Bardarbunga Volcano, Iceland

As if the people of Iceland are not on edge enough with the Eyjafjallajokull Eruption and awaiting her sister Katla to stir. We now have unrest at Bardarbunga Volcano. The only good thing I can say about this one is that at least I can pronounce Bardarbunga. This Volcano has had the largest Lava flow on earth in the past 10,000 years. In the year 1477 the eruption of Bardarbunga had an eruption with a index of 5.

An earthquake swarm has begun on September 26, 2010.

John Search
Wiki
Volcano Discovery
Overview/study

We all need to pay very close attention to this volcano.

Thanks for letting us know OP. Definately something to keep an eye on. Do you have a direct link to the
data on recent swarms?

S & F

OP could you tell us what region is closest to the Bardarbunga volcano in the link below? Thanks

en.vedur.is...

reply to post by Aelfrede


Having difficulty posting the map and link. It is where the red circle is above and to the right of the star

reply to post by Anmarie96


Hi Anmarie96, you rock for making this thread!

I have been getting more and nervous about this area for the last month or so, but there were 41 Eq's in that specific area over this past weekend, all at varying depths.

The image below is one I saved from this past Saturday.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/835538b2eea0.png[/atsimg]

And here is the current view of Iceland as a whole. The area of concern is around the area with the star on it, which means a mag 3.0 or greater.

Here is the info for that EQ:

Saturday
25.09.2010 23:36:58 64.510 -17.769 1.2 km 3.7 99.0 3.2 km NE of Hamarinn

And the current map of the country here:

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/c69bf768ddcb.png[/atsimg]

en.vedur.is...

I cant seem to find any webcams for this area, does anybody have any links to any?.

I pretty much followed the eyja' eruption from day one, would hate to miss this one.

reply to post by Catch_a_Fire


I just asked the exact same question in another thread about this area.

And I am in the same boat as you. It was the eruption of Eyjafjallajökull that got me onto the Eruptions blog, and then it was one person on the Eruptions blog that got me onto ATS.

If anyone does have any cam links to this area, please do share!

reply to post by Catch_a_Fire


There are no web cams that cover this area at present. You can bet there will be if anything happens.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/ed0c5b2e2b6a.gif[/atsimg]

Have to say it is not particularly significant - YET!!

I think it is a bit windy there. Hekla webicorder. A private recorder owned by Jon Friman.

reply to post by PuterMan


I defer to your knowledge for sure, but I think this area definitely bears monitoring. Especially with the potential involved here.

And yes, I think there is nothing to fear...yet.

reply to post by Anmarie96


Thanks for your link to the Volcano Discovery site with the Bardarbunga info.

I thought it would be ok to post a quote from that site with some historical info:

"Background
Bárdarbunga, a large central volcano, had its last major eruption in 1477 when it produced a large ash and pumice fall-out deposit. It also produced the largest known lava flow during the past 10,000 years on earth (more than 21 cubic kilometers of volume).

The volcano is hidden beneath the northwestern part of the Vatnajökull glacier, and contains a 700-m-deep caldera that is hidden beneath ice and has extensive flank fissures, from where eruptions have taken place: the Veidivötn fissure extends for over 100 km to the SW, almost reaching Torfajökull volcano, while the Trollagigar fissure extends 50 km to the NE touching Askja volcano."

www.volcanodiscovery.com...

reply to post by lasertaglover


Also note, the Vatnajokull glacier is the largest in Iceland and also the Largest Ice Cap in Europe. Everything about this area is big! One Source. I think it was just the site I was on before that was giving me problems with links and screenshots.

reply to post by Anmarie96


Exactly! Besides being a big volcano anyway, the melt from the glacier is a major issue as well. But I can't pronounce the glacier-outburst floods either lol.

"A major risk from Bárdarbunga are jökulhlaups (glacier-outburst floods), that can be hazardous for areas in all directions around Bárdarbunga."

from: www.volcanodiscovery.com...

Puterman, you been able to do any spectral analysis on this recent seismicity? And are you having any luck accessing seed files for the Iceland seismic networks?

I can't get close enough (there's just one available broadband station) in GEE to be watching for HT's. The Iceland hotspot network XD96 doesn't come up no matter what channels I try in GEE. If there is a bigger quake I'll probably catch it on II.BORG, but other than that I'm blind.

I'd really like to be able to monitor Katla closer.

Here is a seismicity map from USGS 1990-2006:



And here is just last week:



Those quakes at Katla are, well....curious.

