Photo taken by the Norwegian Coast Guard on Monday night showed the extent of the crack. Photo / Icelandic Meteorological Office
Photo taken by the Norwegian Coast Guard on Monday night showed the extent of the crack. Photo / Icelandic Meteorological Office
A volcano in south-west Iceland erupted on Monday night following weeks of earthquake activity that caused a 16-kilometre fissure in a road and put the country in a state of emergency.
Lava is spewing from the volcano on the Reykjanes peninsula at a rate of up to 200 cubic metres a second, according to the country’s Meteorological Office, which noted that was faster than any eruption in the region in recent years.
A ‘’fountain’' of molten rock had broken through a crack, which the Met Office said had ‘’grown rapidly’' late on Monday night.
By midnight, the lava had coloured the night sky orange.
Fearing a significant outbreak on the Reykjanes peninsula, authorities had already evacuated the nearly 4000 inhabitants of the fishing town of Grindavik and closed the nearby Blue Lagoon geothermal spa.
“Warning: Eruption has started north of Grindavik by Hagafell,” the Met Office said on its website.
Reykjavik’s international airport, which is located nearby, remained open.
People watch as the night sky is illuminated caused by the eruption of a volcano on the Reykjanes peninsula of south-west Iceland. Photo / AP
“At the moment, there are no disruptions to arrivals or departures at Keflavík Airport,” the airport said on its website.
A coast guard helicopter would be in the air shortly to confirm the exact location and size of the eruption, the Met Office said.
Reykjanes peninsula has been the site of several eruptions in recent years, but the latest outbreak could pose a risk to the Grindavik town, authorities have said.
Iceland, which has 33 active volcanic systems, had declared a state of emergency in November when experts said an eruption was imminent.
Prior to an eruption in March 2021, the Reykjanes peninsula had been dormant for 800 years.
But in the past two months, thousands of tremors have been recorded around the volcano.
Iceland straddles the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, a crack in the ocean floor separating the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates.
A massive eruption in April 2010 at Iceland’s Eyjafjallajokull volcano, in the south of the island - forced the cancellation of about 100,000 flights throughout Europe, leaving more than 10 million passengers stranded.
In this 2010 photo the volcano in southern Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull glacier sends ash into the air just prior to sunset. Photo / AP
In 1783 about a quarter of the Icelandic population was killed when the Laki/Skaftareldar volcano erupted.
The 2021 eruption caused lava fountains to shoot out from a 1,640-2,460-foot-long fissure in the ground in the Fagradalsfjall volcanic system.
