Iceland’s volcano erupts once again

Icelandic authorities have already warned that the island “could once again be the scene of an imminent volcanic eruption” following the violent lava flows recorded in mid-January on the Reykjanes Peninsula in the country’s southeastern corner. Three weeks later, Icelanders suffered a new eruption this Thursday morning, especially on the Reykjanes peninsula in the south-west of Iceland – which has already recorded three events of this nature since December 18.

Television images capturing the eruption showed red lava flowing and a cloud of smoke rising from a crack in the middle of the black night. «At 05:30 am (local and GMT), a small earthquake began to intensify north-east of Sillingerfell. About 30 minutes later, an eruption began in the same area,” the Icelandic Meteorological Office (IMO) reported.

«According to the first report from a coast guard surveillance flight, the explosion occurred in the same area as the one on December 18. The crack is approximately three kilometers long,” the service said. At the moment, only one geothermal spa that was close to the eruption has closed. It is unknown whether this new lava outbreak will affect the town of Grindavik, whose 4,000 residents had to be evacuated on January 14 after several rivers of lava passed through, setting some houses on fire.

To prevent this, Icelandic authorities began building dams in November that could help divert the raging lava flows away from homes and essential infrastructure.