Volcano eruption in Iceland, live: news and breaking news

An Icelandic Coast Guard helicopter flies over the site of a volcanic eruption in Sundnuk, Iceland on December 19, 2023. (Credit: Icelandic Coast Guard)

Iceland is used to volcanic eruptions, but this one on its southwestern peninsula is unlike any other the country has seen in recent years.

Many of Iceland’s eruptions occur in forested areas, far from populated areas.

With the volcano’s magma tunneling near the coastal town of Grindavik, Iceland is “facing events not experienced since the Vestmannajar eruption,” the country’s civil defense agency said last week. And 400 houses were destroyed.

The eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano in 2010 also affected the inhabitants of Iceland, but mainly due to another factor: the melting of the glacier ice fueled the eruption further, resulting in a large ash cloud.

About 100,000 flights were canceled as the ash disabled aircraft engines and caused power outages.

Most recently, the Bárðarbunga volcanic system in the center of the country erupted in 2014, creating a volcano covering 84 square kilometers (32 sq mi) of mountainous terrain, but did not harm any communities.

The Fagradalsfjall volcanic system erupted in 2021 for the first time in more than 6,000 years. It did not threaten populated areas and became a tourist attraction when people flocked to witness the eruption.

Iceland sits on the border of a tectonic plate that continues to pull apart, pushing North America and Eurasia along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge line.

Beneath it lies a powerful mantle, hotter than the surrounding magma, which melts and thins the Earth’s crust. These conditions have made Iceland home to 32 active volcanoes.