Key events
You can watch Iceland’s volcano eruption in this livestream:
Icelandic Met Office: eruptive fissure about 4 km long
Miranda Bryant
In its latest statement on the rapidly changing situation, updated at 3am local time, the Icelandic Met Office said the 4km long eruptive fissure was nearly 3km from the edge of Grindavík.
The intensity of the volcanic eruption, which started about four hours ago, is decreasing. This is evident from seismic and GPS measurements.
The fact that the activity is decreasing already is not an indication of how long the eruption will last, but rather that the eruption is reaching a state of equilibrium. This development has been observed at the beginning of all eruptions on the Reykjanes Peninsula in recent years.
The eruptive fissure is about 4 km long, with the northern end just east of Stóra-Skógfell and the southern end just east of Sundhnúk. The distance from the southern end to the edge of Grindavík is almost 3 km.
The Icelandic Meteorological Office continues to monitor the activity and is in direct contact with civil protection and response units in the area. A meeting of scientists will be held tomorrow morning to evaluate the overnight development of the eruption.
They said there would be a further update at 9am local time.
‘We now wait’: Iceland’s president says country prepared
Guðni Th. Jóhannesson, the president of Iceland, said “we now wait to see what the forces of nature have in store.”
He added: “We are prepared and remain vigilant.”
An eruption has begun near the evacuated town of Grindavík. Our priorities remain to protect lives and infrastructure. Civil Defence has closed off the affected area. We now wait to see what the forces of nature have in store. We are prepared and remain vigilant.
📷 @Vedurstofan pic.twitter.com/yKx4WKU61c— President of Iceland (@PresidentISL) December 19, 2023
‘Now we see the earth opening up’, Iceland’s prime minister says
Miranda Bryant
After the eruption, the Icelandic prime minister, Katrín Jakobsdóttir, said: “Now we see the earth opening up”.
She said her thoughts were with the people of the fishing town Grindavík, who were evacuated from their homes last month soon after the “seismic swarm” first started, saying: “We hope for the best”.
But, she warned: “It can be clear that this is quite a blast.”
In a statement posted after the eruption on Facebook last night, she said:
An eruption has started on the Reykjaness Peninsula between Sýlingarfell and Hagafell, but evacuation has been ongoing in Grindavík since November 10.
Now we see the earth opening up and can thank all our good responders and scientists who have patrolled this area in the past weeks and months.
Defence parks have come a long way, which will make a significant difference, but I advocated a bill authorising the construction of such parks immediately following an evacuation.
Our thoughts are with the local people as before, we hope for the best, but it can be clear that this is quite a blast. It is important to give emergency responders space to do their work and follow traffic instructions.
Miranda Bryant
The eruption came just two days after the Blue Lagoon, a nearby geothermal spa popular with tourists, reopened for the first time in over a month on Sunday – despite ongoing fears of a potential volcanic eruption.
Blue Lagoon management said the decision to reopen on Sunday – despite persistent seismic activity and a police alert remaining at “danger level” – was made in “close collaboration with the authorities”.
Today it released a statement saying that it had once again closed:
A volcanic eruption commenced in Sundhnúkagígar on the evening of December 18. As a result, we have temporarily closed our facilities in Svartsengi. All guests with confirmed bookings in the upcoming days will be contacted.
We will continue to monitor the progress and maintain close communication with the authorities, prioritising safety and well-being. Sundhnúkagígar is a known volcanic area east of Blue Lagoon and north of Grindavík.
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Eruption begins on Reykjanes peninsula after weeks of activity
A volcano in southwest Iceland has erupted, spewing lava and smoke across a large area after weeks of intense earthquake activity, the country’s Meteorological Office has said.
Fearing a significant outbreak on the Reykjanes peninsula, authorities had evacuated the nearly 4,000 inhabitants of the fishing town of Grindavik in November after the area was hit by a “seismic swarm” of more than 1,000 earthquakes in 24 hours.
“Warning: Eruption has started north of Grindavik by Hagafell,” the Met Office said on its website on Monday, noting that the eruption had begun only a few kilometres from the town and cracks in the ground stretched toward the village located about 40km (25 miles) south-west of Iceland’s capital, Reykjavik.
The eruption began at around 22:17 GMT after a series of small earthquakes at around 21:00, the Met Office added.
Miranda Bryant in Stockholm, Helen Livingstone and agencies
