Update November 12, 2023: This post is now a mismash of several volcanic eruptions in Iceland over the last couple of years. None of the information below this first section is relevant anymore, but feel free to browse and see some of the volcanic power the Reykjanes Peninsula has seen recently!
While there is no active volcanic eruption in Iceland as of today, there are telltale signs of something brewing: The ground is rising and there are earthquakes. The Blue Lagoon is closed, and the town of Grindavik, which is close to the Blue Lagoon, has been evacuated. (The earthquakes are not significant enough to cause any damage, other than occasional small rockslides. But you may feel some rumbling in Reykjavik and west toward the Keflavik airport.)
If you’re heading to Iceland, I would recommend:
– Making sure you’re cell phone is working. The Icelandic government will send an emergency text message if an eruption begins and you’re in the area.
– Keep up with the latest news. Iceland Review is a good English language news site.
– Buy travel insurance, and make sure you understand the terms and the coverage. (If you sign up to have us help you plan your trip to Iceland, we’ll help with this too!)
– Don’t trust any old information! This eruption could be the biggest one Iceland has seen in the last 50 years.
Old information below!
Update July 11, 2023: The volcano has started erupting again for the third time in 3 years! The absolute most important thing is to check SafeTravel.is regularly. At least every day. And when you see a warning like this, take it seriously. Iceland is only going to give you a safety warning like this if they mean it.
Some of the information below is outdated, but much of it is still relevant!
Update December 2021: The volcano we discuss below seems to have stopped erupting. Scientists are actively monitoring a new possible eruption at Grímsvötn in the east / Central area of Iceland. But lots of volcanoes are monitored and don’t actually erupt for years or decades.
In March of 2021, a volcano began erupting in Iceland. Named Geldingadalsgos, the volcano is on the Reykjanes peninsula in Iceland, which also happens to be the same peninsula where the Keflavik airport is! So what does this mean for tourists visiting Iceland in 2021? Is the airport open? Is it safe? And, the most interesting question: Can I go see the volcano? Let’s dive in and answer all of your Iceland volcano questions!
If you are planning to hike to the active volcano, you absolutely must check this Safe Travel Iceland page for the latest information. Check it now, and then check it right before you leave on your hike!!
Iceland’s natural volcano early warning system
Iceland has near constant minor earthquakes. Some of the features that make Iceland an amazing place to visit, like geothermal energy, go hand in hand with earthquakes and volcanoes. Starting around the end of February, the number of earthquakes on the Reykjanes Peninsula in Iceland started skyrocketing. Over the last 30 years, the area had had roughly 50,000 earthquakes. Between February 24th and March 5th, 2021, they had more than 20,000 earthquakes.
Think about that. Twenty thousand earthquakes in 10 days. 2,000 earthquakes a day. More than 100 every hour, so more than an earthquake a minute, every minute, for 10 straight days. That’s enough to get even the most jaded Icelander worried about a volcanic eruption. Here’s a quote reported by CNN:
“I have experienced earthquakes before but never so many in a row,” Reykjavik resident Auður Alfa Ólafsdóttir told CNN. “It is very unusual to feel the Earth shake 24 hours a day for a whole week. It makes you feel very small and powerless against nature.”
People left their houses to go stay with friends, just so they could get a good night’s sleep without being shaken awake constantly!
(By the way, not all volcanoes come with this built-in early warning system. The famous Eldfell eruption in Iceland in 1973 had virtually no warning at all!!
Iceland’s newest volcano erupts
On March 19th, the volcano began erupting. Earthquake activity slowed, I guess because some of the pressure was relieved by the earthquake? Initially, the Keflavik airport closed for a short period of time. But it reopened within a day, and flights have been coming and going steadily since then. There isn’t a whole lot of ash with this eruption; that’s what caused so many aviation issues with Eyjafjallajökull’s eruption in 2010. And the eruption, while powerful and amazing, is kind of just reshaping the land around it for now. It’s incredible to see, and there’s no shortage of footage out there. For example:
Can I still visit Iceland, even though there’s an active volcano close to the airport?
