A volcano erupted in Iceland for the seventh time this yearprompting evacuations in Grindavik and the Blue Lagoon after a state of emergency was declared. The Icelandic Meteorological Office says the fissure appears to have extended three kilometers in length and the edge of the lava flow is about 700 to 800 meters from “hurt” Grindavik. Experts also said the eruption was smaller than the previous one in August this year.
The Icelandic Meteorological Office (IMO) reported an eruption of the Sundhnúkagígar volcanic fissure outside the village of Grindavík on the Reykjanes peninsula at 23:14 (local time). IMO expert Benedikt Ófeigsson told public radio RAS2 that no infrastructure is currently threatenedbut Grindavik, a small fishing town known for its nearby tourist hot spa, Blue Lagoon, was evacuated.
Volcanoes on the peninsula had not erupted for eight centuries until March 2021, when a period of increased seismic activity began. Images streamed live showed red and orange lava to issue from a long fissure surrounded by thick smoke.
“The outflows are lower and the lava is not flowing as fast (as in the previous eruption),” added Ófeigsson Most of Grindavik’s 4,000 residents were evacuated a year ago, shortly before the first volcanic eruption in the area. Since then almost all the houses have been sold to the state and the residents have left.
“About fifty houses were occupied in the last few nights,” the civil protection department said. In January, during another explosion, three houses in the village were engulfed in flames. Volcanologists warned that volcanic activity in the region had entered a new era.
Iceland is home to 33 active volcanic systemsmore than any other European country. It is located on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, a fault in the ocean floor that separates the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates and causes earthquakes and eruptions.
