Worst Volcanic Activity In 50 Years In Iceland After Major Volcano Eruption

A volcanic eruption has begun again on a peninsula adjacent to Iceland's capital Reykjavik, the sixth time lava has emerged in the area in the space of a year.

Lava burst to the surface at 9:26 p.m. local time on Thursday from a fissure that's expanding northward, according to the Met Office. The crack, north of the previously damaged fishing town of Grindavik, was initially about 1.4 kilometers (0.9 miles) long, the authorities said.

The scenario was anticipated, with scientists warning for several weeks of activity in the area after it woke from an 800-year dormancy in 2021. There's likely more to come, with potential for the unrest to continue for the next 300 to 400 years, according to Thor Thordarson, professor in volcanology and petrology at University of Iceland.

"This could be repeated over again for the next months or a few years," he said by phone. "We can have many more eruptions in this particular unrest event, which has lasted since 2021."

Iceland is one of the world's volcanic hot spots due to its position on the mid-Atlantic ridge where the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates rift apart.

Reykjavik, which lies about about 40 kilometers away, has been unaffected by the previous outbursts, and air traffic at nearby Keflavik international airport is not expected to be disrupted.

The devastation in Grindavik means the current volcanic activity is the most destructive in half a century and has thrust the north Atlantic island nation into a new era of contending with the fiery outbursts. The town has been severely damaged by the seismic activity, with deadly cracks emerging on its roads. Lava even overtook three houses in one of the five eruptions on its doorstep.

The previous outburst ended in mid-June, having lasted for 25 days.

Even as Iceland - with its 30 volcanic systems and more than 600 hot springs - is one of the most geologically active places on earth, most eruptions have tended to happen in the wilderness. The contrast with suddenly witnessing homes burn has left the population shocked.

Most of Grindavik's 3,700 inhabitants have already relocated from the town previously. About 20 homes were occupied when Thursday's eruption started and their occupants are being evacuated, Hjordis Gudmundsdottir, a spokeswoman for the civil protection authority, said by phone.

"There is no panic and no danger," she said. "The inhabitants now know the drill and how to react."

Officials are evaluating how big the eruption is, she said. Lava is currently not flowing toward the town itself.

Iceland's government has built protective barriers around the town. Those have successfully steered lava flows away from most large-scale infrastructure. The state has also offered to buy out home owners in the volcano struck-town.

Still, roads and pipelines have been overrun by lava in previous eruptions and have had to be rebuilt. Last winter, all 30,000 inhabitants of the peninsula were without hot water for several days after molten rock overtook a pipeline.

Other infrastructure in the area include the Svartsengi power plant owned by HS Orka hf and a number of businesses centered around geothermal heat and power as well as Iceland's top tourist attraction, the Blue Lagoon.

Before the events in Reykjanes, Iceland had previously seen an eruption in inhabited areas in 1973, when part of a 5,000-person fishing town was buried under lava in the the Westman Islands, off the country's southeastern coast.

Fissure eruptions on land, such as the current one, produce little ash and usually wreak no havoc on air travel.

One of the most disruptive eruptions in Iceland's recent history happened in 2010 when volcano Eyjafjallajokull in the southern part of the country released a plume of ash so vast that it grounded air traffic across Europe for weeks, resulting in the cancellation of 100,000 flights and affecting over 10 million people.

"Years or decades in the future, after this has stopped, we will get another unrest event similar to this one with a number of eruptions and number of seismic unrest on all the volcanic lineaments of the Reykjanes peninsula," said Thordarson at the University of Iceland.

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