The long anticipated major eruption finally got started last night in Iceland, in the form of a 4km (2.5 mile) long fissure. The eruption consists of some pretty lava fountains … here’s a shot of the main one from just before 7am ET …
The location of the eruption is several kilometers east of the famous Blue Lagoon resort (which had recently reopened, but is now closed again). Here is the latest map from Veðurstofa Íslands (Icelandic Weather Service) …
the bright red arcs at the top right are the eruption, the Blue Lagoon (Bláa lónið) and Svartsengi power station is to the left (the darker red lines are power/hot water lines). The town of Grindavik is at the lower left. Right now the lava flow is away from both Blue Lagoon and Grindavik, but there is concern based on the pattern of the ongoing microquakes that magma is moving under the surface towards the town and an eruption could break out and lava flow into the east side of town. (Recall that molten rock is magma if it’s underground, lava once it breaks out on the surface.) Hopefully the eruption will stay where it is. No telling how long it will last or evolve at this stage.
Lava flows seem to have stabilized after last nights spectacular breakthrough to the surface, which was captured by several web cams (link). For those concerned about transatlantic air traffic, the eruption isn’t a problem. This type of eruption doesn’t have much if any ash in it, and isn’t high enough to cause problems. Flights in to Keflavik, Iceland’s main airport located 20km/12miles away, are unaffected, and international flights are way too high to be impacted at all.