Volcano near Iceland’s capital, main airport erupts again after 8-month pause

A volcano in southwest Iceland started erupting Wednesday, the nation’s meteorological authorities mentioned — simply eight months after its final eruption formally ended.

The Icelandic Meteorological Workplace urged folks to not go close to the Fagradalsfjall volcano, which is positioned some 32 kilometres southwest of the capital, Reykjavik.

The eruption in an uninhabited valley shouldn’t be removed from Keflavik Airport, Iceland’s worldwide air visitors hub. The airport remained open and no flights had been disrupted.

A live video feed from the location confirmed magma spewing from a slim fissure about 100 to 200 metres lengthy over a subject of lava from final yr’s eruption, the primary on the Reykjanes Peninsula in nearly 800 years.

Scientists had anticipated an eruption someplace on the peninsula after a sequence of earthquakes over the previous week indicated volcanic exercise near the crust.

Final yr’s eruptions lasted a number of months

Volcanologist Magnus Tumi Gudmundsson instructed The Related Press that the eruption gave the impression to be small.

“However we do not know the place within the course of issues are at,” he mentioned as he boarded a helicopter for a primary look.

The 2021 eruption in the identical space produced spectacular lava flows for a number of months. A whole bunch of hundreds folks flocked to see the spectacular sight.

Iceland, positioned above a volcanic hotspot within the North Atlantic, averages an eruption each 4 to 5 years.

Probably the most disruptive in current occasions was the 2010 eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano, which despatched clouds of ash and dirt into the ambiance, interrupting air journey for days between Europe and North America due to considerations the ash may injury jet engines. Greater than 100,000 flights had been grounded, stranding thousands and thousands of passengers.

Shares in Iceland’s flagship airline, Icelandair, rose six per cent when information of the eruption broke Wednesday. Traders and residents alike had been spooked by the potential for a way more disruptive eruption in a populated space of the peninsula.