COPENHAGEN (Reuters) – An Icelandic volcano that has been throwing lava into the sky since it erupted last Friday could continue its spectacular display for years, potentially becoming a new tourist attraction on the island known for its natural wonders.
Thousands of Icelanders have flocked to the site of the eruption on the Reykjanes Peninsula, about 30 kilometers southwest of the capital, hoping to be impressed by the rare sources of lava and even everything from cooking a meal to the crusty crust of the magma.
Images of drones filmed on the crater show that molten lava is bubbling and bubbling, and bubbling along the sides of the volcano.
“It’s a perfect tourist eruption,” University of Iceland volcanology professor Thorvaldur Thordarson told Reuters.
“With the warning, though, don’t get too close.”
To deal with the hoarding of visitors, Icelandic authorities set up a 3.5-kilometer hiking route to the site of the eruption and patrol the area to prevent spectators from venturing into polluted dangerous areas. by volcanic gases.
“People were walking from different directions into the area,” Agust Gunnar Gylfason, project manager for the Department of Civil Protection and Emergency Management, told Reuters.
Gylfason estimated that more than ten thousand people had ventured to the site since Friday evening, some of whom had needed to be rescued due to the severe weather and traveling without enough food or proper clothing.
Since the initial eruption, the lava has been constantly seeping from the volcano at a rate of 5 to 10 cubic meters per second, Thordarson said, a flow strong enough to ensure the lava does not solidify and close the fissure. For now.
“If it goes below three cubic meters, it’s very likely that the eruption will stop,” Thordarson said.
He compared the lava flow to that of the Pu’u ‘O’o eruption in Hawaii, which began in 1983 and continued to erupt for 35 years.
“It could end tomorrow or it could still be in a few decades.”
Reports by Nikolai Skydsgaard; Edited by Alexandra Hudson