Getty Image / Civil Protection in Iceland/Handout/Anadolu
A volcano on the Reykjanes Peninsula of Iceland near the capital Reykjavik that sat dormant for 800 years until last December began erupting again this week. It is the 7th time in a year this particular volcano has erupted and this is one of the busier regions of Iceland so it has garnered a ton of attention each time.
Back in August, the volcano began erupting with lava flow so close to the world famous Blue Lagoon which led to a bunch of panicked videos from tourists in the area. This time around, the eruption has actually sent lava flow *into* the Blue Lagoon parking lot.
Footage of the volcano eruption could be seen from hotel rooms all the way in Reykjavik:
Aerial footage from the eruption shows how far spread the lava field is. That region of Iceland surrounding the Blue Lagoon really does look like something out of a Sci-Fi film. I remember being there on a late December day when the temperatures were in the 20s but the sapphire water was like a jacuzzi and thinking it felt like I was on another planet. I did not, however, get to see anything like this:
This image from Eggert Jóhannesson has gone viral on Threads. It shows lava actually flowing into edges of the Blue Lagoon parking lot.
Iceland is the land of fire and ice. Erupting volcanoes are not really out of the ordinary there. That said, for this particular volcano to sit dormant for 8 centuries and then come roaring back to life with 7 eruptions dating back to last December, that is certainly something that nobody saw coming.
For those interested, there is a live feed of the eruption from the AP YouTube channel: