A new fissure opened at a defense wall

Scientists at the Icelandic Met Office noticed yesterday morning that steam was rising at a defense wall near Grindavík. It is believed that a fissure has opened up there, but magma has not yet crept up there.

The main streams of the lava are three, one in the south and two in the north. The lava flows from the southern crater to the southwest, as in the last eruption. A lava flow in the north also flows to the east.

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Defense walls keeping the lava at bay

“It’s been poor visibility all day. But now it’s cleared up and we can see the lava flow better,” Einar Hjörleifsson, a natural hazard specialist at the Icelandic Met Office, tells us.

Could flow from a lava lake to Grindavíkurvegur Road

A lava lake has formed at Mt Sýlingarfell. “There could be some forward movement from there to the south in the next few days,” Hjörleifsson says. “But now it seems like there is a steady flow of lava and some activity in the eruption.”

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"Flowing at a much faster speed than we've seen before"

Will the lava not flow over roads?

“It won’t happen overnight, but lava flows at Mt Sýlingarfell need to be monitored closely. It could eventually get stuck up and move northwards of Mt Sýlingarfell towards Grindavíkurvegur Road. But we’re going  to monitor it more closely and install another webcam there on behalf of The Department of Public Protection and Emergency Management.”

Steam rising at a defense wall

A cloud of steam was seen rising at a defense wall this morning. “It’s like there’s a little opening there, but no magma has been detected. Just steam,” he says.

“It’s like there’s a fissure opening up at the northern side of the defense wall,” Hjörleifsson says, adding that the Met Office continues to monitor the steam and any changes.