rúv.is)

Eruption: Even if the ash cloud is lower now. It appears that the eruption is still going strong. In the evening news at Rúv it was reported that there was a chance the magma that powers this eruption might be from a great depth (more then 20 km). Tremor graphs that are online show and suggest that the eruption is still at full power. The reason why they are at lower noise level is most likely due to fewer explosion in the eruption, as less water is in the crater. When water no longer goes into the crater it turns into lava eruption. There is also an speculation that new fissures might open up in this eruption where there is more glacier cover (evening news on Rúv). But that would mean flash glacier flood and new ash cloud when the eruption would break the glacier covering it. But so far this has not happened and is nothing but a speculation. It would mean earthquake activity when the magma would break the crust, as happened when the eruption did start on 21. May 2011.

GPS data: According to report from IMO and University of Iceland the deflation now has been 50 cm to northwest and has subsided 25 cm. According to the report this about 60% larger then after the eruptions in the year 1998 and in the year 2004.

Web cameras: Grímsvötn Míla web cam is now up and running. It should be possible to see the eruption when an ash cloud is not in the way. But so far that has been the case.

Please note that information here might get outdated really fast and with no warning at all!

Updated at 20:42 UTC.

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Few harmonic tremor charts of Grímsvötn eruption

Here are few harmonic tremor charts from the Grímsfjall volcano / Grímsvatn eruption. It can clearly be seen where the eruption looses strength for an few hours. It is also clear when the eruption starts to regain it’s eruption strength again.

The volcanic tremor is best seen on 0.5 – 1Hz band, alongside 1 – 5Hz bands.


Grímsfjall volcano / Grímsvötn SIL station.


Skrokkalda SIL station.


Kalfafell SIL station.


Fagurhólsmýri SIL station.


Kreppurhaun SIL station.


Askja volcano SIL station.

All pictures are from Icelandic Met Office web page. Copyright of this pictures belongs to them.

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Grímsfjall/Grímsvötn volcano eruption update at 21:54 UTC

This is a minor update to the Grímsfjall volcano / Grímsvötn eruption.

Process of the eruption: The harmonic tremor on the SIL stations around Grímsvötn is increasing again after it did drop a little bit down earlier today. Following this the ash plume has again appeared on radar images from Icelandic Met Office. Currently however the ash plume is just around 10 km high. According to the news, the eruption is made out of basalt. But that is a common eruption type for Grímsvötn. The ash cloud is formed when hot magma gets into contact with ice and water and explodes on contact. This eruption is now expected to many times larger then the eruption in Eyjafjallajökull volcano last year.

Ash cloud: The ash cloud does now covers most of Iceland, except the northern part of west Iceland (for the moment) and east Iceland (for the moment) but that is expected to change in the next 24 to 48 hours. Ash has been reported in most town in Iceland. That includes Reykjavík, Akureyri, Selfoss (heavy ash cloud) and more. According to web cameras there is heavy ash fall close to Hekla volcano from Grímsfjall volcano (web camera pointed towards Hekla is here, Eyjafjallajökull is here). Due the ash cloud all flight to and from Iceland has been grounded until this ash clouds goes away.

Earthquakes: Few earthquakes are recorded. But only two earthquakes have been recorded around Grímsfjall volcano and close to in the past few hours. But that does not mean that they are not happening. But they might simply be lost in the harmonic tremors from the eruption.

Other: Nothing at the moment.

Please note that information here might get outdated really fast and with no warning at all!