The precursors to the eruption at Fagradalsfjall last year were unusual compared to many other eruptions across the world and the composition of the lava changed as the eruption continued. These are among the findings of two papers published in the latest issue of Nature by scientists at the University of Iceland and the Icelandic Meteorological Office along with a large number of colleagues.

The president of Iceland, Guðni Th. Jóhannesson, opened the science symposium Cryosphere 2022 in Harpa concert hall this morning. The Icelandic Meteorological Office (IMO) is organizing the conference focusing on ice and snow in a warming world. About 330 scientists participate in the symposium from 33 countries of 6 continents.

Updated 23.8.2022

The eruption in Meradalir, which commenced on the 3rd of August, ceased to issue lava on the 21 of August. Volcanic tremor started to decrease steadily from the 18th and stopped completely during the night of 21st. The activity at the crater ceased at the same time, with no visible extrusion of fresh lava.

Preliminary deformation modelling results suggest the top depth of the new dike intrusion beneath Fagradalsfjall is very shallow - about 1 km. The magma inflow rate is rapid, almost double that observed during the first dike intrusion in february-march 2021.

A meeting was held with scientists from the Icelandic Met Office, Institute of Earth Science and the Department of Civil Protection and Emergency Management to follow up on the status of unrest in Askja. Since august 2021 an uplift of 35 cm  centered  west of the Askja lake has been measured.

More than 3000 earthquakes have been automatically detected nearby Eldvörp in the Reykjanes/Svartsengi volcanic system in the past week. Since yesterday (15.05), nine earthquakes had magnitude above M3 and two above M4. The largest event had a magnitude of M4.3 occurred on 15.05 at 17:38 UTC. The seismicity is located at a depth between 4 and 6 km.

The weather in 2021 was mainly favorable, wind speed was below average and stormy days were relatively uncommon. The annual mean temperature was slightly above the 1991 to 2020 mean at most stations, and it was considerably dry in all parts of the country. Snow conditions were remarkably light in the Southwest during the year. The number of snow-covered days in Reykjavík were only 17 and only once been fewer. The summer was exceptionally warm, sunny, and dry in the North and East, the warmest on record in many places in these regions and many maximum temperature records were broken. The monthly mean temperature reached 14 °C at several stations this summer. It is the first time that the monthly mean temperature reaches 14°C at any station since the beginning of observations. The year was sunny in Akureyri and the total number of sunshine hours in Akureyri has only once been more.