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More information on the Askja volcano earthquakes

The earthquake activity in Askja volcano continues to evolve at rather fast phase. A lot faster phase then I did originally expect. Far as I can tell from the Icelandic Met Office SIL data (tremor plots). The earthquakes that are now taking place in north Askja volcano appear to be mostly magma related earthquakes. The strongest earthquake so far did happen today and had the size ML2.5 with the depth of 0.1 km. The deepest earthquake so far took also place today and had the depth of 19,6 km. It had the size ML1.4.

However earthquakes with the depth of 22 km has been recorded close to Herðubreiðartögl. Few days ago a tornillo earthquakes (most likely the case now. But yet unconfirmed from my point of view) started too appear in Askja volcano. But that means that magma is on the move in Askja volcano. Currently this might also be the case with the earthquake activity east of Askja volcano. But at this moment it is a bit more unclear what the activity east of Askja volcano means. But it is also possible that magma is also pushing east from Askja volcano. But so far earthquake activity east of Askja volcano has been different then from the earthquake activity north of Askja volcano. But it has not been focuesed on a single spot like the earthquake activity in north part of Askja volcano system.

It is unclear at this moment how this is going to evolve in the long term. But no reports of increased hydrothermal activity have so far appeared in the news. Currently the activity is rather low, so a eruption is not yet imminent in Askja volcano. But that might change without any warning at all at any time.


Current Askja volcano earthquake activity. Click on this picture for full resolution. Picture is from Icelandic Met Office web site. Copyright of this picture belongs too them.

Due to distance. I do not record any small earthquakes from Askja volcano. But they need to be larger then ML3.0 to appear on my geophone network.

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A small call for a support

I hate to ask for this. But I am in need for donation from you good people. The reasons for this is because I am broke and my income does not cover my bills and cost of living in Denmark. I already knew that I was heading into problems when I did see the bills come in. Both in Iceland and Denmark. But the main problem was when I got the electric bill here in Denmark, it was for 952 DKK (128€) and that did break my budget completely. As I don’t even have enough money too pay for all my bills and too buy food for the rest of this month. I also had a high phone bill as I was paying for three months there. My budget this month for Denmark was 3470 DKK (468€) after I did pay what had to be paid in Iceland. The total bills payed in Denmark this month (what is left) is 4008 DKK (541€).

Based on this. I have made a final decision. I am going to move to Iceland on 5. June as planned. I have made the decision to stop my attempts to stay in Denmark. I might one day move back to Denmark. But not until I have the income to support it and that might take many years until that happens. If I move back to Denmark at all. But that is unclear at this point in time.

I don’t know how June is going to be. But I hope that it is going too be more simpler. But for June I have to pay the rent for the last time in Denmark. My moving costs are going to be covered by a bank loan as that is my only option. My problems are going to be over after that point. As the costs that I have to pay

Thanks for the support! I am going to do my best in covering Icelandic volcanoes as always.

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Overview of the Askja volcano earthquakes

This is just a short overview of the Askja volcano earthquakes that have been taking place over the past few weeks. I do not at this have a good picture of what is happening in Askja volcano.

In Week 15 earthquake activity started north of Askja volcano. This activity have been growing since then, with considerable difference between Week 16 and Week 17. Currently the earthquake activity is ongoing. It is not clear if this earthquake activity has slowed down or not. Many of the earthquakes that are taking place north of Askja volcano are shallow. But most of the earthquakes are happening on a depth from 1 km and up to 0.0 km. I am currently unclear on why the activity is so shallows as seems to be the case.

A second set of earthquakes have also been taking place in Askja volcano system. But this earthquakes are taking place east of main Askja volcano. But Askja volcano fissure system goes east and then north from the main volcano. It also goes several km south of main Askja volcano. But that area has not seen any activity so far. While the activity east of Askja volcano is not clustered as it is north of it. It is showing many of the same signs as the earthquakes north of Askja volcano. They are shallows with most of the earthquakes taking place in less then 1 km depth. As before I am not sure why the earthquakes are taking place on less then 1 km depth. But one idea for both the earthquakes north and east of Askja volcano is that there is magma pushing up the bedrock north and east of Askja volcano. But does not at this time have the power to break up trough the crust and start a eruption. Only one deep earthquake has so far been recored, it was on a 22,8 km depth. The location of this earthquake was not far from Herðubreiðartöglum mountains.

