Iceland volcano live: Eruption threatens town and key power plant as more vents likely to open

The volcanic eruption in Iceland’s Reykjanes peninsula could be seen up to 20km away.

One resident, who lives in Sandgeroi – about 20km from Grindavik – said she had seen the eruption from her house.

“It was crazy to see it with my own eyes,” Aoalheiour Halldorsdottir told the BBC.

“We have had volcano explosions before, but this was the first time I got really scared,” she told BBC News.

“We’re used to volcanoes [erupting], but this was crazy.”

For six weeks the Icelandic authorities have been monitoring seismic activity close to Keflavik airport, a major North Atlantic aviation hub.

Icelandic officials are due to hold an information conference today in light of Monday night’s volcanic eruption on the Reykjanes peninsula.

The meeting will be held at the Rescue Center in Skógarhlíð.

Grindvík housing issues and the Icelandic Met Office’s risk assessment are among the topics that are expected to be discussed.

The earth is at its most restless in Iceland right now. A volcano is erupting on the Reykjanes Peninsula, southwest of Reykjavik.

For six weeks the Icelandic authorities have been monitoring seismic activity close to Keflavik airport, a major North Atlantic aviation hub.

The eruption is around 10 miles southwest of the airport and northeast of the town of Grindavik – whose 4,000 inhabitants were evacuated as a precaution. Yet flights are continuing to arrive and depart as normal. These are the key questions and answers on consumer rights.

Yes, assuming the international airport remains open. So far operations have been largely normal, after a pause to assess the risk as the eruption began.

Icelanders flocked to the Sundhnjúkar crater on Monday evening after a 4km fissure opened up and sent plumes of toxic gas and lava along the ridge of a hill.

As Icelanders gathered around the site, the country’s government warned considerable toxic gases were being released from the volcano and urged people to stay away from the ridge.

But tourists and residents watched the eruption in awe. “It’s just something from a movie,” said Robert Donald Forrester III, a tourist from the United States.

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The land around the Svartsengi geothermal plant has subsided more than 5cm following the volcanic eruption, the Icelandic Met Office said on Tuesday.

The land had previously risen by about 35 cm since the formation of the magma channel on 10 November, according to the authorities, who added that it was too early to determine if magma would continue to accumulate under Svartsengi and whether the land would rise again.

Icelandic authorities over the past month had been building defence walls around the power plant to protect it from lava flows.

Flights were unlikely to be affected by the volcano eruption in Reykjanes peninsula, the Icelandic government said, quashing international travel concerns.

“The eruption does not present a threat to life,” a government statement said.

“There are no disruptions to flights to and from Iceland and international flight corridors remain open.”

Despite the proximity to the volcano, the Keflavik Airport remained open to passengers travelling in and out of the country.

Sam Mitchell, a volcanologist at the University of Bristol, said the latest eruption was very different to the 2010 Eyjafjallajokull eruption when “a large explosive eruption under a glacier produced a very large cloud and very fine ash in the atmosphere when the wind direction was pointing towards mainland Europe”.

The above map shows the nearly four-km-long fissure east of the Svartsengi geothermal plant and north of the fishing town of Grindavik, which was evacuated last month following scores of earthquakes.

The above satellite map provided by the Icelandic Met Office shows the new eruptive fissure (yellow line) and lava flow (colored area) east of the Svartsengi geothermal plant.

Iceland’s capital is at risk of gas pollution due to the volcano eruption near the fishing town of Grindavik following weeks of intense earthquakes.

Fumes could reach Reykjavik by Wednesday morning, the Icelandic Met Office has warned.

In an update on Tuesday, the authorities said the eruption was weakening with just three vents erupting southeast of Stóra-Skógfell, down from the previous five.

“The lava has mostly flowed east from the eruption site, but there is also a lava tongue flowing west from the region north of Stóra-Skógfell.”

At least 320 earthquakes have been measured over the magma channels since the beginning of the eruption on Monday night, the Met Office added.