Expert warns Iceland volcano will ‘explode like a can of fizzy drink’
- An explosion on the Fagradalsfjall volcano is predicted within the subsequent few days
- Lecturer in Earth sciences Margaret Hartley mentioned eruption is certain to occur
An knowledgeable has warned the explosion from an Iceland volcano will probably be ‘like shaking up a can of fizzy drink’ – whereas a volcanologist mentioned the eruption might occur ‘even earlier than we are able to predict it’.
Iceland’s Met Office warned magmatic fuel was detected at a borehole in Svartsengi, suggesting an impending eruption of the Fagradalsfjall volcano within the subsequent few days.
Margaret Hartley, a senior lecturer in Earth sciences, mentioned an eruption will happen when an open fracture attaching the magma dike to the Earth’s floor opens.
She instructed Live Science: ‘The course of is a bit like shaking up a can of fizzy drink – as quickly as a crack opens within the high of the can, the drink escapes with plenty of frothing.’
Predicting the eruption will certainly happen, she added: ‘I do assume an eruption will happen, however the massive query is when which may occur.’
It comes as volcanologist Lovisa Mjoll Gudmundsdottir, who works within the monitoring room, instructed the Mail that the eruption would possibly solely come at a couple of minutes’ discover.
David Jones within the Icelandic coastal city of Grindervic, Iceland, the place a volcano is threatening to erupt
he emergency companies and the police ask the residents of Grindavik for permission to gather issues from their houses
General view of the city of Grindavik, which was evacuated on account of volcanic exercise, in Iceland
‘In these conditions, issues can change in a short time,’ mentioned the 29-year-old hazards specialist, who obtained her volcanology grasp’s diploma at Bristol University.
‘If there may be an eruption, it might happen even earlier than we are able to predict it.’
Geophysicist Benedikt Ofeigsson mentioned there have been clear indicators that the large magma hall below the Reykjanes Peninsula was increasing, with the Icelandic Met Office detecting greater than 1,000 earthquakes on Friday.
The space is bracing itself for what might be an eruption of the volcano or one of many fissures which have opened up close by, with enormous chasms ripping aside houses and roads within the abandoned city of Grindavik.
Evacuated residents have been returning to the city every day to gather belongings, however needed to flee on Tuesday after the Met Office mentioned its meters had detected sulphur dioxide.
Then, on Thursday, magmatic fuel was detected at a borehole in Svartsengi – 2.3 miles north of Grindavik – which specialists say is a sign that an eruption is imminent.
An eruption of molten rock from the magma tunnel beneath Reykjanes is probably going within the coming days, following weeks of seismic exercise there.
Work continues on the Svartsengi geothermal energy plant, close to the evacuated city of Grindavik, to guard it from doable lava flows
A drone captured footage of what look like fissures within the floor on the Reykjanes Peninsula, close to Grindavik
An Icelandic port is in nice hazard of being destroyed in an impending volcanic eruption, and knowledgeable has instructed native media. Pictured: A police officer inspects a crack within the street within the fishing city of Grindavik, November 15
A small volcanic eruption in Mt Fagradalsfjall, Southwest Iceland, in March 2021
This is the more than likely situation, the pinnacle of the volcano division on the climate service Kristin Jonsdottir instructed RUV radio station on Friday.
Monitoring signifies {that a} hall of magma, or semi-molten rock, extends below the neighborhood, Iceland’s Meteorological Office has mentioned. The city of three,400 is about 31 miles southwest of the capital, Reykjavik.
Volcanologist Haraldur Sigurðsson has mentioned that if an eruption have been to occur, he expects that it might erupt into the ocean and says Grindavik must be ‘reorganised’ with the intention to mitigate the disk of future widespread destruction.
‘I’m additionally fearful concerning the port. It does not take a lot to destroy this port, fill it with lava,’ Haraldur instructed Iceland’s Morgunblaðið (MBL) newspaper.
‘There are each cracks there within the harbour and even when the magma comes up someplace outdoors, it flows into the harbour, as a result of that is the melancholy.
‘So, within the massive image, this city must be fully reorganised,’ he added.
