This is a short update since this situation is developing quickly.
No eruption has started at the writing of this article. Harmonic tremor is slightly lower compared to when it started at 14:20 UTC in Krýsuvík volcano. This drop in harmonic tremor started around 16:00 UTC. This harmonic tremor is ongoing as for writing of this article. There are no signs of the rift valley formation on the surface yet, but it does show up on measurements, both GPS and satellite measurements. Earthquake activity is high at the writing of this article but most earthquakes are small in magnitude but there are few earthquakes with magnitude of Mw3,0.
Earthquake activity in Krýsuvík volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.Earthquake activity trace of the earthquake activity on Reykjanes peninsula. Most earthquakes are in Krýsuvík volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
Web cameras of the possible eruption area can be found in this locations.
This article is written at 16:14 UTC. This is just a short update because the situation changes quickly.
Harmonic tremor has been detected in the Krýsuvík volcano. If an eruption happens as is now expected this is the first eruption in Krýsuvík volcano since the year 1340.
Harmonic tremor detected on SIL station Vogar. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.Earthquake activity in the Krýsuvík volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
A rift valley has been confirmed to have formed in the Krýsuvík close to the area where the eruption is expected. This is between Keilir and Fagradalsfjall mountains. It is possible to watch live stream from this area on YouTube here.
Update at 16:41 UTC
Second web camera that is run by Rúv can be found here.
This is a short update on the activity in Krýsuvík volcano. The activity has been confirmed to be only in Krýsuvík volcano and nothing is currently happening in Reykjanes volcano at the writing of this article.
Krýsuvík volcano started to show changes in late 2008 and early 2009 and that has been going on since then in low activity. Krýsuvík volcano is strange in that it does not have any shallow magma chamber in the top layers of the crust and Krýsuvík volcano size is unclear. This uncertainty shows in maps as different maps show different size and location of Krýsuvík volcano. While there is no shallow magma chamber in Krýsuvík volcano it does not rule out a deep, large magma chamber that does not show up on any seismometer since this magma chamber is located in the top layers of the mantle (10 to 30 km).
Earthquake activity in Krýsuvík volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
Largest earthquakes since midnight had a magnitude of Mw4,6 and since around 12:00 it has been rather quiet in Krýsuvík volcano when it comes to large earthquakes. A lot of smaller earthquakes have been taking during all this time and there is no sign of those stopping. The reason for all this earthquake activity is a magma dyke that is now breaking its path up to the surface from around 10 km depth. There are nothing to suggest that process is about to stop or slow down. Drop in activity as is now happening are common feature of this type of dyke activity and was seen just before the eruption in Bárðarbunga volcano (Holuhraun) in 2014 to 2015.
Earth Science department of University of Iceland released a pictures that show how this dyke in Krýsuvík volcano works and that image can be viewed here on Facebook.
If anything major happens I am going to post an update soon as possible. Next update is tomorrow (03-March-2021) if activity remains as it currently is.
Yesterday (01-March-2021) at 19:53 UTC an magnitude Mw3,3 earthquake took place north-east of Grímsey island. This might be a new earthquake swarm in this area since earthquake swarms in Tjörnes Fracture Zone often star slowly. Earthquake swarms are common in this part of Iceland.
Earthquake activity north-east of Grímsey island. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
There is a chance of a stronger earthquake swarm in this area. Currently the activity remains small and nothing more might happen. This earthquake activity is not connected to what is happening on the Reykjanes peninsula.
Next article about Reykjanes peninsula activity is going to be written tomorrow (2-Mars-2021) unless something major happens.
Today (1-March-2021) it was confirmed that Krýsuvík volcano is having a large magma injection from depth into the shallower layers of the crust. Resulting in the current earthquake swarm. At the writing of this article it seems that the magma is located at around 6 km depth. Detected displacement by GPS recordings is now more than 30cm according to the news and scientists.
Inflation map of Reykjanes peninsula showing displacement. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
The image above is from here on Facebook. What is also interesting is the activity in Reykjanes volcano. There have also been earthquakes in Reykjanes volcano but they have been fewer but not necessarily smaller in magnitude
Next article is going to be tomorrow (02-March-2021) if nothing major happens.
Update 2-March-2021 at 13:40 UTC
This morning it was confirmed that the volcano that is having a major dyke intrusion is the volcano Krýsuvík and not the volcano Reykjanes as I first thought since earthquake activity for the last 14 months has been most active in this volcano. This article has been corrected in light of this information. The border between the two volcanoes is little unclear on the map and even different between maps.
This is a short update on activity in Reykjanes and Krýsuvík volcanoes.
There has not been a lot of change in the earthquake activity in Reykjanes volcano. There has been a slight increase in earthquake activity compared to yesterday (28-Febrary-2021) but that increase is not a lot and only from 800 earthquakes to 1000 earthquakes for a 12 hour time period according to the news. Largest earthquake in last 24 hours had a magnitude of Mw4,9 and was felt over a wide area in West Iceland and was clearly felt in Reykjanes area.
The earthquake activity on Reykjanes peninsula. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.
There have now been two earthquakes outside Reykjanestá out in the ocean. A swarm of earthquakes started to appear at that location few hours ago. It is unclear what this earthquake activity means for now. This earthquake activity is something that needs to be watched since it seems to be connected for some unknown reason to the main earthquake activity on Reykjanes peninsula.
Update at 16:57 UTC
The newest earthquake has the magnitude of Mw5,1 at 16:35 UTC. This earthquake was felt over a wide area in western Iceland and all over Reykjanes peninsula.
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Article updated at 16:58 UTC.
Article updated at 23:35 UTC.
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