The Sundnukur volcano on the Reykjanes Peninsula near the town of Grindavik in southwest Iceland began erupting on Friday night, Icelandic media reported.
Meteorological bureau spokesman Benedikt Ofeigsson told reporters:
“The seismic activity started at 08:48 p.m. Shortly after, signs of deformation appeared and a lava flow started. About half an hour later, at 09:26 p.m., the eruption on the eastern side of Sundukur began directly.”
Icelandic authorities said the effects of the eruption have been localised and roads are closed, but there is no threat to the population.
Magnus Tumi Gudmundsson, a geophysicist who flew over the eruption hotspots this evening, said “if it continues like this, Grindavik is in no danger. Of course, we don’t know what will happen in the near future, but it is likely that this eruption has peaked and then will begin to subside like other eruptions.”
We just thought it was the northern lights
As news of the eruption spread, hundreds of curious onlookers stretched to nearby vantage points to watch the stunning natural phenomenon become a major tourist attraction. Mahnoor Ali, who travelled from Maryland, the US, said:
“We just thought it was the northern lights.”
Friends Ameerul Awalludin from Malaysia and Shohei Miyamito from Japan were with an Icelandic friend when they heard the news and quickly rushed to the eruption site. They said:
“We have a volcano too, but we can’t see lava like this.”
But for people living and working on the Reykjanes Peninsula, the regular eruptions and subsequent evacuation orders are sure to be frustrating.
According to the Meteorological Office, lava is not flowing towards the nearby fishing village of Grindavik, whose nearly 4,000 residents have been evacuated since November.
The eruption occurred in the Sundhnukar crater row east of Mount Silingafetl, partly overlapping with other recent eruptions on the Reykjanes Peninsula, a volcanic system that has no central crater but erupts by forming giant cracks in the ground.
Warning of new volcano activity
Studies have shown that magma is accumulating underground, prompting warnings of new volcanic activity in an area south of Iceland’s capital Reykjavík.
The last eruption on the Reykjanes Peninsula, home to about 30,000 people, or nearly 8% of the country’s total population, ended on 22 June after erupting fountains of molten rock for 24 days.
