©Reuters. Smoke rises as a volcano erupts along Route 41 in Reykjanes Peninsula, Iceland, December 19, 2023. REUTERS/Sigurdur Davidsson/FILE PHOTO
COPENHAGEN (Reuters) – A volcano in Iceland erupted on Saturday for the fourth time since December, the country’s meteorological office said, spewing bright orange smoke and lava into the air in stark contrast to the dark night sky.
In a video shot from a Coast Guard helicopter and broadcast by public broadcaster RUV, fountains of molten rock gushed from a long fissure in the ground and lava spread rapidly on each side.
The eruption began at 2023 GMT and the fissure was estimated to be about 2.9 kilometers long, about the same size as the last eruption in February, the Icelandic Meteorological Office said in a statement.
Authorities had warned for weeks that an eruption was imminent on the Reykjanes Peninsula, just south of the Icelandic capital Reykjavik.
The site of the eruption was between Hagafell and Stora-Skogfell, the same area as the previous outbreak on February 8, the Met Office said.
“This was absolutely expected,” said Rikke Pedersen, head of the Nordic Volcanology Centre.
“Of course the exact time of the eruption is impossible to predict. The first signs of this movement towards the surface actually happened only about 15 minutes before,” he said.
Reykjavik’s Keflavik Airport website showed it remained open for both departures and arrivals.
The lava appeared to be flowing rapidly south towards the nearby fishing town of Grindavik, where some of the nearly 4,000 residents had returned following previous outbreaks, the Met Office said.
The city was evacuated again, public broadcaster RUV reported. In January an epidemic razed many of its homes.
“We say it’s business as usual,” Kristin Maria Birgisdottir, who was evacuated from Grindavik in November, told Reuters.
“My son… just called me and said, ‘Mom, did you know the rash started? And I was like, yeah, I knew. Oh, my grandma just told me. So it’s like we didn’t even bother telling each other anymore,” he said.
Icelandic police said they had declared a state of emergency for the area.
The nearby Blue Lagoon luxury geothermal spa immediately closed its doors, as it had during previous eruptions.
Iceland, about the size of the US state of Kentucky, boasts more than 30 active volcanoes, making the northern European island a prime destination for volcano tourism, a niche segment that attracts thousands of thrill-seekers.
In 2010, ash clouds from the eruption of the Eyafjallajokull volcano in southern Iceland spread across much of Europe, grounding around 100,000 flights and forcing hundreds of Icelanders to evacuate their homes.
Volcanic outbreaks on the Reykjanes Peninsula are so-called fissure eruptions, which usually do not cause large explosions or significant dispersion of ash into the stratosphere.
Gases from the eruption were traveling westwards into the sea, the weather office said.
Scientists fear the eruptions could continue for decades, and Icelandic authorities have begun building dams to divert burning lava flows away from homes and critical infrastructure.
The February eruption knocked out district heating for more than 20,000 people while lava flows destroyed roads and pipelines.
Situated between the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates, among the largest on the planet, Iceland is a seismic and volcanic hotspot as the two plates move in opposite directions.