An eruption began north of Grindavík just before 8am after an intense series of small earthquakes started overnight at SundhnúksgígaGrindavík was evacuated last nightA second fissure opened above the town around middayLava has reached the town from the second fissure and houses are burningThe eruption does not however present a threat to lifeFlights to and from Iceland are unaffected
I’m not a volcanologist or anything, but surely you were taught there are different types of eruptions at school? The Pompeii one was some kind of super heated gas and ash cloud (again, not a volcanologist) that people had no chance of outrunning. The Icelandic one that shut airports blasted ash crazy high into the atmosphere, caused tonnes of disruption but not too much destruction. This one is a slow boiler - they had lots of advance warning, no toxic gas, no giant ash cloud - just a slow moving lava flow that is still causing destruction but hopefully no death.
I’m not a volcanologist or anything, but surely you were taught there are different types of eruptions at school? The Pompeii one was some kind of super heated gas and ash cloud (again, not a volcanologist) that people had no chance of outrunning. The Icelandic one that shut airports blasted ash crazy high into the atmosphere, caused tonnes of disruption but not too much destruction. This one is a slow boiler - they had lots of advance warning, no toxic gas, no giant ash cloud - just a slow moving lava flow that is still causing destruction but hopefully no death.
i understand everything there is to know about volcanoes, and i still think it’s pretty wild