Iceland Volcano Update as Experts Monitor Magma Threat

Experts monitoring the possibility of a volcano threatening to erupt in Iceland say they are trying to assess whether the magma accumulation has stopped.

Scientists have been monitoring the situation for months after magma—molten rock beneath the ground—threatened to erupt as lava in a volcanic explosion. And just before the weekend, researchers shared their latest findings, following tests around the region of Svartsengi in the southwest of the country. However, the results remain frustratingly inconclusive at this stage.

Iceland has been braced for a significant eruption, with magma bubbling away beneath the surface of the earth. Huge cracks have opened up in the ground, splitting Tarmac roads in two, while a string of earthquakes has rocked the region and the entire town of Grindavík, which 4,000 people call home, has been evacuated.

The period of instability began back on the night of October 24 into October 25, when an intense earthquake swarm rattled Svartsengi on the Reykjanes peninsula about 24 miles southwest from the capital Reykjavik. More than 1,000 quakes were recorded within a period of hours, and Icelandic authorities later rushed to build protective walls around Svartsengi's geothermal power plant to protect it from possible lava flows.

On Friday afternoon, the Icelandic Met Office posted its most recent update, saying: "At this stage it is too early to say if magma accumulation at Svartsengi has stopped and the inflation is over. The rate of deformation has decreased somewhat in recent days, but more data is needed to interpret the possible development of the activity in Svartsengi.

"Scientists will continue to analyze the data in the coming days. A new hazard map will be released on Wednesday December 20th, which will reflect the interpretation of the latest data," the update added.

The day before, the agency had revealed that there have been an astonishing number of earthquakes in the area. "Since Tuesday December 12, 460 earthquakes, 30 of which were greater than M1.0, have been measured," the Icelandic Met Office said.

Some 46 volcanos are in a continuous eruptive state worldwide and 19 of them exhibited a change in activity or alert level last month.

One of those volcanoes was Kīlauea in the U.S., which sits on the southeastern shore of the Hawaii Island. The extremely active volcano has erupted regularly since 1983 and has seen a renewed burst of activity recently.

Most of its eruptions tend not to be destructive and are contained within the crater, but an eruption in 2018 caused large slow-moving lava flows throughout the nearby Puna District, which destroyed more than 700 homes, although nobody was injured.