Askja volcano 2026
Text and photos by Erik Sturkell (and Michelle Parks)
This year I made the fieldwork in Iceland around the volcano Askja with support from the metrological office and with funding from the Donation’s Foundation at the University of Gothenburg. In total we were seven persons traveling to Askja, three from the Met office and three Italian researchers. It was Michelle, Ásta Rut, and Will (Moreland) from the Met Office and Tomaso Esposti Ongaro, Matteo Trolese, and Claudia Doriano from Pisa. We drove in on the morning of Tuesday the 4th of August and stopped in Akureyri to get supplies. We had to buy food for six days. The Met office and I took care of five evening meals and the Italians one. The first night was spent in the house at Helluhraun in Reykjahlið, North Iceland. On this evening Melissa’s group joined so we cooked dinner for ten people! I chose to cook fish on the first night because fish is not lasting long in the field without a fridge. We had Arctic Char (bleikju) with carrots and broccoli in a crème fraiche – white wine sauce. To cook this dish for such large group was a challenge. Fortunately, the Melissa group took care of their own food onwards. They measured gases around the crater. Thus, the weather had to be favourably, and they had to align their program in accordance with the weather.
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On Wednesday the 5th of August, we travelled into the highland and established us at Dreki. The hut in Dynjga was booked the first days and we did not move up during the last days. It was convenient to stay in Dreki where there is better space and cooking facilities. In the afternoon we went into the caldera and started with the levelling of the long line. The weather was good but a little too windy, so the progress was slow. Nevertheless, we managed to work our way past the GPS station which is sitting on the line. We finished the day with the installation of a GPS station (A404).
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The next day (Thursday the 6th) the weather was perfect for levelling. It was overcast the whole day. We had some drizzling rain, but this did not disturb the measurements. We started at 10:30AM and finished at 4:10PM including lunch, measuring from point 405 to 430 including four extra points on the line making it up to a total of 30 points. In the evening I calculated the result which showed the inflation of Askja had stopped and a minor subsidence was indicated.
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On Friday we deployed three GPS stations in the caldera Mid Askja (MASK), Olafgigar (OLAF) and Batshraun (BATS). They are all hiking stations so the help from the Italian was most appreciated. The weather was terrible; rain, wind and low clouds. The whole hike took six hours (see photo from Michelle Parks)!
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Weekend: On Saturday the weather took a turn, and it became colder. The rain stopped and turned snowfall instead. This day we took it easy in the hut, and some made an excursion (by car) to Holuhraun. In the evening we invited the rangers to a barbeque (fig). We used the quiet day for preparation such as marinating the lamb legs and starting the barbeque, which was a challenge in the rain. Will struggled to set fire to the charcoal and at the same time we made the sauce. On Sunday the 9th we hiked to the two most remote stations (MASK and OLAF) in a snowy landscape. Also, this time the Italians did a fantastic job. We retrieved the GPS station that sat on the levelling line (A404).
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On Monday the 10th of August it was a fantastic weather again and it was time to wrap it up. We went the Batshraun GPS and tilt station, took down the instrument and levelled the short line (consisting of seven benchmarks). The final measurement was to determine the lake level; it was about 6 cm lower than last year. At 2:30 PM we left the huts at Dreki. All three cars went together to the intersection of the Askja road and the ring road (No 1) at Horssaborgir. When we stopped for pumping the tyres, we observed that the right rear tyre of the Hilux was rather flat. We topped it up to 25 pounds and drove towards Reykjahlið and halfway the tyre was flat again. We arrived at Reykjahlið close to 6 PM and booked an appointment with the garage the next day. Michelle, Ásta Rut and Will stayed on the camping ground and I went to Helgi for the night. The next morning at the garage we found out the tear of the tyre was beyond their capabilities of repair. They did not have the equipment in store this day! As the tyre is 38” it was necessary to find a spare. Helgi made a fantastic effort calling around and got hold of a man working at the Krafla power station. The man came and could borrow a tyre, and a repair shop in Húsavík could mend it. Michelle and Ásta Rut went to Húsavík and stayed overnight as the rubber must consolidate, while Will and I continued to Reykjavík the same day.
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On the solar eclipse day it was unfortunately completely overcast and rain in most of western Iceland and in particular in Reykjavik where I was standing on the balcony with my special-bought solar eclipse glasses. Better luck next time!
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On Thursday the 13th of August, the weather forecast indicated good measuring weather around the volcano Hekla. Thus, four of us, Halldór, Will, Dutch student and I went to the tilt station at Næfurholt. This station has a long record and its east–west tilt direction points directly to the summit of Hekla. This makes it sensitive to action in the deep (12–14 km) magma chamber under the volcano. The result showed a continuous uplift of the mountain, interpreted as magma inflow into the magma chamber.
