Iceland: new volcanic eruption on the Reykjanes peninsula

Europe 1 with AFP 8:08 a.m., March 17, 2024

Police declared a state of emergency late Saturday after lava erupted from a new volcanic fault on Iceland's Reykjanes Peninsula, the fourth eruption in the area since December.

A "volcanic eruption has started between Stora Skogfell and Hagafell on the Reykjanes peninsula", in the southwest of the country, the Icelandic Meteorological Institute (IMO) announced in a statement, while live video feeds showed incandescent lava and plumes of smoke.

"According to the first assessments" made from these images and aerial photographs, "the eruption is considered the most important (in terms of magma discharge) of the three previous eruptions", declared the IMO, emphasizing that the estimate is based on the first hour of "eruptive activity".

Icelandic Civil Protection announced the dispatch of a helicopter to precisely locate the new crack.

Police also declared a state of emergency due to the eruption, authorities said.

According to the IMO, the lava flow erupted near the site of the previous eruption on February 8.

Shortly after 10:00 p.m. GMT, the end of the lava flow was some 200 meters from the barriers protecting the east of the small port town of Grindavik - evacuated according to local media - and was moving at a speed of about a kilometer per hour.

Lava was also flowing westward, as on February 8, and the length of the fissure was estimated at 2.9 kilometers, according to the IMO.

Minutes before the eruption, the Icelandic Meteorological Institute issued a statement warning of seismic activity that increased the risk of another eruption.

Evacuations launched

But “the pre-eruptive alert phase was very short,” noted the institute.

Local media reported that the Blue Lagoon geothermal tourist site had been evacuated, along with Grindavik.

The approximately 4,000 residents of this small town were allowed to return home on February 19, after being evacuated on November 11.

Grindavik, like the Svartsengi power plant and the Blue Lagoon site, have been frequently evacuated since November.

Some 28,000 people live in this region, located in the south of the peninsula, one of the most populated in Iceland, about 40 km southwest of Reykjavik.

Grindavik had to be evacuated on November 11 after hundreds of tremors damaged homes and largely cracked roads, raising fears for the future of the town.

The earthquakes were then followed by a volcanic fault on December 18 which spared Grindavik and then a second on January 14 on the edge of the town, pouring orange lava into the streets and reducing three houses to ashes.

On February 8, a third eruption near the same locality was accompanied by a river of magma of 15 million m3 during the first seven hours.

Iceland is home to the largest number of active volcanoes in Europe, numbering 33.

The activity recorded since 2021 in this Reykjanes peninsula testifies to the awakening, after 800 years, of a long fault allowing the rise of magma, volcanologists agree.