Volcano in southwestern Iceland continues to erupt

Published 2024-03-27

(23 Mar 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Grindavik – 22 March 2024
1. Various of erupting fissures, craters and lava flows from volcano
2. Various of quarry and remnants after lava flowed into the quarry
3. Officials assessing damage in quarry
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Einar Lagarín Láruson, member of the search and rescue team:
“We are in the quarry just northwest of Grindavik. The town is below us, here and we can see the newly erected barriers (protection barriers) over there. This quarry has been used to gather materials for the barriers here to protect the town and then around 9pm last night or something the lava just reached this point and flowed into the quarry."
5. Pan from officials to remnants after lava flowed into the quarry
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Einar Lagarín Láruson, member of the search and rescue team:
"We just to wait and see if this is going to go on for some days or weeks. This might be a place where more lava will come and it's quite deep and it can probably take quite a bit of lava before it goes further down south towards the town and the barriers.”
7. Northernmost crater of volcano erupting and seen from quarry area
STORYLINE:
Lava continued to spew out of a volcano in southwestern Iceland that has erupted multiple times since December, flowing into a nearby quarry close to the town of Grindavik.

Officials said lava entered the quarry on Thursday evening.

Materials were being gathered from the site to create defensive barriers to stop molten rock from the eruptions heading to Grindavik, a coastal town of 3,800 people about 50 kilometers (30 miles) southwest of Iceland’s capital, Reykjavik.

"We just to wait and see if this is going to go on for some days or weeks," Einar Lagarín Láruson, a member of a search and rescue team, said as he stood looking at the remnants of the lava flow in the quarry on Friday.

"This might be a place where more lava will come and it's quite deep and it can probably take quite a bit of lava before it goes further down south towards the town and the barriers.”

In the weeks since the first eruption on December 18, defensive walls were built around the town, the geothermal power plant and the Blue Lagoon geothermal spa in hope of directing lava away from the community.

After a second eruption in January the walls that had been bolstered after the first eruption stopped some of the flow, but several buildings were consumed by the lava.

Iceland, which sits above a volcanic hot spot in the North Atlantic, sees regular eruptions and is highly experienced at dealing with them.

The most disruptive in recent times was the 2010 eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano, which spewed huge clouds of ash into the atmosphere and led to widespread airspace closures over Europe.

The latest eruptions signal a reawakening of the Svartsengi volcanic system after almost 800 years of quiet.

It's unclear when the period of activity will end or what it means for the Reykjanes Peninsula, one of the most densely populated parts of Iceland.

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@gabrielehanne580 28 days ago

Thank you for these beautiful visuals reminding me to zoom out more often . You are so lucky to be close to this amazing display of raw power . I love the tinkling sound . I used to have obsidian windchimes . They sounded just like that . Magical .