Tuesday saw the eruption of a volcano in Iceland, sending molten lava geysers flying into the dark night sky. The area southwest of the capital has been on high alert for weeks due to seismic activity.
The eruption started on Monday at around 10:17 p.m. (2217 GMT) on the Reykjanes peninsula, which is located just north of the fishing town Grindavik. The eruption was triggered by a series of tiny earthquakes known as an earthquake swarm, according to the Icelandic Meteorological Office.
Watchers of the eruption saw billowing clouds of crimson smoke encircling brilliant orange jets of lava shooting from a rift in the ground in live streaming video.
“We hope for the best but it is clear this is a considerable eruption,” Prime Minister Katrin Jakobsdottir wrote on Facebook.
Following weeks of high seismic activity that forced officials to close the Blue Lagoon geothermal spa, renowned for its blue waters, and evacuate hundreds of tourists, the Nordic nation had been bracing itself for an eruption on the peninsula southwest of the city.
According to the meteorological office, the volcano had created a fissure that was roughly four kilometers (2.5 miles) long, with Grindavik only three kilometers from the southern end of it.
The meteorological office reported at three in the morning that the eruption’s strength had stabilized, but they were unable to predict how long it would remain.
“We now wait to see what the forces of nature have in store,” President Gudni Thorlacius Johannesson wrote on X, formerly Twitter. He added that protecting lives and infrastructure was the priority.
Vidir Reynisson, head of the Department of Civil Protection, urged people to stay away from the area, telling a local television station: “This is no tourist eruption”.
Public utility company Landsnet wrote on Facebook that it was very closely monitoring the eruption.
Despite fears prior to the eruption of the possible havoc it could cause global travel, Reykjavik’s international airport remained open. Operator ISAVIA said: “For the time being, no disruptions to arrivals or departures at Keflavik airport.”
New Era
On the Reykjanes peninsula, thousands of tremors have been recorded since October; these may be signs of an imminent volcanic eruption.
On November 11, scientists discovered that a magma tunnel beneath the fishing port of Grindavik, which is about 40 kilometers (25 miles) from Reykjavik, was shifting, prompting the evacuation of about 4,000 residents.
Locals told AFP that a string of little earthquakes, sometimes numbering in the hundreds each day, had harmed structures and roadways.
Since then, they have only been allowed to visit their homes during certain daylight hours.
Authorities have planned sporadic excursions into the community, accompanying people whose residences are in the most dangerous areas as they recover everything from priceless pets to furniture, clothes, and photo albums.
Iceland has the most active volcano systems in Europe with 33, hence volcanic eruptions are frequent there. However, before 2021, the Reykjanes peninsula had not had an eruption in eight centuries.
Since then, three have struck, in 2021, 2022 and earlier this year — all in remote, uninhabited areas.
Volcanologists say this could be the start of a new era of activity in the region.
Massive volumes of ash were blasted into the atmosphere in 2010 by the long-dormant Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland, which is more than 1,660 meters tall and covered in ice. Though not lethal, the enormous eruption resulted in the cancellation of about 100,000 flights and left over 10 million passengers without a place to stay.
Iceland is a country in North America that is sandwiched between the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates by the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, a fissure in the ocean floor.