A volcanic eruption began Monday evening on Iceland’s Reykjanes Peninsula, turning the sky orange and prompting the civil protection to be placed on excessive alert.
The eruption seems to have occurred slightly below two miles from the city of Grindavík, the Icelandic Meteorological Workplace stated. Webcam video from the scene seems to point out magma, or semi-molten rock, spewing alongside the ridge of a hill.
Civil Safety of Iceland/Handout through REUTERS
Iceland’s Division of Civil Safety and Emergency Administration confirmed the eruption shortly after 11 p.m. native time and stated it had activated its civil safety emergency response.
”The magma movement appears to be no less than 100 cubic meters per second, perhaps extra. So this is able to be thought-about an enormous eruption on this space no less than,” Vidir Reynisson, head of Iceland’s Civil Safety and Emergency Administration instructed the Icelandic public broadcaster, RUV.
Iceland’s international minister, Bjarne Benediktsson stated on X, previously generally known as Twitter, that there are ”no disruptions to flights to and from Iceland and worldwide flight corridors stay open.”
Brynjar Gunnarsson / AP
”We’re monitoring the scenario carefully,” Vincent Drouin, a geophysicist on the Icelandic Meteorological Workplace, instructed CBS Information, including that the eruption is ”a lot larger” and longer than the volcano’s earlier eruption.
In November, police evacuated the city of Grindavik after sturdy seismic exercise within the space broken houses and raised fears of an imminent eruption.
1000’s of earthquakes struck Iceland that month, as researchers discovered proof that magma was rising to the floor, and meteorologists had been warning {that a} volcanic explosion may happen any time on the Reykjanes Peninsula.
Drouin stated the quantity of lava created within the first hour will decide whether or not lava will ultimately attain Grindavik. A sustained eruption can be ”very problematic” as it might partially destroy the city, he stated.
An excellent larger concern is an influence station within the space, Drouin stated. If that station is broken, it might have an effect on the movement of water and electrical energy to massive elements of the peninsula.
A coast guard helicopter will try to verify the precise location — and measurement — of the eruption.
Grindavik, a fishing city of three,400, sits on the Reykjanes Peninsula, about 31 miles southwest of the capital, Reykjavik and never removed from Keflavik Airport, Iceland’s major facility for worldwide flights. The close by Blue Lagoon geothermal resort, one in all Iceland’s high vacationer sights, has been shut no less than till the top of November due to the volcano hazard.
Iceland sits above a volcanic sizzling spot within the North Atlantic and averages an eruption each 4 to 5 years. Essentially the most disruptive in latest instances was the 2010 eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano, which spewed enormous clouds of ash into the ambiance and grounded flights throughout Europe for days due to fears ash may harm airplane engines.