A string of unusual and powerful earthquakes yesterday, located almost entirely in the southwest, continued to emit seismic activity overnight. Although larger earthquakes may be on the way, there is no mercy indicating that an eruption in the area is imminent.
Starting yesterday morning at 10:00 Icelandic time, dozens of earthquakes larger than 3 in magnitude – where the largest was 5.7 – began to rumble on Reykjanes, the southwestern peninsula of Iceland. There is especially seismic activity in the area, but the intensity and frequency of the earthquakes was considered unusual by scientists who monitor these activities in Iceland.
RÚV reports that this activity continued into the night and 242 earthquakes were recorded between midnight and 7:00 this morning. 20 were larger than 2 and two were larger than 3, with 3.1 recorded just after 1:00 and 3.4 measured at 3:30.
A total of 57 earthquakes larger than 3 in magnitude have been detected since yesterday at 10:06.
Among the possible explanations for the earthquakes that were being investigated was the probability that volcanoes in Reykjanes such as Mt. Þorbjörn was ready to erupt. Measurements of the volcanoes, however, showed that they existed no signs of impending eruption.
The southwestern region has nevertheless been in a state of emergency as there is still a high probability that earthquakes of even greater magnitude may be on the way.
Two of the most reliable sources of earthquakes and volcanic activity – the websites of the Icelandic Meteorological Office and the city defense – collapsed due to web traffic, which they received less as a result. Indicator reports that 70,000 people who tried to visit vedur.is at the same time crashed the server and the Civic Protection site was brought down too.
Ingvar Kristinsson from the Icelandic Meteorological Office told reporters that the website had previously experienced failures due to heavy traffic and that measures are now being taken to ensure that up to 100,000 people could possibly visit the site at the same time without encountering it.
The morning has so far been calm in Iceland, but the country continues to hold its breath to cause larger earthquakes.
Source: The Nordic Page
