A volcano erupted in Iceland on Friday, essentially turning the night sky into a real-life lava lamp.
No injuries were reported. Just joy – and a strange traffic jam.
The eruption occurred Friday night near Mount Fagradalsfjall, about 20 miles southwest of the capital, Reykjavik, Iceland’s Meteorological Office. said on Twitter. The agency said the lava sources were small by volcano patterns and that seismographs did not register much turbulence.
Friday’s event was nothing like the eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland, 11 years ago, which expelled so much ash that it interrupted flights in parts of Europe for weeks.
Still, it was the first eruption in southwest Iceland in about 800 years, and the lava was impressive. So, many people were excited.
“SIMS !! , rash !! ”The Icelandic singer Björk wrote on Facebook and Instagram, stating that she had once filmed a video clip on the site.
“We in Iceland are sooo excited !!!” she added. “We still made it !!! feeling of relief when nature expresses itself !!! “
The eruption crowned an unusually intense period of seismic activity in southwest Iceland, which began around December 2019. Tens of thousands of earthquakes have rocked the area in recent weeks, leading scientists to believe that an eruption could be imminent.
There is a long history of volcanic activity in Iceland. The country spans two tectonic plates, which are divided by a chain of underwater mountains that emanate hot molten rock, or magma. Earthquakes occur when magma pushes plates.
But it is rare to see earthquakes in and around the area of Greater Reykjavik, where the majority of the country’s 368,000 residents live.
Scientists have said for weeks that they did not expect activities similar to the 2010 earthquake at the Eyjafjallajokull volcano, and that the eruption would likely explode without much explosive force.
“People in Reykjavik are waking up to an earthquake, others are going to sleep with an earthquake,” Thorvaldur Thordarson, a professor of volcanology at the University of Iceland, said in an interview this month. “There are many of them, and it worries people, but there is nothing to worry about, the world is not going to collapse.”
Was he right.
The eruption near Mount Fagradalsfjall on Friday presented some drawbacks, including traffic jams and concerns about the potential for volcanic pollution in the Reykjavik area. Authorities warned people not to approach the lava and stay inside with the windows closed.
But the rash – which enthusiasts around the world have been looking forward to for weeks – was primarily a cause for celebration.
“Started!!!!” Joël Ruch, a volcanologist at the University of Geneva, wrote on Twitter as the lava began to flow slowly to the southwest, away from Reykjavik.
“First photo of the eruption! Wow!” wrote Sigridur Kristjansdottir, a seismologist in Iceland. Non-experts too express enthusiasm connected.
The colors of the sky were really spectacular. Imagine the aurora borealis, but in blood orange instead of the usual electric green. Or the shiny spheres from one of Mark Rothko’s first canvases.
Or Björk’s orange hair, around 2011, a few years before she shot her video clip near Mount Fagradalsfjall.
Elian Peltier contributed reports.