Lava flows from a volcano in Iceland are slowing, the Icelandic Meteorological Office said on Wednesday, as the eruption looked set to spare the nearby town that was evacuated following weeks of earthquakes.
The eruption late on Monday on the Reykjanes peninsula in southwest Iceland spewed lava and smoke more than 100 metres into the air in a dramatic finale to weeks of waiting after the alarm was first raised over seismic activity.
Authorities last month evacuated the nearly 4,000 inhabitants of a nearby fishing town, Grindavik, about 40 kilometres southwest of capital city Reykjavik, allowing them back intermittently to check on homes put at risk by the tremors.
The government has said flights are unlikely to be impacted, easing worries of a repeat of the international travel chaos caused by the ash from another Icelandic volcanic eruption in 2010 just as the busy holiday travel season kicks in.
The Canadian government’s travel advice website lists Iceland’s risk level as “normal,” but includes an advisory about the volcanic eruption: travellers in the region are advised to monitor air quality, keep windows closed, “avoid areas close to mountains and steep slopes on the Reykjanes peninsula due to danger of falling rocks and landslides,” and follow the advice of local authorities.
After a hiker had to be rescued from the area by helicopter on Tuesday, The Guardian and other international media reported, police in Iceland issued a warning to tourists about the dangers of trying to get close to the site of the eruption.
WATCH | Rivers of fire after Iceland volcano erupts:
An Icelandic volcano that tore fissures in the earth, caused tremors for weeks and forced the evacuation of the entire town of Grindavik has finally erupted, spewing rivers of fiery lava across the landscape.
Fourth eruption since 2021
The eruption in the Svartsengi volcanic system might end in the next week, or lava flows could continue at a slow rate for weeks or months, similar to what happened at the nearby Fagradalsfjall system in 2021, according to Halldor Geirsson, associate professor at the Institute of Earth Sciences at the University of Iceland.
Meanwhile, gases associated with the eruption briefly spiked in the southwestern tip of Iceland, where the island’s main international airport is located. The level of sulfur dioxide in the air near the town of Keflavik rose from 0.2 micrograms per cubic metre at 6:50 a.m. GMT to above 1,300 an hour later, according to Iceland’s environmental agency.
The levels soon returned to normal. Sulfur dioxide can be harmful to health at high concentrations and officials had cautioned that gas pollution could occur in the area of nearby Reykjavik.
The airport remained open, though some flights suffered delays due to heavy snowfall, an airport spokesperson said.
The eruption is the fourth in the region since 2021. Geirsson told Reuters that the activity in the region shows that Iceland has started a sequence of volcanic eruptions.
“I think everything is pointing towards that we have a few hundred years of activity ahead of us,” he said. “It does not mean that we will have an eruption every year, but certainly more frequent than in the past 800 years.”
The government has said the eruption does not present a threat to life.