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Earthquake in Brennisteinsfjöll volcano

On 24-May-2021 at 21:36 UTC an earthquake took place in Brennisteinfjöll volcano. The magnitude of this earthquake was Mw3,6 and this earthquake was felt in Reykjavík area.

Green star in the middle of the image of Reykjanes peninsula showing the location of the earthquake that was felt in Reykjavík.
The location of the earthquake in Brennisteinfjöll volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

There have been few smaller earthquakes in this area since the largest earthquake, but other than that it has been quiet. This earthquake is believed to have happened because of stress changes on the Reykjanes peninsula because of the eruption in Fagradalsfjall mountain.

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Update on the eruption in Fagradalsfjall mountain on 21-May-2021

This is a short update on the eruption in Fagradalsfjall mountain on 21-May-2021. This is part of the Krýsuvík-Trölladyngja volcano system.

There has not been a lot of change since last update on the eruption. The eruption has now been going on for two months and few more days. There are no signs of the eruption ending.

  • The lava fountain activity continues as it has been doing for the last month.
  • Output of lava has been increasing and is now around 11m3 compared to 5m3 at the start of the eruption.
  • Lava is now on its way to the ocean by flowing down into Nátthagadalur valley. There is an attempt to try and stop or delay that from happening by pushing up defences and try to hold back the lava field. It is my personal view that this attempt is going to fail, at most it is only going to delay the lava a little bit. Since the lava field also has to get over a hill that is in its path anyway. That is only going to take few days to a week depending on how much lava is being fed into this part of the lava field. That changes all the time with no warning.
  • Most of the lava goes into Meradalir valley where it is for now not putting anything in danger or risking infrastructure.
  • SO2 pollution is starting to show in south Iceland. There was also report of static electric charge build up around the eruption site yesterday (20-May-2021). It didn’t result in a lightning but the risk was in place for a good while.

There are for now no other news of the eruption and it has been quiet in other parts of the Iceland during the last week.

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Update on the eruption in Fagradalsfjall mountain on 15-May-2021

This is a short update on the eruption in Fagradalsfjall mountain. This eruption is part of the volcano system Krýsuvík-Trölladyngja volcano system.

The eruption continues as before but increase in lava output has been detected and is now 70% more according to latest news from Icelandic Met Office and Earth science of University of Iceland. Compared to the start of the eruption on 19-March-2021.

  • The eruption continues in one main crater. It erupts in lava fountain style at the writing of this article. With highest lava fountains reaching the height of 400 to 500 meters. The lava fountains can be seen from Reykjavík and other nearby area.
  • The lava field is about to reach Nátthagi valley and there is now an attempt to stop that from happening. Because of nearby road and fibre optic cable that runs through that area. It is my estimate that attempts to stop the lava flow are going to fail when the lava flow starts going back to Nátthagi valley.
  • The main crater is now 50 to 90 meters high. But his height is always changing because of continued collapse from it inside it and outside it. The process of collapse is slowly growing the crater volume and size.
  • The magma seems to be coming from even deeper part of the mantle compared to with start of the eruption. Based on lava changes in the chemical makeup.
  • There are no signs of the eruption about to be ending soon.

It is difficult to know for sure what happens next in the eruption. Opening up of new craters outside of current line of craters is something that might happen. With the eruption growing in size it is difficult to know for sure what is going to happen next in Fagradalsfjall mountain.

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Earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano

Yesterday (12-May-2021) at 15:47 UTC an earthquake with magnitude of Mw3,5. This earthquake was in the normal area of Bárðarbunga volcano caldera. This earthquake activity is connected to inflation of Bárðarbunga volcano that started after the end of Holuhraun eruption in 2015.

Green star in Bárðarbunga volcano caldera and few red dots east of Bárðarbunga volcano showing new deep dyke activity taking place. Image is from 13:20 today (13-May-2021).
Earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

There has been a slow drop in earthquake activity during the last few months and it is unclear why that is. Eruptions in Bárðarbunga volcano can be as short apart in time as 18 years or less. The 1996 eruption in Gjálp fissure was from Bárðarbunga volcano, that places the time between eruptions 1996 and 2014 at 18 years.

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Earthquake swarm in Krýsuvík volcano

Since last night (night of 3-May-2021) there has been earthquake swarm in Krýsuvík volcano close to Kleifarvatn lake. At the writing of this article this earthquake swarm is ongoing.

