27th August 2014 06:30 – from geoscientist on duty
The night started with a 5.3 event in Bardarbunga at 00:16 hours.
Around half an hour later activity around the tip of the dyke started increasing and reached some kind of “high” around 2 o’clock and has continued at that level since with many events of magnitude 2-3.
Just before 2 o’clock there was a magnitude 4.5 event just east of Askja caldera. Few microearthquakes have been measured there earlier this week.
At 02:50 there was a 5.2 event again in Bardarbunga.
Total events automatically detected from midnight until now are 500, most of them around the tip of the northward migrating dyke.
Implications of Askja event is still premature to speculate on. However, we are watching the area closely.
There seems to be a slight increase in activity compared to same time. The >M5 events in Bardarbunga are still interpreted as being relaxation process of the caldera due to magma pressure changes and the propagating dyke.