A new volcanic fissure on Iceland’s Reykjanes peninsula spewed lava on Saturday prompting evacuation of residents. The Icelandic Met Office (IMO) said that a “volcanic eruption has started between Stóra-Skógfell and Hagafell on the Reykjanes Peninsula" in a statement as live video from Icelandic news outlets images of glowing lava and billowing smoke.
It is the fourth eruption to hit the area since December, authorities said.
Iceland’s Department of Civil Protection and Emergency Management announced it had sent a helicopter to narrow down the exact location of the new fissure.
Geophysicist Magnús Tumi Guðmundsson while speaking to Icelandic media outlet RUV described the current eruption as the strongest in the recent series of seismic activities reported from the region. He also took a helicopter flight over the site.
Local media reported that the evacuation of the fishing town of Grindavik had started, residents having received text messages telling them to leave quickly.
Iceland’s Blue Lagoon which is a geothermal spa located in a lava field in Grindavík on the Reykjanes Peninsula and residents there were also told to relocate.
It’s renowned for its milky blue waters, which are rich in minerals like silica and sulphur, believed to have therapeutic properties for skin conditions like psoriasis. The lagoon’s water is sourced from the nearby Svartsengi geothermal power plant.
The roughly 4,000 residents of Grindavik were only cleared to return to their homes on February 19 after having been evacuated on November 11. In November hundreds of tremors damaged buildings and opened up huge cracks in roads. A volcanic fissure appeared on December 18 but it spared the village.
But a fissure opened right on the town’s edge, in January, sending lava flowing into the streets and reducing three homes to ashes, followed by a third eruption near the village on February 8.
Iceland is home to 33 active volcano systems, the highest number in Europe.
It straddles the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, a crack in the ocean floor separating the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates. But until March 2021, the Reykjanes peninsula had not experienced an eruption for eight centuries.
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