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Reykjanes and Krýsuvík volcanoes update on 25-February-2021 at 19:28 UTC

This is a short update on activity in Reykjanes and Krýsuvík volcanoes. This update is written at 19:28 UTC.

The activity today (25-February-2021) has been mostly just minor earthquakes. Largest earthquakes today had a magnitude of Mw3,5 but this number can still change. In the last 24 hours over 2500 earthquakes have been recorded by Icelandic Met Office according to the news.

Green stars show all the earthquakes with magnitudes above Mw3,0 from yesterday (24-February-2021). A lot of red, yellow and orange dots showing smaller earthquakes
Earthquake activity on the Reykjanes peninsula over the last 48 hours. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Steam has been confirmed close the parking lot close to Keilir mountain on Reykjanes peninsula. This area did not have steam before the Mw5,7 earthquake yesterday (24-February). It is unclear that is going on in that location. There continues to be high risk for a earthquake with magnitude Mw6,0 to Mw6,8 on Reykjanes peninsula because of this earthquake activity.

I’ll post update soon as possible if anything happens.

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Reykjanes and Krýsuvík volcanoes update at 21:43 UTC

This is a short update at 21:19 UTC about the earthquake activity in volcanoes Reykjanes and Krýsuvík.

Earthquake activity slowed little since last update at 14:41 UTC. There are now fewer larger earthquakes taking place at the writing of this article. That has the chance of changing without warning. There seems to be new areas of activity appearing on the automatic Icelandic Met Office map. It is unclear if this is a artifact of the heavy earthquake activity in the area or a real thing is difficult to know for sure at the writing of this article.

Heavy earthquake activity on the Reykjanes peninsula from west to east. Over 50 green stars on the map tha show earthquakes with magnitude above Mw3,0
Earthquake activity on the Reykjanes peninsula. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
Earthquake activity trace that shows how heavy the earthquake activity is. The trace is densly populated with dots each showing a earthquake. The letter 5,7 is on the trace showing the largest earthquake so far. Oldest dots from tdoay are orange in colour but fresh earthquakes are red in colour.
Earthquake activity on the Reykjanes peninsula. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Currently there are no signs of magma moving in both volcano systems. That might change without warning if there is a sudden change in activity. Because of how long it has been since last eruption took place in both volcanoes what happens before an eruption is unclear. What is only known from around 681 year old historical records that did survive to this day is that earthquake activity increases sharply before an eruption and does so a good while before the first eruption happens. Last eruption in Krýsuvík volcano was in the year 1340.

I am going to post next update tomorrow (25-February-2021) unless something major happens and then I’ll post a new article soon as possible.

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Reykjanes and Krýsuvík volcano update at 14:41 UTC

This is a short update at 14:41 UTC.

This is about volcanoes Reykjanes and Krýsuvík.

According to new pictures from Icelandic Coast Guard. Steam has been seen from the area that had the strongest earthquakes this morning. This seems to be in a area that did not have an earlier any steam activity, this however depends a confirmation.

Earthquake activity with over 600 earthquakes on Reykjanes peninsula. Many green stars on the map
The earthquake activity on the Reykjanes peninsula. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Icelandic News about the steam activity that has been detected.

Hvít­ir gufustrók­ar sjást á svæðinu (mbl.is, Icelandic, Pictures)

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Earthquake with magnitude Mw5,7 in Reykjanes volcano (update at 12:28 UTC)

This is a short update at 12:28 UTC on the earthquake swarm on Reykjanes peninsula and in Reykjanes volcano.

It is possible to see the earthquakes in my webicorder website here. This website is on limited bandwidth so it might load slowly if there is a lot of traffic to it. I am also self hosting it because of software requirement.

Largest earthquake in this swarm had a magnitude of Mw5,7 and was felt over most of Western Iceland. Minor damage has been reported in Reykjavík but it has been limited to stuff falling off shelves, walls and other such locations.

A lot of green starts showing earthquakes on Reykjanes peninsula
The earthquake swarm on Reykjanes peninsula. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
Trace of earthquakes showing close to continues earthquake activity with magnitude of Mw4,0 and one earthquake with magnitude of Mw5,7
The trace of the earthquake activity in Reykjanes peninsula. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

I am going to post updates as I know more about this earthquake activity. The reason why I am a bit late on this is that I was sleeping and I didn’t wake up with earthquake activity.

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Strong earthquake in Bárðarbunga volcano

During the night of 13-February 2021 an earthquake with magnitude of Mw4,0 took place at 02:30 UTC. This earthquake is normal and is because of inflation in Bárðarbunga volcano after the eruption ended in 2015.

