Eruption at Reykjanes

/ 19/03/2021

The long-awaited eruption has started, and has been confirmed by IMO. Just after 9pm the first light became visible on the cameras. At 21:40 official confirmation came. IMO has decided that the eruption began at 20:45. The location is not entirely clear yet, but the most recent earthquakes would indicate it is pretty much where expected, just south of the peak of Fagradalsfjall. There was no seismic signal, but in hindsight the near-surface M3.1 this afternoon was the straw that broke the camel’s back.
This solves the question whether this event was tectonic or magmatic. This is the first eruption in Reykjanes since about 1200 AD, and is likely the start of a longer period (centuries) of new activity on the peninsula. The current eruption may or may not last long. We do not know very much about how volcanics on the peninsula works. But eruptions here are likely to produce of order 0.1 km3 of lava, enough perhaps to reach the ocean and cause inconvenience, but not do major damage.

The fact that there were no earthquakes announcing the eruption suggests that the magma was already very close to the surface. A filled conduit is silent. The earthquakes come from breaking the conduit open, and tremor from filling it up. There was almost no tremor either (a15-min low frequency burst before the eruption was reported, only noted in hindsight), so magma may already have been ready since a few days. It was just waiting for the weekend.

The red glow suggests fountaining but we are waiting for further reports. We will add news here as it appears. We actually rely mostly on you!

And as a final point, when we announced the 1-year postponement of the eruption last year (April 1), we had no idea how close we were to reality.

A direct view of the rift is from the following webcam. It was at first pointing in the wrong direction but not has a great view of the eruption

https://www.ruv.is/frett/2021/03/20/beint-vefstreymi-fra-borgarfjalli-ad-eldstodvunum

Another suitable webcam is https://www.ipcamlive.com/60401b8d3413c
Also see
https://www.visir.is/g/20212080986d/oroasvaedid-i-beinni-utsendingu

Road cameras are at http://www.road.is/travel-info/web-cams/south-west-iceland

Image provided to us by Judge Matthews and reproduced by permission

The eruption is confirmed to be in the Geldingaladir. A 500-meter fissure is reported with 4-6 small fountains. In this location the lava will be confined and does not appear to endanger infrastructure. It is a perfect small eruption. The valley is enclosed, and if the the eruption lasts long enough to fill up the valley (less likely) it would flow into another valley and go north away from any people. (It seems more likely that the eruption will stop well before but may erupt in a new location.) For a detailed map, we recommend http://kortasja.lmi.is/mapview/?application=kortasja


www.facebook.com/Vedurstofan/photos/a.431284043605831/3930732966994237/

Keep posted! And keep posting.


https://www.ruv.is/frett/2021/03/20/beint-vefstreymi-fra-eldstodvunum

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558 thoughts on “Eruption at Reykjanes”

  1. That meme is perfect! I have been watching Etna. With Reykanes, now that it is, in fact, erupting, I’ll go take a look. Can you see anything other than moss and fog?

  2. Next time I hopes Grimsvötn produces a Mayotte sized show in its caldera : )

  4. Yes, it occurred about where I predicted and my previous post about the shallow quakes was accurate! I feel happy that I was able to be somewhat accurate on this. As soon as we can get reliable location I can compare that to my predicted eruption spot.

  5. It looks like most of the lava is flowing into a depression, it will form a lava lake next to the vent if it keeps going long enough, though it will overflow before reaching the vent.

    It is impossible to say for sure but this isnt likely to be the whole thing, if you look at lava flows at Krysuvik they are much bigger than this in a lot of places. Krysuvik fires in the 12th century produced the Oggmundahraun and Kapelluhraun flows, and the cycle before that about 2000 years ago erupted Skolahraun, which is the distinct a’a flow that is to the north of Keilir and also fills the valley between Trolladyngja and Fagradalsfjall. Probably the current eruption will eventually look like this when it is all over, but the main eruptions might not be for a few months or years yet. Maybe there should be a whole extra tab for this, like the VC bar.

