Is something happening at Katla Volcano?

Jon Frimann - a foremost blogger and authority on Icelandic volcanoes - noted a new swarm at Katla yesterday and there have been reports that harmonic tremor was noticed.

JF is not entirely sure that the tremors are harmonic. You can find the main links to the tremor monitors around Katla here. The latest from GOD (Godabunga) is here:


This images is (C)Icelandic Met Office

Whilst we had a run a bad weather beginning early this morning, the signature on Jon Frimann's recorder at Hekla does not look like the normal bad weather signature that I have seen there. (We are only 800 miles from Katla and often have the same weather as Iceland)


Image copyright Jon Frimann.
(Jon Frimann ownes his own private seismographs (2) for those who are not aware and also has a website with links to his own webcam on Hekla.)

Add to that the fact that this map from the Myrdalsjokull area @10:55 UTC today shows nothing of the above and my curiosity is aroused. (I already know that these earthquakes are not completely automated and things can appear later)

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There images are (C)Icelandic Met Office

If you look at Jon's blog you will see the signature of events that he has confirmed as being the result of magma movement, and there would seem to be little doubt that the chamber under Katla is filling.

Jon's blog mentions that there is inflation, but that looks to have stopped at present if the GPS is to be believed.



Quietly tucked away in this report issued at the end of August by the Icelandic Met Office is this:

Studies indicate that volcanic activity in Iceland rises and falls so that e.g. the frequency and size of eruptions in and around the Vatnajökull ice cap varies with time. It is believed that four eruptions, that have taken place in the last fifteen years, are the beginning of an active period, during which an eruption in Grímsvötn in Vatnajökull may be expected every 2–7 years. Parallel volcanic activity in nearby Bárðarbunga is well known to be associated with increased activity in Grímsvötn. Seismic activity has been increasing in the area in recent years, indicating the entry of magma. The Hekla volcano is expected to erupt in the near future and an eruption in Katla is also impending.

I am not into scaremongering and not prone to getting excitable about this sort of news but I have been saying for some time now that these 4 volcanoes were going to be getting busy.

My general feeling is that something IS imminent, and Katla - the Vindictive Troll (translation of her name) - is going to get vindictive in the very near future.

The only proviso I would put on this is that Jon Frimann's recorder is on Hekla, not Katla and those may be small magmatic quakes at Hekla (The Gate To Hell). Either way the prognosis is not good I believe.

It's been ongoing for a while now, but they also say they don't know when.
Could be tomorrow, next year or later.

But those ( Katla/Hekla) are some nasty volcanos, so gonna be spectaculare when they blow.

Link to older article.
www.clickgreen.org.uk...

wow, Katla the Volcano and Katia the Hurricane..Hmm Subliminal message maybe to prepare for KatLa?

reply to post by Mianeye


Indeed it has, and thank you for the link.

The signature I am seeing now on that seismo are stronger than ones I have seen on that in sometime. I take a snapshot of these recorders every two hours, and have been since the beginning of June and whilst there have been the odd days where a small bit of the signature is like the one above, this is the longest.

My other point was of course that these do not appear on the 'official' map and I find that curious.

Originally posted by Manhater
wow, Katla the Volcano and Katia the Hurricane..Hmm Subliminal message maybe to prepare for KatLa?

Close, and they are probably vindictive trolls!

Call them both Katy and you have the solution!

Just an addition to the links above.

Jon Frimann's web cams can both be found here www.heklubyggd.is... under Hekla Weather (Vedur is weather in Icelandic I believe)

Nice high quality live cam for Katla here:www.ruv.is...
Its turned on 24/7 so you can have a front seat view if she blows.

reply to post by Atzil321

Its turned on 24/7 so you can have a front seat view if she blows.

Its turned on 24/7 so you can have a front seat view if when she blows.

Because she will there is no doubt about that, just a matter of time!

reply to post by PuterMan


Thanks for this thread Puterman,
I have been keeping a watchful eye on the Iceland Met and the Katla webcam.

