Volcano eruption on the Reykjanes Peninsula

The Fagradalsfjall volcano erupted again on August 3rd, 2022, almost a year after the last eruption had occurred.

Update: Since August 21st, 2022 there has been no visible activity in Meradalir Volcano. No flowing lava can be seen at the moment, but the hiking path remains open.

• The new eruption that opened in the Meradalir valley is a fissure eruption, meaning that instead of the crater, the lava comes out of the fissure vent, usually without explosive activity.  
  
  
• The initial size of this fissure is around 300 meters long, but it is expected to get bigger.
  
  
• As for now, the eruption causes no threat to the surrounding infrastructure, lives, or air traffic. The flights in the Keflavik Internation Airport proceed as usual.
  
  
• This year’s eruption is 5-10 times bigger in lava and gas volume than the previous year’s.
  
  
• The hike to the Meradalir eruption site is at minimum 7 kilometers (approximately 4.5 miles) one way with an incline of about 300 meters (0.2 miles) and is considered challenging. The route is on very hard terrain and up very steep hills, and the hike can take at least 4-5 hours.
  
  
• It is advised to be mindful of gas pollution as it can cause very serious illness and even fatalities. Avoid low-lying areas in the vicinity of the volcano.
  
  
• Do not bring pets or children younger than 12 years of age to the site.
  
  
• The “old” lava from the 2021 Fagradalsfjall volcano is still very hot and fragile. Do not walk on it under any circumstances. It is extremely dangerous, and should you fall through the fragile crust, it may not be possible for the rescue team to save you.

The first eruption began in Geldingadalur in Fagradalsfjall around a quarter to nine on Friday night. There is currently no danger to settlements or structures. The eruption is small, but the danger in the area can be greater than many suspects. It is forbidden to go near the crater due to the risk of gas pollution. New cracks can open and the large crater could rupture and new lava channels can form.

Clever viewers of the webcams noticed that at midnight a new eruption fissure opened just northeast of the original eruption in Geldingadalur. The Meteorological Office's nature conservation expert confirmed this to the news agency right now. The new fissure appears at the site where rescue workers noticed a landslide.

Geldingadalur the new eruption cracks opened at noon last morning.

• Two new eruption fissures opened at noon yesterday about 700 meters northeast of the craters in Geldingadalur. They are about 100 to 200 meters long.
• There was almost no warning on the Meteorological Office's measuring equipment. 
• Between 400 and 500 people were at the eruption site when the fissures opened and the area was evacuated immediately. It is unlikely to reopen tomorrow.
• Rescue crews in Þorbjörn had to take down a tent that has stood by the eruption sites in Geldingadalur for two weeks. The cracks opened about 200 meters from the tent. 
• The lava flows down into Meradali and has formed a lava field there. It is thin-flowing and passes fairly quickly.
• The eruption in Geldingadalur has only decreased, but it is believed that the new cracks will be fed from the same eruption channel as the eruption in Geldingadalur. This is part of the same magma intrusion that scientists first noticed in the quake that began in late February.
• A similar amount of lava emerges from the cracks as before in Geldingadalur.
• Five or six cubic meters of magma flow out of the cracks every second.
• "This has become a more dangerous area than it used to be," says Kristín Jónsdóttir, a nature conservation specialist at the Icelandic Meteorological Office. 
• The eruption from the cracks has intensified this afternoon. 
• A narrow lava river now flows rapidly into Meradali.
• It is almost impossible to get to this area without being in danger, according to Kristín Jónsdóttir.
• No structures or roads are considered to be in danger as the lava flows further into the highlands.

It is likely that gas pollution in depressions and depressions near the eruption in Geldingadalur and the air quality in the vicinity will approach life-threatening values ​​tonight. The chief of police in Suðurnes encourages people to leave the eruption area before five o'clock today. He accepts the encouragement of the Meteorological Office from this morning.

The wind gradually decreases as the day progresses. After seven o'clock in the evening, the wind can be expected to drop below three meters per second and the sulfur dioxide to exceed 9,000 micrograms per cubic meter. Conditions can therefore pose a great danger to people, in fact life-threatening, due to the accumulation of toxic gases.

The chief of police in Suðurnes advises people to stay on the hills and not go down into valleys or depressions in the immediate vicinity of the eruption sites. People are also encouraged to stay within the hiking trail that has been marked to and from the eruption area.

Many people have made their way to the eruption in Geldingadalur this morning. The weather is much better than it was yesterday. It can cause problems as the day goes on with an increasing risk of gas pollution. People were therefore encouraged to leave sooner rather than later.

The eruption in Geldingadalur has now lasted for over three days and it can only be seen that there is a similar course in the eruption as there has been, but seismic activity has decreased significantly in the metabolic area. Less than twenty rescue crews from Þorbjörn in Grindavík were on duty at the eruption sites last night. A new hiking trail to the eruption site is almost ready and is accessible on GPS devices, but today a group will be sent to finalize its path.

