Another volcano erupted Thursday on Iceland's Reykjanes peninsula, its ninth in the region at the close of 2023. The volcano erupted early Wednesday morning, prior to 4:00 a.m., according to the Icelandic Meteorological Office. Lava burst from a ground fissure, and the widest rift measured approximately 2.4 kilometres long. Another fissure, approximately 500 metres long, opened nearby later in the day.

The eruption resulted in a reaction in emergency actions following measured high rates of gas pollution that had already been recorded in the region. The residents were advised to stay indoors to secure them. Grindavík fishing community and Blue Lagoon spa hotel, Iceland's second most popular tourist attraction, were evacuated. Approximately 100 individuals were in Grindavík at the time and were evacuated uneventfully. The police affirmed that evacuation continued well and there were several tourists who tried to enter the eruption area but were intercepted by security.

Iceland's government indicated that although this current eruption itself is not seen to be as powerful as some of the previous ones, it is happening in a favorable place far from big infrastructure. The eruption is thus held to be less harmful compared to previous eruptions at the site.

Being in a phase of intense volcanic eruptions, the Icelandic area had gone without any for eight centuries prior to 2021 when earthquake activity was on the rise. The trend of the eruption at the Reykjanes peninsula settled down after that and volcanologists believe that the area entered a new cycle of geologic life and increased volcanic activity.

The threat assessment published just one day before the latest eruption had predicted that there would be no eruption until autumn. The previous one was seen in April 2025. All of the all of about 4,000 residents of Grindavík had to be evacuated as from the very initial eruption until the end of 2023. They had already sold their properties to the government for the majority of them, and the majority of them have already found new settlements by now.

Iceland lies on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge on the boundary of the Eurasian and North American plate tectonics. Iceland is both geologically and volcanically Europe's most active place and just simply because it exists, and there are 33 mapped active volcanic systems on its surface.

As the eruption was affecting society in the area, authorities were optimistic that the eruption would have no effect on international flights. This contrasts with international air travel disruption during a similar 2010 volcanic eruption when volcanic ash plumes from another Icelandic volcano caused widespread airspace closures across Europe.

Volcanologists are monitoring the Reykjanes peninsula closely as the resumption of the eruptions will reveal long-term alterations in volcanic activity. While the particular eruption itself will not be an immediate threat to infrastructure and air traffic, it is in the context of recent seismicity that Iceland is on red alert.

Source:
©© 2025 AFP