    Could call it the Reykjanes Room 🙂

    • Can some kind soul please post the geodetic coordinates of this eruption site? Mapcarta is misleading, Google has NOTHING to even locate the site, and I am having a hard time locating an interactive map with the ability to focus on the eruption site. Things should NOT be this difficult!

      • 63.88616662037691N, 22.26281535886536W which is the peak nearby.

        Try the spelling Geldingadalir in Google Maps. Geldingadalur seems to be close to Askja.

        • My predicted location is about 3,000 ft off, not too bad. And I was trying to be coy when I posted about the score of quakes at 100 meters depth, when I said “might be significant”.. Happy overall that my hunches were correct.

          • After obtaining the best coordinates and locating my March 8th post, I found that I was 2687m off in the location towards the NNE for my predicted location. This was not as hot as I had hoped.

      • “Things should NOT be this difficult!”

        Concur…. bu remember, Homo Sapiens is extinct. Homo Stultus is the extant hominid. If I run across the desired info, I’ll post it. Right now I am celebrating with an 8 year old bourbon and probably will not be up early in the morning. In the meantime, keep your eye on IMO updates for the latest available data.

        Meanwhile, very good prognostication from what I can see. BRAVO ZULU. 😀

  7. Some pictures right now showing the lava flow on a map and where the fissure is. It isnt a big eruption but the fissure is actually closer to 1 km long, so the spattering and fountains are something like 80-100 meters high.

    https://www.ruv.is/frett/2021/03/18/helstu-tidindi-eldgos-hafid-i-fagradalsfjalli

    The lava looks to be very fluid as expected, flowing fast in the narrow channels even at a relatively low eruption rate. If a bigger eruption happens somewhere else on the dike the lava flow could flow a long way fast, and the area outside the mountains is very flat so it could flow just about anywhere really.

  8. First prize for being Champion Eruption Spotter goes to quinauberon with runners up,avalonlightphotoart, marinecreature and Hopper…….. Booby Prize for Champion Doubter…… Jesper Sandberg for the phrase “No eruption plume yet .. magma haves lots of water in it and bubble out as thick steam
    I think this is city and traffic ligths”

    Sorry you didn’t win my Preeeecious but you at least have won some acclaim and like all who comment here without you VC would not function as the best most welcoming site for Volcanoholics.. 😡

    • Is there any price accept. Just asking. Some trophy money?

      • …I meant: price attached. If not, I’ll stop pondering over my acceptance speech.

        • Sorry quinauberon , due to Covid restriction Money prize not available so there is an offer of a year’s supply of sheep’s wool slug pellets instead. These are efficient and eco friendly and will save the plants in your garden from being munched. I think maybe a gracious acceptance of the title is all that is necessary though. (To claim your award You first have to capture an icelandic sheep at shearing time and then send it to Mark, a Welsh sheep farmer who will make the pellets by hand. It’s rather a complicated process. I am absolutely truthful about this. I have bought my slug defences from him this year! . But they are from Welsh sheep not Icelandic ones)

          • Fair enough. So let me say shortly that I accept, that I thank my producers, the audience, the entity who came up with iceland, Camille Saint-Saens and the little Quinette. However, with a heavy heart, I have to decline the generous offer, ahem, which is certainly well-meant… maybe next time…

  9. If the eruption continues at current phase it will create a lava lake that is about 40m deep at its deepest but mostly15-20m deep. The lake will reach a length of 1300-1500 meters before it overflows. The deepest point of the Geldingadalur valley depression is 170m, while it will have to rise to 219m to overflow the lowest ridge which will send the lava flow east into more valleys and depressions.

    Exited to see images and videos of the next overflight at 0700 local time!

    • After the first overpressure release, if there was some, we will now see the with how much m3/s the dyke is getting feeded? Or would you suggest it’s still going to expand under the surface first?

