Posts

Posted on

Two strong earthquakes in Bárðarbunga volcano

Today (17-May-2018) at 15:56 UTC an earthquake with magnitude 3,7 took place in Bárðarbunga volcano. Few minutes a larger earthquake happened at 16:00 UTC and had a magnitude of 4,0. A earthquake with magnitude 1,9 happened at 16:01 UTC. No other earthquake has happened since then.


Earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano (green stars). Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

The location of this earthquake swarm was at the normal location that has been seeing earthquake activity in last few months. Currently there is a bad weather in this part of Iceland but nothing is suggesting that an eruption is going to happen in Bárðarbunga volcano following this earthquake activity. The reason for this earthquake activity is inflation of Bárðarbunga volcano.

Posted on

Donations needed for May-2018

Please remember to support my work with donations. At the moment my fridge is about to get empty because I don’t have any money to buy anything. The reason is high bill situation in Denmark this month. If I don’t get any donations I am not sure how last weeks in Denmark are going to be for me. I think difficult is going to be a understatement to my problems following this lack of money.

At the moment it is quiet in Iceland besides the ongoing minor earthquake activity in Öræfajökull volcano. Since I mostly cover current activity rather than past events I don’t have a lot to write about at the moment. I do spend the same time working behind the scene on collecting data in order to see if anything is about to happen in Iceland. This type of quiet period do happen every few weeks and last from two weeks and up to several months at the time.

What is also happening is that I am packing my stuff up and moving to Iceland for the next few years. This means I don’t have to deal with bill problems in Denmark after June-2018. I have also made a minor change to my plan and I have cancelled moving to Spain. What I am going to do instead is to find me a rental apartment in Frankfurt Am Main and move there. I am not sure when that happens. The reason for this that I don’t want to owe a bank any money and I am not into the obligations that following owning a house means. I plan on renting form a housing association in Frankfurt Am Main. I don’t know how many there are there but I estimate it to be quite many due to how large population lives in Frankfurt area (more than 6 million in total) so searching for something that works for me is going to take time.

Thanks for the support. 🙂

Posted on

Fresh earthquake activity in Öræfajökull volcano

During the night of 10-May-2018 an earthquake swarm took place in Öræfajökull volcano. This was not a large earthquake swarm as is common for Öræfajökull volcano. Less than a dozen earthquake happened this time around. At the moment there doesn’t seems to be any earthquake activity happening in Öræfajökull volcano.


Earthquake activity in Öræfajökull volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Largest earthquake in this swarm had the magnitude of 1,5 and the second largest magnitude was 1,4. All other earthquakes where smaller in magnitude. At the moment this seems to be the normal earthquake pattern for Öræfajökull volcano. When that changes is impossible to know.

Donations

Please remember to support my work with donations. At the moment I am extremely broke due to my bill situation. The good news is that May is final month (I hope) were I am going to have this problem. Thanks for the support. 🙂

Future plans

My plan on moving to Spain failed due to how limited amount of money I can save to buy an apartment in Spain (it would take me over 10 years to save up for a payment [30% + 11% costs]). That means I am going to move to plan B. That plan means I am going to be moving to Frankfurt Am Main, Germany. I don’t know for sure when that happens. I am at the moment estimating that I’ll be living in Iceland for 3 to 4 years as things currently stand. I can move to Frankfurt Am Main, Germany soon as I have 9000€ (around maximum amount) saved for all the costs (plus 300.000 ISK for transport of my belongings to Germany).

Article updated at 18:36 UTC. Minor text fixes and addons in Future plans section.

Posted on

Earthquake activity in Öræfajökull volcano

Yesterday (05-May-2018) and today (06-May-2018) a earthquake swarm took place in Öræfajökull volcano. In yesterday earthquake swarm the largest earthquake had a magnitude of 1,5 and most other earthquakes had magnitude lower than 1,0. In today earthquake swarm largest magnitude was 1,0. Today earthquake swarm was considerably smaller than yesterday activity.


Earthquake activity in Öræfajökull volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

Earthquake activity in Öræfajökull remains at low levels but well above background levels for Öræfajökull volcano. At the moment there are no clear signs of when or if a volcano eruption is going to happen. Some time ago Icelandic Met Office moved Öræfajökull volcano from Yellow to Green status.

Donations

Please remember to support my work with donations. I am going to be extremely broke this May due to bills I have to pay in Denmark. Thanks for the support. 🙂

Please note that at the end of May I am moving back to Iceland because I got annoyed and sick of being always broke while living in Denmark. I’ll post more details when I get closer to moving back to Iceland.

Posted on

Minor earthquake swarm in Hengill volcano (Raufarhólshellir cave)

Since yesterday (01-Maí-2018) has been a minor earthquake swarm in Hengill volcano in area of Raufarhólshellir cave. Largest earthquake had a magnitude of 2,9 (at 03:46 UTC) and all other earthquakes that happened were smaller in magnitude. Most common magnitude was 0,3 but few magnitude 1,0 earthquake also happened.