The weather forecast assumes the fairest weather at the eruptions today, where the outlook is for a relatively slow westerly or variable direction with occasional showers and temperatures of up to five degrees until evening, but then it could start to freeze. Members of the rescue squad Þorbjörn yesterday completed the most efficient hiking trail from Suðurstrandarvegur to the eruption sites, so now there is nothing in the way for those who want to see the eruption. However, there is a strong warning against going down to Geldingadalur due to gas pollution, especially when the wind is less strong. 

This afternoon, a group of ten people from the rescue team Þorbjörn went on a stake trip up to Fagradalsfjall in crazy weather and this evening the project ended. "Now it is possible to walk a marked path from Suðurstrandavegur to the eruption stop in a very convenient way and it takes about an hour and a half for well-equipped people to walk that way, but it is about 3.5 km or 7 km back and forth," says in Facebook- entry of the rescue squad. The red line on the map below shows the hiking trail.

"This is clearly the shortest and safest way," says Davíð Már Bjarnason, Landsbjörg's information officer, in a conversation with the news agency tonight. He says that they are now waiting for Vegagerðin to open Suðurstandarveginn in one direction, hopefully tomorrow. "Then the next step is to look at further parking possibilities nearby and if something happens in the next few days, access will be much better."

He hopes people will heed the war on gas pollution tomorrow.

Geldingadalur has now erupted since 20:45 on Friday and this happened mostly today, Monday 22 March.

• Rescue teams worked tirelessly into the night and into the morning to shelter people who had been involved in the blaze. Some had become exhausted after walking for half a day and a first aid station was opened at a school in Grindavík. 40 people went there and one was taken to hospital due to injuries. The director of operations in Grindavík said clearly that lives had been saved last night. A fairly extensive search was made for a German man who later revealed that he had gone to Grindavík last night and slept there.
• The eruptions are closed today due to gas pollution and bad weather. More temperate weather is expected tomorrow. Those who leave early should have the wind behind them and those who will be on the move in the afternoon must consider gas pollution as the Meteorological Office assumes that there will be a lot of snow.
• No changes can be seen in the eruption itself. The tower that can be seen in the middle of the eruption has reached a height of 30 meters and is interrupted from time to time. Then you can see how flaming magma flows out of it. The lava flow is fairly stable and there is still a risk of another crack opening. The magma does not appear to be anything else along the way, if a new satellite image can be marked.

At 20:45 an eruption began in Fagradalsfjall which has been given the name Geldingadalsgos in the head of Geldingadalur, where the largest lava flows. This has been likened to the eruption at Fimmvörðuháls, which ended about a decade ago, and scientists agree that this is the most suitable place for a "pent lava eruption". Although small, it is remarkable as it has not erupted on the Reykjanes peninsula for 800 years.

• The eruption appears to be small and no ash fall has been reported at this time. The glow of the molten lava can be seen over a wide area, however, and photographs have been taken of it as far away as Hafnarfjörður and Þorlákshöfn. 
• The eruption is at Geldingadalir, which is further north than the location scientists predicted a possible eruption earlier this week.
• Its location does not pose any immediate danger to infrastructure, but people in Þorlákshöfn are being advised to stay indoors with windows closed and radiators turned up as a precaution against volcanic gases. Þorlákshöfn is the closest community downwind this evening. Nearer Grindavík is upwind.
• A narrow tongue of lava is flowing south-south-west and another to the west. The fissure is around 500-700 meters long. The eruption started very quietly, with no tremor. The Met Office became aware of the eruption because people reported its glow. The first report came at 21.20. 

About 2,700 earthquakes were measured in the metabolic zone on the Reykjanes peninsula yesterday, Monday, from midnight to midnight, slightly fewer than in the previous days. The main difference is that there were no major earthquakes in the area yesterday. Only eight earthquakes measured 3.0 or greater, the largest 3.3, and none struck four or more. Elísabet Pálmadóttir, a nature conservation specialist at the Icelandic Meteorological Office, says there is nothing unusual to see in the south at the moment and no signs of unrest. But even though Monday seemed the calmest, it does not mean that the great earthquake, which began on February 24, is in decline, as can be deduced from the large number of small earthquakes measured yesterday. Kristín Jónsdóttir, group leader of nature conservation at the Icelandic Meteorological Office, expects the seismic activity to continue but be divided into chapters. 

The Scientific Advisory Board for Civil Protection convened a teleconference today to review the situation.

The Science Council believes that there is still a chance of an eruption in the area between Fagradalsfjall and Keilir. The latest measurements indicate that magma flow has decreased since last week. An earthquake similar to the one that occurred over the weekend can be expected.

The main results are as follows:

• It is still believed that if an eruption occurs, it would be on a fissure somewhere in the area bounded by Fagradalsfjall and Keilir where the magma tunnel is forming. There is no evidence of magmatic activity outside this area.
• The most probable source of magma, based on activity in recent days, is south of the magma chamber.
• The latest satellite images, GPS measurements and model calculations indicate that magma flow has decreased since the beginning of last week. The magma is shallow and eruptions must continue to be expected to erupt.
• If the magma chamber continues to expand in the coming days and weeks, we can expect similar earthquake gusts as occurred over the weekend.

