Volcanic Eruption in Grindavik: Future at Risk as Lava Destroys Town

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LEFT IN ASHES: Drone images from Grindavik on Monday show the lava’s destruction in the city. Photo: HALLDOR KOLBEINS / AFP / NTFINES: Several residents of the Icelandic town have lost their homes after the weekend’s outbreak. Photo: ANTON BRINK / EPA / NTBBOLIGSTRÖK: This time the lava flow is much closer to Grindavik’s residents, which causes fear in the village. Photo: BJORN STEINBEKK/ @BSTEINBEKK VIA

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LEFT IN ASHES: Drone images from Grindavik on Monday show the lava’s destruction in the city. Photo: HALLDOR KOLBEINS / AFP / NTB

The lava flow is slowing, but the future of Grindavik is still at stake.

Published:

Less than 10 minutes ago

• Grindavik in Iceland is without electricity and water after lava from a volcanic eruption reached the town on Sunday. Several houses have been destroyed.
• The outbreak is the second in less than a month. Volcanologist Dr. Ármann Höskuldsson predicts that there will be many more eruptions in the future.
• The volcanologist says that there will be more destruction in the future, and that the inhabitants of Grindavik and on the Reykjanes peninsula will have to live with uncertainty for a long time.

Sea view

Because the danger of more eruptions is far from over, according to volcanologist Dr. Ármann Höskuldsson:

– There will be many more outbreaks. We expect this situation to continue more or less for the next five to ten years, he says to VG.

Within a day after the Icelandic town of Grindavik was evacuated on Saturday evening, the first houses in the town were hit by the lava lava Lava is rock melt (magma) that flows out of volcanic vents. The word is used for what has come to the surface. It is called magma when it is inside the volcano. from the volcano on the Reykjanes peninsula.

The volcanic eruption already subsided on Monday and has calmed down considerably on Wednesday evening. But Sunday’s outbreak is probably just one of many.

Volcanologist Dr. Ármann Höskuldsson Photo: Privat

– Now we are dealing with many, many outbreaks that will come one after the other. And we don’t know if there will be two weeks, three weeks, half a year or a year between each time, says Höskuldsson.

Can last for ten years

The volcanologist says the latest eruptions we have seen in Iceland are only a small part of a long period of eruptions.

– This period can last for 10 years. And during that time, we don’t know how many outbreaks we’re going to have.

The period he is talking about already started in 2020. Höskuldsson compares it to the volcanic eruptions in Krafla Krafla A volcanic area in the north of Iceland. 29 outbreaks have been registered here. which started in 1974 and lasted until 1984.

– It took almost ten years before the process was finished. And during that period we had nine outbreaks.

Grindavik has had five volcanic eruptions since 2020, he says. The outbreak on Sunday is the second in less than a month.

On December 18, steaming lava poured out of several kilometer-long fissures on the Icelandic peninsula, but the eruption subsided before it could reach settlements.

See live images from the ongoing eruption here:

– So will there be more outbreaks in Grindavik now?

– Yes, for sure. In a few weeks, or months. We’ll have to wait and see how fast the magma flows in, and two or three days from that, we’ll start to see if the ground is getting ready for another eruption in the near future.

– We don’t quite know when we can expect it.

– Critical time

More residents can therefore expect to lose their homes in the coming time.

– Either destroyed by the lava or cracks that open in the ground. So it is a very critical time for the people of Grindavik, says Höskuldsson.

– What happens to the people who live there? Do they just have to stay away for 10 years?

– Hopefully the time between outbreaks will be longer than now. Once the outbreak is over, people can start moving in, but with caution, of course. You must know that if the phone rings and you are told to evacuate, then must you evacuate. So it’s a very difficult situation.

Here the houses are taken by the lava:

How many eruptions Grindavik may be affected by during this ten-year period is uncertain. Höskuldsson says that there are four systems on the Reykjanes peninsula that always erupt one after the other, before becoming quiet for around 800 years.

For the Reykjanes peninsula as a whole, the situation could last up to 100 or 200 years, he says.

– And it’s sad, because almost all Icelanders live in this area.

– So they are going to live with this uncertainty for several decades?

– Yes, actually for several decades. We have to get used to it.

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Published: 18.01.24 at 02:58

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2024-01-18 01:58:48
#volcanic #drama #Iceland #eruptions