The Volcanic Eruption in Iceland
By Syona Vashisth
Although it was only in the headlines for a couple of days, the recent volcanic eruption in Rekkjanes Peninsula, Iceland,was unexpected and caused many conflicts for residents. The Reykjanes volcanic system located in the Southwestern region of Iceland has been dormant for around 800 years, so locals didn’t expect an eruption, even though seismic activity, movement of earth’s tectonic plates, had been increasing over the past few months ever since October 2022 many earthquakes had recently occurred; around 1400 to be exact in only the span of 24 hours which resulted in the closing of the popular tourist destination, the Blue Lagoon, a geothermal spa. The town of Grindavik, located within 30 miles of Reykjanes, was also evacuated for safety.
On the night of Monday, December 18th, the sky turned red as lava flowed down the volcano and smoke engulfed the air. An anonymous witness stated that the volcano erupted violently for almost two to three hours with huge amounts of lava flowing out. The police of Reykjavik issued a state of emergency, where many more tourist hotspots closed down as the lava spewed over thousands of meters across the Reykjanes Peninsula. Most of the lava flow ended up avoiding major infrastructure such as the town of Grindavik and the Svartsengi power plant, which was a relief for residents.
The lava flow was the heaviest by late on Monday night, where the lava created enormous fountains of one hundred to three hundred feet tall. By around 2am the next morning, the eruption started to slow down and become less harsh.
Almost everyone had evacuated their home in time, so there were little casualties; but it is hard to tell when it will be safe for residents to return.
The eruption resulted in a variety of effects for Iceland and other European populations. There have evidently been many flight delays, as it is not safe for anyone to travel in or out of the country at the time. In 2010, a similar incident occurred where over 100,000 flights were delayed due to the eruption of another volcano, affecting over 7 million people, and also led to a decrease in 4.7 billion dollars of the global GDP. The airline industry lost around 1.7 billion in revenue losses. Additionally, Iceland’s air quality has significantly worsened as smoke overtook many nearby towns and cities.
