Iceland volcano erupts after weeks of heightened earthquake activity

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A spectacular large-scale volcanic eruption has begun in south-western Iceland, spewing lava out of a 4km-long fissure, after weeks of heightened seismic activity.

The fissure opened north of the coastal town of Grindavík on the Reykjanes peninsula and close to the Blue Lagoon, one of the mid-Atlantic island’s main tourist attractions.

Iceland has been on high alert since early November, when thousands of earthquakes and heightened seismic activity began near Grindavík, only 19km from the country’s Keflavík international airport.

Flights and a nearby town and power plant were largely unaffected. Planes were taking off and landing on Tuesday morning, but many had long delays, according to the airport’s website.

Seismologists said an underwater eruption would have produced an ash cloud that could have threatened to disrupt aviation, as with the 2010 explosion at Eyjafjallajökull that closed much of European airspace for almost a week.

The southern edge of the eruption is about 3km north of Grindavík, but Icelandic authorities said emergency defences constructed around the town and a nearby power plant appeared to be holding. The town’s 3,700 residents were evacuated in early November.

Early on Tuesday, experts at Iceland’s meteorological office said that after four hours of activity the intensity of the eruption was decreasing as it reached “a state of equilibrium”, similar to recent volcanic events on Reykjanes in recent years.

A nearby eruption in 2021 became a tourist attraction owing to its relatively limited nature and distance from housing and critical infrastructure.

The current eruption is more serious because of its proximity to Grindavík, with authorities concerned that it could be the first volcanic eruption in Iceland to damage a town since the 1973 explosion of Eldfell, which destroyed several hundred homes on the southern island of Heimaey but caused no fatalities.

But seismologists on Tuesday morning said the lava was not flowing towards Grindavík. Civil defence experts had worked through the night to improve defences close to the eruption.

The Blue Lagoon had only reopened to visitors at the weekend after being closed for more than a month, while local police had recently suggested Grindavík residents might be able to return home.