Iceland volcano lava misses town, air travel concerns quelled, after eruption - CNA

BLUE LAGOON

Located between the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates, among the largest on the planet, Iceland is a seismic hot spot because the plates move in opposite directions.

The eruption is about 30km from Reykjavik. Keflavik International Airport is somewhat nearer but remains open. The Blue Lagoon, a geothermal spa popular with tourists, has been largely closed since the seismic activity was detected.

"It could potentially go on for several months. It could also just stop later today or tomorrow," said Halldor Geirson, an associate professor at Institute of Earth Sciences at the University of Iceland.

Lava flows had decreased from 200-250 cubic metres per second in the first two hours of the eruption to around a quarter of that by Tuesday morning.

Most of the lava was flowing into an area where there was little infrastructure, Geirson said. That could change.

"There is still a threat to Grindavik, for sure. Now the lava is flowing mostly to the north, but it depends on the topography and where the openings are," he said.

In 2010, ash clouds from eruptions at the Eyafjallajokull volcano in the south of Iceland spread over large parts of Europe, grounding some 100,000 flights in Europe and beyond, and forcing hundreds of Icelanders to evacuate their homes.

Weather forecasting service AccuWeather said this eruption was very different.

"If little to no volcanic ash is lofted into the atmosphere, there may be no impact to aviation," AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist Jon Porter said.

The 2010 impact on air travel was largely caused by the interaction of magma with the melting water from a glacier, a different scenario to what is happening now.

Matthew Watson, professor of volcanoes and climate at the University of Bristol in Britain, said it was "not impossible that there may be some impact on air travel", although it was unlikely. "This type of eruption doesn't generally produce much ash, which is what tends to ground planes."

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