Iceland volcano – Dispatches From The Front

Icelandic police have advised anyone entering Grindavík to exercise extreme caution and warned there is a danger of cracks opening up outside fenced-off areas in the town. Grindavík and the surrounding area were evacuated on Saturday (March 2) due to the risks posed by an imminent volcanic eruption on Iceland’s Reykjanes Peninsula.

The volume of magma accumulating beneath Svartsengi, 2.5 miles (4 kilometers) north of Grindavík, will reach 318 million cubic feet (9 million cubic meters) by the end of Tuesday (March 5) — well within the range of previous eruptions, according to a translated statement from the Icelandic Met Office (IMO). A hazard map released by the IMO shows the areas most at risk.

A volcano in Iceland is now erupting after weeks of earthquakes rocking the region, according to a statement released by the Iceland Met Office on Monday (Dec. 18).

The country has been bracing itself for an imminent volcanic eruption on the Reykjanes Peninsula for weeks. Grindavík, a small fishing town in the southwest corner of the island with a population of around 2,800 people, had previously been evacuated in November after a sinkhole measuring 3.2 feet (1 meter) deep appeared in the town.

Seismic activity began increasing in the area around the Fagradalsfjall volcano on Oct. 25, when more than 1,000 earthquakes north of Grindavík occurred in the space of just hours. Two strong earthquakes, measuring magnitudes 3.9 and 4.5, hit at a depth of around 3 miles (5 kilometers). Over the following two weeks, seismic activity continued, with hundreds of earthquakes and uplifts recorded each day, indicating that magma was accumulating beneath the ground.

Tag: Iceland volcano

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