Harmful gases emanating from the volcanic fissure near Reykjavik are threatening to pollute the air in a village near the eruption and are likely to reach Reykjavik, the Meteorological Institute of Iceland (IMO) said on Friday.
The IMO expects particularly heavy gas pollution in Vogar, a municipality of around 1,000 people about five kilometers northeast of Fagradalsfjall, an uninhabited valley where lava gushes out.
The gases could spread to Reykjavik, located 40 kilometers from the volcano, by Saturday.
Sulfur dioxide concentrations could reach up to 2600 micrograms per cubic meter, a level considered ‘harmful to the health of sensitive people’, according to the Icelandic Environment Agency.
However, the Meteorological Office warns that the models are uncertain ‘due to the very uneven flow of the eruption’.
The warning came after measurements showed the fissure’s volcanic activity had halved and its length had shrunk by around 200 metres.
1200 degrees
Its flow estimated at 32 cubic meters per second during the first hours was halved the next day and is only around 18 cubic meters per second on average, according to an assessment carried out on Thursday morning.
‘This behavior is very similar to what is usually observed during eruptions in the country: the eruption is powerful at the beginning and then subsides,’ writes the Institute of Earth Sciences.
The lava field yesterday extended over 144,000 square meters. The volcanic fissure, a crack in the earth from which the viscous liquid squirts at 1200°C, is however no longer as long as it was originally and would now extend over approximately 130 meters.
The pressure in the dike – the magma tunnel feeding the eruption – would not be balanced, leading geophysicists to say the flow could increase or an eruption could start at a new location.
Influx of visitors
“New cracks can open in the immediate vicinity of the eruption site in a very short time,” warns the Meteorological Office of Iceland.
Visitors flock to hear the ground rumble beneath their feet and roar as fountains of lava spurt from the depths.
According to counters installed for a year and a half by the authorities, more than 4,200 curious people traveled the 14 kilometer round trip of the arduous path on Thursday to reach the site on the Reykjanes peninsula in south-west Iceland, about two hours from the nearest car park.
/ATS