The earthquake swarm in Hengill volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

This earthquake swarm seems to be in a location that might had a dike injection in the years 1995 – 1998 (I don’t have older data). Data from 1995 and until today can be viewed here (this website is in Icelandic). Since 2000 SISZ earthquakes this area has been quiet and I guess this area is mostly going to be quiet besides this minor earthquake swarms that are currently happening.

Donations

Please remember to support my work. Currently I am having problem with paying all the bills in Denmark since they come in three month cycle. The good news is that this is the last time I have to deal with this issue since I am moving away from Denmark at the end of the month. Thanks for the support. 🙂

Article updated at 23:18 UTC. Minor year fixes.

Posted on

Strong earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano

Today at 16:13 UTC (29-April-2018) a magnitude 3,9 earthquake took place in Bárðarbunga volcano. Earlier earthquake had a magnitude at 2,8 and took place at 05:01 UTC. This was also the second largest earthquake that happened today.


Earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano (green star). Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

This earthquake activity is normal for Bárðarbunga volcano at the moment. This earthquake activity happens since Bárðarbunga volcano is inflating after the eruption in 2014-August to 2015-February. Current rate of this type of earthquake activity is a magnitude 3,0 or larger earthquake every 2 to 4 months. This used to happen weekly in 2015 and 2016. Earthquakes are now fewer but magnitude is often larger.

Donations

Please remember to support my work with donations. I am going to really broke in May due to bills and that is the only issue. Thanks for the support. 🙂

Article updated at 19:37 UTC. Minor text fixes.

Posted on

Small earthquake swarm in Katla volcano

On 25-April-2018 and on 26-April-2018 small earthquake swarm took place in Katla volcano. The earthquake activity took place in the south part of the Katla volcano caldera.


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

Largest earthquake in this swarm had a magnitude of 2,1 and 1,8. All other earthquakes where smaller in magnitude. This also suggests that summer earthquake activity in Katla volcano is starting and more earthquake swarms like this can be expected in next few months.

Donations

Please remember to support my work. It helps me to keep everything working. Thanks for the support. 🙂

Posted on

Earthquake activity in Öræfajökull and Tungnafellsjökull volcanoes

This article contains information about two volcanoes. There is currently also a lot of earthquake activity in Bárðarbunga volcano. But that is going to be a different article if needed.

Öræfajökull volcano

At the moment there is a continuous minor earthquake activity happening in Öræfajökull volcano. Largest earthquake in current swarm had the magnitude of 2,0 and second largest earthquake had a magnitude of 1,5.


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


Earthquake rate in Öræfajökull volcano for the last 15 days. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

What worries me about Öræfajökull volcano is that it already seems to be at stage two in its path to an eruption. Article explaining that can be read here, Seismic patterns help forecast eruptions from quiet stratovolcanoes

Tungnafellsjökull volcano

There has been minor earthquake activity in Tungnafellsjökull volcano in recent days but mostly in last few hours. It remains unclear at the moment why this earthquake activity is happening. It is a possibility that this just tectonic stress due to Bárðarbunga volcano activity in 2014 – 2015 eruption.


Earthquake activity in Öræfajökull and Tungnafellsjökull volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

As it currently stands I don’t think anything is going to happen in Tungnafellsjökull volcano for now.

Donations

Please remember to support my work. As it currently stands I am going to be super broke in May. But that is also going to be the last month that is going to be the case (I hope). Thanks for the support. 🙂

Posted on

Minor earthquake swarm in Torfajökull volcano

This morning (on 20-April-2018) an earthquake swarm took place in Torfajökull volcano. This was a minor earthquake swarm and largest magnitude was 2,4. All other earthquakes where smaller in magnitude.


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

There isn’t a lot happening in Katla volcano on this image. It is all quiet at the moment. In general it is also really quiet in Iceland at this moment.

Donations

Please remember to support my work even if it is quiet at the moment in Iceland. It is impossible to know when that changes. I also have the bill problem for May ongoing and that is explained here. Thanks for the support. 🙂

Posted on

Sharp increase in earthquake activity in Öræfajökull volcano (it’s quiet again)

During the night of 9-April-2018 a swarm of earthquake appeared in Öræfajökull volcano. This activity has quieted down again for now. Largest earthquake in this swarm had a magnitude of 1,5 but all other earthquakes appear to be smaller than 1,0 in magnitude. Depth seems to have been at 6 – 8 km, but depth information doesn’t seems to be fully accurate. I don’t know why that is. Total number of earthquakes was 22 in this swarm.


Last 15 days in earthquake activity in Öræfajökull volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.


Earthquake trends in Öræfajökull volcano since 2005. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.


The latest 48 hours in earthquake activity in Öræfajökull volcano. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Met Office.

I am not sure why this earthquake swarm activity pattern happens and then vanishes. I do find it troubling that it does this and I think this is happening more frequently now than before. Earthquake magnitudes continue to be small but that might not be the whole story of what is currently happening in Öræfajökull volcano. There is no major change in conductivity in the glacier rivers from Öræfajökull volcano.