The ongoing volcanic eruption in Iceland could cause new fissures to open and tear the nearby town of Grindavík apart, experts warn, as the area remains on high alert amid uncertainty over what the coming days will bring.
The Reykjanes eruption, which began Monday evening, signals an increased risk of volcanic fissures opening without warning in the fishing town of about 4,000 people, which has already been rocked by earthquakes for weeks.
Locals have already shared videos of houses being torn apart. One told Web her home was sealed and she could not return after the force of the tremors ripped it from its foundations.
Iceland's tourism industry, driven by attractions such as the Blue Lagoon, which lies just a stone's throw from the eruption, has also suffered a major blow – with some flights delayed and nervous holidaymakers canceling reservations and postponing their trips for the coming months.
“The future is still uncertain,” Jóhannes Þór Skúlason, head of the Icelandic Tourism Association, told MBL.is. “We will have to see how this outbreak develops.” “If the upheaval continues for a long time, the impact on the tourism industry could be major into next year.”
Meanwhile, people around the world marveled at the stunning new images emerging from the country. Drone footage shows the steaming lava flows pouring over snow-capped mountains, exposing the expanse of the 4km-long chasm.
On December 19, bubbling lava pours from chasms near the town of Grindavik, Iceland
On December 19, molten lava poured from a fissure on the Reykjanes peninsula, 3 km north of the evacuated town of Grindavik in western Iceland
A close-up of the southern active section of the original fissure of an active volcano in Grindavik on Iceland's Reykjanes Peninsula
Tens of thousands of tremors have been recorded around Grindavik since a “seismic swarm” first shook the region in late October. The Fagradalsfjall volcano threatened to erupt for weeks before an explosion occurred in Sundhnúkagíga on Monday, unleashing a much larger torrent than any in recent years.
As a huge magma tunnel stretching beneath the Grindavik fissures could still open without warning, geophysicist Benedikt Ófeigsson told Icelandic news agency DV.
“It also created a magma tunnel.” [underground] from which the eruption emerged, and it extends significantly further south and north than the fissures themselves, and we can certainly expect them to erupt without warning, as actually happened in Fagradalsfjall,” Ófeigsson warned.
Experts are due to meet on Wednesday morning to assess the current situation after it was announced last night that the outbreak had subsided.
The volcano spewed enough lava every 20 seconds to fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool, an expert said on Tuesday.
David Pyle, a professor of geosciences at the University of Oxford, told Live Science that earthquakes around the eruption area have now subsided, suggesting the fissure has stabilized.
“The eruption rate is likely in the range of a few hundred cubic meters of lava per second – enough to fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool in about 20 seconds,” Pyle told LiveScience.
“The length of the gap could be an indication of how much magma has been able to accumulate in the crust in recent weeks.”
The Icelandic Meteorological Office said in a statement last night: “The lava flow is estimated to be about a quarter of what it was at the start of the eruption on December 18, and a third of the original fissure is active.”
Police said the eruption did not pose a threat to life and that no injuries had been reported so far, although the area was visited in droves by adventure seekers.
While locals and tourists alike witness the incredible nighttime scenes first-hand, authorities have warned that the darkness makes the place even more dangerous.
A drone captures the lava flow from the erupting volcano on the Reykjanes Peninsula
Scientists from the University of Iceland take measurements and samples while standing on the ridge in front of the active part of the eruption fissure of an active volcano in Grindavik
The eruption on the Reykjanes peninsula, north of the evacuated town of Grindavik, began at around 10:17 p.m. yesterday evening after a swarm of earthquakes, the Icelandic Meteorological Office said, citing a series of smaller tremors
Lava comes to the surface at the site, which is not far from the town of Grindavik
In this handout image from the Icelandic Coast Guard during a volcanic eruption on the Reykjanes Peninsula on Monday, rising smoke and flowing lava can be seen turning the sky orange
Authorities say the biggest risk to people living near the volcano is volcanic fumes, which could cause breathing difficulties or suffocation.
Fortunately, fears that the toxic gas from the eruption would hit the Reykjanes Peninsula overnight did not come true.
However, pollution has increased in parts of the peninsula, raising concerns among experts.
People are asked to stay away from the area as smoke and ash from the eruption continues.
The Icelandic Meteorological Office estimates that hundreds of cubic meters of lava per second flowed from the volcano in the first two hours after the eruption began on Monday, although the number has fallen significantly since then.
The lava has a temperature of about 1,200 degrees Celsius (2,200 degrees Fahrenheit).
The volcano last erupted in March 2021, but had previously been inactive for 6,000 years.