Iceland - possible eruption due near the Blue Lagoon

[KenAdams]

Is anyone following this?

https://icelandmonitor.mbl.is/news/news/2023/11/03/coming_close_to_an_eruption/

The main concern is the power plant next to the lagoon.

There are constant mini eruptions happening too - https://vafri.is/quake/

@Puffinshop did you feel the earthquake? I heard around 4.5-6 magnitude.

No, I was walking around. I usually only feel them when I'm sitting or lying still. My partner and kids felt it though.

It looks like after the bigger one, there was quite a swarm of smaller earthquakes around lunchtime - maybe something is going to happen again fairly soon.

Now there might be an eruption coming soon in Grímsvötn too. The flight code for the airspace above Grímsvötn has been updated to yellow. I vaguely remember the last eruption there in 2011 - I had just moved to Iceland and we had some ash fall in the capital.

In that location it would be an explosive eruption with an ash cloud, so that can potentially be a little more disruptive depending on the size and the wind. But no threat to inhabited areas or infrastructure. Grímsvötn usually erupts about once a decade so it's on schedule I suppose.

My partner is about to turn 40 and I was just about to book Iceland for a surprise trip, going in August.

I knew nothing about these issues! In my defence I am absolutely demented with a 4 year old and a newborn plus the chaos that was Christmas.

Is it not advisable to travel there now for the foreseeable?

It's fine to travel here. The activity on Reykjanes is very unlikely to affect tourism at all. If Grímsvötn goes it could cause some minor disruption but it won't last months.

There's no way to know what will be happening in August. Most likely nothing. These things can only be predicted at short notice or very vaguely.

Earthquake swarms still developing from what I can tell.

We'll see.

The activity on Reykjanes is very unlikely to affect tourism at all.

Well apart from the Blue Lagoon being closed. You might not be able to go there, but I wouldn't be too upset about that if I were you.

Chances are it'll be open again by August anyway.

I know it's very selfish of me but I am hoping for a little non local inhabitant threatening, tourist friendly volcanic activity in June. As long as no one gets hurt/displaced. I wouldn't want that.

I think that's fine, volcanic eruptions are very cool. I would love another nice friendly one too.

@Puffinshop looks like they might have reopened the blue lagoon today!

So naturally there's plenty of speculation online that there will be an eruption tomorrow 😂

😄

Haha 😄

Part of me really wants to see whether the wall actually works. But I suppose it would be better if it didn't come to that.

Wild horses would not drag me into a geothermal hot spring less than two miles from an active volcano.

100% this!

Me either. It was toasty enough without the reservoir if magna shifting underneath the whole area. 😬

Someone appears to have fallen into a crack in Grindavík this morning and still hasn't been found 😳

His equipment (he was doing earth moving work) was found in the crack that apparently opened up under its weight and they've been looking for him but no success.

Apparently some of the cracks are up to 30 metres deep so if he's down there it's not good.

Oh no. 🙁

Shit. That doesn’t sound good at all. 😟

Oh no how awful😓

Ground moving equipment? He was in a digger and it all fell in with him in it? Jeezo

Was he working on his own if they only think he fell in?

Yes, working alone. He was filling in a crack by a house and then trying to press the earth down and the crack opened up again it seems. There were no eyewitnesses so it's not completely certain what happened.

I hope for a miracle but I think he must be dead, I'm not sure how he could have survived. It's horrible. They are continuing to search. They have lowered people down in a cage thing and are digging earth out of the crack, but no results so far.

What a tragedy.

That's awful.