Latest news with #volcaniceruption
CTV News
9 hours ago
- CTV News
Iceland engulfed by volcanic cloud
A group of visitors gather on a hill a few kilometers away to watch the two active craters, after a volcanic eruption around 6km north of Grindavik on the Reykjanes Peninsula, in Iceland, Saturday, July 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Marco di Marco) Reykjavik, Iceland -- Iceland experts on Monday blamed a lack of wind for a volcanic cloud that has lingered over much of the island since an eruption last week. Two craters of a volcano on the Reykjanes peninsula spewed out the sulphur-packed cloud on Wednesday. The thick haze has left the capital Reykjavik and the southwest of the country in a pollution red alert, the highest level in Iceland's monitoring system. Hylnur Arnason of the Icelandic Energy and Environment Agency said that volcanic eruptions normally cause air pollution, mainly from the sulphur dioxide that is emitted. The gas becomes sulfate in the atmosphere, creating a volcanic fog. 'It's completely misty in large parts of the country,' said Arnason. 'Usually in Iceland we have lots of wind, which would carry the pollution away, but right now we don't,' the expert added. 'Now it's kind of just sitting over the whole country.' Arnason said the gas was not toxic but could be an 'irritant.' The environment agency has recommended that vulnerable people should remain at home and take precautions against the pollution. The wind was expected to start strengthening again late Monday.
New York Times
3 days ago
- New York Times
The Icelandic Landscape Is Changing, and It's Changing Us
The geology of Iceland has always been on the move. The island sits on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, a long underwater mountain range that is also the boundary between two diverging tectonic plates, and eruptions are common, often leaving behind vast lava fields and ash layers. These changes can be deceiving. You can swim in Viti, a volcanic crater, or visit Lake Askja and feel like you are surrounded by something that is millions of years old, but both are younger than the Brooklyn Bridge. Nature's creativity has meant that the Icelandic language must also be nimble, and for centuries the language and landscape have been in dialogue. Nature makes something new, a mountain, a lava field, even a new island, which requires a name. The habit is often to say what we see — a tendency that can sound quite basic in translation. Eldfell mountain was formed in a volcanic eruption in 1973; its name means fire mountain. Other times we're more poetic, like with Surtsey, a new island formed in 1963, which takes its name from the fire giant Surtur in Norse mythology. Those names, in turn, influence the language. For example, the word 'fuglabjarg,' Icelandic for 'birdcliff,' is both a word and a metaphor. As a word, it is the name for a cliff where sea birds lay their nests. On one cliff you could have hundreds of thousands, maybe millions of seabirds — guillemots, razorbills, puffins and gulls. Seabirds are no songbirds, and the screeching, screaming, yeeking and honking made these places one of the noisiest places in Iceland. That's why in Icelandic, 'fuglabjarg' can also be used to describe a loud gathering of people. As when I go to a large conference and send a text message to my wife: 'This place is like a fuglabjarg.' The trouble with getting used to a landscape that changes so quickly is that you can become blind to a new pace of change — one that is not normal. As the oceans warm and some of the food sources fail, on some of the fuglabjargs the nesting bird population has decreased significantly. And so, of course, have the sound levels. Sometimes I wonder if I will live to witness the moment when fuglabjarg becomes a metaphor for silence. We are entering a new era, where the birds grow quiet, lakes form at the edges of glaciers and valleys start to appear where there used to be glaciers. What do you call a valley that used to be a glacier? The longest bridge in Iceland once arched over a vast plain of sediment formed by glacial meltwater called Skeidararsandur, which translates as boat-river-sand. In 1974 it was our great engineering achievement: about half a mile long and built to withstand substantial glacial flooding from the river that ran in hundreds of veins over a huge stretch of black sand. Even so, it was severely damaged by a massive flood after a volcanic eruption in the '90s. A bridge at Skeidararsandur now extends over much dryer land. The glacier has retreated considerably since 2000; the river found another path and a marvel of engineering stands there awkwardly, as if it has stayed too long at a party. At the same time the black sands of Skeidararsandur are also changing: With the river gone, the sand is not