Due to lack of GPS data it is hard to see any deflation or deformation in Askja volcano. But it has been known since last year (2010) that Askja volcano has started to prepare for a eruption. But it remains unclear how long it is until Askja volcano is fully ready for a eruption. Last eruptions that took place in Askja volcano where in the years 1961, 1938, 1926, 1924, 1923. More on Askja volcano eruption history here (GVP web page).

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Hekla volcano earthquake last night

Last night at 21:39 UTC there was a ML0.7 earthquake in Hekla volcano. Depth of this earthquake was 1.3 km. It is unclear if this earthquake is a pre-event before a eruption starts. But few years ago there was a earthquke in Hekla volcano. But no eruption did happen that time around.


Hekla earthquake. Click on the picture too see it in full resolution. This picture is released under Creative Common License, see top link for more information.

This is a picture of the earthquake. The distance was 16.8 km from my geophone to the location of the earthquake. My geophone is close to Hekla volcano and because of that it is really sensitive to any activity that takes place in Hekla volcano (given good weather).

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About the earthquakes north of Askja volcano

The earthquakes that are now taking place north of Askja volcano are interesting for many reasons. One of the biggest reason why this earthquakes are interesting is the fact how shallow they are. But it is also interesting on how small the area the earthquakes are taking place on.

This earthquake activity did start in Week 15 with one earthquake. In Week 16 the activity had grown up to few earthquakes. In Week 17 (current) the activity has continued to grow in this area. This activity currently stands out in the earthquake activity around Askja volcano.

While it is common for Icelandic volcanoes to erupt from a central vent. It is also common for Icelandic volcanoes too erupt from fissures (like Fimmvörðuháls Eruption 2010). One of the clues to this type of eruption close to a central volcano is a earthquake activity. It is my opinion that this earthquake activity qualifies as pre-activity for a fissure eruption in the area of Askja volcano. But if anything happens soon is a different question and it is impossible to predict for now. It is however sure that before such eruption the earthquake activity in this area needs to increase a lot more from the current levels of earthquake activity that are being seen today.

Currently no eruption is immanent in Askja volcano.

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Interesting earthquakes north of Askja volcano

There is a interesting cluster of earthquakes north of Askja volcano. What is most interesting is the fact that this earthquakes are shallow This cluster of earthquakes is most interesting for the fact that it is shallow. The depth of the earthquakes is from 8.4 km and up to 0.1 km (~100 meters). This suggests that this is a dike intrusion is making. But appears to be growing slowly (a bit unclear at the moment however). But at this time it is impossible to know if this possible dike intrusion makes it too the surface or not.

History tells that it is not unclear for Askja volcano to erupt in small fissures. But that last happened in the Askja eruption in the year 1961.

Currently it is unclear what is going on north of Askja volcano. But this is for sure evolving into something in my opinion. But the question remains how long this is going to take. But this process has already been ongoing now for about 14 months and counting.

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Less risk of large airspace disruption in a Katla volcano eruption

In the evening news in Rúv they tell about research (based on models) that suggest that it is going to be less chance of large airspace disruption like took place in Eyjafjallajökull volcano eruption in the year 2010. Reason for that is the fact that volcano ash from Katla volcano is normally not as small (less then 1 micron in size) as the volcano ash from Eyjafjallajökull volcano. But this small size of the early ash cloud allowed it too travel longer and hang up longer in the air then from more common ash clouds.

The reason for this is because of the fact that lava from Katla volcano are mostly basaltic and would create Hawaiian eruption if no glacier was on top of Katla volcano. Ash cloud from Surtseyan eruption is more heavy, as the volcano ash particles are larger and more heavy.

This might be a good news for the air travel industry in Europe when Katla volcano starts erupting. But this might create issues for the area closest to Iceland anyway. Depending on wind direction.

The Rúv news about this. Use Google translate at own risk.