Latest from Jon Frimann

He also says that this increased earthquake activity in Katla volcano is due to dike intrusion into Katla volcano or some other activity that is currently taking place in Katla volcano.

www.jonfr.com...

Magmatic dikes

An intrusive dike is an igneous body with a very high aspect ratio, which means that its thickness is usually much smaller than the other two dimensions. Thickness can vary from sub-centimetre scale to many metres, and the lateral dimensions can extend over many kilometres.

Source




Looks as if the Icelandic Met Office site may be down if you are having problems getting images/maps

Whilst there is something going on at Katla, it may not be so imminent. Why do I say this?

I believe I may be guilty of not following my own advice. Earlier today there was a solar flare and I read on an ATS thread that it was not pointed at Earth, indeed that it was not even visible from Earth.

It transpires however on Spaceweather that we were indeed affected by this flare, or I should say UV flash.

Although the blast site was not directly facing Earth, radiation from the explosion nevertheless ionized Earth's upper atmosphere. This altered the propagation of radio signals around Europe, where it was high-noon at the time of the flare

Looking at Gakona this is visible. I also have to assume that the seismograph is transmitting it's data by some form of radio transmission, so that may have been affected.



Since the seismo at Hekla is now quiet this could quite possibly have been interference. Not having access to the waveform I cannot tell but I have to accept that this may be the case.



If I am guilty of a false alarm it was not intended, but I also wish to say that it cannot be far away that Katla shows her strength.

reply to post by PuterMan

It's fine, you are not spreding false rumors, something is rumbling in Island, it might be nothing this time, but the volcanos are alive.
Information instead of prediction, and you have a good thread, you may have solved the mystery, and that is entertaining in it self.
I got some good info and a nice livestream link, one more for the collection

Keep up the good work

Please look at the cam now, what's that glowing in the sky?

www.ruv.is...

reply to post by berkeleygal


I have no idea, moon behind cloud perhaps

reply to post by berkeleygal


I can tell you it is not the moon as the moon is not up yet hre and I doubt it is in Iceland.

Go to spaceweather and scroll down to the auroral oval. Click on Europe.

I believe what you are seeing may be an aurora behind the clouds.

By the way the moon is South of there when it does come up and that camera points at 336 degrees - something I checked many many months ago when Eyja was doing her thing. RUV emailed me with the info.

Aurora North, camera North. QED.

reply to post by berkeleygal


I got a virus alert when attempting to open, I would avoid this link

reply to post by BrianC


False alert my friend. I cam assure you the there are no viruses on that link, which I use frequently.

You should report the link to your AV provider to get that sorted.

In addition by the way that exact same link has been used by hundreds of us and maybe thousands around the world all the time Eyjafjallajokull was in full swing.

reply to post by Mianeye


I dunno, Moon isn't that bright yet.

But I found this
timezoneguide.com...

camera says its 22.20 and sunset is at 20:33 today so we may be seeing a lingering sunset?

ETA the glow is gone now

reply to post by berkeleygal


Possible but I would have thought too high.

23:22 here so 1 hour back in Iceland. Sun set some time ago here but Iceland is 800 miles due North of my house.

Amazing what 800 miles does to the times - half an hour difference.

timezoneguide.com... No way too late I think. There is no trace of light to the North (just looked outside). I am sure that was an aurora, especially the way it faded.

Still looking busy at Katla. Not too busy and JF's seismo is quiet this morning.

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GOD looking quieter as well


Not really a part of this but I notice that ISAK is moving south and up.
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ISAK is located to the north of Hekla the other side of the 'split' so to speak.
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I would have thought this would move east and north. East it is, but south? Have to study that one. These instruments are all relative to Reykjavik so maybe that has moved due to pressure in the Reykjanes ridge changing?

All images on this page are (C) Icelandic Met Office except the Google Earth map (copyright contained in image)