In a spectacular reminder of nature’s energy, an enormous volcanic eruption lit up the darkish winter sky above southwest Iceland on Tuesday.
The eruption that shot geysers of molten lava comes after weeks of intense seismic exercise southwest of the capital Reykjavik.
The eruption solely 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) from the evacuated fishing port of Grindavik on the Reykjanes peninsula started Monday at round 10:17 p.m. (10:17 p.m. GMT) after an earthquake “swarm” of small tremors, the Icelandic Meteorological Office mentioned.
After weeks of warnings from scientists, the authorities constructed reinforcements across the Svartsengi geothermal plant, which is simply 2 kilometers from the eruption.
It provides electrical energy and water to 30,000 folks on the peninsula.
Live-streamed footage of the eruption confirmed glowing orange jets of lava spewing from a gash within the floor, surrounded by billowing clouds of crimson smoke in opposition to the darkish morning sky. The December solar solely rises at round 11:00 a.m. within the space simply south of the Arctic Circle.
“We hope for the best but it is clear this is a considerable eruption,” Prime Minister Katrin Jakobsdottir wrote on Facebook.
For weeks, the Nordic nation had been anticipating an eruption within the space some 40 kilometers from the capital, prompting the authorities to evacuate hundreds of individuals and shut the Blue Lagoon geothermal spa famed for its turquoise waters.
The meteorological workplace estimated that the volcano had opened a fissure about 4 kilometers lengthy, with the southern finish simply three kilometers away from the fishing port of Grindavik.
By 3 a.m., the meteorological workplace mentioned the eruption’s depth had stabilized and “the activity is decreasing,” though it was unable to estimate how lengthy it might final.
“We now wait to see what the forces of nature have in store,” Iceland President Gudni Johannesson wrote on X, previously Twitter. He added that defending lives and infrastructure was the precedence.
Vidir Reynisson, head of the Department of Civil Protection, urged folks to keep away from the world, telling a neighborhood tv station: “This is no tourist eruption.”
The volcano, which has but to be given a reputation, was situated close to the Sundhnukagigar crater row.
Unlike one other main Icelandic eruption in 2010 that grounded hundreds of flights throughout Europe and North America, this one didn’t create an ash plume. Reykjavik’s worldwide airport remained open Tuesday.
New period
Since October, hundreds of earthquakes had been detected on the Reykjanes peninsula, a attainable precursor to an impending volcanic eruption.
“Right now there is no immediate risk of infrastructure being threatened,” Grindavik mayor Fannar Jonasson advised the day by day Morgunbladid, amid stories Tuesday morning that the southern finish of the lava movement was really fizzling out.
Roughly 4,000 folks have been evacuated from Grindavik on Nov. 11 after scientists mentioned a tunnel of magma was shifting beneath them.
The sequence of small earthquakes – typically tons of per day – had broken roads and buildings, an AFP reporter in Grindavik mentioned.
Authorities have organized occasional journeys into the village since, escorting these with properties in probably the most perilous components as they rescued every little thing from cherished pets to picture albums, furnishings and clothes.
Volcanic eruptions should not unusual in Iceland, which is residence to 33 lively volcano techniques, the very best quantity in Europe. But, the Reykjanes peninsula had not skilled an eruption for eight centuries till 2021.
Since then, eruptions have struck in 2021, 2022 and earlier this yr – all in distant, uninhabited areas.
With no hazard to infrastructure or lives, they drew giant crowds of tourists.
Volcanologists say this may very well be the beginning of a brand new period of exercise within the area.
In 2010, the eruption of Iceland’s long-dormant Eyjafjallajokull volcano – an ice-capped volcano greater than 1,660 meters tall – shot enormous quantities of ash into the ambiance. Although nobody died, it pressured the cancellation of round 100,000 flights and left greater than 10 million vacationers stranded.
Situated within the North Atlantic, Iceland straddles the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, a crack within the ocean flooring separating the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates.
Source: www.dailysabah.com