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Earthquake activity on the Reykjanes ridge

This morning at 10:57 UTC (21-May-2019) a magnitude 3,1 earthquake took place around 7 km west of Geirfugladrangi (a rock). This earthquake was part of a small earthquake swarm in this area. Several magnitude 1,1 to 1,7 earthquakes took place in this location. Since 13:44 UTC the area has been quiet, due to distance from the coastline and the SIL network it is possible that more earthquakes have happened than are being recorded.


Earthquake activity on Reykjanes ridge. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

This is most likely rift zone earthquake activity rather than a volcano related earthquake activity. Earthquake activity is common in this area of the Reykjanes ridge.

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Increased activity in Askja volcano

After more than a month of no noticeable earthquake activity in Iceland there is finally something new to report. It remains quiet in Iceland and most earthquake activity today is just small earthquakes in the magnitude range of 0,0 – 2,8.

This is only my view and might not be the same as views of professional scientists that monitor volcanoes as their job.

Askja volcano has started showing clear signs that an eruption might happen in near future. When that might happen is impossible to know, but given recent history this might happen in 18 to 48 months time from writing of this article. It might also be a considerable longer time until a eruption happens. Current sequence of activity started in 2011 so its already been ongoing for a considerable long period of time.


The activity in Askja volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

In recent months Askja volcano has been showing signs of increased earthquake activity. This is mostly small earthquakes with magnitude from 0,0 to 3,0 in magnitude. Located in small swarms that appear at random location within the volcano. There are quiet time period in this earthquake activity as is normal.

An eruption in Askja volcano is not a major risk to flight in Iceland or Europe. Since if an eruption happens it is going to be lava fissure eruption similar to what erupted in Bárðarbunga volcano in Holuhraun 2014 to 2015. That eruption might also have increased the speed of when Askja volcano is going to erupt. Since the dike intrusion from Bárðarbunga volcano almost started an eruption in Askja volcano, it was only two to three days from happening but stopped in its track before it happened. That might have put Askja volcano on a path of unsuitability that might now be starting to show in increased earthquake activity.

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Earthquake activity continues east of Grímsey island

Today (12-April-2019) an earthquake swarm took place east of Grímsey island. This earthquake swarm is in a place that has been having many earthquake swarms in recent weeks. Largest earthquake in this swarm had a magnitude of 2,7 and other earthquakes were smaller in magnitude. As of writing this article the earthquake swarm seems to have stopped, how long that is going to last is impossible to know.


The earthquake swarm east of Grímsey island. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Current outlook for this area of Tjörnes Fracture Zone is that earthquake activity is going to continue as it has been doing since January when this whole thing started slowly. There is not possible to know when this earthquake sequence ends in Tjörnes Fracture Zone. The risk of a large earthquakes continues to be in this area at the writing of this article.

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Update added on 24-April-2019

If you are donating with a bank. Please update your information again to my Danish bank. Since I am on my way to move back to Denmark in next few months. All the information can be found here. Thanks for the support. 🙂

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Earthquake activity in Grímsvötn (Grímsfjall) and Þórðarhyrna (Thordarhyrna) volcanoes

Sorry for the late article. I’ve been busy in other project that involves taking a lot picture and putting them up on my Instagram that can be found here.

Two earthquake swarms have appeared that I am now keeping an eye out for. This is earthquake activity in Grímsvötn (Grímsfjöll) volcano and then in Þórðarhyrna volcano (Thordarhyrna). Last time Þórðarhyrna erupted was in the year 1902 and that was at the same time an eruption took place in Grímsvötn volcano. Over the last few months there has been increase in earthquake activity in Þórðarhyrna and Grímsvötn volcanoes. Its not completely symmetrical increase in earthquakes, but close to it as of writing of this article. Last time Þórðarhyrna erupted without an eruption in Grímsvötn volcano was in the year 1887 (15th August) to 1889 (?).


Earthquake activity in Grímsvötn and Þórðarhyrna volcanoes. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

It is going to be a serious problem if an eruption happens in Þórðarhyrna volcano because that volcano is completely covered with a glacier that is up to 200 meters thick or thicker. Other risk factor is that Grímsvötn volcano might erupt outside of the caldera resulting in glacier floods and other problems.

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Magnitude 3,3 earthquake east of Grímsey island

I am sorry for the late posting of this earthquake activity.

During the night of 8-April-2019 at 04:44 UTC an earthquake with magnitude 3,3 took place east of Grímsey island. This earthquake is part of a swarm earthquake activity in this area that started few weeks ago and is mostly ongoing as of writing this article.


The earthquake activity east of Grímsey island. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

The earthquake swarm west of Kópasker village continues and there continue to happen several earthquakes each day in that area. There are no clear signs showing that this earthquake activity is about to stop.

