A volcano in southwestern Iceland erupted for the third time since December on Thursday, spewing jets of lava into the sky and leading to the evacuation of the Blue Lagoon spa, one of the country's major tourist attractions.
The eruption began around 0600 GMT (1 a.m. EST) along a three-kilometer (nearly two-mile) fissure northeast of Mount Sundhnukur, according to the Icelandic Meteorological Office. This site is about 4 kilometers (2½ miles) northeast of Grindavik, a coastal town of 3,800 people that was evacuated before a previous eruption on Dec. 18.
The Meteorological Office reported that the lava was flowing westward and that there was no immediate threat to Grindavik or to a major power plant in the area. Civil defense officials stated that no one was believed to be in the town at the time of the eruption.
“They weren’t meant to be, and we don’t know about any,” said Víðir Reynisson, the head of Iceland’s Civil Defense, to Icelandic national broadcaster RUV.
The nearby Blue Lagoon thermal spa was closed when the eruption began, and all guests were safely evacuated, RUV reported. Later, a stream of hot lava spread across a road near the spa.
Earlier this week, the Icelandic Met Office had warned of a potential eruption after observing a buildup of magma, or semi-molten rock, below the ground for the past three weeks. Hundreds of small earthquakes had been recorded in the area since Friday, followed by a burst of intense seismic activity about 30 minutes before the latest eruption.
Dramatic video from Iceland’s coast guard shows fountains of lava soaring more than 50 meters (165 feet) into the sky. A plume of steam rose approximately 3 kilometers (1½ miles) above the volcano.
Iceland, located above a volcanic hot spot in the North Atlantic, experiences an eruption roughly every four to five years. The most disruptive in recent times was the 2010 eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano, which emitted large clouds of ash into the atmosphere and led to widespread airspace closures over Europe.
This is the third eruption since December of a volcanic system on the Reykjanes Peninsula, home to Keflavik, Iceland’s main airport, and several large towns. There were no reports of disruption to the airport on Thursday.
Dave McGarvie, a volcanologist with extensive experience in Iceland, stated that the "gentle, effusive" eruption is unlikely to disrupt aviation because it produces only a small amount of ash.
Grindavik, about 50 kilometers (30 miles) southwest of Iceland’s capital, Reykjavik, was evacuated in November when the Svartsengi volcanic system awakened after nearly 800 years with a series of earthquakes that opened large cracks in the earth to the north of the town.
The volcano eventually erupted on Dec. 18, sending lava flowing away from Grindavik. A second eruption that began on Jan. 14 sent lava towards the town. Defensive walls that had been strengthened since the first eruption halted some of the flow, but several buildings were engulfed by the lava.
No confirmed deaths have been reported, but a worker is missing after falling into a fissure created by the volcano.
Both previous eruptions lasted only a few days, but they indicate what Icelandic President Gudni Th. Johannesson described as "a challenging period of upheaval" on the Reykjanes Peninsula, one of Iceland's most densely populated areas.
It is unclear whether the residents of Grindavik will ever be able to return permanently, according to McGarvie.
There's uncertainty about whether the residents of Grindavik will ever be able to return permanently, according to McGarvie.
"I think at the moment there is a resignation, a stoic acceptance, that the town is essentially uninhabitable for the foreseeable future," he said.
He noted that after centuries of calm, "people believed this area was relatively safe."
"It's been a surprise that it has become active again," he added. "Recent evidence suggests that eruptions in this peninsula could continue for decades, if not centuries, intermittently."