Green star shows the location of the magnitude 4,0 earthquake in Bárðarbunga volcano that is located in north-west part of Vatnajökull glacier.
Earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

There is one of this earthquakes in Bárðarbunga volcano every few months and last earthquake with magnitude Mw3,9 took place on 21-December-2020 in Bárðarbunga volcano. This type of earthquake activity is going to continue in Bárðarbunga volcano for decades until next eruption happens in 20 to 100 years.

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Update on ongoing earthquake swarm in Reykjanes volcano on 11-February-2021

The earthquake swarm that started more than one year ago in Reykjanes volcano continues to be ongoing. Largest earthquake on 11-February 2021 at 07:56 UTC had the magnitude of Mw3,0. Other earthquakes had smaller magnitude as has been ongoing since 20-January-2020.

Earthquake activity on Reykjanes peninsula and is mostly east of Grindavík town. Newest earthquakes are red dots and oldest are blue dots. Some earthquake activity west of Grindavík town.
Earthquake activity east of Grindavík town. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Since this magma activity in Reykjanes volcano started around 20-January 2020 there has been ongoing earthquake activity in this area. I don’t expect this to stop. When a eruption is going to happen is not something that is possible to know. Currently GPS data does not show any interesting change and doesn’t suggest anything is about to happen.

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Earthquake activity and more in Grímsfjall volcano (Grímsvötn)

Yesterday (29-January-2021) at 23:34 UTC an earthquake with magnitude of Mw2,4 took place in Grímsfjall volcano (Grímsvötn). There where few smaller earthquakes before and after this largest earthquake. There where no signs of change in harmonic tremor following this earthquake activity.

In the center of Vatnajökull glacier there is a volcano Grímsfjall. East of that a yellow dot shows the location of an earthquake with magnitude of Mw2,4. Grímsfjall volcano is marked by a triangle that shows the location of a seismic sensor to record earthquakes in this area.
Earthquake activity in Grímsfjall volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

It has also been reported in the news that glacier plate that is on top of Grímsfjall volcano is now the highest since 1996. Inflation is now taking place in eastern part of Grímsfjall volcano, in a location called Eystri Svíahnúkur. Magma pressure is today (30-January-2021) equal or higher than when the May 2011 eruption took place in Grímsfjall volcano.

Sources / News in Icelandic

Íshellan í Grímsvötnum ekki mælst hærri í 25 ár (Icelandic, Rúv.is)
Fundur í vísindaráði almannavarna (Icelandic, Almannavarnir.is)

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Ongoing earthquake activity in Reykjanes volcano

On Friday 22-January-2021 an earthquake swarm took place just east of Grindavík town. This earthquake activity then stopped but resumed at midnight on Sunday 24-January-2021. All of the earthquakes where small in magnitude and only few did go above magnitude Mw1,0 in size.

Yellow dots east of Grindavík town on Reykjanes peninsula. Few blue dots showing earthquakes that are older then 1 day.
Earthquake activity in the Reykjanes volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

The earthquake swarm that started on Sunday lasted for 12 hours according to Icelandic Met Office website. There is no change in GPS location data (can be viewed here) and there is no change in harmonic tremor. Currently there is a bad weather in Iceland preventing automatic detection of small earthquakes all over Iceland.

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Strong earthquake swarm in Reykjanes volcano

Today (10-January-2021) at 03:15 UTC an earthquake with magnitude of Mw4,1. This earthquake was felt far away as Reykjavík. A swarm of small earthquakes is currently ongoing in this area. This earthquake activity is in the Reykjanes volcano.

Green star north of Grindavík town. Groups of small earthquakes north and east of Grindavík town on the map little from the coastline. Earthqukake activity in Krýsuvík lake and in Hengill volcano.
The earthquake activity in the Reykjanes volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Over 100 earthquakes have happened in this area for the last 48 hours. Most of them are small, less than magnitude Mw1,0 in size. There are not many earthquakes with magnitude over Mw1,0 currently in this earthquake activity. There is no sign that magma has started to find a way to the surface. Currently the magma remains in the crust. GPS data suggests that there is some type of change going on but I am unclear what that means. The GPS data can be viewed here.

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Earthquake activity continues in Reykjanes volcano

Today (07-January-2021) two earthquakes with magnitude of Mw3,1 and Mw3,2 took place in Reykjanes volcano. A swarm of smaller earthquakes is currently ongoing in the volcano.


The earthquake activity in the Reykjanes volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

This earthquake activity has been going on for one year. Inflation was detected on 21-January-2020 by Icelandic Met Office and it has continued since then. Area of activity is now larger then it was at the start of this activity. There is currently no sign that an eruption is about to start but that might change without warning.