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Iceland: Watch the lava flow from Fagradalsfjall volcano live

2021-05-11T11:20:29.528Z


In the absence of tourists on the island, Icelandic TV has installed a webcam continuously scanning the projections of magma from one of the cracks in the earth's crust on Mount Fagradalsfjall. And it is very impressive.


This is the opportunity not to miss anything of the mesmerizing spectacle of the lava that gushes from the bowels of the earth.

On March 19, the earth's crust cracked on Mount Fagradalsfjall in Iceland's Geldingadalur Valley, 40 kilometers southwest of Reykjavík.

Lava is spreading there for the first time in 800 years.

But due to the Covid-19 pandemic, it is impossible to travel to Iceland at the moment.

To counteract the drastic travel restrictions in force on the island, a webcam installed in the valley by the national television channel RÚV makes it possible not to lose a crumb of the natural phenomenon.

We can see the lava projected into the air that hits the walls of the crater, while smoke escapes from the ground here and there.

The images are even more striking after the sun goes down, when the incandescent liquid pierces the darkness.

Read also: Iceland: rugged beauty of the south coast

Three successive cracks

On March 19, after intense seismic activity for more than three weeks and an eruption alert, a flow of lava gushed out around 8:45 p.m. from a crack in the ground.

Two weeks later, a second crack opened.

About 200 meters long, it is about 700 meters from the first focus.

The lava from this second fault flows into another small neighboring valley, called Merardalir.

It was then that a third flaw appeared on April 7.

150 meters long and about a meter deep, it is about half a kilometer from the craters of the first eruption.

The orange flow has rolled down the slope and is added to the lava field already formed by the active source since March 19.

A field which now extends over at least 33 hectares.

Thousands of curious people

The lava flows extend for hundreds of meters.

Halldor KOLBEINS / AFP

The inhabitants were called not to go there, which did not prevent tens of thousands of curious people from coming to watch the show.

These volcanic cracks, which extend over more than 500 meters in a very sparsely populated area, emit little ash.

There should therefore be no impact on air traffic.

Many Icelanders come to admire the spectacle.

Jeremie RICHARD / AFP

Icelandic vulcanologists initially estimated that the eruption would last only a few days.

They now favor a long-term scenario: weeks, months, even years.

See also

- Scientists in Iceland barbecue on volcano lava

Source: lefigaro

All news articles on 2021-05-11

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