Update on Grindavík on 16. November 2023

This is a short update on what is happening in Grindavík on 16. November 2023. Information here can go outdated quickly and without warning.

The situation is mostly the same as yesterday (15. November 2023), but few things have happened and that is enough for me to publish this article.

  • Sulfur dioxide has been detected in a drilling hole in Svartsengi. This drilling hole is such that it end point is close to Hagafell mountain  east to Svartsengi power plant. I think this might be a cold water hole. It has a depth of 2,5 km. This means that magma is at or close to that depth. Ground water in this area doesn’t go deeper than 1,9 to 3 km I think (I am not sure on how the fresh water ground level works in this area).
  • Eruption is expected from hours to day based on most recent measurements from Icelandic Met Office.
  • Grindavík town continues to sink according to news today (16. November 2023). Difference between days can be as much as 25 cm.
  • Mbl.is (Morgunblaðið) has a video of the damage done by this sinking on their website here. Its in Icelandic.

The situation for now is quiet, but that might only last for few hours to days longer before an eruption starts. Since earthquake activity strongly suggests that magma is looking for a way to the surface. While some magma is at shallow depth of 400 to 500 meters. There’s not enough of it to start an eruption. That can change without any warning at any time in this situation.

I’ll write updates if anything more happens here as quickly as I can.

Update on Grindavík 15. November 2023

This is a short update on what is happening in Grindavík on 15. November 2023. Information here might go outdated quickly.

In general, not much has changed since yesterday (14. November 2023).

  • There’s no change in earthquake activity. Strong wind in the Reykjanes peninsula might be masking some of the smaller earthquakes.
  • Part of the harbour area has started to sink according to news. I am not sure how much, but I think it might be considerable sink.
  • Speed of the sink in some areas of areas inside Grindavík has increased from 7 cm for each 24 hours to 12 cm for each 24 hours since yesterday. Some areas inside Grindavík have lowered as much as 2 meters or more.
  • Inflow of magma into the dyke continues to be at 75 m3/second according to news reports today. This is a lot of magma inflow into the dyke. The eruption in Holuhraun in 2014 and 2015 had an flow of 90 m3/sec when it was the most.
  • It is reported on mbl.is that it is now considered that magma might be flowing directly from the main magma chamber at 20 km to 40 km depth under this location in Reykjanes peninsula. That news is in Icelandic here.
  • Parts of Grindavík town has lost power, hot and cold water because of sinking of the ground and movements. Emergency repair is going to be attempted tomorrow if it is safe.
  • Eruption might happen at Sundhnúkar and Hagafell, where the highest flow of magma is happening according to Icelandic Met Office and the news.
  • Eruption at many craters at the same time is what is going happen here. Based on what I am seeing. That means more lava covering larger area quicker than the small eruptions in Geldingadalir, Meradalir and at Litli-Hrútur. Where it was just one crater and a small eruption.
  • Something is holding back the magma from reaching the surface. What that is unclear. But magma is at shallow 500 meters or less according to measurements done by Icelandic Met Office. This shallow depth means that magma can start erupting without much warning or notice in the dyke.

There is a chance that parts of Grindavík town might sink under the ocean because of the ground sinking. When eruption starts, what goes under lava depends on where the eruption is going to start and where the lava is going to flow. Both are random events that is impossible to know anything about.

If anything happens. I’ll post update soon as I can. If anything happens tomorrow I’ll write about it. Otherwise I plan on publishing next article on Friday 17. November 2023. Since changes at the moment are not that big changes between days currently.

Update on Grindavík on 14. November 2023

This is a short update on the situation in Grindavík and nearby area. Information here can go outdated quickly and without warning.

For the press media. Please contact Icelandic Met Office or Department of Civil Protection and Emergency Management for any important information or interviews. I already write everything I know here on this website as needed. Thanks.

  • The magma is at 400 meters depth, where it is at its most shallow.  I am not sure on location, but I think it is just north-east of Grindavík town.
  • There is strong wind on Reykjanes peninsula. That normally hides some of the smaller earthquakes happening. Icelandic Met Office continues to record 700 to 3000 earthquakes each day. Most of them are along the dyke and most of them are in the magnitude range of Mw0,0 to Mw3,1. With the stronger ones happening least often.
  • Inflow of the magma into the dyke is at the writing of this article around 73 m3/s to 75 m3/s. On Friday 10. November that inflow was 1000 m3/s.
  • Sulfur dioxide was detected today north of Grindavík. That suggests that magma might be at shallow depth in the dyke area.
  • News reports today did say that the area in Grindavík and nearby continues to sink around 7 cm over 24 hour time period. This might be uneven process depending on the area.
  • Lakes south of Grindavík have been seen growing, as the area continues to sink and get lower. It is a question of parts of this area is going to get flooded by the ocean soon. This is reported on Facebook by Eldfjalla- og náttúruvárhópur Suðurlands.
  • The GPS station just north of Grindavík has lowered by 1400mm since Friday 10. November 2023. The stations on the east are going up, some much as 1 meter. While the GPS stations on the west side are lowering.
Line of red dots shows all the small earthquakes, along with one green star on it. This show all the 15 km of the dyke.
The dyke as it appears on the earthquake map. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

This situation changes quickly and often from hour to hour. I’ll post new updates if something major happens, quickly as I can.

