Icelandic Volcano Erupts for the Seventh Time this Year
Photo Courtesy: Civil Protection Department of the National Police Commissioner Iceland via Wikimedia Commons
An Icelandic volcano has erupted for the seventh time this year, since December 2023. Located in southwest Iceland along the Reykjanes Peninsula, only 40 km from the capital city, the Sundhnúkar craters became active in 2021 after 800 years of dormancy.
After the first eruption in 2023, Grindavík, a nearby town of around 4,000 residents, has now been fully evacuated. Although this number may appear small, it amounts to about 1% of the population. Consequently, a housing problem has arisen, and after a year of residents continuing to struggle, Grindavík town council has called on parliament to renew legislative amendments concerning residents’ livelihoods and housing complications.
A recent survey revealed that 60% of residents have had to move more than three times since their evacuation, with financial support for rent set to expire at the end of this year. The continuation of social repercussions presents a problem for the government to provide both the resources and finances necessary to ensure citizens’ security and safety in the likely event of future eruptions.
Although the latest eruption within the Fagradalsafjall area, which began on 20th November 2024, is smaller than before and has caused neither flight cancellations nor threats to human life, the lava has travelled to a popular tourist destination, the Blue Lagoon, leading to the spa’s evacuation and temporary closure.
The volcanic eruptions may threaten tourism, an industry contributing to almost 9% of Iceland’s GDP, but they may also provide an opportunity to draw more tourists in. These smaller eruptions, with no ash and manageable gas emissions, offer geologists and nature enthusiasts the rare experience of witnessing an active volcano.
Iceland, the land of ice and fire, is home to 33 active volcanoes due to its situation on the mid-Atlantic ridge between two tectonic plates: the North American and the Eurasian plates. When the plates travel apart at a rate of 2cm per year, magma rises from the mantle and creates a new crust.
Magma, however, is not the first indication of an eruption, but it is the seismic activity in the months prior that alerts scientists to an imminent eruption. Monitoring the Earth’s crust allows the government to issue early public warnings in the danger of a volcano erupting. In the case of Grindavík, residents were evacuated safely before the eruption thanks to seismic movement being recorded two months earlier.