The eruption has died down
mbl.is/Árni Sæberg
The volcanic eruption at the Sundhnúkagígar crater row has died down.
As has been reported, no eruption activity is visible on the fissures north of Grindavík and the crater has apparently been extinguished. However, a glow is still visible in the lava field.
“There is naturally no activity in craters. The eruption has thus been completed,” Sigríður Magnea Óskarsdóttir, a natural-hazard expert, tells mbl.is. She adds that it is difficult to determine what the future will be.
“There is no data to show that there is an increase in seismic activity or unrest of any other kind that indicates something more than what the situation is like now,” she added.
Short eruption like in Krafla
The eruption began late Monday night, December 18. When asked if she was surprised that the eruption lasted so short, she replied:
“As has been mentioned before, these events seem to be similar to the events in Krafla. There are examples of an eruption that has been going on for a day or two.”
The eruption is very powerful in comparison to other eruptions. The Met Office estimated that lava flow was about 100 to 200 cubic meters per second at the beginning of the eruption.
