A volcano in southwest Iceland continued to spew lava on Thursday, but activity had calmed significantly compared to the previous day’s eruption.
Wednesday’s eruption was the fifth and most powerful since the volcanic system near Grindavik became active again in December for the first time in 800 years, spewing record levels of lava and widening a fissure up to 2.1 miles long.
Volcanologist Dave McGarvey calculated that the amount of lava that initially flowed from the crater could have buried London’s 90,000-seat Wembley Stadium under 49 feet of lava every minute.
Iceland’s recent volcanic eruption has subsided, but experts warn of further eruptions in the near future.
“This magma ejection is reaching about 50 metres (165 feet) into the atmosphere,” said McGarvey, an honorary research fellow at Lancaster University. “I knew straight away that this was a powerful eruption. That was my first impression. Then they came out with figures estimating how much magma is ejecting per minute or per second, and I thought, ‘wow’.”
The activity again threatened the coastal town of Grindavik, population 3,800, and led to the evacuation of residents of the popular Blue Lagoon geothermal hot springs, one of Iceland’s biggest tourist attractions.
Lava flows from Grindavik volcano in Iceland, Wednesday, May 29, 2024. A volcano in southwest Iceland erupted for the fifth time since December on Wednesday, sending red lava again threatening the coastal town of Grindavik and leading to the evacuation of residents of the popular Blue Lagoon geothermal hot springs. (AP Photo/Marco Di Marco)
Grindavik, about 30 miles southwest of Iceland’s capital Reykjavik, has been at risk since a series of earthquakes in November forced evacuation ahead of the initial eruption on December 18. The subsequent eruption destroyed several buildings.
A protective wall set up outside Grindavik held back the lava on Wednesday, but the evacuated town remains without power and two of the three roads leading to it have been flooded by lava.
“We feel the situation is much better than it was at the start of the eruption yesterday,” Grindavik Mayor Vannar Jonasson told state broadcaster RUV.
McCarvey said this latest eruption was more powerful than the previous four because the largest volume of magma built up in an underground chamber before bursting through the surface and shooting skyward.
McGarvey said the pattern researchers have seen at the volcano is that eruptions start suddenly and powerfully, then quickly weaken after a few hours. It’s unclear when the eruption will end.
“This could continue for quite some time,” McGarvey said. “This type of eruption has never been closely monitored in this part of Iceland before, so we’re really entering new territory.”
Located in a volcanically active region of the North Atlantic, Iceland regularly experiences eruptions, the most disruptive in recent history being the 2010 eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano, which spewed huge amounts of ash into the atmosphere and led to widespread airspace closures over Europe.
Click here to get the FOX News app
None of the current series of eruptions has affected aviation.
