In the last few years, you probably have seen it in newspapers and on social media: An Icelandic volcano has erupted. And, in fact: This has happened 6 times just over this past year alone!
In a number of the more recent eruptions, towns will evacuate and roads (and attractions including The Blue Lagoon) are closed. This easily leads many to think that all of Iceland is closed off or dangerous. So, we will discuss whether this is true and if it is actually a good idea to visit during an active volcanic eruption! pay a visit while it’s erupting.
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Volcanoes in Iceland
A good deal of fire and ice; one in three glaciers on earth is Icelandic as well. They say Iceland for a reason, it all makes sense when you take the golden circle drive! It sits across the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, where tectonic plates (the North American and Eurasian) are ever so slowly being pulled apart – in fact Iceland is estimated to “increase” by around 2 cm/day. 8 inches) every year. (And you can even snorkel in the gap between these two plates- but that’s for another time.)
It rises into the gap left by plates peeling away from each other, coming up from beneath Earth’s mantle. Given some parts of Iceland looked like this, too.
Iceland contains approximately 130 volcanoes. The majority of them are regarded as dormant (i.e. not having erupted in the last few centuries), however, approximately 30 stand out for being active volcanic systems and have been described under the heading Catalogue of Icelandic Volcanoes.
There are all sorts of volcanoes in Iceland, from the cone-shaped stratovolcanoes you picture when you think about a volcano to ones that become hidden under glaciers. If you have been to Iceland before, the chance is high that you saw many volcanoes and did not even know it!
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Famous Iceland volcanic eruptions
Throughout its history, Iceland has experienced some powerful volcanic eruptions which had consequences all over the world.
Laki eruption, 1780s
Perhaps one of the most destructive in relatively recent years was the Laki eruption (also known as Skaftáreldar) in 1783-84. The volcano also produced a catastrophic explosion that would last for 8 months and ruin the Icelandic environment, as well many overseas countries.
WikiMedia Iceland virtually lost all of its livestock, 25 percent (or one fifth) of its human population died in a famine that lasted from the previous winter to August.
It also ejected ash and sulphur dioxide into the stratosphere; the gases during atmospheric reaction reflected solar energy, contributing to cooling parts of Europe by up to 5 °C (9.0 °F). constituents left in the atmosphere forced out by depressing precipitation as rainout or dry fall subsequently acidifying surface water bodies over a region from western Scandinavia through Central Europe between Netherlands and Greece.
In fact, it is even speculated that these crop failures in Europe coincident with this eruption were a major contributing factor to the French Revolution of 1789.
Eldfell, 1973
It was not a full scale eruption that would affect the entire world when Eldfell (“Hill of Fire”) blindly appeared out where nothing but darkness had lain till then on January 23, 1973. The volcano buried most of the town in ash and lava, but thankfully all 5,300 islanders had been evacuated safely. The story is incredible!
Eyjafjallajökull, 2010
You may recall this one (I sure do; I was writing for a newspaper, and there were news stories every day! The Eyjafjallajökull volcano erupted in April 2010, shooting an ash column more than 5.5 miles high into the sky This posed a major potential hazard for aircraft and grounded air travel in Europe for weeks, stranding more than 10 million passengers.
(In 2011, there was also a massive eruption as Grímsvötn erupted in Iceland with an enormous ash cloud but this time only travel to/from the UK Ireland and Norway were affected so we didn’t hear about it quite as much in the US.)
These eruptions were an important reminder that as ever, Mother Nature is going to do what she wants and the actions can last a lot longer than just clear skies.
Volcano tourism in Iceland
Iceland even claimed that the Eyjafjallajökull eruption was “the best free marketing this country could have wished for” making Iceland a trendy tourist spot since 2010. In late 2008 all three major commercial banks in the country had defaulted, and it was just crawling back from that total financial meltdown. The massive boost in tourism to Iceland after 2010 was a huge piece of the puzzle when it came to helping the country recover financially.
(And I was part of this volcano-driven boom! Having read so much about the country in 2010 covering all that ash during the Eyjafjalajökull eruption, I had taken to thinking: “I want to go there…”(which led me to visit Iceland for the first time in 2012…!)
The range of landscape and the fact that people are keen to climb mountains and enjoy tranquillity is why it is such a popular destination. It remains all over for walking on glaciers, exploring lava tubes (the 2010 eruption site) or riding snowmobiles.
Non-active volcano sites in Iceland
Because Iceland is on top of a volcanic crust, it should come as little to no surprise that there are so many volcano-related activities and tours in the country. Some of the most common areas are,
1 – Climbing extinct calderas – Extinct volcanoes haunt Iceland, so treks up to several craters are good for some exercise. The most well-known being Kerið, a large water-filled crater located off the popular Golden Circle tourist route. Other crater hikes include Eldfell on Heimaey in the Westman Islands, Askja Caldera in The Highlands, Hverfell North-Iceland and extinct Saxhóll Crater looked over by Snæfellsjökull Glacier.
2 – Going into ancient lava tubes – Much of Iceland’s volcanic activity takes place beneath the surface, which you can see first-hand by taking a tour down into an ancient lava tube that once churned with (defunct) magma. Snaefellsnes Peninsula with Vatnshellir lava cave, Lava Tunnel (Raufarhólshellir) near Reykjavik or the largest one in Iceland is a tour to Vídgelmir Cave
3- Walking through lava fields — The overwhelming evidence of previous volcanic eruptions is evident throughout Iceland There are lava fields to trek through all over the country. It is so different in many areas, my favourites being Dimmuborgir near Lake Myvatn (it’s all black with massive looming lava formations) and Eldhraun on the East Coast (created by the huge Laki eruption which led to).__ It is now
Active volcano tourism in Iceland
Tourists have been drawn to volcanoes — active ones in particular — for centuries around the world. Hiking to see active volcanoes or walking close enough to lava is possible in many countries, but it needs more than just a raincoat.
And in the last few years, Iceland has joined this group of countries. Volcanic eruptions started in 2021 again on the Reykjanes peninsula for which a dormant period had lasted more than 800 years. This is the part of Iceland with towns and where Iceland’s main airport resides, so not (that) deep in Reykjavik.
Its initial eruption off the peninsula began in Geldingadalur Valley when the Fagradalsfjall Volcano erupted for 6 months. That eruption was more of a lava flow and not an explosive type like Ash and debris ribbon. This was an effusive eruption, where lava oozed and flowed from openings to a crater in a more or less consistent manner. Which meant Icelandic officials considered it safe for folks to visit.
It reads like a mad plan but, Iceland quite literally counted on the fact that tourists would try to enter their ways close enough as they opened up volcanoes. Thus, by offering trails (and shutting the car parking lots and access points during periods in which climatic conditions made hiking again dangerous), they could at least control who came to the site when and keep the visitors.altar escape, thus minimising deaths as much as possible.
Hiking to Fagradalsfjall Volcano in 2022
While I was organising my Iceland road trip in 2022 there were no volcanoes that were actively erupting so volcano hiking on a list of things to do wasn’t necessary. (Hikes to the 2021 eruption site are only being offered by guided groups and will take visitors to view a new lava field, but no flowing lava.)
Except, unfortunately for me, a little over a week before I was supposed to fly out the Fagradalsfjall Volcano started erupting. For the next two days, rangers and other safety experts evaluated on-site conditions to determine whether Xander was still a threat or if air quality had improved enough for people to be allowed in. The last eruption in this area had simmered on for 6 months and teams were dispatched.
The 2022 Fagradalsfjall eruption took place slightly further back from the road in Meradalir. One of the 3 hiking trails you could choose from was about a 13 km (8 miles) round-trip that brought you as close to the new eruption as safely allowed. Because we were trying so hard to be near the lava, this was our plan of action流
We had left Reykjavik at about 6 AM to start our trek around 9:30 from the carpark. Along Road 427, there were marked parking lots by the trail heads; we did pay to park (payment was made online).
Will Iceland have more eruptions?
A few years ago, new researchers estimated that the volcanic processes could go on and off, maybe for several years or even decades just on the Reykjanes Peninsula. Well yes, Iceland will probably have similar eruptions as was seen in the last few years.
And it is not beyond the realm of possibility that those eruptions could one day lead to the long-term abandonment of the town of Grindavik, or indeed that of the airport of Keflavik.
It also means that the activity on the Reykjanes Peninsula may reactivate other volcanic systems in Iceland – including those that are more dangerous, or that are simply long overdue.