On Friday night the eruption in Fagradalsfjall resumed with full force after the longest period of unrest so far. Lava jets have resumed again, shooting lava up into the air, reaching a maximum of 20 meters. Additionally, a hole in the bottom of the crater has led lava to flow further into the Meradalir valley.
Meradalir filling up with lava from a hole in the crater
Since Saturday, the activity had remained unchanged, though no crater or lava is visible on the webcams, due to poor visibility and fog. Bjarki Kaldalón Friis, a nature conservation specialist at the Icelandic Meteorological Office, says that lava now flows through a hole in the bottom of the crater and into Meradalir. Another big change at the eruption site is lava outbursts, reaching a height up to twenty meters into the air.
According to Bjarki, lava is now erupting from the crater about every ten minutes at a time with up to 15-minute breaks between the eruptions.
“It is a little longer now between these pulses that have been exploding since Friday night, but it is still going. This morning it was possible to see the eruption area and see red from the capital area,” Bjarki states in a conversation with Vísir on Sunday.
Now more lava has flown into the Meradalir valley, northeast from the crater. The lava flows through a hole in the bottom of the crater, which is a new phenomenon.
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