5727 quakes in Bárðarbunga

"What makes this eruption unique is how steady it is, though long-term measurements suggest that it's slowly losing power. We haven't seen such a stable eruption since we started measuring eruptions with modern-day technology," says Benedikt G. Ófeigsson at the Icelandic Meteorological Office.

"This event has a strong resemblence to the large eruptions of the past, like the Laki eruption at the end of the 18th century. But there's a slow but steady development taking place in the area around the caldera, which results in it growing smaller. It fits with the changes in elevation we've seen on top of Bárðarbunga, which has been decreasing ever since the eruption began," states Benedikt and adds that land drift around the Bárðarbunga area has all but stopped since the eruption began.

The land drift happened over a wide area and reached its peak during the second half of August. The greatest drift measured 40cm during that period. That's more than 20 times the tectonic plate drift that Iceland goes through every year. Geologists estimate that this is the greatest land drift that has been seen in the entire volcanic areas in the region since the Krafla eruptions 35 years ago.

The land drift has been measured by sensors as far away as Kiðagil, which is 40 km north of the caldera, but also at Háumýri, which is 60 km west of the caldera. Most of these drifts are believed to be due to the underground lava passage which traveled roughly 11km north from underneath Dyngjujökull over a 2-week period in August.