STOCKHOLM — A volcanic eruption began Monday night time on Iceland‘s Reykjanes Peninsula, turning the sky orange and prompting the country’s civil protection to be on excessive alert.
The eruption seems to have occurred about 4 kilometers (2.4 miles) from the city of Grindavik, the Icelandic Meteorological Office mentioned. Grainy webcam video confirmed the second of the eruption as a flash of sunshine illuminating the sky at 22:17 native time. As the eruption unfold, magma, or semi-molten rock, might be seen spewing alongside the ridge of a hill.
“The magma flow seems to be at least a hundred cubic meters per second, maybe more. So this would be considered a big eruption in this area at least,” Vidir Reynisson, head of Iceland’s Civil Protection and Emergency Management informed the Icelandic public broadcaster, RUV.
In November, police evacuated the city or Grindavik after robust seismic exercise within the space broken properties and raised fears of an imminent eruption.
Iceland sits above a volcanic sizzling spot within the North Atlantic and averages an eruption each 4 to 5 years. The most disruptive in current instances was the 2010 eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano, which spewed enormous clouds of ash into the ambiance and grounded flights throughout Europe for days due to fears ash might harm airplane engines.
Scientists say a brand new eruption would doubtless produce lava however not an ash cloud.
A coast guard helicopter will try to verify the precise location – and measurement – of the eruption, and also will measure gasoline emissions.
Grindavik, a fishing city of three,400, sits on the Reykjanes Peninsula, about 50 kilometers (31 miles) southwest of the capital, Reykjavik and never removed from Keflavik Airport, Iceland’s predominant facility for worldwide flights.