replenished with new glacial sediment, and vegetation is starting to cover the area. What do you call boat-river-sand when the boats and the river are gone and the sand is covered in forest? Skeidararjokull, boat-river-glacier, is a valley glacier in southeast Iceland, flowing from Vatnajokull, Europe's largest glacier, covering about 3000 square miles. I have crossed it myself with friends. It is strange to travel over such a massive and powerful entity, surrounded by ancient ice as far as the eyes can see, in places as thick as a skyscraper under your feet. It is hard for the mind to grasp how something so enormous can be so fragile. The formations are like nothing else I have ever encountered. First it was as if we were walking on the white scales of an ancient dragon; then suddenly we were in a forest of black sand pyramids until we came across something smooth and wide, almost like a highway. Out of habit, I looked both ways before I crossed it. I said the landscape and the language have always been in conversation. But in that moment it was as though the glacier was actually telling me something — that somewhere between the pyramids and the highways, something went wrong. If I looked at the nearby mountains, I could see a clear tideline in the middle where the color changed. The line marked the surface of the glacier up to 1995; since then, according to glaciologists, the glacier has lost mass almost every year. In 2014 the glacier Okjokull was declared dead. Ok was the name of the volcano where the glacier, the jokull, was located. Now it's just a patch of ice on a volcano, known as simply Ok. Anthropologists from Rice University in Texas asked me to write a short text for a plaque to commemorate Ok. Internationally, of course, those letters mean 'O.K.' — ironically — but in Icelandic, Ok means 'yoke,' like the beams that you put on your shoulder to balance a heavy burden. Or the yoke you put on two oxen to plow a field. The final text for the plaque was: Ok is the first Icelandic glacier to lose it status as a glacier. In the next 200 years all our glaciers are expected to follow the same path. This monument is to acknowledge that we know what is happening and what needs to be done. Only you know if we did it. August 2019 415 ppm of CO₂ This year, levels of CO₂ have already exceeded 430 ppm. The glaciers of Iceland cover about 10 percent of the land, but if that ice were spread like icing on a cake, the whole country would be under about 100 feet of ice. The next iconic glacier to go is likely to be Snaefellsjokull — snow-mountain-glacier. In 'Journey to the Center of Earth,' by Jules Verne, Snaefellsjokull is the gateway to a subterranean world. What do you call Snaefellsjokull when it is not a glacier anymore? Just Snaefell? What about when the snow is gone? And when the glaciers are all gone, what do you call an island that used to be Iceland? Just … Land? Andri Snær Magnason is an Icelandic writer and filmmaker. He is the author, most recently, of 'On Time and Water: A History of Our Future.' The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. We'd like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips. And here's our email: letters@ Follow the New York Times Opinion section on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X and Threads.
The National
4 days ago
- The National
Best photos of July 18: Wildfires in France to drying tomatoes in Tunisia
People walk past dried lava from previous volcanic activity as they make their way to watch the fresh eruption near Grindavik, Reykjanes, in south-west Iceland. EPA
CNA
5 days ago
- CNA
Volcanic eruption ends day's search for bodies of Filipino cockfighters
LAUREL, Philippines: Divers searching for dozens of murdered cockfighters in a lake south of Manila were forced to exit the water on Thursday (Jul 17) when the volcanic island in its centre erupted unexpectedly. The low-level eruption, which sent a plume of steam billowing 2,400m skyward from Lake Taal volcano, came a week into the search for the remains of people allegedly killed by rogue police for their involvement in fixing cockfights. "The (dives) were temporarily terminated," an official involved in the search who spoke on condition of anonymity told AFP, adding a number of divers had been in the water at the time of the eruption. The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said the volcano had experienced "minor phreatomagmatic eruptive events" just after 3pm (7am GMT). The agency's Mara Antonia Bornas said the volcano had been at a low alert level since 2021 and that no major eruptions were predicted. The divers would not be affected, and only the volcano island in the middle of the lake was "under precaution", she said. Since beginning the search on Jul 10, the Philippine Coast Guard has found five