Donations

Please remember to support my work. I am getting seriously broke this month. Donations help me keep this website up and running and writing on it. Thanks for the support. 🙂

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Update on ongoing earthquake swarm west of Kópasker (Tjörnes Fracture Zone)

The earthquake swarm that started on 23rd of March 2019 west of Kópasker village is ongoing and hasn’t stopped since that time. Number of earthquakes and magnitude of earthquakes have mostly dropped and in last few days there hasn’t been any earthquake that has reached magnitude 3,0 or larger. This might change without warning since this earthquake activity is ongoing.


The earthquake swarm west of Kópasker village. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

According to recent news articles this is the strongest and longest earthquake swarm on this fault since 1991 (28 years) according to data that scientist at Icelandic Met Office looked at in their records. This is as far back their data possibly go back for this part of Iceland. Over 3000 earthquakes have been recorded in this earthquake swarm since it started.

Donations

Please remember to support my work. I am getting rather broke this month and this is just the start of this month. Thanks for the support. 🙂

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Why donations support my work are important

This is a sticky article.

It takes a lot of hours to maintain this website. Its a lot of work and I spend many hours checking current earthquake data and sometimes hours searching historical records about a volcano or an area in Iceland that is having an earthquake swarm if such data is available. The issue is also costs of hosting the website, since with increased traffic I have had to get larger dedicated hosting. Most months I don’t get enough donations to support that cost.

This endless problem with money because of low social welfare that I’m on and lack of donations means that I’ve not been able to replace my failed earthquake computer (new motherboard +memory +cpu) or my failed server computer (failed for unknown reasons). This has also delayed my seismometer upgrade from my current hardware to Raspberry Shake hardware. I did get donations for it but I didn’t get enough donations to get that project finished. I am going to finish it next 3 to 4 months if no delays happens since I am going to be working next summer. I do need a new earthquake computers for the Raspberry Shake set-up (two, one Windows and one Linux). I don’t have any idea how to do this at the moment due to lack of money. Having no money is also really stressful when it is a problem for a long period of time as has been the case for me for several years already.

Living in Denmark is slightly cheaper than living in Iceland. As is clear from 2017 data from Eurostat. I am also going to be living in a cheaper apartment compared to last time I was living in Denmark (I think its called a condo). I’ll also be debt free in Iceland and that means less financial pressure for me. The exchange rate is always going to be a issue with Icelandic Krona. That is why I hope that I can move paying for my dedicated hosting from ISK to DKK, in the long term it might be more stable and cheaper. Since the the DKK/USD exchange rate is stable compared to ISK/USD exchange rate.

I removed the banners because they are not getting used. According to a Last Week Tonight with John Oliver the click rate of banner advertisements is just 0.17%. It is possible to continue to support me by using Amazon, all the banners have now been moved to Support with Amazon page.

The best way to support my work is with donations by using PayPal or by using bank transfer if you are in the EU and don’t want to use PayPal. All the information can be found here. I don’t want to go subscription because this is information that needs to reach everyone regardless of economic status if something major happens in Iceland.

I want to thank everyone that has been supporting my work with donations. They have helped me to survive the months I’ve been broke.

I am going to update this article in the in the future.

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Update on the earthquake swarm on Tjörnes Fracture Zone

This is a update on the earthquake swarm on Tjörnes Fracture Zone. Information in this article might get outdated quickly.

The earthquake swarm is ongoing as of writing of this article, it has now been going for a week. Since Wednesday there haven’t been any earthquakes over magnitude 3,0. Largest earthquake have reached magnitude 2,9 in last 48 hours. Total number of earthquakes in last 48 hours is around 567.


The earthquake swarm west of Kópasker village. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

This earthquake swarm has been slowly getting less intense and fewer earthquakes have been recorded since yesterday than the days before. It does not mean that this earthquake swarm is over. It might increase again if a large earthquake happens (magnitude 4,0+).

Donations

Please remember to support my work with donations. It help me to run this website (website hosting costs) and just having a normal life (life costs!). Thanks for the support. 🙂

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Update on the earthquake swarm on Tjörnes Fracture Zone (west of Kópasker village)

Uncertainty level has been declared in the area close to Kópasker village due to this earthquake swarm. This is the lowest alert level in Iceland.

Since this earthquake swarm started on Saturday around 1800 earthquake have taken place according to Icelandic Met Office. Largest earthquakes in the last 24 hours have magnitude 3,8 and 3,0. This might change in next few hours since this earthquake swarm is ongoing.


The earthquake swarm (green stars) west of Kópasker. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

This earthquake swarm has increased the risk of a magnitude 6,0 or larger earthquake in the Tjörnes Fracture Zone. This earthquake swarm is large for this part of the Tjörnes Fracture Zone.

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Magnitude 4,2 earthquake west of Kópasker village

At 20:29 UTC an magnitude 4,2 earthquake took place in the earthquake swarm west of Kópasker village. This has increased the earthquake swarm in this area. The magnitude 4,2 was followed by a magnitude 3,3 earthquake few seconds later.


Earthquake swarm west of Kópasker (green stars). Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

The earthquake swarm is currently ongoing and this information might change without warning.