The volcanic eruption, which began yesterday, Monday night in Iceland, in an area south of the capital Reykjavik where seismic activity has been very intense since the beginning of November, may stabilize, the Icelandic Meteorological Institute (IMO) announced today. .

“The power of the explosion, which started about four hours agoappears rather to be declining,” the IMO said on its website.

“The fact that the activity is already declining is no indication of the duration of the eruptionbut rather for the fact that the eruption is stabilizing,” the meteorological institute pointed out, adding that a similar trend had been observed at the beginning of previous eruptions in the Reykjanes Peninsula.

This new explosion, the fourth in two years, occurred at a distance of three kilometers from a village of 4,000 inhabitantsGrindavik, which has been evacuated since November 11, after a state of emergency was declared in the area following a significant magma build-up.

The fissure is about four kilometers long, clarified the IMO, which was due to update its analysis at 11:00 (Greece time).

All roads around Grindavik have been closed and will remain closed for the next few days, the police announced via Facebook, clarifying that there is no danger to the population as the situation currently stands.

In 2021, 2022 and last July, volcanic eruptions in an uninhabited area on the outskirts of Grindavik had become major tourist attractions, drawing nearly 680,000 visitors, according to the Icelandic Tourism Office.

During last night, Iceland’s head of civil protection and emergency management, Vidir Reinison, warned on public broadcaster RUV that this new eruption “is not a tourist eruption and you have to watch it from afar”.

By March 2021, on the Reykjanes peninsula, south of the capital Reykjavík, there had been no volcanic eruptions for eight centuries.

According to volcanologists, the new cycle of volcanic eruptions on this peninsula can last for tens of years.

Thirty-three volcanic systems are considered active in this land of fire and ice, Europe’s most volcanic region.