Volcano erupts in Iceland 30 miles from capital city

A volcano has erupted in southwestern Iceland, sending a flash of light into the evening sky and spewing semi-molten rock into the air in a spectacular show of Earth’s power in the land known for fire and ice.

The eruption Monday night appears to have occurred 2½ miles from the town of Grindavik, the Icelandic Meteorological Office said. The town near Iceland’s main airport was evacuated in November after strong seismic activity damaged homes and raised fears of an imminent eruption.

Iceland, which sits above a volcanic hot spot in the North Atlantic, averages an eruption every four to five years. 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.

But the eruption on the Reykjanes Peninsula, 31 miles southwest of the capital, Reykjavik, wasn’t expected to release large amounts of ash into the air. Iceland’s foreign minister, Bjarne Benediktsson, tweeted that there were no disruptions of flights to and from the country and international flight corridors remain open.

The November evacuation of Grindavik meant few people were near the site of eruption when it occurred, and authorities have warned others to stay away. The nearby Blue Lagoon geothermal spa — one of Iceland’s biggest tourist attractions — also closed temporarily that month as a swarm of earthquakes put the island nation on alert for a possible volcanic eruption.

So far, the town and its vital power plant is safe.

A scientist who flew over the site on Tuesday morning onboard a coast guard research flight told RUV that he estimates twice as much lava had already spewed than the entire monthlong eruption on the peninsula this summer.

The spectacular natural phenomenon is already proving hard for people to resist. “It’s just something from a movie!” said Robert Donald Forrester III, a tourist from the United States.



(Photo: Icelandic Coast Guard via AP)