Article updated on 15. November 2023 at 00:21 UTC. – Removed information that might not be correct.

Update on the situation in Grindavík on 13. November 2023

This is a short update. Information here can go outdated quickly and without warning. I am sorry for the Google Adsense popup ads. They turned them on without telling me and I can’t turn it off. I never run this type of ads because this is just annoying pop-up and I don’t allow that on my website. Google Adsense ads are going to be gone by the end of this month anyway (regardless of anything else).

The situation is similar to yesterday. Earthquake activity continues to drop for now. But that might be a short quiet because the dyke and the rift valley continues to grow. Inflow of the magma continues, at slightly slower rate than on Friday 10. November 2023.

  • The inflow of magma on Friday 10. November 2023 was 1000 cubic meters per second according to Icelandic Met Office and experts.
  • The rift zone that is lowering is on the western side of the Grindavík town. The east side is rising up to almost the same amount. Parts of Grindavík have lowered around 1 to 2 meters. Some of the cracks in the grounds are up to 20 meters deep or deeper.
  • There is a lot of damage in Grindavík to many houses. If not from earthquakes, then from the formation of the rift valley.
  • Eruption risk remains high and the dyke seems to holds its length at 15 km. This can change without warning.
  • The rift valley is now around 2 km wide according to the news. The rift valley continues to get wider according to measurements.
  • There has not been any drop in harmonic tremor on SIL stations next to the dyke, even if earthquake activity has lowered. This is because of the ongoing inflow of magma into the dyke.
A line of red dots shows the dyke formation that goes under Grindavík town and goes north-east of the town.
The earthquake activity in the dyke appears clearly. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

It is not possible to know what happens next. It is my view that an eruption is going to start in this area. This is a start of a activity that is going to last for a while until it quiets down.

This dyke activity might also upset the volcanoes Fagradalsfjall and Reykjanes and what is happening in them. Anything can happen in them without warning. If not eruption, then earthquake activity.

I’ll post update when I have some new information about this situation.

Update on the situation on Grindavík dyke intrusion

This is a short update, since the situation is changing quickly and without much warning. This just looks like it is quiet, it is not.

  • Grindavík town is sinking and parts of the town have lowered by as much 1 meter when this article is written. This is a large area, large enough to be called rift valley. This was reported by mbl.is here in Icelandic. This was just discovered today when some measurements where taken.
  • Magma might be as shallow as few dozen meters under the surface where it is the most shallow. This has been reported by mbl.is here in Icelandic. This is a live link and the news item in question might be removed or gone in few hours.
  • This is a event that was not expected. Most of the inflation until Friday 10. November 2023 had happened in Svartsengi (Reykjanes volcano) and in Fagradalsfjall volcano. There had nothing been happening at Sundhnúksgígar to the north-east of Grindavík. Until Friday 10. November at around 08:00 when a earthquake swarm started in that location. Originally it was though those where just tension related earthquakes, but that view (according to reports) changed early in the morning at Icelandic Met Office. Everything did go crazy in earthquakes between 16:00 until 19:00 on Friday. This earthquake swarm was really dense and many earthquakes with magnitude Mw4,0 took place inside Grindavík town.
  • There is damage in Grindavík, both roads and houses because of the displacement. Damages to pipes, electricity wires and other infrastructure.
  • The dyke seems to be few dozen meters wide and up to 1 meters deep. It might be different wide and deep at its 15 km length. I have not found any useful information about this. Just information on its length that was last time I checked, 15 km long.

This is not a small volcano event. What I don’t know and this doesn’t seems to be known. What volcano is causing this. This might be Fagradalsfjall volcano or this might be Reykjanes volcano.

String of earthquakes reaching from the ocean and under Grindavík town and to the north-east. This is the dyke that is causing a lot of problems in Grindavík. A lot of earthquakes to the west of this location. That is also having magma inflow. This is a map over seven day time period.
The earthquake activity over the last seven days. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

I’ll post more information about this when I know more or if anything more happens if I can.

Dyke has formed or is forming under Grindavík town, mandatory evacuation ordered

This is a short article. Its going to outdated quickly.