    • Preeeeecccuuuiossssss

      Next time I hopes Grimsvötn produces a Mayotte sized show in its caldera : ) Chad whats your opinion on that ? Its possible?

      Whats your dream scenario in Iceland? …

      coughing Gollum.. Gollum!!! Gollum!!!! 🤮🌋😂😍🌋😍

      Chad – dyngja ?

      • Probably not, Grimsvotn usually has small eruptions and the 3 exceptions in the Holocene are all rift eruptions. Mayotte volcano now is monogenetic and fed by a magma chamber in the upper mantle, it is rejuvenation volcanism like at Lanzarote and the eruptions in the ocean around Oahu.

        I think the eruptions at Langjokull could be similar to this in mechanism but Vatnajokull central volcanoes seem mostly to be where the magma is stored but it actually erupts somewhere else. Even with the large intrusion of magma the past decade that is still maybe 1 km3 at most, so maybe that is the maximum size an eruption can be at Grimsvotn now. Thordarhyna has no caldera so could be a candidate for a rift eruption but it isnt very active so probably hasbt got a large shallow magma chamber.

        I have already claimed the next fissure to open in either Vatnafjoll or Veidivotn and it will be called Chadagigar, only in these two locations though because I think they are loosely related.

    • I’m not sure which hill will be surrounded by the lava and secure my new house for the next 300 years…is this area private property? Any known infrastructures close to the area (fibre-optic or power cables, heat/steam pipelines)?

    • The fissure is over the thinnest part of the crust over the dyke?

      The fissure is over the softest part of the crust over the dyke?

      The fissure is over the deepest part of the dyke (most possibly heat transfer)?

      The fissure is over the first part of the dyke (longest possibly heat transfer)?

    • So it seems like if this lasts long enough to fill upp Geldingadalur it will start flowing into other depressions. This would need to go on for months (years?) for the lava streams to fill up the depressions and start flowing down towards the coast.

  14. Drones are banned until noon, after that the only times flying them isnt allowed is when there are official overflights.

    There are people walking around on the hill in the Borgafjall webcam all through the night, you could see their lights moving… I think we could get some up close videos soon 🙂

      • Prohibited from flying because of the danger they pose to helicopters, and probably to stop people going to the eruption though I dont think anything can be done about that.

        • Not why was the question, how they did?

          By the international standard drone remote frequency network, like they do around jails, military bases (interesting how enemies work together), power plants or airports…

          • I think in Iceland you just tell people not to fly drones. No need to shoot them down. And even in the US, at Leilani people were in general (but not exclusively) well behaved with their drones.

          • Sorry Albert but in Switzerland we aren’t in the middle age where you have to shout them down, the government marks an area on the electronic map and press enter – no drones will ever be able to enter this airspace…

          • I am aware of the system. It is a bit overkill around a volcano far from anywhere

          • Sorry Cementboy, but you forgot the protected natural areas where it is impossible to fly drones in Switzerland. And I know a lot of them in the canton of Valais. Not to mention the legal vagueness (CH versus EU).

    • Wow

      It looks like its about to stop soon though, probably going to be just like at Krafla where it was several years of small eruptions with big eruptions later.

  16. Volcanic gasses over Reykjavik…
    https://twitter.com/hashtag/Fagradalsfjall?src=hashtag_click&f=live

  19. This will be a very small eruption.
    I think bigger ones will only happen years from now.

    We will go on with starts and stops and starts and stops again, like Krafla. Although this is also a fundamentally different region. So one needs to be careful to make comparisons. Eventually eruptions will also happen in other volcanic systems, and we will probably continue to see the earthquake swarms in years to follow.

    The region has been reactivated and this is already a huge thing. Two dikes have already been emplaced, so this event is not the first one actually. Mt Thorbjorn in 2020 might have been the first one.

    And any gas risk for Reykjavik or nearby towns is very small so far.

    This is a perfect tourist eruption!!!!!

    Sadly because of covid few will be able to see it.

    I wouldn’t be surprised if an eruption would stop in soon and we would only see another one weeks or months from now.

