A new eruption of the Sundhnjukagigar volcano began on the morning of Sunday January 14 north of the town of Grindavik in Iceland (South-West), after a previous one in December 2023, announced the Icelandic Meteorological Office (IMO). “A crack has opened on both sides of the defenses that have started to be built north of Grindavik,” the IMO writes in its bulletin.
Seismic activity had accelerated sharply overnight and Grindavik residents were evacuated around 3 a.m. local time, according to Icelandic Public Broadcasting. Surveillance images show large, bright orange lava flows in the Icelandic night.
This is the fifth volcanic eruption in Iceland in two years, the previous one taking place on the evening of December 18, 2023 in an area located southwest of the capital Reykjavik.
Grindavik, a small town of 4,000 residents, was evacuated on November 11, 2023 as a precaution. Since then, the residents had been allowed to return briefly, before being urgently evacuated yesterday night.
Thirty-two volcanic systems are considered active in this country of fire and ice, the most volcanic region in Europe.