Earthquake swarm in Krýsuvík volcano shown by two green stars on top of each other
Earthquake swarm in Krýsuvík volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Largest earthquakes in this swarm had a magnitude of Mw3,2 and there where several other smaller earthquakes that also happened. The earthquake at 03:04 UTC was felt in Reykjavík but I don’t have any reports about the earthquake at 15:49 UTC with same magnitude being felt. It is difficult to know what this earthquake activity means but for now the idea is that this earthquake activity might be connected to stress changes because of the magma dyke connected to the eruption in Fagradalsfjall mountain that is happening within same volcano system.


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Vacation

I am taking a little vacation between 5 May and until 10 May. Unless something major happens next update won’t be until after 10 May 2021. I am hoping to see the eruption or the area if the eruption is not ongoing next weekend if weather allows for such a trip. I don’t know yet if I can see the eruption, but I hope that I am going to have a chance to see the eruption.

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Update on the eruption in Fagradalsfjall mountain on 30-April-2021

This is a short update on the eruption in Fagradalsfjall mountain on 30-April-2021.

There has not been any major changes since last update. This are the noticeable changes since last update in the eruption in Krýsuvík-Trölladyngja volcano system.

  • Just one crater is now erupting. All other craters have stopped erupting but for now some of them might contain lava lake for now that might be creating a flow in lava tubes under the surface in the lava field. This process might not be visible on the surface.
  • A lot of activity now is in form of high lava arcs (correct word?) are now being formed in the one crater because of increased gas content of the lava.
  • Lava fields are slowly filling up all nearby valleys that it is flowing into. This is a slow process and is going to take months.
  • There are no signs the eruption is about to end.

No other updates have been reported so far. Rúv has installed a new web camera to give better view of the eruption. That camera can be found on YouTube Rúv channel.

Vacation

I am going on a small vacation between 5th May and 10th May. That means next update about the eruption is going to be on 14th May. I don’t know if I can go to the eruption yet as that depends on the weather and the weather is always unstable in Iceland.

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Earthquake swarm in Hengill volcano

Sorry for the late article. I’ve been dealing with technical problems in my mobile phone all day and delayed a lot of things for me.

Yesterday (29-April-2021) an earthquake swarm started in Hengill volcano. This earthquake swarm appears to be tectonic in nature. Largest earthquake in this swarm had a magnitude of Mw3,8 and was felt in Reykjavík.

Far left on image is a green star that shows the earthquake activity in Hengill volcano
Earthquake swarm in Hengill volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

This earthquake activity looks tectonic in nature and there are no signs that the reason for this earthquake swarm is anything but tectonic stress adjustments for now. I always expect more and stronger earthquakes swarm when cold volcanoes (not erupted for a long time) starts to get warm as was the case before the eruption in Fagradalsfjall mountain when up to 50.000 earthquakes took place from 27th February until 19th March when the eruption started.

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Earthquake activity south of Keilir mountain

During the night of 27-April-2021 an earthquake swarm took place south of Keilir mountain in Krýsuvík-Trölladyngja volcano system. This earthquake activity at this location has been going on for a long time and is interesting. There are no sign that suggest an eruption is about to happen at this location, that is the situation at the writing of this article. Largest earthquake in this swarm had a magnitude of Mw3,2 at the depth of 6,1 km and second largest earthquake had a magnitude of Mw2,8 at the depth of 5,9 km.

Earthquake activity south of Keilir mountain shown by a green star on the map of Reykjanes peninusla
Earthquake activity on the Reykjanes peninsula. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

It seems that there is a chance there might be changes about to happen in the eruption in Fagradalsfjall mountain. I am going to write about that tomorrow at the earliest, but the article might be delayed of there is a lot going on while I gather information about what is happening.

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Update on the eruption in Fagradalsfjall mountain on 26-April-2021

This is a short update on the eruption in Fagradalsfjall mountain in Krýsuvík-Trölladyngja volcano system.

There are no major changes reported during the last few days. But there have been minor changes in last few days. Here the latest changes that have been reported.

  • The oldest craters have stopped erupting. One of the crater has changed into a lava lake for now while the other is possible also a lava lake even if it is not visible. A lot of gas (smoke) comes from the more south crater in the crater row 1.
  • There are three to four craters that continue to erupt. There seems to have been a tiny increase in the eruption today (26-April-2021). This can be explained by how few craters are currently erupting.
  • No new craters have opened up in last few days. This is correct at the writing of this article.
  • Harmonic tremor seems to be decreasing. It is unclear why that is since the eruption is currently ongoing.

There are no other reports about the eruption. I am not sure when next update is going to happen but it is going to be soon as possible if anything changes in the eruption.