After a few weeks of well over 50,000 earthquakes, a volcanic eruption has started on the Reykjanes peninsula about 30km (19 miles) from Reykjavík.
The eruption started north-east of the town of Grindavík, in a valley called Geldingadalur near Fagradalsfjall mountain.
An eruption has been predicted for a couple of weeks now after constant daily earthquakes and luckily the eruption is a good distance away from the highway between Keflavík international airport and the greater Reykjavík area.
It’s late evening in Iceland right now and the civil authorities and scientist are evaluating the eruption from a coast guard helicopter.
It’s been 800 years since the last eruption on the Reykjanes peninsula.
The highway between KEF international airport and the capital area has been closed by police for the time being.
It’s important to note that this eruption is very different to the 2010 eruption of Eyjafjallajökull which brought air traffic to a halt across Europe. That eruption happened under a glacier and caused a lot of ash, whereas the current eruption near Fagradalsfjall is not under an ice sheet and as such won’t spew out much ash.
First images and video of the eruption
The video below filmed by the Icelandic Met Office from a helicopter is the first we’ve got of the eruption. The impressive video shows that lava is flowing from a 500 meter wide fissure vent.
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