Dangerous levels of Hydrogen sulfide nearby Múlakvísl glacier river (Mýrdalsjökull glacier / Katla volcano)

It has just been reported that (today 14. April 2023) that there is now a high levels of Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) close to Múlakvísl glacier river that comes from Mýrdalsjökull glacier, that is on top of Katla volcano. Tourists have been asked to be careful in the area. Currently the conductivity in Múlakvísl is not high, but according to Icelandic Met Office that is expected to change in next few hours.

Earthquake activity in Katla volcano at the moment is at normal background levels, that might change without warning if there is anything more happening with this sudden increase in gas levels. The gas levels changed early morning on 13. April 2023 according to Icelandic Met Office website.

Earthquake activity in western part of Katla volcano

This morning (11. March 2023) at 07:02 UTC an earthquake with magnitude of Mw3,1 took place in western part of Katla volcano. This earthquake happened in Katla volcano caldera rim. The depth was 1,1 km. This was a single earthquake, at the writing of this article.

Green star in the western part of Katla volcano caldera. This is just a one star and one orange dot showing smaller earthquake slightly north of this earthquake.
Earthquake activity in Katla volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Since this earthquake there has not been any new earthquake activity in Katla volcano. I am not sure why that is, but it there’s a chance this earthquake activity might just be over. There has been a lot of frost quakes in last few hours, because of a cold weather happening in Iceland. With freezing going down to -20C in some areas.

Earthquake swarm in Katla volcano

Today (9. March 2023) an earthquake swarm started in Katla volcano. This earthquake swarm is ongoing and information in this article can go outdated quickly. Largest earthquakes at the writing of this article have a magnitude of Mw3,3 and Mw3,4. A swarm of smaller earthquakes is ongoing.

Two green stars in Katla volcano askja in Mýrdalsjökull glacier. Along with many red dots that show smaller earthquakes in Katla volcano.
Earthquake activity in Katla volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

It is difficult to know for sure what is going on in Katla volcano. But this activity reminds me of what happened few years ago before an small eruption took place in Katla volcano. If that is going to happen now I don’t know. I’ll post information when I know more and if anything more happens in Katla volcano.

Earthquake activity in Katla volcano

Yesterday (26. February 2023) and today (27. February 2023) there was an earthquake activity in Katla volcano. This is mostly normal activity in Katla volcano and no signs of an eruption or that an eruption is about to start. Largest earthquake in this swarm had a magnitude of Mw3,2. I don’t know if it was felt in nearby area.

Yellow dots and green star in Katla volcano caldera that is under Mýrdalsjökull glacier that is shown in white on this image, along with other nearby volcanoes. The askja of Katla volcano is shown as elongated circle.
Earthquake activity in Katla volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

There is no change in harmonic tremors or other activity in Katla volcano. That means this is just an earthquake activity and there is no sign that an eruption is about to happen.

Increase in larger earthquakes in Katla volcano (there’s no risk of eruption)

This might not be anything at the writing of this article. Since there’s little earthquake activity in Katla volcano at the moment, its well below background noise. Over the last several months I’ve noticed an slight increase in larger earthquakes in Katla volcano, this might not mean anything, but I do not remember having seen this type of pattern in earthquake activity in Katla volcano before. Currently the earthquake activity is almost none and that means that for now there’s no risk of an eruption.

Mýrdalsjökull glacier and the caldera shown as a elongated circle inside the glacier on the map from Icelandic Met Office. In the central caldera, there's a red dot showing the newest and largest earthquake of today.
Minimal earthquake activity in Katla volcano today (3. February 2023). Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Largest earthquake today (3. February 2023) had a magnitude of Mw2,7. This is what has been happening in recent months. This one or two earthquakes that are slightly larger than what I consider normal. There’s a chance this might be normal and nothing more is going to happen, but for now, it is impossible to know for sure what is happening.

Earthquake with magnitude of Mw3,8 in Katla volcano

Today (18. December 2022) at 11:08 UTC an earthquake with magnitude of Mw3,8 took place in Katla volcano. This earthquake was felt, I don’t know if it was felt in Vík í Mýrdal. This is the largest earthquake in Katla volcano in a while.

Two green stars in Katla volcano caldera. The south star is from the Mw3,1 earthquake on 16th December and  the north star is from the earthquake of 18th of December.
Earthquake activity in Katla volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

There has been some earthquake activity with minor earthquakes following this strong earthquake. But it has been minimal at the writing of this article.

Magnitude Mw3,1 earthquake in Katla volcano

Today (16. December 2022) at 21:44 UTC an earthquake with magnitude of Mw3,1 took place in Katla volcano. This seems to be a single earthquake at the writing of this article.

Green star in Katla volcano caldera along with two yellow and two blue dots showing smaller earthquakes.
Earthquake activity in Katla volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

This earthquake activity seems to be normal and there is nothing to suggests that more is going to happen in Katla volcano at this time.

Earthquake pulses in Katla volcano

Today (27-November-2022) two pulses of earthquake activity took place in Katla volcano. No eruption happened following this earthquake activity. This earthquake activity is interesting but it is unclear what is going on. This can be normal earthquake activity in Katla volcano, even if the earthquakes are larger than normal or this is a step that is going to result in an eruption happening in the future. At the moment, there’s no way to know what is the fact here. The earthquake pulses did come in two activity spikes, the first one started at 03:41 and lasted until 03:53 UTC. The second earthquake pulse did come at 11:48 and lasted until 12:12 UTC.

Two green stars in Katla volcano inside Katla volcano caldera. The green stars are on a line that is south-west and north-east. Few smaller earthquakes are also in the same area. Two yellow dots are also on the caldera, showing smaller earthquakes in Katla volcano.
Earthquake activity in Katla volcano. Picture from Icelandic Met Office.

The largest earthquakes had a magnitude of Mw3,0 and Mw3,1 and Mw3,4. This is not a dyke intrusion of magma. Such activity behaves differently in a volcano than just surface level earthquake activity as took place in Katla volcano. Based on what I am seeing, it is possible that more earthquake pulses like this are going to happen in next few days or weeks.

Strong earthquake swarm in Katla volcano (22-November-2022)

Today (22-November-2022) a strong earthquake swarm started in Katla volcano at 19:55 UTC. Strongest earthquake had a magnitude of Mw4,4. One Mw3,5 earthquake was recorded with several smaller earthquakes. Magnitudes and number of earthquakes are changing. This is an updated text of the earthquake magnitude.

Three green stars in Katla volcano caldera along with few red dots that show smaller earthquakes.
Green stars in Katla volcano showing the locations of the strongest earthquakes. Picture from Icelandic Met Office.

What is going on is unclear at the writing of this article. At the writing of this article I am not seeing any change in harmonic tremor, but that might change without warning. I’ll post updates if anything more happens in Katla volcano.

Added: I added the donate buttons back if people want to support my work. I had to remove them because of a increased fraud risk in October and that might be ongoing risk.

Article updated at 21:16 UTC.
Article updated at 23:06 UTC.

Small earthquake swarm in Katla volcano (yesterday 19-November-2022)

Yesterday (19-November-2022) at 21:13 UTC an earthquake swarm started in Katla volcano. This was a small earthquake swarm with just few earthquakes, but it had an earthquake with magnitude of Mw3,2 taking place at 21:13:05. Just before and after this earthquake fewer smaller earthquakes took place.

Green star in Katla volcano caldera. With few smaller red dots that show smaller earthquakes.
Earthquake activity in Katla volcano. Picture from Icelandic Met Office.

Since this earthquake activity stopped, everything has been quiet in Katla volcano.