Declaring a state of emergency after the fourth volcanic eruption

This is the fourth eruption since December. Police declared a state of emergency on Saturday evening after a lava eruption from a new volcanic fissure on Iceland's Reykjanes Peninsula.

The Icelandic Meteorological Institute (IMO) announced in a statement that “a volcanic eruption began between Stora Skogvil and Hagavil on the Reykjanes Peninsula” in the southwest of the country, while live video footage showed glowing lava and plumes of smoke.

The largest eruption of the previous three

“According to the first assessments” obtained from these photographs and aerial photographs, “the eruption is considered the most important.” [en matière de décharge de magma] “From the previous three eruptions,” the International Maritime Organization said, stressing that the estimate is based on the first hour of “volcanic activity.”

The Icelandic Civil Protection announced that a helicopter had been sent to precisely locate the new fissure. Police also declared a state of emergency due to the volcanic eruption, authorities said. According to the IMO, a lava flow erupted near the site of the previous eruption on February 8.

The length of the fissure is estimated at 2.9 km

Just after 10pm GMT, the end of the lava flow was about 200 meters from the barriers protecting the east of the small coastal town of Grindavik – which had been evacuated according to local media – and was moving at about a kilometer per hour.

Lava was also flowing westward, as it did on February 8, and the fissure was estimated to be 2.9 kilometers long, according to the International Maritime Organization.

Minutes before the volcano erupted, the Icelandic Meteorological Institute issued a statement warning of seismic activity that would increase the risk of another eruption.