Iceland is witnessing this week a volcanic eruption, for the moment officially considered “minor”, which is being monitored with special attention because it occurs on the Reykjanes peninsula, where the Reykjavik-Keflavík International Airport is also located, and less than 40 km from the capital of the country; and in full tourist season.
The volcanic activity was detected on Monday near Litli Hrútur, in the Fagradalsfjall and Keilir mountains, after several days of seismic movements in the area, as explained by the Icelandic Met Office (IMO), a public body responsible for monitoring meteorological, climatic and geological in Iceland.
On the Reykjanes peninsula, some 1,200 earthquakes have been recorded in recent weeks, so experts already expected that it could produce an eruption. Benedikt Ofeigsson, a geophysicist in the area, has made it clear that the eruption “does not look very powerful”, stressing that it is generating smoke consisting mainly of steam.
The first information note published by the IMO indicates that, for the moment, “the eruption is small and there is currently no emission of ash into the atmosphere.” According to first estimates, there is a 200 m long fissure running roughly northeast to southwest on the eastern and northeastern slopes of Litli Hrútur from which lava emerges through various irregular and scattered cracks. In this first phase, “the eruption is occurring in a small depression and the lava flows to the south, while the gas and steam emissions move to the northwest.”
“The eruption is in an uninhabited region, so there are no immediate risks to communities or infrastructure,” the IMO says. However, the Icelandic authorities have delimited the area to avoid dangerous situations and have informed neighbors, onlookers and tourists that the gases emitted are toxic, so they are asked not to enter the area for any reason.
“The development of the eruption is currently unclear, so we advise the public not to attempt to visit the eruption area. Dangerously high levels of volcanic gases will accumulate near the eruption,” the IMO says. Similar periods of tremor were observed just before similar eruptions on the Reykjanes Peninsula in 2021 and 2022.
In 2010, Iceland experienced a volcanic eruption in Eyjafjallajokull, with great repercussions for international air traffic, due to the ash columns that disrupted links in a large part of Europe, canceling some 100,000 commercial flights, thus affecting more than ten million passengers. people.
The current eruption in Reykjanes has been described by scientists as “effusive”. That is, it is unlikely that it will become an explosive ash eruption. The Reykjavik-Keflavík airport does not currently suffer interruptions in arrivals or departures.
