2023-12-19 22:42:02
Rivers of lava erupted from a fissure in a mountainside, meandering downhill to burst into fountains of red and gold molten rock, when the Fagradalsfjall volcano erupted this week in a fishing village in southwestern Iceland.
Molten rock lit up the smoky sky in Grindavík, a small fishing town just 50 kilometers (30 miles) from the capital, Reykjavík.
The eruption began on Monday night, but it was not a surprise. The area has been active for two years, with thousands of small earthquakes announcing the almost certain awakening of the volcano.
Civil protection personnel are on high alert, blocking access to the road that leads to the mountain and flying by helicopter over the lava flows to monitor volcanic activity.
As Friday’s winter solstice approaches, when Iceland sees only three hours of sunlight a day, residents gather, watching from a safe distance, to watch the natural spectacle light up the dark sky.
The lava is regarding 1,200 degrees Celsius (2,200 degrees Fahrenheit). The Icelandic Meteorological Office estimates that hundreds of cubic meters of lava per second escaped from the volcano in the first two hours of the eruption, although activity had slowed significantly by Tuesday followingnoon.
The volcano last erupted in March 2021, but before then it had been dormant for 6,000 years.
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