Icelandic Volcano Erupts Yet Again Amidst Historic Seismic Activity. Iconic Blue Lagoon and Town of Grindavík Evacuated
Guests enjoying the waters of the Blue Lagoon. The water’s milky blue hue is due to its high silica content.
A volcanic eruption in Iceland that began near the town of Grindavik prompted the evacuation of the town as well as the closure of a popular nearby tourist destination, the Blue Lagoon. The evacuation order came as the volcano began to spew lava in the direction of the town, RUV, the Icelandic public broadcaster, reported.
Aerial video released by local authorities showed lava snaking along the ground as white clouds billowed into the air after the eruption. The eruption began at 9:45 a.m. local time.
Grindavik is a small seaside town that has long been threatened by volcanic disruptions.[TP1] The few remaining residents in the town were evacuated once again, but many of the town’s former inhabitants have already left permanently after previous eruptions.
A Mercedes GLA driven by FBT and The Travelist Editorial Director Jonathan Spira parked on volcanic ash that has accumulated over centuries
The Blue Lagoon, a geothermal spa resort and hotel in the southern peninsula district of Iceland, about 32 miles (50 km) from Reykjavik, remained closed for several days after the eruption early on Tuesday but has since reopened.
The renowned geothermal spa, located on the Blue Lagoon, Norðurljósavegur, in a lava field near Grindavík and in front of Mount Þorbjörn, has closed multiple times during the past two years amidst a wave of seismic activity that continues to affect the country.
The manager of the Blue Lagoon hotel, Helga Arnadottir, told a reporter that guests were woken and moved to other hotels as the eruption began.
This is the 11th volcanic eruption to take place in Iceland since 2021, when dormant geological systems reactivated after 800 years.
Sunset in Iceland
“It’s a continuous curtain of fire,” the Nordic Volcanological Centre’s Rikke Pedersen commented on the last eruption, noting that “we’re only observing the initial phase by now.”
The Blue Lagoon’s website posted a notice stating, “Due to a volcanic eruption in the area, Blue Lagoon is temporarily closed.” The geothermal spa receives 700,000 visitors each year.
Last month, Benedikt Gunnar Ófeigsson, a volcanologist, told Iceland’s public broadcaster RUV that growing seismic activity has increased the likelihood of a major eruption.
“It looks like it will culminate in a volcanic eruption,” said Ófeigsson, who is head of deformation measurements at the Icelandic Meteorological Office.
News of each volcanic eruption gives this publication the opportunity to use letters from the Old English and Old Norse alphabet that continue to exist in Modern Icelandic, including the corn (uppercase Þ; lowercased þ) and the eð (uppercase Ð; lowercase ð). In Old English, the letter þ and the letter ð were used interchangeably to represent the dental fricative phoneme now represented by “th.”
(Photo: Accura Media Group)