Yes! Well, maybe. Covid is still a much bigger barrier to visiting. See our guide to visiting Iceland during Covid-19. Right now, the volcano is minding its own business. It could last a while, though, and that’s when things get interesting. That Eldfell volcanic eruption on the Westman Islands in Iceland in 1973 lasted for 5 months. If this one decides to last for months, interesting things start happening. The valley that the volcano is in could be filled up with lava in a matter of weeks. From there, a physicist interviewed by The Reykjavik Grapevine speculates:
At this rate, geophysicist Páll Einarsson believes, lava could begin making its way out of the valley in anywhere from eight to 18 days. That is, 18 days at the current rate, or just eight days if the flow increases to 10m3 per second.
From there, it would likely begin flowing into the neighbouring valley of Meradalir, and from there, to Nátthagi to the south of that. If it began to flow from Nátthagi, it would likely make its way south, based on elevation mapping, where it might even reach the south coastal highway of Reykjanes but would not reach populated areas.
Still, there’s another road that gets you from the airport into the rest of Iceland. Even in that unlikely scenario where the eruption is ongoing, just one major road closes. Well, and the topography of Iceland is altered for all time, but that’s a different story.
To be extra safe, you may want to get far from the volcano. Residents of nearby Grindavik were advised to keep their windows closed on the day of the eruption:
Civic Protection is advising people living in southwest Iceland to keep their windows closed tonight, on account of the danger of SO2 gas, which can cause mild burning in the eyes and throat. Winds may also carry this gas to Reykjavik.
The area near the volcano was also closed for a while, partially because of the air quality. So, to be extra safe, you may want to just head west from the airport, to Reykjavik and beyond. The air might be fine, and the eruption might lessen. But if the wind is calm, the air quality may be poor on the day your arrive!
Can I visit the volcano in Iceland?
Yes! But you need to plan. First, pay attention to the latest news. The Grapevine is a great source to see if the site is closed. Also, the nice rescue people in Iceland built a new trail to get to the volcano, which closes periodically. There’s even a bus you can take to avoid the crowded parking lot.
All of this makes it seem like any other tourist attraction. And it is, kind of, at least if you think of it as pure nature. But the hike is still at least an hour and a half each way, and there are no bathrooms or food service options. So this is something like a 4 hour roundtrip hike. Bring water, bring food, and keep an eye on current conditions. And maybe don’t go if you have breathing problems? Here’s the official site to check the volcanic gas level.
And be careful! The trail can be slippery, and at least for now, icy:
Local police reminded visitors to come equipped with crampons to walk on icy hiking trails, and officer Gunnar Schram told Vísir that they were seeing a lot of walking-related injuries such as twists, sprains and minor tumbles.
“It went well overall,” he said of Sunday’s operation, “but people are falling over and we are having to assist quite a bit.”
Update May 14, 2021: Iceland has made the trail easier to navigate! It seems like the volcano is turning into a semi-permanent tourist attraction! Still, please be careful on the trail.
Update May 21, 2021: You will now have to pay 1000 ISK (a bit over $8 US) to park at the volcano parking lot. I actually think this a good idea, even though it costs you a bit of money. I hope now that the landowners will provide information to tourists, including if the area is unsafe. They also plan to create a parking lot closer to the eruption, to make the hike shorter.
Update June 15, 2021: Lava has cut off one of the hiking paths to get to the volcano! Path A is now closed; path B is open, but is a harder hike. There may be a Path C coming soon? Check Safe Travel for the details.
Update June 18, 2021: There is also an easier hiking path to see the lava field, though not the volcano itself. The area you will see is called the Nátthagi Valley. This is about a mile of flat hiking, and is much easier than Path B. The parking lot is just East of the main lots for the hiking paths. GPS for the Nátthagi Valley parking lot: 63.8547, -22.3091
If you do plan to visit, let us help you plan a volcano-themed Iceland vacation!
How long will the volcanic eruption last in Iceland?
No one knows. But scientists seem to be moving from the “not very long” camp into the “maybe for a long time” camp:
Experts had initially predicted that the eruption of the fissure near Mount Fagradalsfjall, just 40 kilometres (25 miles) from the capital Reykjavik, would be brief, likely dying out after a few days.
But due to the constancy of the lava flow and based on the first analyses of the magma, they now suspect the eruption could be a long-hauler.
“The eruption rate has been similar since the beginning of the eruption” on March 19, Freysteinn Sigmundsson, a geophysicist at the Institute of Earth Sciences, told AFP.
“We have started to wonder if it may eventually be a long duration eruption.”
But if you can’t make it to Iceland any time soon, just watch this live feed instead!
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