In Iceland, a volcanic eruption plays into overtime

“It continues at a fairly stable pace at the moment and we don't see any real signs that it will end in the near future,” Benedikt Ófeigsson, geophysicist at the Icelandic Meteorological Office, told AFP ( IMO).

On March 16, lava gushed from a new fault in the Reykjanes Peninsula and the flow has not stopped since. It was rated at around 3,6 cubic meters per second according to the latest measurements published on April 9.

The eruptions in the same place in December, January and February, which in November led to the evacuation of nearly 4.000 inhabitants of the small town of Grindavík, probably favored the conditions allowing it to play overtime.

“Now there is an open channel to the surface,” says Ófeigsson.

The magma makes its way directly from the Earth's upper crust, at least 10 kilometers deep. This scenario is similar to the first eruption near Mount Fagradalsfjall in March 2021 in the Geldingadalir valley which lasted six months.

A swelling of the ground is nevertheless still observed near Svartsengi where "all the magma coming from the depths does not have the capacity to rise directly to the surface and it is partly stored" in this region, leading scientists to fear new eruptions these days. next months or even years.

Svartsengi is home to a geothermal power plant which supplies electricity and hot water to 30.000 people on the Reykjanes peninsula.

Site not accessible

The site of the eruption is not accessible to the general public, unlike previous eruptions, the authorities wanting to avoid an influx of visitors to Grindavík emptied of its inhabitants.

“I wanted to see some of the lava fields, maybe molten lava, getting up close to a volcano, that was part of the land of ice and fire aspect, wasn't it? ", confides to AFP, disappointed, David Cordova, a 46-year-old Texan engineer, who is nevertheless preparing to fly his drone towards the crater. “I hope I can get some cool images,” he adds.

Like him, many visitors stop on the shoulder near the popular geothermal baths of the Blue Lagoon to admire the still hot basalt fumaroles, just after a section of road washed away twice by lava flows in February and March then rebuilt immediately.

A major tourist attraction in the country, the Blue Lagoon resembles a fortress protected by immense mounds of earth measuring around ten meters. Its turquoise water pools reopened on April 6 after three weeks of closure.

Poor air quality linked to gas emissions and unfavorable wind, however, forced the temporary interruption of access for two days since its reopening.

Houses sold

In Grindavík, under a beautiful spring sun, the town is still a ghost.

A few diehards have returned to live in their homes in the least risky neighborhoods but the overwhelming majority of residents have packed their bags or are continuing to fill their last boxes after having chosen to sell their property to the State, via the company commissioned by Thórkatla.

Specially created in response to this unprecedented event in the country's history, it received 675 requests with the aim of owners recovering 95% of the current estimated value of their property. The first sales began last Friday.

“We have to, at least at this stage, start a new life, but not here in Grindavík,” Sólný Pálsdóttir, a native of the village, admits to AFP.

Her house, built with her own hands fifteen years ago and in which she and her husband saw their five boys and their dog grow up, is today uninhabitable, cracked with cracks linked to the repeated earthquakes in November.

Lava also made its way into the street since the flow in January which destroyed three houses in the village was located a stone's throw from this residential area called Efrahóp.

The fifty-year-old, however, refuses to abandon her hometown: "I truly believe from the bottom of my heart that I will come back even if it will be in a few years (...) Grindavík will live again."