On Sunday, January 14, the Icelandic Meteorological Office reported that a volcanic eruption occurred in the southwest of the country, becoming the fifth on the Reykjanes peninsula since 2021.
A large-scale volcanic eruption began on the Reykjanes peninsula in Iceland
Iceland is located between the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates, the most extensive on the planet. That makes an island a seismic and volcanic hot spot as the two plates move in opposite directions.
According to the Civil Protection Agency, a Coast Guard helicopter was dispatched to assess the situation and determine the exact location of the eruption.
The eruption began north of the fishing town of Grindavik, but it was still unclear where the lava was coming from or in which direction it was flowing.
Etna volcano woke up in Sicily
Experts from the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology of the Etna Observatory in Catania are monitoring the situation and analyzing images of the eruption and the emission of ash clouds from a network of surveillance cameras.
The eruptive column's height from the volcano's southeastern crater reached about 4.5 thousand m above sea level.
According to scientists' observations, the eruption is in a paroxysmal phase.
Volcanic ash forecast data and simulations indicate an east-southeast direction of volcanic sand fall. Reports of falling such fragments have been reported in several countries, such as Milo and Zafferana-Etnea.
It is reported that the current phase of Etna's eruption, which is currently limited to the volcano's summit, does not affect the operation of the Vincenzo Bellini International Airport in Catania.
The eruption was accompanied by a constant increase in Etna's " tremors " level, which signals the rise of red-hot magma in the internal channels of the "volcanic building" and heralded lava fountains with a strong gas emission.
