Earthquake swarm on Reykjanes Peninsula, Iceland
Image credit: IMO
Earthquake activity is ongoing on the Reykjanes Peninsula, the Icelandic Met Office reports. Distinctive swarms have been located by the Reykjanes Power plant, Eldvörp, Sundhnjúkagígar, Hagafell east of mount Þorbjörn, and lake Kleifarvatn from May 2 to 8, 2022.
At 02:32 UTC on May 10, a magnitude 3.2 earthquake was located around 7 km (4.3 miles) north of Reykjanestá, the earthquake was felt in the surrounding area. An M3.0 was recorded last night at 22:55 UTC in the same location.1
While the quakes were felt by people located near the point of origin, Natural Hazard Specialist Sigríður Kristjánsdóttir of the Icelandic Met Office said the swarm is normal activity for the region, adding that no volcanic activity has been detected in the area.2
From May 2 to 8, around 2 200 earthquakes were located by the SIL system. Of those 2 200 events around 850 have been manually reviewed.
The highest activity was on the Reykjanes Peninsula and was widely spread over the area.
Distinctive swarms have been located by the Reykjanes Power plant, Eldvörp, Sundhnjúkagígar, Hagafell east of mount Þorbjörn, and lake Kleifarvatn.
Three earthquakes above magnitude 3 were recorded at lake Kleifarvatn, one just after midnight UTC on May 5, and two on May 7. All three earthquakes were felt in the capital area.
Outside of Reykjanes, earthquake activity was observed e.g. in Bárðarbunga, Langjökull, and in Öxarfjörður. Two small events were detected around Hekla.
References:
1 Specialist remark – Icelandic Met Office – Written by a specialist at 03:00 UTC on May 10, 2022
2 Earthquake Swarm on Reykjanes – No Sign of Volcanic Activity – Iceland Review – May 10, 2022
I'm a dedicated researcher, journalist, and editor at The Watchers. With over 20 years of experience in the media industry, I specialize in hard science news, focusing on extreme weather, seismic and volcanic activity, space weather, and astronomy, including near-Earth objects and planetary defense strategies. You can reach me at teo /at/ watchers.news.
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