In Pics | Iceland declares state of emergency after volcano erupts fourth time in 3 months
Iceland volcano erupts fourth time since December
A state of emergency was declared in southern Iceland on Saturday (March 16) as another volcanic eruption rocked the Reykjanes Peninsula, a little over 80 km southwest of the capital Reykjavík. The recent eruption was the fourth one since December.
On Sunday (Mar 17), the lava flowing seemed to slow down and was successfully steered away from infrastructure including a nearby fishing town through man-made barriers.
Iceland volcanic eruption prompts evacuations
The Icelandic police declared a state of emergency after the eruption began on Saturday evening. The volcanic eruption sent fountains of molten rock soaring from a roughly three-kilometre fissure which was around the same size and from the same place as the last eruption which happened in February.
Authorities had been aware of the imminent eruption for weeks as magma had been accumulating underground. Residents of the small town of Grindavik were asked to evacuate as ongoing flare-ups continued to wreak havoc in the area.
Grindavik, a fishing town of some 4,000 residents, was evacuated yet again after previous being asked to leave the town during flare-ups in February and November.
Lava continues to pose a risk
According to the Icelandic Meteorological Office (IMO), the eruption which began at 8:23 pm (local time) opened a nearly three-kilometre-long fissure in the ground between two mountains.
While the man-made barriers managed to stop the "significantly wider" lava bed from wrecking the main coastal road, and despite the lava slowing down scientists have warned that it still posed a danger to infrastructure in and around Grindavik.
An IMO expert, Einar Hjörleifsson, said the barriers authorities had erected had held and redirected the flow of the lava but a separate flow heading for a geothermal power plant still posed a risk.
Iceland volcanic eruption lights up night sky
None of the recent Reykjanes eruptions have affected domestic or international flights from airports in Iceland. The small town of Grindavik which had been evacuated ahead of the first eruption in December was mostly empty as out of the town's nearly 4000 residents, only some 100 residents have returned.
The eruptions on December 18 and January 14 only lasted for a few days. However, the third eruption on February 8 died down within a few hours, but damaged a pipeline that cut off heat and water to thousands of people.
Iceland and volcanoes
Iceland, with 33 active volcano systems, straddles the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, the boundary between two of Earth's largest tectonic plates. The Reykjanes Peninsula last experienced a period of volcanic activity 800 years ago, which lasted for decades. The current eruption marks the seventh since 2021.
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