The volcano began erupting early on January 14, hours after local authorities in Iceland warned of the incident and evacuated the town of Grindavik following seismic activity on January 13, according to The Guardian . The town is about 40 km from Iceland's capital Reykjavik.
Authorities have built earth and rock barriers to prevent lava from reaching the town of Grindavik, but they appear to be having no effect.
Volcano eruption in Iceland on January 14
"According to the first images from the Coast Guard surveillance flight, cracks have appeared on both sides of the protection system that has started to be built north of Grindavik," the Icelandic Meteorological Office (IMO) said in a statement.
The IMO said the lava is now flowing towards Grindavik. "Based on measurements provided by the Coast Guard helicopter, the outer boundary of the lava field is currently approximately 450 metres from homes at the northern end of the town," the statement said.
"No one's life is in danger, although infrastructure may be threatened," Iceland's President Gudni Johannesson said on social network X (formerly Twitter) on January 14, while announcing that flights were not disrupted.
Iceland's civil protection agency said on the same day that it had raised the alert level to "emergency", the highest level on Iceland's three-tier scale, meaning an incident has begun that could cause harm to people, property, the community or the environment.
This is the fifth volcanic eruption on Iceland’s Reykjanes Peninsula since 2021, and the second in less than a month. A powerful volcanic eruption occurred near Grindavik on December 18, following weeks of earthquakes. The town’s roughly 3,800 residents were evacuated weeks earlier as a precaution. More than 100 residents returned to the town in recent weeks, but were re-evacuated on January 13.
Iceland sits at the junction of the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates, two of the largest on Earth. These two plates move in opposite directions, making Iceland a seismic and volcanic hotspot.
Also on January 14, Japan and Indonesia recorded volcanic eruptions. These two countries are located on the Pacific Ring of Fire, an area that regularly records volcanic activity and earthquakes.
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