A volcanic eruption in Iceland on Monday night sent lava spewing into the dark sky and forced the country’s famous Blue Lagoon to close its doors once again.
The eruption on the Reykjanes peninsula, which follows weeks of warnings of increased seismic activity in the area, was decreasing in intensity on Tuesday, according to the Icelandic Met Office. The fissure was measured to be about 4 kilometres long.
“The fact that activity is already decreasing is not an indication of how long the eruption will last, but rather that the eruption is reaching a state of equilibrium,” the Met Office wrote in a statement. “This has been observed at the beginning of all eruptions on the Reykjanes peninsula in recent years”.
There were no disruptions to flights to or from Iceland’s Keflavík International Airport on the Reykjanes peninsula, the government said on Tuesday.
“This eruption follows intense seismic activity over the past few weeks and is classified as a fissure eruption… Fissure eruptions usually do not result in large explosions or significant production of ash that is ejected into the stratosphere,” the government said in a statement. “The Icelandic authorities are well prepared for seismic events, which occur regularly as a feature of our country’s natural geography.”
However, the eruption forced the Blue Lagoon to close its doors to visitors again just days after reopening. The Blue Lagoon first closed in November and later extended that closure, but had reopened over the weekend.
The Blue Lagoon will remain closed until at least 27 December, “at which time the situation will be reassessed”.
“As predicted by scientists, the eruption occurred at Sundhnúkagígar, located in an active volcanic zone north of Grindavík and east of the Blue Lagoon,” the spa wrote in an update on its website. “The eruption does not pose an immediate threat to people”.