A volcano in southwestern Iceland started erupting Monday with lava fountains reaching as much as 330 ft and the glow seen from central Reykjavik. The placement of the fissure poses a danger to the close by Svartsengi Energy Plant and the city of Grindavík that was evacuated in November following heightened seismic exercise.
“We are looking at a worst-case scenario,” stated Thorvaldur Thordarson, a volcanologist in Iceland. “The eruption appears big and only about 2 kilometers from major infrastructure.”
Hundreds of earthquakes had been detected in Iceland since late October, in keeping with the Icelandic Meteorological Workplace, the nation’s climate service. In consequence, the authorities had declared a state of emergency and evacuated Grindavik, a city close to the volcano of greater than 3,000 folks on Nov. 11. Properties and roads within the city had been broken by the earthquakes.
For the previous days, the Meteorological Workplace had been warning of a “significant likelihood of a volcanic eruption in coming days.”
The climate service had stated there was a “considerable” danger of an eruption as a result of the underground magma transferring to the floor.
The nation has seen this earlier than, loads.
There have been three eruptions on the Reykjanes Peninsula, Iceland’s most populated nook and residential to its capital, within the final two years, and the authorities and the general public had been “highly prepared for such events,” the federal government stated in a press release on Nov 11. “Iceland has one of the world’s most effective volcanic preparedness measures,” it stated on its web site.
The authorities had additionally raised the aviation alert to orange, as a result of a volcanic eruption may pose a danger to the plane flying within the North Atlantic if ash spewed into the sky.
Probably the most memorable volcanic eruptions in Iceland’s latest previous was the Eyjafjallajokull volcano, one of many nation’s largest, which erupted in 2010. Whereas that eruption was comparatively small and induced no fatalities, the influence was widespread as a result of a ensuing ash cloud grounded much of Europe’s air travel for greater than every week.
The Eyjafjallajokull (pronounced EYE-a-fyat-la-jo-kutl) volcano had been dormant for almost two centuries earlier than it sprang again to life greater than 13 years in the past.
Iceland has lots of volcanoes.
Volcanic eruptions are not uncommon in Iceland, which has fewer than 400,000 residents and about 130 volcanoes. For the reason that nineteenth century, not a decade has passed by with out one, Iceland’s vacationer web site tells guests. However the frequency of eruptions stays “entirely random.”
The nation straddles two tectonic plates, that are themselves divided by an undersea mountain chain that oozes molten scorching rock, or magma.
The present seismic exercise hasn’t impacted one in all Iceland’s most infamous volcanoes, Katla, which some scientists fear is due for an eruption. Katla has erupted 5 instances since 1721, at intervals starting from 34 to 78 years. The final main one was in 1918.
Egill Bjarnason contributed reporting from Reykjavík, Iceland.