This picture taken with a drone reveals cracks at an intersection within the city of Grindavik, Iceland
Volcanologist Haraldur Sigurðsson has mentioned that if an eruption have been to occur, he expects that it might erupt into the ocean and says Grindavik must be ‘reorganised’
Grindavik is a city of three,400 is about 31 miles southwest of the capital, Reykjavik
Asked by MBL’s reporter if he envisages a future wherein the individuals of Grindavik can return to their houses, he mentioned: ‘What did not individuals do in Vestmannaeyjar (a city hit by an eruption in 1973)? I feel the city needs to be reorganised.’
By this, MBL says he implies that the city might must be relocated – probably both to the east or west. ‘Just both manner. It’s good over there within the west,’ he mentioned.
His feedback got here because the Icelandic Met Office warned that Iceland’s Reykjanes Peninsula might see a long time of instability.
Earthquakes and the rising fears of an enormous impending eruption mark the beginning of a brand new ‘eruptive cycle’, the IMO’s Matthew Roberts instructed the BBC.
Eruptions on the Reykjanes Peninsula started once more in 2021 after an 800-year hiatus, and 1000’s of individuals have now been evacuated.
‘We count on to see volcanic eruptions alongside the peninsula, not simply repeatedly in the identical location,’ Dr Roberts instructed the British broadcaster.
The Nordic nation is at the moment bracing itself for what might be an eruption of the Fagradalsfjall volcano, which sits on the southern Reykjanes Peninsula
A police officer stands by the crack in a street within the fishing city of Grindavik, which was evacuated on account of volcanic exercise, in Iceland November 15
A member of search and rescue group jumps over the crack in a street within the fishing city of Grindavik, which was evacuated on account of volcanic exercise, in Iceland November 15
His group made the surprising discovery final Friday that magma was coursing into the bottom and fracturing rock over a nine-mile distance.
The knowledgeable mentioned the magma minimize by the bottom beneath Grindavik ‘virtually like an underground freight practice.’ Images have since proven fissures showing within the floor, and additional harm to buildings and roads is anticipated.
Western elements of Grindavik have additionally sunk into the bottom.
Haraldur mentioned that it’s now clear that the peninsula has awoken, and may now be thought of an lively volcanic belt.
‘For some motive, Reykjanesíð has woken up, and it may be anticipated that there will probably be exercise right here and there on the promontory,’ he mentioned, including that he expects to see small volcanic eruptions that may harm close by settlements.
‘But Icelanders are cussed, and the smaller the city, the extra cussed it’s. So it is troublesome to vary the construction,’ he mentioned, earlier than expressing his hope {that a} relocation of the city will not be mandatory.
‘Hopefully this simply sinks to the underside and nothing boils up. But there will probably be different occasions sooner or later. This isn’t the one one,’ Haraldur instructed the native newspaper.
Haraldur has performed down fears of an enormous eruption, saying that he believes the strain of the magma isn’t excessive sufficient to return to the floor this time.
However, he acknowledges specialists are in disagreement, and that different volcanologists have totally different opinions on the place an eruption might happen.
Local residents wait of their vehicles to get entry to their houses within the fishing city of Grindavik, which was evacuated on account of volcanic exercise, in Iceland November 16
Mount Fagradalsfjall volcano spews lava after an eruption in Reykjavik, on July 16, 2023
‘That’s how volcanology works. It needs to be shut down,’ he joked.
‘If the hall is lively and is transferring to the south – we see that there are earthquakes that attain all the best way below the ocean, simply south of Grindavík – it could be most pure if it could slide to the aspect and into this method southwest of the city,’ Sigurðsson mentioned. In this fashion, a brand new island can be fashioned south of Grindavík.
On his weblog, Sigurðsson even contemplated what a brand new island needs to be referred to as.
Looking at latest aerial pictures of Grindavík this week, he mentioned he noticed two fissures that run parallel simply west of the city, about 200 meters aside.
He mentioned outdated photographs taken by the US military in 1954 additionally present the cracks. Nevertheless, the city was constructed up round them.
‘We see it on the aerial pictures of the American military from 1954, and there it’s clear. But the district supervisor has not been excited about this on the time. It was simply outdated cracks and no motive for them to be questioning about it. It [the town] was simply constructed on high of this,’ he instructed the MBL newspaper.
‘That was simply the mentality. But now it is a bit extra of an issue.’