Just wish we had more info to go on. With three, 5+ mag quakes recently on the REYKJANES RIDGE back to back, and all this other seismicity going on at Katla, Bardarbunga and the others there, it would be interesting to see if any HT's develop. Need spectral man, maybe see what you can do?

reply to post by TrueAmerican


Blind is about the word for it. There are various things available from vedur but no data files and I cannot get anyone to react in IRIS about SEED data although I do have an enquiry in. I think I am just going to have to sit down and work it out for myself. It can't be much different from the SAC data files and I managed to hack those OK.

BORG is the only source I am afraid but II.BORG.00.BH2 (20Hz) is not too bad and gives a good signal and is actually cleared than the vertical component. II.BORG.10.BHZ is a 40Hz instrument and is also quite good. LNZ is pretty much useless for our purposes.

Some samples for you:
BORG.II.00.BHZ.2010.270
BORG.II.00.BH2.2010.270
BORG.II.00.LNZ.2010.270
BORG.II.00.LNZ.2010.270

Edit: The webicorder of Jon Friman will show anything going on at Katla as will the tremor monitor that wer have all been watching for so long. The 0.5 Hz line is the one to watch of HT.

Do also bear in mind that we are going back into a colder season of the year so there so be ice pack increase and a certain amount of isostatic depression.

This is the 48 hour all Iceland quakes list (in Icelandic of course). Stærð is the magnitude and Dýpi is the depth. You should look at this list and the English version as they can be, indeed often are, slightly different.

Basically it is quietening down now and I don't think is anything to get excited about, but as I have said before is an area to watch.

Edit: Been trying to find this one again. This is the tremor graph for Grimsfjall

It comes from this page

reply to post by PuterMan


Ahh, so you're having trouble too getting to those files...as I suspected. Hey, thanks for digging those charts up.

But I would assume you have checked the location of II.BORG? That is really NOT in a good position, relative to either Katla or Bardarbunga, to be watching for HT's. The station is too far away.

As you know, HT's can vary in amplitude considerably, and with that much distance to station, in both cases, we ain't got jack. I mean maybe if we had a 3.0 or above continuous HT, but even then I question to what extent it would be visible at II.BORG. Nah man, we gotta get closer, and on SHZ's to see them really.

What many dont know is that the most powerful volcano eruption on earth happened at Bárðarbunga some time ago.

fromtheold.com...

Can anyone verify this for me!?

Originally posted by PuterMan
BORG is the only source I am afraid but II.BORG.00.BH2 (20Hz) is not too bad and gives a good signal and is actually cleared than the vertical component. II.BORG.10.BHZ is a 40Hz instrument and is also quite good. LNZ is pretty much useless for our purposes.

But see, that's just it...BORG is not the only source. The Iceland Hotspot network as mentioned above has stations all over the place in Iceland. But they are unavailable. To us. Not to them. And the point is there is more data, but why isn't it available to us? Cause they are not part of the ANSS?

reply to post by TrueAmerican


Just realised that those pages are WAY out of date as usual. In fact so unusually is Jon Friman's recorder the last time being 13:00

I am going to have to go back through my notes as I do have other links tucked away somewhere.

Edit: Yes of course when I said only I meant only to us. There are hundreds of networks and recorders throughout the world that we cannot get at, or can only get older data from.

Looks like the area has calmed down a bit these last two days. Only seven EQ's yesterday, and one just now. I think it will be really interesting to see if the activity from over the weekend does indeed resume sometime over the next week.

Tuesday
28.09.2010 10:14:14 64.623 -16.673 12.4 km 1.3 99.0 3.0 km WSW of Kverkfjöll
Monday
27.09.2010 23:10:00 64.511 -17.652 12.8 km 2.2 99.0 8.0 km ENE of Hamarinn
Monday
27.09.2010 23:09:56 64.338 -17.916 3.4 km 1.5 82.47 17.3 km SSW of Hamarinn
Monday
27.09.2010 14:32:48 64.509 -17.707 11.1 km 1.6 99.0 5.5 km ENE of Hamarinn
Monday
27.09.2010 13:26:06 64.792 -17.186 10.2 km 0.9 99.0 1.6 km NE of Kistufell
Monday
27.09.2010 08:03:23 64.778 -17.215 9.7 km 0.9 99.0 0.4 km SW of Kistufell
Monday
27.09.2010 08:00:07 64.781 -17.214 9.1 km 1.9 99.0 0.3 km W of Kistufell
Monday
27.09.2010 04:35:34 64.382 -17.225 0.1 km 1.6 99.0 3.4 km SE of Grímsfjall

en.vedur.is...=table