    For now, enjoy the news and all the videos and pictures.

    I could write a post one of these days about the hikes I had in Fragadalsfjoll and Krisuvik area.

    • Looking forward to that Irpsit. Until now this area was unknown to me but it looks like there are some wonderful views. I now have learned much about the saltfish insustry at Grindavik and a few icelandic folk tales.. Waiting for eruptions is a pleasant educational experience for me!

  20. Really interesting how the eruption silently sneaked out of the ground when many of us had written it of. Now, however, the noise has increased somewhat and spread further north east to next volcanic zone. Maybe next eruption around Krysuvik?

    • Technically this eruption is part of Krysuvik, apparently. Theres a lot of sources that place Fagradalsfjall as a mountain in the same system as Trolladyngja, which is the area that erupted in the 1100s and what is usually thought of as Krysuvik volcano. Really where the edges of the volcanoes are is very arbitrary and probably there is no boundary between any of them in reality, a dike will erupt wherever there is a weak spot.

  21. #tsunami advisory in effect – M7.2 #earthquake just off the coast of Tohoku in N #Japan – depth 60km per JMA

    • Very nice, chrnesset. There is this small creek running down to Natthagi (just left of Bratthals). If there was enough Lave, maybe it could float there and then down to Nattahgi?

      • That lavaflow is still more than 1.5km from Bratthals, and the ridge there is higher than the fissure elevation so it will never flow down to Natthagi at current levels. It will flow to the east and north to Meladalir if enough lava. First it will have to fill the entire Geldingadalur-vallet which is a depression 40-50m deep and 1700m in lenght.

        • I see. Actually that’s also what your map is showing (my question was kind of naive). Another question is, if this is the only fissure/opening that will happen. The quakes almost didn’t stop after yesterday. We are on the same level there. Is the pressure relieve actually felt everywhere in the magma or is the magma also trying elsewhere? — Laymen’s thoughts…

          • Yeah i see that there are still lots of EQ-activity, so either the pressure is still increasing which might lead to a continuing eruption or increased activity or its pressure-relief indicating that the eruption is soon over.

          • If you watched the opening of the fissure in Leilani Estates in 2018 you might recall that it erupted in small patches before more voluminous eruptions began and unzipped most of it, that is what I think will happen here only it will take longer. The magma flow into the dike at Kilauea back then we now know was at least 200 m3/s which is 10x as high as this, and it took about 2 weeks to get voluminous eruptions at Kilauea after the first fissure, so maybe 20 weeks here to get the whole dike open and a bigger eruption some point later?

            It would be very atypical for the area if this was literally the whole thing, most eruptions are pretty big around 0.3 km3 or so, which is probably around 100x as big as the eruption is right now. It might just keep doing what it is doing now unchanged for 100 days but I doubt it, more fissures will open I think, all the way from Natthagi to Keilir. Some point in the near future that line is going to erupt along its whole length and unleash the floodgates of hell, like the last eruption at Krafla at the end of the Krafla Fires.

          • New fissures might open elsewhere if the dyke manages to surface at more locations, as long as the dyke is still growing. A fissure at a low elevation should have better chances to produce a vigorous eruption, with fountains and fast flowing lava channels. But if the dyke stops growing then it’s done.

    • Thanks for interesting graphics! Flow is hot and fluid. From deep. Most likely from deep source. Could releaved pressure result in decompression melt and provide more feed to the eruption?

  24. Is there any information on whether the majority of the magma has been erupted already? I personally doubt we’ll see the valley fill, let alone overflow before the eruption ends.

  27. Beautiful pictures.

    Though I would be wary of predictions saying this is only going to be a small eruption… let’s face it predictions (except Carl) over the last month or so haven’t exactly been 100%.

