Long-period events with strikingly regular temporal patterns on Katla volcano’s south flank (Iceland) Giulia Sgattoni1,2,3*, Zeinab Jeddi3,4, Ólafur Guðmundsson3, Páll Einarsson2, Ari Tryggvason3, Björn Lund3, Federico Lucchi1 1 Department of Biological, Geological and Environmental Sciences, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy 2 Institute of Earth Sciences, Science Institute, University of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland 3 Department of Earth Sciences, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden 4 CNDS, Centre for Natural Disaster Science, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden *Corresponding author:
[email protected] Abstract Katla is a threatening volcano in Iceland, partly covered by the Mýrdalsjökull ice cap. The volcano has a large caldera with several active geothermal areas. A peculiar cluster of long-period seismic events started on Katla’s south flank in July 2011, during an unrest episode in the caldera that culminated in a glacier outburst. The seismic events were tightly clustered at shallow depth in the Gvendarfell area, 4 km south of the caldera, under a small glacier stream on the southern margin of Mýrdalsjökull. No seismic events were known to have occurred in this area before. The most striking feature of this seismic cluster is its temporal pattern, characterized by regular intervals between repeating seismic events, modulated by a seasonal variation. Remarkable is also the stability of both the time and waveform features over a long time period, around 3.5 years. No comparable examples have been found in the literature. Both volcanic and glacial processes can produce similar waveforms and therefore have to be considered as potential seismic sources. Discerning between these two causes is critical for monitoring glacier-clad volcanoes and has been controversial at Katla.