Reportage
[In pictures] Iceland: a new volcanic eruption attracts the curious
Audio 01:10
In the Meradalir Valley, near Mount Fagradalsfjall, Iceland, August 4, 2022. AFP - JEREMIE RICHARD
Text by: RFI Follow
3 mins
When we talk about a volcanic eruption in Iceland, we immediately think of 2010 and this volcano with a difficult to pronounce name which had paralyzed air traffic.
Nothing like this small lava outpouring which is currently underway near the capital Reykjavík, since Wednesday afternoon August 3.
A crack from which lava gushes from the bowels of the Earth has formed in a valley after intense seismic activity for several days.
And of course, it has become the attraction of the moment: several thousand curious people have already ventured on the steep paths of the place.
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With our correspondent in Grindavík,
Jérémie Richard
At the end of a hill, after walking for two hours on rocks and moss, fountains spitting red-orange lava reveal themselves to Sebastian, a Norwegian tourist, who came with his family.
"
It's a little surreal, to be honest,
" he says.
Seeing it via a link on the internet is one thing, but seeing it live and feeling the heat on your skin is very different, so I'm glad we came today.
»
The 1,200 degree magma coming straight from the melting of the earth's crust several kilometers below our feet is expelled at a rate of 18m3/s.
This intense heat near the flows impresses James Dillis, an American tourist.
"
I thought I was going to be able to get a lot closer,
" he says.
You can't get closer than about 4 meters, even near the cooled black parts, because it's so hot.
And then the sound of lava erupting and splashing dramatically, it's very, very exciting.
»
It is the second eruption in less than a year on this peninsula in southwestern Iceland, in the immediate vicinity of
Mount Fagradalsfjall
, where a succession of craters had spit lava for six months until last September.
► To read also:
Japan: the Sakurajima volcano erupts and triggers the maximum alert
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