Volcanology and the nature conservation group of the University of Iceland today published a new lava flow forecast that takes into account the events of the night. There are five possibilities for eruptions, but it is stated that there is almost no chance of eruptions in all places at once.

There is still considerable seismic activity on the Reykjanes peninsula, although it slowed down during the night. The last time an earthquake larger than 4 was measured at 19:14 on Thursday evening. It was 4.1 in size. Since then, 12 earthquakes have been larger than 3 but many smaller earthquakes. By eight o'clock on Friday morning, 810 earthquakes had shaken less than 3.

The quake, which occurred at 08:54, was 4.5 magnitude. The source was 1.5 kilometers southeast of Fagradalsfjall. An announcement on the Meteorological Office's website says that the quake was felt well in the southwest corner of the country. Unrest has not resumed in conjunction with the quake. Fréttastofa received a tip that the earthquake had also been found in Hveragerði.

The quake is the largest that has been detected on the Reykjanes peninsula since the previous day, March 2. A magnitude 4.6 earthquake shook the region at 03:05.

About 2500 earthquakes were measured yesterday. Since midnight, almost 800 earthquakes have been detected. In total, more than 18,000 earthquakes have occurred since the eruption began about a week ago, according to a summary by the Icelandic Meteorological Office's nature conservation experts. Most of the activity is limited to Fagradalsfjall and has moved only to the southwest, compared to the activity yesterday. Turbulence and seismic activity decreased only in the middle of the night, but increased again around five in the morning.

The largest earthquakes from midnight are as follows:

at 00:59 M4.1

at 04:04 M3.6

at 05:17 M3.9

at 05:36 M3.9

at 05:44 M4.0

The turbulence in the seismic areas on the Reykjanes peninsula has decreased somewhat since midnight, says Bjarki Kaldalón Friis, a nature conservation specialist at the Icelandic Meteorological Office.

The seismic activity last night has been higher than it was last night. Shortly before five o'clock, about 600 earthquakes had been located in the meteorological system of the Icelandic Meteorological Office since midnight. The largest of them was an earthquake that lasted for one minute at a time. It was 4.1 in size, 1.4 kilometers southeast of Fagradalsfjall. At four minutes past four there was an earthquake measuring 3.6. It was one kilometer south of Fagradalsfjall. Bjarki said that the earthquakes were slightly more and they were bigger than they were last night. However, the unrest has eased since yesterday, and the distance between earthquakes has been slowly increasing as the night has passed. It is unclear, however, what this means for the future, whether the unrest increases again or not.

Increased power came in the ring at six o'clock this morning. The quake that occurred at 05:44 was 4.0 magnitude, the quake at 05:36 was 3.9 and the two quakes that occurred at 05:17 were 3.9 and 3.5 magnitude.

Police have now closed roads to Keilir and a possible eruption area.

Journalist Magnús Geir Eyjólfsson joined a group of scientists at the Institute of Earth Sciences at the earthquake site today. He said in Sjónvarp's extra news program that everything had been quiet there until about three o'clock when they were asked to get to a safe place.

He said that the scientists had been looking for similar cracks that formed in the eruption in Holuhraun.

Magnús Geir Eyjólfsson, a journalist, spoke to Ásta Rut Hjartardóttir, a geologist at the Institute of Earth Sciences, who, together with other experts from the Institute of Earth Sciences, was measuring and surveying conditions at Keilir today. Among other things, a drone was placed in the air that measures, for example, temperature below the surface. The measurements can give an indication of whether magma is moving closer to the surface.

Scientist says that people should continue with their lives. This will not have a huge impact on people's lives in the near future. "What could happen is this gas pollution that could affect people with underlying diseases. The size and quantity of eruptions go hand in hand. "

Víðir says that they have not been dealing with eruptions near settlements for a long time. The distance from the settlement now is still such that no one is in danger. He says the area is difficult to navigate, bad weather and low visibility. "But of course we are worried that people will go near the stations and put themselves in danger." Víðir says that no roads are in danger but they have closed the road to Keilir where scientists had to get peace of mind.

If it went to the red alert level, flights would be temporarily suspended, but most likely it would be reduced to orange. "This should not have a big impact on air travel," says scientist

• At 14:20, a disturbance pulse was measured at the Meteorological Office, which is located south of Keilir by Litla Hrút. Such signs are detected in the run-up to eruptions, but it has not been confirmed that eruptions have begun. The Coast Guard helicopter will fly over the area in the next few minutes
• A press conference has been called at 4 pm and will be shown live on all major RÚV media.
• Air traffic preparedness levels have been raised from yellow to orange.
• Rescue teams have been deployed.

Source: RUV agency and mbl.is