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The Meteorological Office of Iceland has reported that a volcano has erupted following several weeks of strong seismic activity.
The Met Office issued a warning on its website Monday night, stating that an eruption has begun north of Grindavik near Hagafell.
The volcanic eruption led the Icelandic police to declare a state of emergency and activate the Civil Protection Coordination Centre.
According to Hjördís Guðmundsdóttir, the information officer at the Civil Protection Agency, we are not currently expecting people to visit the site. The exact distance between the eruption and Grindavík is unknown, and only a helicopter flyover will provide clarity.
Due to concerns about a major spread of infection on the Reykjanes peninsula, officials removed the approximately 4,000 residents of Grindavik, a fishing village, in early November and temporarily shut down the nearby Blue Lagoon geothermal spa.
Residents are now permitted to go back to their homes during the day.
The local law enforcement advised all remaining inhabitants to evacuate promptly.
According to a report from Icelandic media outlet Heimildin, officials have declared that an eruption has begun and urge immediate evacuation of Grindavík.
“The eruption is not intended as a tourist destination,” stated Víðir Reynisson, the chief inspector of public safety, during a press conference, according to the news outlet.
According to the official, the current rate of magma flow is 100 cubic meters per second.
The eruption started at 10:17 pm, after a series of earthquakes an hour earlier, as reported by the Met Office.
According to unverified data from local news sources, the earthquake that caused the eruption may have had a magnitude of 4.2.
The live broadcast of the volcanic eruption displayed a sky illuminated with shades of red, orange, and yellow, as molten lava seemed to be spewing into the atmosphere.
“There are super-high plumes of magma. Now it’s a total guess, but the highest plumes are probably 150 metres. This means that the lava is flowing very quickly from the crater,” volcanologist Þorvald Þórðarson told Iceland Monitor.
“This could potentially be one of the worst scenarios possible. Regrettably.”
On Monday evening, officials announced that a helicopter from the Coast Guard is currently on its way to the eruption site in order to accurately pinpoint its location and size.
According to The New York Times, the lava from the volcanic eruption reached a height of 330 feet and was visible from Reykjavík, the capital city. The eruption occurred approximately 2 kilometers away from important infrastructure such as the Svartsengi geothermal power plant.
The Svartsengi geothermal plant could potentially face danger due to the current volcanic eruption in the vicinity.
According to Iceland Monitor, this is the fourth volcanic eruption to occur in the past three years on the peninsula, which is known for its high level of seismic activity.
The rough peninsula is situated directly to the southwest of the capital.
The nation, located on tectonic plates that move in opposite directions, is known as the Land of Fire and Ice and has over 30 active volcanoes.
In the previous month, Grindavik experienced numerous earthquakes, resulting in widespread evacuations.
On November 22, 2023, the town of Grindavik, Iceland experienced damage from earthquakes and magma activity below the surface.
“I can’t believe what’s happening, it feels like I’m living in a dystopian film,” shared Andrea Ævarsdóttir, 46, in an interview with The Independent. “I’m just hoping to snap out of this bad dream.”
“She described some of the earthquakes as feeling like a large truck passing by the house, while the larger ones were comparable to a truck crashing into the house. The intensity of the shaking caused the floors to move up and down.”
Once the town had been evacuated, residents were granted limited access to return for a designated time period in order to retrieve important belongings such as family heirlooms and medication.
“According to Jon Baglundsson, spokesperson for the ICE-SAR, a volunteer rescue team, efforts have been made to allow residents to retrieve their cherished belongings in limited quantities each day since the village was evacuated more than a week ago. This update was shared with The Independent in the previous month.”
Most individuals are returning to retrieve photos of their children and grandchildren, which are often saved on hard drives or other electronic storage devices.
According to the Met Office, Iceland was experiencing hundreds of earthquakes per day leading up to the eruption, despite its picturesque landscape.
The earthquakes shook nearby homes and created cracks in roads.
Source: independent.co.uk
