The Iceland Volcano Thread

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maquiladora wrote: »

You might have to wait a bit longer. IMO just downgraded it to a not very interesting 0.9 mag quake now!

You could always watch Dante's Peak or Volcano.....

I've been watching Supervolcano on Youtube.

Here's a strange and sad story I came across just now.

http://www.losandes.com.ar/notas/2011/7/15/muere-hombre-engullido-geiser-hawai-581118.asp

maquiladora

Jon Frimann has spotted new activity at the small Hamarinn volcano in Iceland.

There is a a small harmonic tremor spike taking place at the moment.



You can see the spike rising at the very end of the plot, the bigger spike a few days back created a glacial flood (that didn't do any damage due to the remote area) and may have been due to a very small eruption under the ice.

Hamarinn might be on its way to a full eruption but it's way too early to tell.

Something to follow while Katla is keeping fairly quiet.

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maquiladora wrote: »

Something to follow while Katla is keeping fairly quiet.

I imagine even Katla would find Bardabunga a hard act to follow. She'd really have to pull out all the stops. :eek:

maquiladora

up for anything wrote: »

I imagine even Katla would find Bardabunga a hard act to follow. She'd really have to pull out all the stops. :eek:

At the moment it seems the tremors are from Hamarinn which is a small volcano within the Bárðarbunga volcanic system, rather than that main Bárðarbunga volcano itself.

Right now the tremor has fallen back to normal levels again, but worth watching incase it jumps back up.

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maquiladora wrote: »

At the moment it seems the tremors are from Hamarinn which is a small volcano within the Bárðarbunga volcanic system, rather than that main Bárðarbunga volcano itself.

Right now the tremor has fallen back to normal levels again, but worth watching incase it jumps back up.

I was just thinking about them being connected and sods law.

maquiladora

Harmonic tremor spikes are on the rise again....

http://hraun.vedur.is/ja/oroi/skr.gif

(There was a few small spikes, back to normal again now)

maquiladora

Small earthquake swarm at Katla happening right now.

Jon Frimann noted the swarm started with a Tornillo earthquake, which in some volcanic systems, is a precursor to eruption.

Hard to know how significant this will be yet, but I'm keeping an eye on it.

Edit : Swarm seems to have ended.

Edit 2 : Still some activity....

up for anything

Some more small EQs in the last while. To go to bed or stay up is the question?

maquiladora

up for anything wrote: »

Some more small EQs in the last while. To go to bed or stay up is the question?

Hard to know is it is the start of something or just a rumble on a long road to a future full eruption.

I think if an eruption was hours away then there would be a lot more quakes, much bigger quakes and a dramatic harmonic tremor.

maquiladora

Big earthquake on Jon Frimann's geophone!

maquiladora

3.8 earthquake right in the middle of the Katla caldera at 1.1km :eek:

Swarm still ongoing.

Edit : Swarm has ended and the big 3.8 quake got manually downgraded to a 2.6, despite looking much stronger than that. See if you can spot it http://www.simnet.is/jonfr500/earthquake/tremoren.htm

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Well, I'm glad I went to bed. If it's going to erupt it will be on Friday evening.

maquiladora

A small harmonic tremor is being picked up now at some stations close to Katla.

up for anything

Just looking at the Katla webcam. There seems to be some dispute over whether it is clouds or steam hovering over Katla. Any cloud expert here willing to make an educated guess?

http://www.ruv.is/katla

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They've put back the 3+.

Monday 18.07.2011 02:02:27 63.660 -19.116 1.1 km 3.8 90.09 7.0 km ENE of Goðabunga

Elmo5

Looks more like steam to me, although far from an expert!

maquiladora

up for anything wrote: »

They've put back the 3+.

It definitely looked stronger than 2.6 on Jon's geophone anyway.

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3.8 apparently if they don't change it again.

Another small one in the last few minutes.

ETA: Back to a 2.6. They're playing with us.

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I'm not altogether clear as to why they downgrade them. Something to do with background noise and the like. I must ask for a clear explanation why.

I keep losing the Katla cam. The Mila ones are much easier to get and keep.

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Back up again to 3.8 again. There must be an AH work experience person in the IMO taking the piss.

maquiladora

141_Oscar_Mike wrote: »

Why are they always corrected/downgraded? Does the geophone take false readings too?
.

When the earthquake happens it gets automatically presented on the webpage based on early data from maybe just one or two stations (I dont know how many) to save time and get the earthquake recorded quickly . So the first magnitude is based on this, but then later there is human input and other data from other stations etc. gets processed and so the magnitude and depth etc gets updated. Sometimes upgraded, sometimes downgraded.

maquiladora

Looks like everything is back to normal at Katla again. That small quake wasn't the start of a new swarm and the suspected harmonic tremor doesn't look as interesting now.

Will check back in a few hours. :pac:

mickger844posts

Just caught the last 25 mins of Julia Bradbury's Icelandic Walk last night on BBC 2. Looked very interesting. She finished by going to the mouth of the Eyjafjallajokull crater. Renewed my interest in the whole subject.

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Essential watching. Video about Katla by National Commissioner of the Icelandic Police Civil Protection Department.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji-yY3OmAZY

maquiladora

Nothing interesting happening with Katla at the moment.

Btw, Katla in English means Kettle.

A watched kettle never boils?

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maquiladora wrote: »

Nothing interesting happening with Katla at the moment.

Btw, Katla in English means Kettle.

A watched kettle never boils?

I'm going to bed early tonight so expect fireworks.

morticia2

up for anything wrote: »

Essential watching. Video about Katla by National Commissioner of the Icelandic Police Civil Protection Department.

very interesting. Glad I don't live anywhere near it...yikes, 2 hours warning to get out...not the easiest with small children, I'd imagine.

Bens

This definitely looks like steam to me.

http://makeagif.com/i/FENKnS

And the weather has air from Iceland heading right down over Ireland.
Hope nobody is plannig holidays this week.

maquiladora

There are no signs at the moment that a Katla eruption is imminent.

There has been some activity but that could go on and off for a long time before it erupts.

Back last year, before Eyjafjallajokull erupted there was hundreds of earthquakes happening every day before it finally blew its top.

I do think Katla is probably on the final road to an eruption because of the changes that have been happening but it could still be weeks, months or even a year or two away.

Elmo5

Another little swarm tonight !