An eruption started between Sýlingarfell and Hagafell at 10pm. An earthquake swarm started in the magma intrusion north of Grindavík around one hour earlier.There is a risk of lava flowing to Grindavík, says Kristín Jónsdóttir of the Icelandic Met Office.The worst possible location, say Þorvaldur Þórðarson and Benedikt Ófeigsson.Civil Defence emergency level declared.The fissure is still getting longer and has grown to about 3.5 kilometres.The flow of lava in the eruption is many times higher than the eruptions of recent years on the Reykjanes Peninsula.The police chief in Suðurnes says that no one should be in danger.Reykjanesbraut has been closed and people are asked to evacuate it.
This is the one they were waiting for. There are several live cams trained on the area, and one of them caught the exact moment it erupted:
https://youtu.be/QcxaqCIon_Y?si=oLk4o29hIaSrv4WF
Thank you for the link! That was deeply satisfying to watch. The camera quality is so good.
I’d love to see that in person. It looks massive.