Today (19. March 2023) at 14:59 UTC an earthquake with magnitude of Mw3,1 took place in Bárðarbunga volcano. This is normal earthquake activity and shows the inflation that is happening in Bárðarbunga volcano is ongoing after the end of the eruption in 2015.
Earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
This type of earthquake activity happens once to twice a month with a earthquake close to magnitude five happening every three to four months. This earthquake activity is getting lower with time, it is likely that it is going to take few more years until it completely stops.
Today (21. February 2023) at 08:41 UTC an earthquake with magnitude of Mw4,9 took place in Bárðarbunga volcano. This is because of inflation that is now happening in Bárðarbunga volcano and has been going on since end of Holuhraun eruption in 2015. Earthquakes with this type of magnitude are going to happen once or twice a year until Bárðarbunga volcano is ready for next eruption and that can take decades. There are going to be smaller earthquakes between larger earthquakes. According to the news, this earthquake was felt in Akureyri.
Earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
Last time this happened it took 112 years between eruptions in Bárðarbunga volcano. With the quiet period between 1902 and until 2014. Shortest time between eruptions seems to be around 40 years, but most eruptions happen between 90 to 112 years from last eruption. Based on the data from Global Volcanism Program on Bárðarbunga volcano. There is a lot of uncertainty in this data, so this might be shorter from what it looks like in the data.
I’ve switched to using standard definition for earthquake magnitudes, as shown here (Wikipedia). This is for clarification and simplification when I am writing about earthquakes.
Today (7. February 2023) an small earthquake swarm took place. This earthquake swarm started at 11:21 UTC with a magnitude Mw3,2 earthquake and lasted until 12:05 UTC. Other earthquakes were smaller in magnitude.
Earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
This shows that Bárðarbunga volcano continues to inflate at high rate. Based on what happened before the eruption in 2014 to 2015 in Bárðarbunga volcano. When the earthquake stop for long time period it means Bárðarbunga volcano is ready for an eruption. While the earthquake activity happens is it is doing today, it means inflation continues in Bárðarbunga volcano.
Few inflation related earthquakes have taken place in Bárðarbunga volcano this evening. This earthquake activity shows that Bárðarbunga volcano continues to inflate at a fast rate since end of the eruption in February 2015. Continue reading “Earthquake in Bárðarbunga volcano”
Today (29-November-2022) at 01:09 UTC an earthquake with magnitude of Mw3,8 took place in Bárðarbunga volcano. This is a normal inflation earthquake in Bárðarbunga volcano and more earthquakes like this are going to happen in next few years.
Green star shows the earthquake in Bárðarbunga volcano. Picture is from Icelandic Met Office.
This is just regular earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano. After the eruption in Bárðarbunga volcano in 2014 and until 2015 it is going to be a while until next eruption happens. Until then, earthquakes like this are going to happen.
Today (31-October-2022) at 14:57 UTC an earthquake with magnitude of Mw4,2 took place in Bárðarbunga volcano. This is a normal inflation earthquake as Bárðarbunga volcano continues to inflate after the large eruption in 2014 to 2015.
Earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano, also in this image the earthquakes from Herðubreið mountain. Image is from Icelandic Met Office.
This earthquake activity is normal and happens every few months in Bárðarbunga volcano.
Today (24-July-2022) at 13:45 UTC and earthquake with magnitude of Mw4,9 took place in Bárðarbunga volcano. Before this earthquake happened, an slightly smaller earthquake took place with magnitude of Mw4,4.
Green stars in Bárðarbunga volcano, that is in Vatnajökull glacier. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
According to news reports, last earthquake of this magnitude took place in January 2020. This earthquake activity is because of inflow of magma and inflation of Bárðarbunga volcano. This is not going to result in a eruption, this however shows that Bárðarbunga volcano is preparing for an eruption in next few decades or sooner.
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Today (29-June-2022) at 08:16 UTC an earthquake with magnitude Mw3,5 took place in Bárðarbunga voclano. This is the second large earthquake in Bárðarbunga volcano in June.
Earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
This is the same activity as before with Bárðarbunga volcano. That I did explain in the article on 27-June-2022 when that earthquake took place.
Today (27-June-2022) at 05:49 UTC an earthquake with magnitude of Mw3,3 took place in Bárðarbunga volcano. This is an earthquake because of continued inflation of Bárðarbunga volcano after the eruption between 2014 and 2015.
Earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano in Vatnajökull glacier. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
This earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano is going to continue until the day the magma chamber is filled up again and that might take 10 to 70 years. There are going to be few earthquakes like this every year in Bárðarbunga volcano, with time the earthquakes are going to get fewer and instead get larger in magnitude.
Today (28-May-2022) at 08:06 UTC an earthquake with magnitude of Mw4,4 or Mw4,7 (EMSC information can be found here) took place in Bárðarbunga volcano.
Earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
This earthquake activity is because of inflation in Bárðarbunga volcano magma chamber. That was emptied after the eruption in 2014 – 2015 and that resulted in collapse of Bárðarbunga volcano by drop of some 60 meters. This inflation now is reversing that process slowly. It is going to be decades until Bárðarbunga volcano erupts again because of this collapse.
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