A new volcanic eruption hits Iceland, the seventh in a year

For the moment, no infrastructure is threatened, but the town of Grindavik and the Blue Lagoon hotels have been evacuated.

A volcano erupted on the night of Wednesday November 20 to Thursday November 21 on the Reykjanes peninsula in southwest Iceland, the seventh since last December, the services announced meteorological. “An eruption began at Sundhnukagigar, near Stora Skogfell at 11:14 p.m.” (12:14 a.m. in Paris), detailed a press release from the Icelandic Meteorological Office (IMO). Broadcast live, images show lava gushing from a long fissure, the extent of which has not yet been determined.

Questioned by public radio RAS2, a specialist from the Icelandic Meteorological Office Benedikt Ofeigsson clarified that no infrastructure was currently threatened. A civil protection helicopter will fly over the area with scientists to give a first estimate of the size of the eruption. The lava flows are not going towards the town of Grindavik, which was being evacuated on Thursday morning, just like the Blue Lagoon hotels, whose pools are closed at this time.

This is the seventh eruption in the region since December, the last dating from the end of August, on the same Reykjanes peninsula, where Reykjavik international airport is located. The peninsula had not experienced an eruption for eight centuries until March 2021. Others took place in August 2022 as well as in July and December 2023. Volcanologists have warned that seismic activity in the region was entry into a new era.