A volcano in Iceland erupted on Sunday after hundreds of earthquakes shook the Reykjanes Peninsula, prompting evacuations in a town near where a fissure opened up and spewed lava last month.
The eruption happened around 8 a.m. local time near Hagafell, north of the town of Grindavik, according to local news media and the nation’s civil defense agency. It created a crack in the earth more than 3,200 feet long, with glowing lava bubbling through, the authorities said. That crack has continued to lengthen in the hours since, the authorities said, endangering Grindavik, a fishing town of about 3,500 people.
Around 3 a.m. Sunday, at least 200 earthquakes began striking the area near Grindavik, about 30 miles southwest of the capital, Reykjavik, according to the Icelandic Meteorological Office. The civil defense agency acted quickly and ordered Grindavik to be evacuated well before the eruption.
The eruption on Sunday was smaller than the one in December, but the lava flow could still reach Grindavik, warned Magnus Tumi Gudmundsson, a volcanologist who advises the civil defense agency.
“Based on the latest developments, the eruption appears likely to reach the northern end of Grindavik by today,” Mr. Gudmundsson said after viewing the eruption from a Coast Guard helicopter.
After a forceful start — with fountains of lava reaching 160 feet — the lava flow could still slow down, Mr. Gudmundsson said.
“This early,” he said, “we don’t know what to expect.”
Still, the fissure cracked through barriers that were constructed to protect the town from a lava flow, and lava on Sunday had already come as close as less than a quarter-mile from Grindavik’s northernmost neighborhoods, said Hjordis Gudmundsdottir, a spokeswoman for the defense agency.
The fissure also ran close to the Svartsengi power plant, a geothermal facility that supplies hot water to the entire peninsula. Emergency workers quickly extended an existing rampart protecting the power plant and the town, avoiding disaster, Iceland’s public broadcaster reported.
The eruption also neared the Blue Lagoon, a geothermal spa that is one of Iceland’s most popular tourist attractions. Neither the resort nor the power plant is in immediate danger, the authorities said.
The latest eruption happened along a row of volcanoes on the Reykjanes Peninsula, creating a glowing and winding river of lava. It has not disrupted air travel to or from Iceland, according to updates from Keflavik International Airport.
While volcanic eruptions are not uncommon in Iceland, volcanoes on the Reykjanes Peninsula had been dormant for about 800 years until 2021. Since then, there have been four eruptions on the peninsula, where about two-thirds of Iceland’s population lives.
Andrés R. Martínez contributed reporting from Seoul.
Source : Nytimes