    The narrative.
    #1 The earthquakes are purely tectonic, Fagrad hasn’t erupted in 100 million years… it will pass.
    #2 The earthquakes are mainly tectonic, there is a possibility of magma intrusion… eruption unlikely.
    #3 The earthquakes are still going, the land deformation could caused by magma, eruption could occur, but will only be a small one.
    #4 The earthquakes are have abated and the threat of an eruption has decreased somewhat, probably just tectonic all along.
    #5 Fagrad: “Hahaha, I win”
    #6 Farad erupts, but it will be only a small one.

    A friend of mine and I had a bet on Fagrad erupting. I listened to Carl, he didn’t.

    Evidence so far is that it will be a small one, but the forces of nature can surprise us all.

    Stay safe, Icelanders. Enjoy the fireworks, and enjoy the BBC Fake News making fools of themselves.

  28. Eruption lighting up the sky this night, as seen from Keflavik Airport with one of the four Norwegian F-35 currently spending some time there. @NorwegianArmedForces

  29. The borgarfjall webcam was moved so you can see the eruption 😀

  32. This is the density plot (right) from Thursday. Guess where the spot with the highest rate of quakes is:

    Missed by ~150m …

    • Quinauberon, I would like to talk more with you about this post, as I believe IMO would be very interested in this and how you obtained it. I also noticed that about 2 or 3 hours before the eruption started that the quakes went to 100 m depth. I did post on the shallowness of the quakes. You can reach me at website.reader3@gmail.com

  33. And in other news, the Japan earthquake this morning caused a 1-meter tsunami

  35. Really nice live video from RUV. And I love the PiP function in the video that allows you to read VC while watching the small eruption in a small window. Thanks to Tomas for the tip some time back. Nice!

  36. Servral helicopteras and a group of people arund the lava on the RUV stream now.

      • And the other two people just went to taste the lava in the rightmost flow 🙂

        • And couple to the right is definitely flying a drone now.
          Quite busy airspace, two red helicopters, a black helicopter and some fixedwings flying around.

          • And now they’re scaling the hill to have a look at the vent.

      • I was assuming they would be geologists…..

        The edge of the flow is in a depression (gas collecting) and approaching a stream. What could possibly go wrong……….

        • I guess the wind would blow away the gasses. But the guys who scaled the hill up to look at the vent ran away when it started sputtering lava higher.

  38. What an adorable little mini-volcano.
    Meanwhile, having fun rewinding to the moment when very cold and slightly embarrassed people turn up with power screwdrivers to point the camera in the right direction 😀

  39. Authorities are recommending that people who want to hike to the eruption, start at the Blue Lagoon, as you’ll have the wind at your back, so that dangers from gas are minimized. You should be well equipped for the hike good boots/clothes, as there’s wind and rain/sleet atm, it’s a multihour hike. Preferably be in groups, bring a packed lunch, and be aware that in case of an emergency that cellphone coverage in the area isn’t great.

    When getting closer to the eruption site, people should be aware that new cracks in the ground can occur without warning.

    The S&R team on duty have already encountered illprepared volcano tourists, some only wearing jeans and sneakers, some attempting to go with bikes, etc.

    It will also do the job of S&R easier if they know the area the hikers will be in beforehand, instead of them being spread out over a wide area.

    https://www.visir.is/g/20212087378d/vidir-maelir-med-ad-vel-buid-gongufolk-gangi-fra-blaa-loninu

    It will also do the job of S&R easier if they know the area the hikers will be in beforehand, instead of them being spread out over a wide area.

  40. Does lava behave like a liquid? If it would communicate, why is still lava coming out of the upper crater? Already two or more sources?

    • Its a liquid with gas, depending on how much gas bubbles it contains it may boil up and spill from vents that are at a higher elevation than others.

      • Are there some theoretical pressure levels for meter lava column (like the water column) 1m/10m/100m available?

        Less viscosity is equal to higher column pressure or is it only the density which matters?

        Think honey too?

    • If the rate of influx exceeds the rate of escape flow available to it from the lower vents, it will rise to higher vents until the rate of influx lowers or alternative additional lower vents become available.

