Iceland volcano erupts again, fourth eruption in three months

An Icelandic volcano erupted on Saturday for the fourth time since December, spewing smoke and bright orange lava into the air in stark contrast to the dark night sky, the Icelandic Meteorological Office said.

In video captured by a coast guard helicopter and shown on public broadcaster RUV, lava fountains erupted from a long crack in the ground and the lava quickly spread to both sides.

The eruption began in 2023 GMT and the fissure was estimated to be about 2.9 kilometers long, roughly the same size as the last eruption in February, the Icelandic Meteorological Office said in a statement.

Authorities have been warning for weeks of an imminent volcanic eruption on the Reykjanes Peninsula, south of Iceland’s capital Reykjavik.

The Met Office said the eruption was located between Hagafell and Stora-Skogfell, in the same area as the previous eruption on February 8.

The town was evacuated again, public broadcaster RUV reported. An outbreak in January burned down several homes.

“It’s just like it’s business as usual for us,” Kristin Maria Birgisdottir, who was evacuated from Grindavik in November, told Reuters.

“My son… just called me and said, Mom, did you know the eruption has started? And I was like, yeah, I do. Oh, my grandma just told me. So there’s that It’s like we don’t bother telling each other anymore,” she said.

Icelandic police said they had declared a state of emergency in the region.
The nearby Blue Lagoon luxury geothermal spa was immediately closed, as it has been during previous volcanic eruptions.

Iceland is the size of the US state of Kentucky and has more than 30 active volcanoes, making the Nordic island a prime destination for volcano tourism, a segment that attracts thousands of thrill-seeking tourists.

In 2010, the eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano in southern Iceland sent a volcanic ash cloud across much of Europe, grounding about 100,000 flights and forcing hundreds of Icelanders to evacuate their homes.

Volcanic eruptions on the Reykjanes Peninsula are so-called fissure eruptions, which typically do not cause large explosions or large spreads of ash into the stratosphere.

The Bureau of Meteorology said gases from the volcanic eruption were moving westward over the sea.

As scientists fear the eruption could last for decades, Icelandic authorities have begun building dikes to divert the flow of burning lava away from homes and critical infrastructure.

February’s eruption caused lava flows that damaged roads and pipes, knocking out district heating for more than 20,000 people.

Situated between the Eurasian and North American plates, one of the largest plates on Earth, Iceland is an earthquake and volcanic hotspot because the two plates move in opposite directions.