Following a string of earthquakes and indications that magma was fast expanding underground, Icelandic authorities announced on Saturday that they were getting ready for a volcanic eruption in the southwest of the island in the coming days.
Due to the quantity and speed of the subterranean magma intrusion, the Icelandic Meteorological Office declared that there was a “considerable” risk of an eruption on or near the Reykjanes peninsula.
“The probability of an eruption has increased since this morning and an eruption could start at any time in the next few days,” it said in a statement.
Grindavik, a fishing village with about 3,000 residents, was ordered to be completely evacuated by Iceland’s Civil Protection Agency overnight.
In recent years, there have been multiple eruptions in unpopulated regions of the Reykjanes region. The meteorological agency stated that the latest is anticipated to start on the seafloor just southwest of Grindavik.
A magma tube, or molten rock tunnel, that stretches 10 km further inland and northeast across Grindavik was assessed to be less than 800 meters deep late on Saturday, down from 1,500 meters earlier in the day, according to the office.
One of Iceland’s most popular tourist destinations, the Blue Lagoon geothermal spa, was closed on Thursday due to elevated seismic activity.
Southwest of the city Reykjavik is a volcanic and seismically active area known as Reykjanes. In the Fagradalsfjall volcanic system in the area, a fissure in the ground that was between 500 and 750 meters long caused stunning lava fountain eruptions in March 2021.
Thousands of Icelanders and visitors visited the area during the six months of ongoing volcanic activity in that year. The same region saw a three-week-long eruption in August 2022 and another in July of this year.
Before the recent eruptions, the about 6 km broad and 19 km long Fagradalsfjall system had been dormant for more than 6,000 years.
