Creeping Icelandic Lava Flow Threatens Popular Tourist Spot

Imagine relaxing in Iceland’s Blue Lagoon, floating in its steaming celeste waters with a mud mask rejuvenating your face. Now imagine being told to evacuate the resort and spa immediately. Why? Well, a wave of lava is slowly rolling towards the popular tourist destination.

On the evening of November 20, the Icelandic Meteorological Office registered a series of earthquakes on Iceland’s Reykjanes Peninsula announcing the eruption of a volcanic fissure—where lava spills out from a crack, as opposed to a vent—near Stóra Skógfell hill, about 31 miles (50 kilometers) southwest of the capital Reykjavik. The glowing flow of lava rolled east and west from the fissure, according to a NASA Earth Observatory statement. Thankfully, it avoided the nearby town of Grindavík but overtook major roads, as well as Blue Lagoon’s parking lot and small service building.

An annotated view of the lava flow, showing the location of Blue Lagoon. © NASA Earth Observatory images by Michala Garrison, using Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey and VIIRS day-night band data from the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership.

Parts of Grindavík were nevertheless evacuated, according to the Icelandic National Broadcasting Service, as was the Blue Lagoon resort and spa. Despite billows of mostly sulfur dioxide gas rising from the lava, the event did not disrupt air travel in the area, even though the site is close to Keflavík Airport. In fact, some plane passengers were thrilled to watch the fiery spectacle from the clouds.

Once in a lifetime moment as a passenger plane flys by an erupting Volcano in #Iceland last night 🌋
pic.twitter.com/g6XUxNt2aj

— Latest in space (@latestinspace) November 22, 2024

This latest eruption is the seventh in a series that began last December, and the tenth in the Reykjanes Peninsula’s relatively new volcanic phase starting in March 2021, according to the broadcast service. Before 2021, the Reykjanes volcanic system lay dormant for about 800 years. Now, the peninsula is experiencing a new geological era.

“This seems to be in a similar area as it has been recently,” Thorgils Jónsson, a news reporter for the broadcasting service, reported on the day of the eruption in reference to past volcanic activity in the area. He said that the fissure seemed to be spreading north. “Now, as I stand here, I can see the fissure creeping northwards.”

Lava slowly creeps towards the police chief of Suðurnes, Iceland, during interview. pic.twitter.com/vsJVjbkTh1

— Fréttastofa RÚV (@RUVfrettir) November 22, 2024

Iceland is no stranger to volcanos. In fact, as a volcanic island shaped by the magma rising out of the mid-ocean ridge it sits on, the nation owes its very existence to them. On average, Iceland experiences a volcanic eruption every five years, though since 2021 the average has been closer to once a year.

A view of Iceland’s Blue Lagoon, taken in 2011. © Peter Collins/Flickr

This hasn’t deterred many visitors, however, with Iceland emerging as a top tourism destination and showcasing an impressive recovery after the covid-19 pandemic. Even one of the country’s most devastating eruptions—Eyjafjallajökull in 2010—served as the basis of a wildly successful campaign launched by the Icelandic government to promote tourism. 

Blue Lagoon resort will be closed through November 29, and while the tourists whose spa retreat was cut short must certainly be bummed, they might return in the future to find that the site of the volcanic eruption has become a greater tourist attraction than the geothermal spa itself.