On the 18th of December at about 10:17 pm Icelanders got the news that an volcanic eruption had just started on the Reykjanes peninsula once again, this has been a regular event as this is the 4th eruption in just as many years now. Reykjanes Peninsula is a known volcanic area with many volcanic systems that had previously erupted in history, however that history was about 800 years ago before we started to see this happen 4 years ago, now we seem to be entering an era of volcanic activity on this area so we can expect this to continue to be a regular event for the coming years....maybe even decades to come, who knows.

I will try to be as clear as possible, which should not be that difficult since I´m no volcanologist.

So like mentioned before we have had 3 eruptions ahead of this newest one. All of the 3 had two main things in common, they were located far enough from towns to involve no threat to houses or people, and they were small enough to be easily maintained and watched so that locals and travellers could be allowed to hike close to it in order to experience natures power.

So what about the new one? This one has been more aggressive and threatening the people of Grindavík town (about 4000 people) as well as infrastructure in the Svartsengi area, this includes Svartsengi geothermal power plant, The Blue Lagoon and Carbon Recycling International.

Since late October 2023 there have been thousands of earthquakes in this area ranging from small ones you can´t really feel to large ones no one sleeps through. This eventually forced villagers of Grindavík to evacuate the town as well as operations of the companies in Svartsengi to stall as the situation needed to be taken very seriously, earthquakes and earth rising here and there to the point no one new where it would happen exactly, then 18th of December at this point everyone thought it was more likely that we would not have an eruption it began.

Luckily this eruption seems to have chosen a lot more convenient location then we were scared it might be and everyone and their housing is currently safe.

Icelandic authorities and the public are thoroughly prepared for such events, and the country boasts some of the world's most sophisticated volcanic preparedness protocols. Iceland's geoscientists are extensively experienced in managing volcanic activity so

ICELAND REMAINS SAFE TO VISIT AND ACTUALLY IT´S A GREAT TIME TO VISIT AS YOU CAN SEE THE POWER OF NATURE FROM A HELICOPTER AS WELL AS THE REST OF ICELAND IS AMAZING!