A volcano near the capital of Iceland and the country’s Keflavik International Airport erupted on Friday after remaining dormant for 6,000 years.
The Mount Fagradalsfjall volcano, located on the Reykjanes Peninsula in southwest Iceland, came to life overnight, marking the area’s first volcanic eruption in almost 800 years.
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The Emergency Management Department said it was not anticipating evacuations because the volcano is about a kilometer and a half from the nearest road.
“We are monitoring the situation closely and for the time being it is not considered a threat to neighboring cities,” he said. assured the Prime Minister of Iceland, Katrín Jakobsdóttir. “We ask people to stay away from immediate areas and stay safe.”
No injuries were reported in the incident, although traffic jams frustrated drivers, according to The New York Times.
The Icelandic Meteorological Office (IMO) tweeted that the eruption started around 8:45 pm GMT and is “considered small at this stage.”
The office first detected the eruption on a webcam and then confirmed it using thermal satellite images. They estimate that the “fissure” was about 550 meters long.
The lava exploded several hundred meters in the air, according to Reuters.
The glow of the lava can be seen from Reykjavik from about 20 miles away and residents have been warned not to approach the lava sources and urged to stay indoors with the windows closed due to the expected “volcanic gas pollution”.
TOPSHOT – The red glow of magma flowing from the erupting volcano Fagradalsfjall behind the Blue Lagoon, about 45 km west of Iceland’s capital, Reykjavik, on March 19, 2021. – A volcano erupted in Iceland on Friday about 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the capital Reykjavik, said the Icelandic Meteorological Office, when a red cloud lit up the night sky and a no-fly zone was established in the area. (Photo by Halldor KOLBEINS / AFP) (Photo by HALLDOR KOLBEINS / AFP via Getty Images)
(Getty Images)
“Currently, gas pollution is not expected to cause much discomfort for people, except near the source of the outbreak,” IMO tweeted on Saturday. “The gas [emissions] will be monitored closely. “
The event took volcanologists by surprise because, although tens of thousands of frequent daily earthquakes warned of a potential eruption, the recently increased seismic activity has subsided, the Associated Press reported on Saturday.
In addition, although the land of fire and ice has a long and historic volcanic history, it is rare to see earthquakes around the Reykjavik area.
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In 2010, the massive eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano spewed so much ash that flights were paralyzed across Europe for weeks.
Although the magnitude of this eruption does not come close to the eruption, some domestic restrictions were put in place.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.