(Reykjavik) – The Icelandic authorities announced on Wednesday that they are considering spraying water on the lava that may emerge in the event of a volcanic eruption, with the aim of cooling it and protecting the city of Grindavik.
The fishing port of about 4,000 people on the Reykjanes Peninsula was evacuated on November 11, after hundreds of earthquakes caused by the movement of magma beneath the Earth’s crust – a precursor to a volcanic eruption.
Civil protection authorities and European experts will evaluate the possibility of “using a large amount of water to cool the lava and protect the town of Grindavik and important infrastructure,” Feder Rennison, head of Iceland’s Civil Protection and Emergency Department, said during a press conference. .
Iceland had already used this process in 1973, when a fissure opened 150 meters from the city center of the island of Heimaey, surprising residents at dawn.
They were then able to slow down and control the movement of the lava.
“A technical assessment team will arrive in Iceland this evening or tomorrow morning and will help us study the possibilities,” Rennison said.
Authorities also announced that the state of emergency would be lifted on Thursday at 6 a.m. local time and returned to the lowest alert level, according to a statement from Civil Protection.
She said that Grindavík residents will be allowed to enter the city in the coming days to receive their goods and valuables between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m.
In a bulletin on Wednesday evening, the Icelandic Meteorological Office (IMO) estimated that “the probability of a sudden eruption within the city limits of Grindavik is decreasing every day and is considered low today.”
“As deformation, seismic activity, and magma flow into the dike (vertical penetration of magma into the Earth’s crust, editor’s note) continue to decrease, the probability of an eruption decreases over time,” the IMO adds.
Iceland has 33 volcanic systems, the most in Europe, and experiences eruptions every four to five years on average.
There have been three eruptions near Fagradalsfjall on the Reykjanes Peninsula, in March 2021, August 2022, and July 2023.
Grindavik is located close to the Svartsinji geothermal power plant, which is the main supplier of electricity and water for the peninsula’s 30,000 inhabitants, and an important freshwater reservoir.
The city is also close to the Blue Lagoon, a tourist site famous for its geothermal spas, which has been closed as a precaution.
Iceland is located in the North Atlantic Ocean, straddling the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, a fissure in the ocean floor that separates the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates.
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