Volcano near Iceland’s capital, main airport erupts again after 8-month pause

International airport remains open, but officials warn people to avoid site some 30 km from Reykjavik

A volcano in southwest Iceland began erupting Wednesday, the country’s meteorological authorities said — just eight months after its last eruption officially ended.

The Icelandic Meteorological Office urged people not to go near the Fagradalsfjall volcano, which is located 32 kilometres southwest of the capital, Reykjavik.

The eruption in an uninhabited valley is not far from Keflavik Airport, Iceland’s international air traffic hub. The airport remained open and no flights were disrupted.

A live video feed from the site showed magma spewing from a narrow fissure about 100 to 200 metres long over a field of lava from last year’s eruption, the first on the Reykjanes Peninsula in almost 800 years.

Eruption anticipated 

Scientists had anticipated an eruption somewhere on the peninsula after a series of earthquakes over the past week indicated volcanic activity close to the crust.

Volcanologist Magnus Tumi Gudmundsson told The Associated Press that the eruption appeared to be small.

“But we don’t know where in the process things are at,” he said as he boarded a helicopter for a first look.

The 2021 eruption in the same area produced spectacular lava flows for several months. Hundreds of thousands people flocked to see the spectacular sight.

Eruptions in country every few years

Iceland, located above a volcanic hotspot 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 sent clouds of ash and dust into the atmosphere, interrupting air travel for days between Europe and North America because of concerns the ash could damage jet engines. More than 100,000 flights were grounded, stranding millions of passengers.

Shares in Iceland’s flagship airline, Icelandair, rose six per cent when news of the eruption broke Wednesday. Investors and residents alike had been spooked by the possibility of a much more disruptive eruption in a populated area of the peninsula.

Related stories from around the North: 

Iceland: Icelandic volcano could erupt for years, creating ‘perfect tourist’ attraction, Thomson Reuters

United States: Alaska’s tiny, restless Bogoslof volcano erupts again – and researchers won’t be going there anytime soon, Alaska Dispatch News