bags at the bottom of the lake, some of which may have contained human bones. Police are conducting forensic testing to determine if the bones are human and if they match the DNA of the missing cockfighters. Fifteen police officers are under investigation over the spate of mysterious 2022 disappearances in the country's huge cockfighting industry. The case erupted back into the public consciousness last month with the televised appearance of a witness claiming to know where bodies had been submerged in Lake Taal. Located about two hours south of Manila, the lake spans more than 230 sq km and reaches depths of 172m in some places. Filipinos from all walks of life wager millions of dollars on matches every week between roosters who fight to the death with razor-sharp metal spurs tied to their legs. Cockfighting, banned in many other countries, survived coronavirus pandemic restrictions by going online, drawing many more gamblers who use their mobile phones to place wagers.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Yahoo
Tourists evacuated after Iceland's Reykjanes Peninsula hit by 9th eruption since 2023
Tourists and locals have been evacuated on Iceland's Reykjanes Peninsula after the twelfth volcanic eruption in the region since 2021. The eruption began around 4 am on Wednesday following an intense seismic swarm on the Reykjanes Peninsula, southwest of the capital, Reykjavik, Iceland's Met Office (IMO) said. Magma pushed up through the Earth's crust, opening a fissure near Sundhnúkur crater, thought to be between 700 and 1,000 metres long. It belched columns of smoke into the air, and dramatic lava flows can be seen in images of the eruption. On Wednesday evening, the IMO said that while the eruption at Sundhnúksgígar fissure continued, seismic activity had decreased since the morning. The biggest threat to inhabited areas is now from gas emissions and wildfires, which are contributing to local air pollution. Related Lava hotlines and captivating infernos: Inside the volatile world of volcano tourism in Iceland It comes after an eruption in April this year breached protective barriers near the fishing town of Grindavik, causing emergency services to evacuate residents and tourists staying at the Blue Lagoon Spa. Tourists and residents evacuated Lava is flowing to the southeast, meaning the eruption doesn't threaten any infrastructure at this time, the IMO said in a statement, and there is currently no threat to populated areas. 'Based on GPS measurements and deformation signals, it is likely that this was a relatively small eruption.' Despite this, civil defence teams evacuated people from nearby sites as a precaution. Around 100 residents were cleared from the town of Grindavík. Due to ongoing volcanic activity, the town has remained mostly deserted since its nearly 4,000 residents were evacuated in 2023. Tourists were also evacuated from a campsite in Grindavík and the Blue Lagoon - a five-star hotel resort famous for its geothermal spa, according to Iceland's public broadcaster RUV. Margrét Kristín Pálsdóttir, a local police commissioner, said the evacuation went smoothly and lasted about 90 minutes. 'Of course, people have different opinions on whether the evacuation is necessary, but it is a decision we make and take responsibility for,' she said. The police commissioner also added that some tourists had been prevented from entering the area. "Of course, we understand that this is a fascinating event, especially for tourists who are not as accustomed to it as we are." Residents of Grindavík were allowed back into the town on Wednesday evening. The Blue Lagoon and Northern Light Inn have reopened, but tourists and the general public are not permitted to enter Grindavík. Have flights been impacted by the eruption? Flights at the nearby Keflavik airport in the capital of Reykjavik have not been impacted by the volcanic eruption. With 33 active volcanic systems, Iceland is often referred to as the land of ice and fire. It has recorded a dozen volcanic eruptions since geological systems on its Reykjanes Peninsula reactivated four years ago after an 800-year dormancy. Experts say these eruptions in the area could continue for decades or even centuries as part of a new volcanic cycle. Related Air traffic strikes and staffing gaps: Can the EU fix Europe's summer of travel chaos? Unlike the 2010 eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano, which grounded planes across Northern Europe for almost a week, this recent string of eruptions on Iceland's Reykjanes Peninsula has not ejected large volumes of ash into the stratosphere. This means that air traffic hasn't been disrupted. Volcanic ash is dangerous for aeroplanes because it can cause engine failure and damage to various important aircraft components. Solve the daily Crossword