      • But it looks like the lower vents are less active than the higher one…which should not be with your explanation – or?

  41. For those more knowledgeable on here. The lava flow looks very fluid and is approaching that stream marshy looking area. Is there any possibility we could see the formation of a rootless cone?

    • The lava is fluid … But it quickly turns to Aa outside the smooth channels

      So perhaps not as fluid as Hawaii .. But its very close

      • Looks almost entirely pahoehoe to me, very fluid.

        • As Iceland is colder than Hawaii would the same temperature lava cool quicker and not flow as far and maybe look different? Does the difference in air and land temperature have any effect?

          • Lava conducts heat very poorly… so air temperature diffrences does not chill it very much… There is pahoehoe outcrops in antartica… flowing liquid under – 60 C under insulated crust

          • My thoughts too, you can actually walk in lava if it has a crusted surface. Plus basaltic lava is at 1100-1200 ºC so the ambient temperature variations may not make much of a difference in comparison.

          • To lava, it does not make a lot of difference whether the ground/air temperature is -10 or +20C. It is perhaps 800 C itself. You do see a difference on Venus where the air is itself 400C and lava streams flow much further. Once a lava flow get a bit older, the crust becomes solid and the lava flows underneath, well isolated from the air. Eventually it can become a lava tube.

          • Lava can flow 100 s of kilometers across IO s surface…
            Only loosing heat by radiation… and not convective conduction

          • If the eruption is high rate it will actually flow further in an environment that chills it faster. Lava flows from fast eruptions in the deep sea are expected to chill on the outside and basically turn into a massive lava tube, predicted to flow at least twice as far as a flow on land in the same situation.

          • The heat capacity of water is a lot higher than air, so lava cools much faster under water. The temperature of the waters makes little difference, though, and that was the question.

          • Thats right in fast submarine eruptions it can flow so fast.. you forms a turbulent lava flood with a thin skinn riding on the surface
            Souch underwater flows are called submarine sheet flows… with spinned vortexes in the crust… turbulent underwater sheet flows… flowing too fast for pillow lava formation

            https://www3.mbari.org/expeditions/Northern09/L5/sept1.htm
            https://www.pmel.noaa.gov/eoi/nemo/explorer/concepts/sheetflow.html
            https://interactiveoceans.washington.edu/beautiful_ropy_sheet_flow/

  42. On the slope on the far left of the shot, there is a dark area with a lot of steam/smoke above the edge of the flow. It’s probably just burning vegetation but I was wondering if it may be additional fissures?

      • I came back here to see if anyone had noticed that too. It’s uphill. Could be heated water forced upwards through surrounding rock.

    • On the video it looks like a bit of vegetation caught fire. There is a lava stream going in that direction. The flow field is expanding mainly on the sides. Especially where the group of tourists are. We have put the live stream in the post above.

      • I rewound the stream Albert and the emissions (or smoke or steam )from that area has been intermittent. It may be a small stream running on to the flow but It entirely stopped for a while, unfortunately that period has now been cut from the ruv stream as I was wondering if the activity in that area might correspond to the main vent.

        • If that were a vent it would build a spatter cone very quickly. That is not happening. Yes, the smoke has been intermittent. I think the vegetation is too.

          • Aye, it does have a look of a moorland fire, maybe the odd woody shrub catches every now and again. Time will tell I guess.

  48. The lava is
    Soooo colourful … ssssoooo beautyfulll …….
    its ouuuuuurrr..
    Prreecccuuuuiiiouuusssssssssssssss!!

  49. Missed it by about an hour last night. Was quite amazed at how all the tremors dropped and all went quiet, and then this little thing popped up and started effusing magma. Expected but unexpected!

    Which direction is it likely to take following the contours of the land?

    • I think it’s flowing roughly to the SE and SW at the moment. If it continues to the SW, then it won’t have anywhere to go. To the SE, it has more chance of overtopping a small ridge, before it then has to head more northerly. It will eventually get blocked in that direction too though.

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