Kötlugos hefði ekki sömu áhrif (Rúv.is)

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Interesting earthquakes 20 km WSW of Laki in Eldgjá volcano canyon (Katla volcano fissure system)

There are interesting earthquakes about 20 km WSW of Laki. The locations of the earthquakes suggests strongly that they belong to Katla volcano fissure system. Last eruption in this area took place around the year 934. When the Eldgjá volcano canyon was formed. That eruption did destroy a older volcano canyon located in this same area (lava flows volcano ash did fill up that canyon far as I know).

The earthquakes that have been taking place in this area are small. The largest so far has the automatic size of ML1.2, but only ~4 earthquakes have been recorded so far. But what is most interesting about this earthquakes is the depth. The earthquakes that has the best automatic detection by the SIL system has the depth of 0.7 km. But that makes the depth of ~700 meters and that is a shallow earthquake. Given that this area has only fissures and no activate volcanoes. It is not unheard of in Iceland that a fissure eruption to start with no warning at all. Last time this did happen was in Gjálp eruption in the year 1996. Before that a dike intrusion into the bedrock did manage to get to the surface in Askja eruption in the year 1878, when a 25 km long volcano fissure did open up (small compared to Eldgjá eruption around the year 920).

I do not know what is going on in this area at the moment. As the activity so far has been too small to make any clear picture of it. But Katla volcano is a big volcano and it is not out of volcano league to make a new fissure eruption instead of the regular caldera eruptions under the glacier as Icelanders have gotten used to over the past 1000 years or so. Last time this did happen there are suggestions that there was a also a eruption at the same time in Katla volcano caldera. But that this has only been revealed during research over the past 50 years or so in this area.

I have also noted that there is a small increase in earthquakes inside Katla volcano caldera, not far from Austmannsbunga. But at this moment it is too early too know what it means for sure. There is no eruption is imminent in Katla volcano when this is written. Just too be clear on that fact.

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Quiet scene goes into third week

The quiet scene that has been taking place in Iceland over the last two weeks is still ongoing and is now entering it’s third week. Over the last two week there have been less then 300 earthquakes during a single week. In Iceland that is quiet.

All volcanoes in Iceland have mostly been quiet. But there was a unconfirmed earthquake swarm in Grímsfjall volcano. But due to extremely bad weather it was not observed properly by the SIL network. North of Iceland there also has been a unconfirmed earthquake swarm. This earthquake swarm is somewhere north of Kolbeinsey volcano. But due to distance and bad weather it is unknown how big it was. But the largest earthquakes that have appeared on the SIL network did manage to go up to ML3.0 in size. But that is mostly a underestimate on the size of this event. But underestimate on a earthquake size happens when it is far from SIL network and not properly recorded due that.

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How to get Icelandic media in a case of a eruption in Iceland

When a eruption starts in Iceland. All media in Iceland covers it. Both in there news web sites and on the radio stations on the internet that publish information in english and other languages if needed. Here is a list of the main media stations in Iceland.

Radio stations:

Rúv Rás 1 – Public radio station. Needs Windows Media Audio player to listen to this radio station. It is also possible to listen to Rás 1 over satellite on 1W.
Rúv Rás 2 – Public Radio station. Needs Windows Media Audio player to listen to this radio station. It is also possible to listen to Rás 2 over satellite on 1W.
Bylgjan FM 98,9 – A radio station with news. A flash might be needed to listen to this radio station.

Tv stations:

Rúv Sjónvarpið – Can be watched on-line here. Both with flash player and Windows Media Video capable player. In Europe Rúv Sjónvarpið can also been watched over satellite on 1W if you have Conax access card to view the channel (only available in Iceland to Icelandic citizen living in Iceland, don’t ask me for it). But Teletext information is still available even if the channel is scrambled and cannot be viewed because of that.
Stöð 2 – Can be viewed on-line on the web-site Vísir.is. But at that web page only news can be viewed. Flash player is required to view it. Stöð 2 does not broadcast over satellite.

When a eruption starts in Iceland. This are the best options to get into touch with Icelandic media that broadcast live video or audio. But other news web sites are mbl.is, dv.is. But this are only news papers that don’t offer any direct and live coverage when a eruption starts in Iceland.