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Random pictures
Öraefajökull's glacier-covered caldera seen from the air (photo: (c)Tom Pfeiffer)
Öraefajökull's glacier-covered caldera seen from the air (photo: (c)Tom Pfeiffer)
Latest news:
Öraefajökull volcano (Iceland): continuing seismic unrest cause worries about potential reawakening
Earthquakes under Öræfajökull during the past 7 days
Thursday, Oct 25, 2018
The volcano is continuing to show signs of unrest. Over the past months, elevated numbers of small earthquakes have continued to occur beneath the glacier-covered volcano, suggesting that fresh magma has been accumulating at shallow depth around 5 km. ... [more]
Oeraefajökull volcano (Iceland): alert level lowered back to normal (green)
Saturday, May 05, 2018
On 4 May, the Icelandic Met Office reduced the Aviation Color Code at Öræfajökull from Yellow to Green due to signs of reduced activity. Since September 2017 there has been less earthquake activity, stable hydrological and geochemical measurements, and reduced geothermal heat output. There has been possible minor ongoing inflation, but no signs of an imminent eruption. [more]

 

Öraefajökull volcano

Stratovolcano 2119 m (6,952 ft)
Iceland, 64°N / -16.65°W
Current status: normal or dormant (1 out of 5) | Reports
Öraefajökull volcano books | Tours
Last update: 25 Oct 2018 (seismic unrest)
Typical eruption style:

Explosive.


Öraefajökull volcano eruptions: 1362 (Plinian eruption), 1727-28 (sub-Plinian)
TimeMag. / DepthDistanceLocation
Sat, 12 Oct 2019
Sat, 12 Oct 22:08 UTCM 0.8 / 1.1 km21 km18.1 km S of Skaftafell (Iceland)
Fri, 11 Oct 2019
Fri, 11 Oct 04:29 UTCM 0.4 / 1 km6 km8.0 km SE of Hvannadalshnjúkur (Iceland)
Thu, 10 Oct 2019
Thu, 10 Oct 17:19 UTCM 1.0 / 1.7 km21 km21.4 km ENE of Hvannadalshnjúkur (Iceland)
Thu, 10 Oct 17:19 UTCM 1.8 / 0.3 km20 km20.4 km NE of Hvannadalshnjúkur (Iceland)
Sun, 6 Oct 2019
Sun, 6 Oct 19:40 UTCM 0.419 km19.3 km ENE of Hvannadalshnjúkur (Iceland)
View all recent quakes
Öraefajökull, Iceland's highest peak, is probably Iceland's most violent volcano. A major silicic eruption in 1362 was Iceland's largest historical explosive eruption. It and another eruption during 1727-28 were accompanied by major jökulhlaups (glacier outburst floods) that caused property damage and fatalities.

Background:

Öraefajökull is a broad glacier-clad central volcano at the SE end of the Vatnajökull icecap. A 4 x 5 km subglacial caldera truncates the summit of the basaltic and rhyolitic volcano. The largest-volume volcano in Iceland, 2119-m-high Öraefajökull was mostly constructed during the Pleistocene. Holocene activity has been dominated by explosive summit eruptions, although flank lava effusions have also occurred.

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Source: GVP, Smithsonian Institution


Latest satellite images


See also: Sentinel hub | Landsat 8
 

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