Iceland’s famous Blue Lagoon and the town of Grindavik are under evacuation following the eruption of a volcano on the Reykjanes Peninsula, public broadcaster RÚV reported on Saturday.
Lava appears to be flowing rapidly north of Grindavík, just as it did during the February 8 eruption, RÚV said, citing the Icelandic Meteorological Office.
“The fissure is about three kilometers long and runs from Stóra-Skógfell towards Hagafell,” he said.
The evacuation operation lasted approximately half an hour. Bjarney Annelsdóttir, a senior police officer, told RÚV that around 700 people were in the Blue Lagoon and very few in Grindavik when the eruption began.
The current eruption taking place in Iceland is the most powerful so far, geophysicist Magnús Tumi Guðmundsson, who has just returned from a helicopter flight over the site, told public broadcaster RÚV on Saturday.
Guðmundsson said the fissure that is now very active “is longer, about 3.5 kilometers” and extends from the northern side of Hagafell and north to Stóra-Skógfell.
“Based on the speed of the lava flow,” Guðmundsson estimated that “it won’t be long before it flows over the Grindavíkurvegur road,” which is the main road leading to the town of Grindavík.
Geophysicist Páll Einarsson said the earthquakes in Grindavik clearly follow the same pattern they have followed since October with repeated flows of magma sometimes reaching the surface, RÚV said, adding that the previous eruptions “were strong, they lasted a short time, but They were powerful while they lasted.”
Keflavik Airport and Iceland’s regional airports are not affected and are fully operational following the eruption, RÚV reported.
Volcanic gas can be detected in Reykjanesbær on Sunday, RÚV reported, referring to the city located next to Keflavik, the main international airport.
Located just under an hour’s drive from Iceland’s capital and largest city, Reykjavik, the Blue Lagoon is one of the country’s most popular tourist attractions.
The site is part of the Reykjanes Peninsula in southwestern Iceland, a thick strip of land that points west toward the North Atlantic Ocean from Reykjavik. In addition to the Blue Lagoon, the peninsula is home to Iceland’s main airport, Keflavik International Airport.
Iceland is one of the most active volcanic areas on the planet. Instead of having a central volcano, the Reykjanes Peninsula is dominated by a rift valley, with lava fields and cones.
The lagoon was evacuated in early March due to seismic activity. In November it was closed for a week after 1,400 earthquakes were measured in 24 hours.