COPENHAGEN (Reuters) – A volcanic eruption in southwestern Iceland, near the capital Reykjavík, began on Friday after thousands of small earthquakes in the area in recent weeks, the country’s meteorological office said.
The eruption occurred near Fagradalsfjall, a mountain on the Reykjanes Peninsula, located about 30 km (19 miles) southwest of the capital.
“I can see the bright red sky from my window,” said Rannveig Gudmundsdottir, a resident of the town of Grindavik, just 8 km (5 miles) from the eruption.
“Here everyone gets in their cars to drive there,” he said.
Over the last four weeks there have been more than 40,000 earthquakes on the peninsula, a huge jump from the 1,000-3,000 earthquakes recorded each year since 2014.
Images from local media websites showed a bright red night sky. An image posted on Twitter by the Icelandic Meteorological Office (IMO) showed smoke coming out of bright lava streams.
The eruption posed no immediate danger to the people of Grindavik or to critical infrastructure, the IMO said.
“I don’t think we could expect anything better than that,” IMO volcanic risk coordinator Sara Barsotti told Reuters.
Unlike the eruption of Eyjafjallajökull volcano in 2010, which stopped approximately 900,000 flights and forced hundreds of Icelanders to leave their homes, this eruption is not expected to release much ash or smoke into the atmosphere, say the IMO.
Located between the Eurasian and American tectonic plates, among the largest on the planet, Iceland is a seismic and volcanic point, as the two plates move in opposite directions.
The origin of the eruption is a large body of molten rock, known as magma, which has advanced to the surface in recent weeks, causing earthquakes.
The number of earthquakes had slowed in recent days, though it led geologists to say an eruption would be less likely.
Reykjavik’s Keflavik International Airport was not closed after the eruption, but each airline had to decide for itself whether it wanted to fly or not, the IMO said.
A helicopter with scientific personnel on board had mingled to observe the eruption, the IMO said.
Reports by Nikolaj Skydsgaard and Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen in Copenhagen; Editing by Leslie Adler and Matthew Lewis