# There's a newly erupting volcano in Iceland **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 19, 2023, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-newly-erupting-volcano-in-iceland/994795 "2023-12-19T00:29:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2023, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-newly-erupting-volcano-in-iceland/994795/1 "2023-12-19T00:29:29Z")
It’s the one outside Grindavik, a town in the southwestern portion of the country that was evacuated recently due to an earthquake storm, which led to scientists concluding that this is coming. There are several YouTube livestreams; so far, airlines are not diverting. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2023, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-newly-erupting-volcano-in-iceland/994795/2 "2023-12-19T01:43:09Z")
I wonder whether the people who had to evacuate will ever be able to go home. Also, isn’t there a geothermal power plant relatively nearby? I wonder if that’s had to shut down. ETA: Oh-oh – found this with a Google search: > The fissure was near the nearby **Svartsengi geothermal power plant** , The New York Times reported. “We are looking at a worst-case scenario,” Thorvaldur Thordarson, a volcanologist in Iceland, told the newspaper. “The eruption appears big, and only about two kilometers from major infrastructure.” Also, found this story from November: [Iceland prepares to shield geothermal plant from risk of volcanic eruption](https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/iceland-shields-geothermal-plant-risk-volcanic-eruption-2023-11-14/) > Authorities said they were preparing to construct a large dyke designed to divert lava flows around the Svartsengi geothermal power plant, located just over 6 kilometres (4 miles) from Grindavik. > > Justice Minister Gudrun Hafsteinsdottir told state broadcaster RUV that equipment and materials that could fill 20,000 trucks were being moved to the plant. I wonder how well that will work. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2023, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-newly-erupting-volcano-in-iceland/994795/3 "2023-12-19T03:58:21Z")
I remember the footage from the Canary Island a couple years ago where the lava overtook incredibly large palm trees, basically cooking them from the bottom, and turned the contents of a big swimming pool to steam. ---
**Author:** ![JoseB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/joseb/32/1530_2.png) [@JoseB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoseB)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2023, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-newly-erupting-volcano-in-iceland/994795/4 "2023-12-20T06:30:03Z")
My brother in law was working at the eruption in La Palma. He is a firefighter from another island but they were taking everybody over there to do rotations. He says he had never been so scared in his life (but then, isn’t bravery precisely the ability to function and do your job no matter how scared you might be…?) ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2023, 10:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-newly-erupting-volcano-in-iceland/994795/5 "2023-12-20T10:24:14Z")
I just hope they give it an easier name to pronounce this time. ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2023, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-newly-erupting-volcano-in-iceland/994795/6 "2023-12-20T11:54:33Z")
AFAICT, it’s called Sundhnúkur. (I don’t know how to pronounce it, but it’s got to be easier to pronounce than Eyjafjallajökull !) Not so much a volcano as a long fissure. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2023, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-newly-erupting-volcano-in-iceland/994795/7 "2023-12-20T12:20:51Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > There are several YouTube livestreams Here’s one. It’s rather amazing to watch. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIs83vmfZCk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIs83vmfZCk) ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2023, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-newly-erupting-volcano-in-iceland/994795/8 "2023-12-20T12:30:42Z")
I saw some very impressive footage of the event on the news last night. After reading an article about it, I came away with the impression that volcanologists were still having problems predicting the strength and duration of these events. ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2023, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-newly-erupting-volcano-in-iceland/994795/9 "2023-12-20T17:47:21Z")
Looks like it’s all over ! All dark now. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2023, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-newly-erupting-volcano-in-iceland/994795/10 "2023-12-20T18:59:31Z")
> [@JoseB](#): > > He says he had never been so scared in his life (but then, isn’t bravery precisely the ability to function and do your job no matter how scared you might be…?) Yes. And a fearless firefighter could easily end up dead and be a threat to his colleagues. For many years firefighters were expected to pointlessly die in order to keep fighting a losing battle. In recent years there’s been more awareness that dead firefighters aren’t very effective. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2023, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-newly-erupting-volcano-in-iceland/994795/11 "2023-12-20T23:22:49Z")
The webcam I just saw had a few visible hot spots. These things have got to be like earthquakes, in that moment-to-moment predictions are almost impossible. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2023, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-newly-erupting-volcano-in-iceland/994795/12 "2023-12-21T00:00:50Z")
Last I saw in the updates I’m following there’s a possibility this could go on for months, with the lava reservoir filling up, erupting, dying down again, filling up, erupting… Or it could be largely over now and things will just cool down and solidify. We know more about volcanoes than we did a generation ago but there’s still a huge amount we don’t know.