Iceland is on excessive alert for a volcanic eruption, with a state of emergency declared and nearly 4,000 residents evacuated from their houses.
There is a “considerable” danger of an eruption on or simply off the Reykjanes Peninsula, about 30 miles from the capital Reykjavik, in response to the Icelandic Meteorological Office.
The area has been shaken by tons of of small earthquakes each day for greater than two weeks.
Scientists have been monitoring a build-up of magma some three miles underground.
Here is what we find out about when an eruption may occur.
When may the volcano erupt?
The likelihood of the volcano erupting at Fagradalsfjall within the coming days is “high”, in response to the Icelandic Meteorological Office (IMO).
“We believe that this intrusion is literally hovering, sitting in equilibrium now just below the earth’s surface,” Matthew James Roberts from the company stated.
But there may be nonetheless “tremendous uncertainty”, he added. “Will there be an eruption and if so, what sort of damage will occur?”
“At this stage, it is not possible to determine exactly whether and where magma might reach the surface,” the IMO stated.
Earthquake exercise at Fagradalsfjall decreased over the weekend, which “indicates that a new phase of magma intrusion is occurring”, stated Dr Margaret Hartley, lecturer in Earth Sciences at Manchester University.
Previous earthquakes within the areas had been “all preceded by decreases in seismic activity, so this isn’t necessarily an indication that the volcanic unrest is dying down”.
On Tuesday, the Icelandic authorities judged the danger has briefly eased sufficient to permit Grindavik’s inhabitants to briefly return dwelling – escorted by search and rescue groups – to gather pets and belongings.
Authorities have raised their aviation alert to orange, indicating an elevated danger of a volcanic eruption.
Volcanic eruptions pose a critical hazard to aviation as a result of they’ll spew extremely abrasive ash excessive into the ambiance, the place it may possibly trigger jet engines to fail, injury flight management methods and scale back visibility.
You can watch a dwell stream of the Reykjanes peninsula right here.
Read extra:
What is occurring underneath the floor in Iceland?
How massive may the Iceland eruption be?
How a lot injury will it trigger?
How a lot disruption the eruption causes will rely upon the place the magma breaks the floor, and the scale and elegance of the eruption, Dr Hartley stated.
Dr Phil Collins from Brunel University London stated an eruption would trigger issues for the Icelandic individuals, however famous they’re “very well prepared and have lots of experience in dealing with eruptions”.
“If the eruption does occur, there may be significant lava flows which could destroy peoples’ homes and other infrastructure, as well as block valleys and change surface drainage,” he stated.
Any eruption shouldn’t be anticipated to trigger the sort of ash cloud created by the Eyjafjallajokull eruption again in 2010, which brought about chaos to world air journey.
Dr Dave McGarvie, a volcanologist with the University of Lancaster stated: “The volcanoes on the Reykjanes Peninsula do not have the ability to produce the disruptive ash clouds that characterised the Eyjafjallajokull 2010 eruption.”
Lessons had been learnt from that occasion, he stated, and even an equivalent eruption wouldn’t be so disruptive now.
Source: information.sky.com”