  • Dyke has or is forming under Grindavík town. This dyke starts at Sundahnjúkar in north-east of Grindavík town and is going to down to Grindavík. This is at the moment around 4 to 7 km long dyke. It might get longer and reach the ocean.
  • There’s a mandatory evacuation order in place. Everyone in Grindavík town has two hours (from around 23:00 UTC) to leave the town. Many people had already left because of the heavy earthquake activity today (10. November 2023).
  • Earthquake activity remains heavy, but is lower than it was at around 17:00 to 19:00 UTC. This might change again without warning.
  • GPS data suggests this is more magma than in all of last three eruptions combined.
  • This magma might be from Fagradalsfjall volcano. This is currently only an idea. That means the magma in Reykjanes volcano has not started to move to the surface. That might also happen without warning at any time, since that inflation continues.

I’ll post more information when I got them. The situation is unclear and there’s a lot of wrong information out there so check your sources.

Icelandic Met Office confirms magma is rising to the surface

Icelandic Met Office has confirmed that magma is now rising to the surface in the area of Sundahnjúkar crater row. This does not seems to be connected to Svartsengi magma (Reykjanes volcano) dyke intrusion. How much magma and what volcano it is connected is unclear at the writing of this article. This might not be connected to Fagradalsfjall volcano also. If that is the case, it means this either a new unknown volcano at this location or rift eruption not connected to any volcano. It is going to take a while to get an answer to that question once the eruption has started.

There is a change in the earthquake activity as the magma goes up the surface. This happens because the layer of crust that the magma goes through does not all have the same density up the surface level. Softer rocks result in fewer earthquakes and harder rock results in higher earthquake activity. It is mostly not possible to know what type of rock the magma is going through. But this shows in the earthquake activity.

I’ll post more updates once I have any new information.

Danger level declared for Reykjanes volcano and Grindavík town

This is a super short update. Since there’s too much happening at the writing of this article for me to write anything useful about current situation.

  • There’s a super dense earthquake swarm happening north-west of Grindavík town. There’s also an earthquake swarm north-east of Grindavík town.
  • Almannavarnir have declared danger level for Reykjanes volcano and Grindavík town.
  • There’s a lot of earthquakes with strong magnitudes. Useful list is not possible at the writing of this article.
Dense earthquake swarm on WinSDR plot. Earthquakes happening every 10 second.
Dense earthquake activity at distance of 187 km.

This is what I am recording at the distance of 187 km from the source at Reykjanes peninsula. This is the most dense earthquake activity I’ve ever seen.

I’ll post update when I know anything useful.

Strong earthquake swarm in Reykjanes volcano

This is a short article. It might get outdated quickly.

Around midnight of 9. November 2023 an strong earthquake started close to Þorbjörn mountain, in the same area that has been having an earthquake and dyke intrusion since 25. October 2023. At the writing of this article, the largest earthquake had a magnitude of Mw5,0 and with a lot of smaller earthquakes taking place.

A lot of green stars and red dots close to Grindavík town on the Reykjanes peninsula in the volcano Reykjanes.
Strong earthquake activity in Reykjanes volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

It is unclear if this earthquake activity is the start of the eruption or just normal inflation related earthquake activity. The magma is still at depth of 5 km. If it has started to move upwards trough the crust, it is going to take several hours to reach the surface. That means nothing might happen on the surface until late tomorrow or on 10. November at the earliest. Depending on how quickly the magma goes up through the crust.

I’ll post updates tomorrow if anything more happens.

Magma movement close to Þorbjörn mountain this morning

Today (31. October 2023) at around 08:00 UTC an magma movement was detected by Icelandic Met Office. This started an earthquake swarm that had a largest earthquake with magnitude of Mw3,7. The magma seems to be at depth of 1,5 km where it is the shallowest. Few days ago, that magma was at depth of 5 to 8 km. This change is rather quick movement of magma, that suggests higher pressure compared the magma that erupted in Fagradalsfjall volcano. This might result in a larger eruption when it happens. The inflation at Fagradalsfjall volcano, south part of it has not lowered. The only thing that has happened there is that earthquake activity has dropped to almost nothing. Earthquake activity has moved to western part of Fagradalsfjall volcano. Eruption also happening in Fagradalsfjall volcano should not be ruled out, but the events close to Þorbjörn mountain might delay the progress of that magma.

Red dots and green stars north of Grindavík town, close to Þorbjörn mountain. There's also red dots west of Þorbjörn mountain and Grindavík town. Blue dots close to Reykjanestá on this map. Time on map is 31. Okt. 23 at 16:55 UTC.
Earthquake activity because of magma movements in Reykjanes volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

It is difficult to know what is going to happen next. But an eruption is highly likely, when and where is almost impossible to know even if GPS data gives good clues on where it might happen. This situation is complex and it is uncertain what is going to happen next with this activity in Reykjanes volcano and Fagradalsfjall volcano.

I’ll post information soon as I know something. A list of web cameras of Icelandic volcanoes can be found on the YouTube page that I set up a while ago.