By Athena Papakosta

Scientists have been waiting for weeks for the eruption of the volcano in southwest Iceland which took place on Monday night. It was preceded by intense volcanic activity with thousands of earthquakes causing the earth to shake continuously.

It all started ten minutes after 22:00 on Monday night, north of Grindavik, a town of 3,400 inhabitants, which is 50 kilometers south-west of the capital Reykjavik.

Rivers of lava with a temperature of 1,200 degrees Celsius appeared, transforming the landscape into an image straight out of a nightmare. In more detail, according to the Meteorological Service of Iceland, in the first two hours following the explosion, hundreds of cubic meters of lava had been ejected. Scientists emphasize that the activity of the volcano until yesterday evening had begun to gradually recede, however, a 15 km long lava river is still flowing on the Reykjanes peninsula.

Already last November, the town of Grindavik had been evacuated with thousands of its residents leaving, while the Blue Lagoon tourist resort had also been closed for weeks. According to the scientists, so far, there is no threat of the lava moving towards the city but, as they explain, it is too early to think about the residents going back to their homes, underlining that the situation can change at any time.

Iceland

“No one expected the explosion to happen on Monday night. Even the scientists were surprised,” a resident of Grindavik told the British The Guardian, who also noted that “the police were telling us that we might be back in our homes by Christmas.”

Fagradasfial volcano has been dormant for around 6,000 years but in March 2021 it started to show the first signs of… life again with tourists flocking to the Reykjanes peninsula to see the rivers of hot lava flowing as close as possible.

As reported by international media, smoke and ash from the last powerful eruption of the Fagradasfial volcano can be seen at a distance of 30 kilometers with experts warning of the risk of pollution due to the increased content of sulfur dioxide in the air.

Iceland

Despite everything, the authorities remain reassuring as everything shows that air travel in Europe is not threatened as it was in 2010 when the Eyjafiatlaikoutl volcano erupted and an ash cloud choked the atmosphere, grounding around 100,000 flights.

Iceland is one of the most volcanic regions in the entire world which counts 32 active volcanoes. It also averages one eruption every four to five years, although their frequency has increased to every 12 months from 2021 to the present.