Volcano erupts in southwest Iceland after weeks of earthquakes

A volcano erupting close to an Iceland power plant shot geysers of molten lava into the dark winter sky on Tuesday after weeks of intense seismic activity.

Billowing smoke and flowing lava turn the sky orange during a volcanic eruption on the Reykjanes peninsula, southweast of the Icelandic capital Reykjavik on Tuesday. Picture: AFP

A volcano erupting close to an Iceland power plant shot geysers of molten lava into the dark winter sky on Tuesday after weeks of intense seismic activity southwest of Reykjavik.

The eruption only three km from the evacuated fishing port of Grindavik on the Reykjanes peninsula began on Monday at around 10:17pm (2217 GMT) after an earthquake “swarm” of small tremors, the Icelandic Meteorological Office said.

After weeks of warnings from scientists, the authorities built reinforcements around the Svartsengi geothermal plant, which is just two km from the eruption.

It supplies electricity and water to 30,000 people on the peninsula. Live-streamed footage of the eruption showed glowing orange jets of lava spewing from a gash in the ground, surrounded by billowing clouds of red smoke against the dark morning sky. The December sun only rises at around 11am in the area just south of the Arctic Circle.

“We hope for the best but it is clear this is a considerable eruption,” Prime Minister Katrin Jakobsdottir wrote on Facebook.

For weeks, the Nordic country had been anticipating an eruption in the area some 40km from the capital, prompting the authorities to evacuate thousands of people and close the Blue Lagoon geothermal spa famed for its turquoise waters.

The meteorological office estimated that the volcano had opened a fissure about four km long, with the southern end just three km away from the fishing port of Grindavik.

An Icelandic Coast Guard helicopter flies over the eruption on Tuesday. Picture: AFP

By 3am, the meteorological office said the intensity of the eruption had stabilised and “the activity is decreasing”, although it was unable to estimate how long it would last.

“We now wait to see what the forces of nature have in store,” Iceland President Gudni Johannesson wrote on X, formerly Twitter. He added that protecting lives and infrastructure was the priority.

Vidir Reynisson, head of the Department of Civil Protection, urged people to stay away from the area, telling a local television station: “This is no tourist eruption.”

The volcano, which has yet to be given a name, was located near the Sundhnukagigar crater row.

Unlike another major Icelandic eruption in 2010 that grounded thousands of flights across Europe and North America, this one did not create an ash plume. Reykjavik’s international airport remained open on Tuesday.

Since October, thousands of earthquakes had been detected on the Reykjanes peninsula, a possible precursor to an impending volcanic eruption.

“Right now there is no immediate risk of infrastructure being threatened,” Grindavik mayor Fannar Jonasson told the daily Morgunbladid, amid reports on Tuesday morning that the southern end of the lava flow was petering out.

Roughly 4000 people were evacuated from Grindavik on November 11 after scientists said a tunnel of magma was shifting beneath them.

The series of small earthquakes – sometimes hundreds per day – had damaged roads and buildings, an AFP reporter in Grindavik said.

Authorities have organised occasional trips into the village since, escorting those with homes in the most perilous parts as they rescued everything from cherished pets to photo albums, furniture and clothing.

Volcanic eruptions are not uncommon in Iceland, which is home to 33 active volcano systems, the highest number in Europe. But the Reykjanes peninsula had not experienced an eruption for eight centuries until 2021.

Since then, eruptions have struck in 2021, 2022 and earlier this year – all in remote, uninhabited areas.

With no danger to infrastructure or lives, they drew large crowds of visitors. Volcanologists say this could be the start of a new era of activity in the region.

In 2010, the eruption of Iceland’s long-dormant Eyjafjallajokull volcano – an ice-capped volcano more than 1660 metres tall – shot huge amounts of ash into the atmosphere. Although no one died, it forced the cancellation of around 100,000 flights and left more than 10 million travellers stranded.

Situated in the North Atlantic, Iceland straddles the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, a crack in the ocean floor separating the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates.

AFP