A volcano in southwestern Iceland erupted on Monday following weeks of increased intense seismic activity, according to the Icelandic Meteorological Office.
The Icelandic Meteorological Office said in a post on X that the eruption began at around 10:17 p.m. local time, following an “earthquake swarm” that began an hour and 15 minutes earlier.
The volcano is located about 3 kilometers north of Grindavik, a fishing town with a population of less than 4,000 people.
Fearing a large-scale outbreak on the Reykjanes peninsula, authorities evacuated residents of Grindavik and closed the nearby Blue Lagoon geothermal spa, Reuters reported.
Icelandic volcanic eruption monitoring: Officials may receive '30-minute notice'
The Japan Meteorological Agency said a Coast Guard helicopter would take off to confirm the exact location and scale of the eruption, adding that it would provide further information as it became available.
Images posted on the agency's website showed lava gushing out from cracks in the ground.
Iceland sends bulldozers to build volcanic defenses amid fears of imminent eruption
People watch from the capital Reykjavik on Monday, December 18, 2023, as the night sky is lit up by a volcanic eruption on the Reykjanes Peninsula in southwestern Iceland. (AP Photo/Bringer Gunnarsson)
Last month, Iceland's top emergency management official told Fox News on Monday that authorities could receive as little as “30 minutes' notice” of a possible volcanic eruption in the country's southwest. It was revealed that there is.
The Icelandic Meteorological Service continues to report hundreds of small earthquakes around the town of Grindavik, and evacuations could continue for months, Civil Protection and Emergency Management Agency head Vidir Reynisson said in a statement. .
Icelandic towns could be evacuated for months as volcano continues to roar
Map of Iceland's Reykjanes Peninsula, where the volcanic eruption began on December 18, 2023. (Fox News)
At the time, the agency said more than 700 earthquakes had been detected in the area of the magma intrusion, the largest of which was a magnitude 2.7 earthquake in the mountainous region of Hagafell, just north of Grindavik.
Authorities have warned Grindavik residents that it could be months before they can return to their homes.
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Grindavik was ordered evacuated by the Icelandic government last week and closed to traffic for the time being after analysis of seismic activity and atmospheric content pointed to the possibility of an eruption.
Fox News' Bryan Llenas, Timothy HJ Nerozzi and Greg Norman and Reuters contributed to this report.
