Iceland’s volcanic eruption is not a danger — for now

Copenhagen — Lava from a large volcanic eruption in Iceland appears to be flowing away from the only town in the area, offering hope that homes and lives would be spared even though the seismic activity could last months, officials said on Tuesday.

The government said flights are unlikely to be affected, quashing international travel concerns lingering after the chaos that resulted from the ash cloud caused by an eruption on the island in 2010.

The eruption late on Monday on the Reykjanes peninsula in southwest Iceland spewed lava and smoke more than 100m into the air after weeks of intense seismic activity.

“The eruption does not present a threat to life,” an Icelandic government statement said. “There are no disruptions to flights to and from Iceland, and international flight corridors remain open.”

Authorities in November evacuated the nearly 4,000 inhabitants of the fishing town of Grindavik about 40km southwest of capital city, Reykjavik.

Live footage of the eruption showed bright yellow, orange and red lava in sharp contrast against the sky. The eruption opened a 4km fissure from which lava fountains emerged. But at its southernmost point the crack was still 3km away from Grindavik, Iceland’s Meteorological Office said.

“The eruption is taking place north of the watershed, so lava does not flow towards Grindavik,” geologist Bjorn Oddson told public broadcaster RUV.

Located between the Eurasian and the North American tectonic plates, Iceland is a seismic and volcanic hotspot because the two plates move in opposite directions.

The eruption is happening about 30km from Reykjavik. Keflavik international airport is somewhat nearer but remains open. Closer still is the Blue Lagoon, a geothermal spa popular with tourists, which has largely been closed since the current seismic activity was detected.

“It could potentially go on for several months; it could also just stop later today or tomorrow,” said Halldor Geirsson, an associate professor at the Institute of Earth Sciences at the University of Iceland.

Lava flows decreased from 200-250 cubic metres per second in the first two hours of the eruption to about a quarter of that by Tuesday morning.

Geirsson said the location of the eruption looked to be fortunate, with most of the lava flowing into an area where there was little infrastructure. But that could still change.

“There is still a threat to Grindavik, for sure. Now the lava is flowing mostly to the north, but it depends on the topography and where the openings are,” he said.

In 2010, ash clouds from eruptions at the Eyjafjallajokull volcano in the south of Iceland spread over large parts of Europe, grounding about 100,000 flights and forcing hundreds of Icelanders to evacuate their homes.

Weather forecasting service AccuWeather said in a statement the current eruption was very different from the one at Eyjafjallajokull and preliminary information suggests it will not have a major effect on air travel.

“If little to no volcanic ash is lofted into the atmosphere, there may be no impact to aviation,” AccuWeather chief meteorologist Jon Porter said.

Reuters