2023-07-10 19:46:00
Iceland does not come to rest. View of the volcanic crater Magni formed during the eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in 2010 (archive)
Simon Meier/KEYSTONE
Iceland experiences the third volcanic eruption in two and a half years. The impressive natural spectacle takes place not far from the capital Reykjavik and was announced with thousands of earthquakes.
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A volcano is erupting once more in Iceland: for the third time in just two and a half years. Live footage from the sparsely populated area near the capital Reykjavik shows deep plumes of smoke. Lava has also already escaped. There is no danger to the population. Spectacle tourists are warned once morest trips to the outbreak region.
For Icelanders it is almost a habit when a volcano erupts near the capital Reykjavik. The time has come once more: An eruption has started just northwest of the Litli-Hrútur mountain, the Icelandic weather authority Vedurstofa announced on its website on Monday.
On live recordings From the area on the sparsely populated Reykjanes Peninsula, dense plumes of smoke might be seen in the early evening, but no surface lava flows from the angle. However, photos taken by the agency showed red-hot lava spurting out of an elongated crack in the ground.
The outbreak began around 4:40 p.m. (local time), Vedurstofa wrote on Facebook. In Switzerland it was already early evening at the time. It is assumed that the crack in the earth is regarding 200 meters long. Scientists are in the area to take measurements.
The volcanic area is regarding 40 kilometers southwest of Reykjavik. The last volcanic eruptions in the area were in August 2022 and before that in March 2021, following they had been announced by numerous earthquakes. This time too there had been thousands of earthquakes in the region in the past few days, most recently on late Sunday evening the most violent of the current earthquake swarm with a magnitude of 5.2.
No danger for the population, warning for tourists
The authority linked the message with a warning to those who wanted to go straight to the natural spectacle: The hike to the site of the eruption was long and the landscape challenging. It is therefore recommended to wait and follow the instructions of the civil defense.
Experts had expected a new outbreak due to the tremors. As in 2021 and 2022, the risk to the population was classified as low.
How long the lava flow will last is unclear. The eruption in 2021 had caused lava fountains to shoot up once more and once more for almost half a year, the eruption in 2022 was shorter. The natural spectacle attracted many volcanologists, but also hikers and tourists. In general, the outbreaks had not caused any great unrest among the Icelandic population.
dpa
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