ICELAND / SEISMIC OBSERVATIONS
Iceland earthquake map: how to read the data
Turn a point on the map into information you can check. Understand the fields, open the original record and explore Icelandic seismic activity at your own pace.
Open the Iceland mapWhere do the observations come from?
Terra Atlas uses the Icelandic Met Office (IMO) catalogue for Iceland and USGS for global events. Within Iceland, an IMO record takes priority when a unique pair can be matched conservatively. Both sources remain recorded.
Automatic results may be revised or withdrawn. Different detection networks and catalogue practices can produce different counts. The map shows events reported by those sources, with their delays and detection limits.
Epicentre, magnitude and depth
A point marks the epicentre: the surface location above the earthquake focus. Depth describes the focus in kilometres. It is separate from terrain elevation measured from a DEM.
Magnitude describes earthquake size; intensity describes effects at a particular location. ML, Mw and other magnitude types retain their catalogue labels. Zero and negative values are preserved, while missing data is marked separately.
Check an earthquake step by step
The list and map share filters. Counts distinguish downloaded events from currently visible events. Changing a filter is not a change in natural activity.
- Choose Iceland and the past hour, 24 hours, 7 days or a custom UTC interval.
- Set magnitude and depth filters, then select a point or a list entry.
- Check UTC time, source, magnitude type and review status.
- Open the original record. During replay, check the frame date and playback speed.
Before interpreting the pattern
Accelerated playback shows a recorded sequence, not a forecast. Decorative epicentre highlights do not represent damage extent or wave arrival times. Compare similar intervals, areas and filter thresholds.
Check source status and retrieval time. If data is delayed or unavailable, consult IMO directly; an empty list is not proof that no earthquakes occurred.
Sources and further reading
Sources are in English or Icelandic. The text date is not the date of a current report or confirmation of camera freshness.