Southwestern Iceland Volcano Alert: Eruption Underway
A volcano in southwestern Iceland began erupting,Monday with lava fountains reaching upto 330 feet and the glow visible miles away in the center of the capital, Reykjavik. A volcanic eruption is underway in southwestern Iceland, with magma breaching the surface north of the town of Grindavik, the country’s meteorological office said Monday evening.
In live-streamed footage of the eruption, plumes of red smoke billow up from scorching white lava—all cast against the pitch-black Icelandic night. The meteorological office said an “earthquake storm” on the Reykjanes Peninsula preceded the eruption, which began about 10:15 p.m. local time, about 2½ miles northeast of Grindavik. Coast guard authorities and scientists were investigating the lava flow, which had slowed from “hundreds of cubic meters per second” in the first two hours of the eruption, the office said.
More recently, the Meterological Office warned of a “significant likelihood of a volcanic eruption in coming days”. In the past two years, there have been three eruptions on this area, Iceland’s most populated corner and home to it’s capital.But this was the first time in half a century that a sizable populated area had to be fully evacuated in anticipation of an eruption. The long-gestating threat of an eruption raised fears of destructive lava flows, though scientists played down the potential for significant disruption of global travel or a decrease in air quality in the Northern Hemisphere. The southern end of the fissure is about 8,200 feet from Grindavik, according to the post, and it appears the lava may flow north. But things could quickly change as the crack has extended at both ends.
Armann Hoskuldsson, a volcanologist studying the eruption, told the Icelandic National Broadcasting Service that no lava was flowing toward a power plant in the area and that no other structures were in danger. The eruption could last up to 10 days.
In the weeks that followed, tens of thousands of earthquakes rumbled throughout the region. That then led to the declaration of a state of emergency and the evacuation of Grindavík and its nearly 3,700 residents. The popular tourist destination Blue Lagoon also shut down amid fears that the volcano would erupt.
