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/

The car park pictures are insane. I didn't realise this was so close to it until I saw them.

This one has taken everyone by surprise I think. Au revoir to the car park.

I don't think anyone was really expecting it for another month or so. There was next to no warning. Inflation had waned a bit but it hadn't reached the level it reached before the previous eruption. No massive uptick in quakes either.

Honestly when I first saw it online I thought someone was joking!

If anyone's around, there's an aurora in the background of the ongoing eruption. Visible on this webcam:

https://www.youtube.com/live/mT-1_rzowvA?si=KQ16EdvdvXdo75il

Someone must have clipped and edited it, as it now has a musical overlay. This is the YouTube thumbnail for posterity.

They are planning to reopen the BL on Friday.

Meanwhile the lava has reached or even exceeded the height of the defensive walls, is seriously threatening to breach them, they are desperately trying lava cooling and wall reinforcement, people in the area are being warned to conserve hot water in case of damage to actually important infrastructure. And there's no bloody car park!

Enjoy this photo from the Vísir website which I believe is credited to the power plant, showing the lava literally flowing around the entire BL held back by walls it's a whisker away from breaching. Yeah seems like a great idea 👍

Why on earth would you want to go to the BL when it's still erupting! I mean I'm not sure I'd want to after this eruption anyway now. But yes, once you've figured out where to park... I'm guessing the smell of the eruption isn't great... And this feeling of what if, considering this particular eruption took even the scientists by surprise...

No and indeed just no.

There are other alternatives.

Flowing lava smells quite nice actually... I still wouldn't get in that pool! 😄

If there's one thing we've learned it's that volcanic forecasts are extremely imprecise (not a diss on scientists, they are amazing but it's just the nature of the beast) and nobody truly knows what is going to happen next.

But the head of the tourism association says it's our Eiffel Tower so it's important to open ASAP. 🙄

When we were all visiting Fagradalsfjall in 2021, some of the safety advice was to stay upwind and uphill of flowing lava at all times and to remember that lava can suddenly break out of parts that appear cool and solid.

So hanging out in swimwear in a pool next to a big wall of lava just exceeding the height of a man made slope that goes down towards you seems... inconsistent with previous advice.

For goodness sake! Hopefully someone with more sense overrules that decision.

Unfuckingbelievable! There are bound to be some muppets that up for doing it “for the ‘gram” or Tiktok. The Tourist Board have to consider the optics of crispy, gassed or parboiled tourists and weigh the consequences of misjudging this one.

It would be a hard no from me.

Or they could close it for good and encourage people towards better places!

Unfortunately people can be somewhat stupid!

Someone hiked out to the actively erupting vent over the lava flows back in august 🙄 many people have I believe tried to get out to this one too.

Opening the Blue Lagoon seems crazy whilst there is still active lava flows. The eruption seems pretty stable right now and is still a fissure eruption. Who knows how long this could potentially go on for. Lava overtopping the berms is a real risk!

Tannoy announcement: "Be careful whilst in the bathing area as some areas are hotter than others."

Tannoy announcement: "Would the owner of the car registration number GDF123 please return to their vehicle immediately as the lava is getting a bit close"

Tannoy announcement: "Will everyone please leave the bathing area immediately to the emergency exit to the left away from the building as it has just caught fire".

If the Blue Lagoon is Iceland's Eiffel tower, the tourist board isn't doing their job well in advertising the country. There are much better places to visit.

Another one, closer to Grindavík this time.

I felt a big earthquake this morning - thought at first it was the cat jumping up onto the bed.

Now the 11th eruption since March 21 is happening, just north of the protective wall around Grindavík.

BL evacuated and most of the people who remained in Grindavík, but apparently 6 households refuse to leave, which is their prerogative.

The fissure has now breached the wall and they are asking the remaining people to please evacuate because it's actually quite dangerous.

I expect they will now!

The wall's pretty close, isn't it? So if that's breeched.... eek! I'd definitely not be staying.

This graphic is from the Vísir feed. They say the fissure is about 500m long and now extends within the wall to the north of the town. So this gives you a rough idea of how far there is between the fissure and the town.

I don't think evacuation will be voluntary at this point.

I've been keeping an eye on the Vedur earthquake data and this morning looks like the most and biggest swarm of earthquakes since this series of eruptions began.

https://en.vedur.is/earthquakes-and-volcanism/earthquakes

So its going to hit the sea then, this eruption?

Well it could... but it has a few km to go so it depends how long it goes on and the volume of lava. They've tended to be quite short in this Sundhnúksgígar series, haven't they? So just on instinct I would guess that it probably won't.

But that's pure amateur guessing. I expect we'll hear more from the experts in due course.

Though checking now, the fissure is currently extending further south and north so closer to the town. 😬

If it does get to the harbour then that really will affect air traffic!

Wishing you luck, though I think that you've had plenty of that so far to date and I fear it is starting to run out.