03/04/2021 - The Icelandic Weather Service recorded 10,000 tremors in just one week! In some regions, the earth is swelling by four millimeters per day. This is raising fears of a volcanic eruption.
By Carsten Schmiester, ARD-Studio Stockholm
Fannar Jonasson remembers the first earthquake well: "We were all online," he says, "and we asked the others," Did you hear that? It was cool. Here in Grindavik it was clearly felt. It happened a week ago. Since then, the land in the southwest of the island has not stopped shaking.
Carsten Schmiester
ARD-Studio Stockholm
Carsten SchmiesterARD-Studio Stockholm
The earth rises four millimeters - per day
For more than a year, this part of the volcanic island has never seemed to be the same. In January 2020, geologists had observed that in some places the Earth was lifting up to four millimeters per day. And now the weather service has registered more than 10,000 tremors in one week.
Geologist Kristn Jonsdéttir is an earthquake expert at the National Seismological Institute: It can be said that there are always swarms after a major earthquake with lots of aftershocks.
What is happening scares Icelanders a lot, awakening memories of March and April 2010, when Eyjafjallajökull volcano erupted in the south of the island paralyzing air traffic in Europe.
This time, however, it could be different. At first, geologists were cautious, but now they probably see it differently, at least as indicated by Jonsd'ttir: "I have never seen such strong seismic swarms or so many tremors in so little. time, it's really unusual.
Many scenarios
There are several scenarios that could occur. At best, the tremors will stop at some point.
In the second best case, there is what Icelanders call a "tourist eruption": an eruption of lava somewhere in the middle of nowhere, which provides great images but causes no damage.
The worst case scenario would be if a large flow of lava rolled out between houses, roads, and industries. The lava would come out of the water and generate large clouds of ash, which would wreak havoc.
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