The Meteorological Office reports that the eruption “poses no threat to life,” and Keflavik Airport in Reykjavik says air traffic is not affected.

According to the country’s meteorological service, a volcano in southwest Iceland has erupted for the sixth time since December.

The eruption began at 9:26 p.m. (21:26 GMT) on Thursday, with live video images showing red lava pouring out of a new fissure on the Reykjanes peninsula, the Icelandic Meteorological Office said.

The total length of the crack is about 3.9 kilometers (2.4 miles) and has expanded by 1.5 kilometers (0.93 miles) in about 40 minutes, the weather office said in a statement.

The Icelandic Foreign Ministry said the eruption posed “no threat to life” and the surrounding area had been evacuated. “The impact is limited to a localized area near the eruption site,” it said on the social media platform X.

Regional police chief Ulfar Ludviksson told Icelandic media that the evacuation of the nearby fishing village of Grindavik was going well, adding that 22 or 23 houses were currently occupied.

Most of Grindavik’s 4,000 residents were evacuated in November, before an eruption occurred in December. Although residents have since been allowed to return between eruptions, few have chosen to stay overnight.

Iceland’s national airport and air traffic control provider Isavia said in a statement that flights to and from Iceland “are running normally despite the ongoing outbreak.”

The luxury geothermal spa and hotel Blue Lagoon said it had closed and evacuated its guests.

The weather bureau said there was still “considerable seismic activity” at the northern end of the fissure more than an hour after the eruption began, and reported that a magnitude 4.0 earthquake was recorded at 10:37 p.m. (22:37 GMT).

Accumulated magma

The eruptions highlight the challenge facing the island nation of nearly 400,000 people, while scientists warn that the Reykjanes peninsula could experience repeated eruptions for decades or even centuries.

Since 2021, there have been nine eruptions on the peninsula, six of them since December, resulting from the reactivation of geological systems that have been dormant for 800 years.

In response, authorities erected artificial barriers to divert lava flows away from critical infrastructure, including the Svartsengi power plant, the Blue Lagoon open-air spa and the town of Grindavik.

The latest eruption on the Reykjanes peninsula, home to about 30,000 people or nearly 8 percent of the country’s total population, ended on June 22 after 24 days of spewing fountains of molten rock.

The most recent eruption occurred in the Sundhnukar crater row east of Mount Sylingafell and partially overlapped with other recent eruptions on the Reykjanes peninsula.

The volcanic system on the peninsula does not have a central crater, but instead creates huge cracks in the ground during eruptions.

Studies had shown that magma was accumulating underground, leading to warnings of new volcanic activity in the area south of the Icelandic capital Reykjavik.

Iceland has more than 30 active volcanoes, making the northern European island a prime destination for volcano tourism – a niche sector that attracts thrill seekers.