There is currently no visible activity within the eruptive fissures, with the most recent lava observed emanating from the northern fissure shortly after 1 am last night. Seismic activity continues to decrease, signifying that the area is stabilizing. Approximately 200 small earthquakes were recorded near the magma conduit since midnight, indicating that magma is still migrating. Most seismic activity is located near Hagafell, close to the first eruptive fissure that opened on Sunday morning. At this point, it is premature to declare that the eruption is over. GPS sensors continue to detect ground deformation in and around Grindavík, illustrating that the magma conduit beneath Grindavík is still causing expansion in the area. Thermal images from a drone last night show that fissures previously mapped southwest of Grindavík have significantly enlarged. Considerable hazards persist in the area.
Updated 16 January at 11:45 UTC
The power of the eruption is reducing: new cracks may be appearing on the surface in the next few days within Grindavík. Web cameras show that the flow of lava from the fissures that opened yesterday has decreased. The flow from the southern fissure that opened at noon yesterday right at the town border seems to have stopped. Most of the lava flow is to the southwest along the levee that was built and seems to have proven its worth. It is difficult to estimate how long this eruption will last. Seismic activity has decreased and, according to GPS measurements, movement in the area is decreasing. However, movement continues to be measured in the southern part of the magma tunnel under Grindavík. Based on measurements, sliding within the town limits has been up to 1.4 m in the last 24 hours, which is spread over many cracks, new ones have formed and older ones are opening up more. New cracks may be appearing on the surface in the coming days. As mentioned before, the eruption centers are a high risk area and it cannot be ruled out that new fissures will open without warning. That was the case when the crack opened at the border of Grindavík yesterday. No signals were seen on the measuring instruments in connection with that eruption in particular.
Updated January 15 at 15:00
Two fissures are still erupting just north of Grindavík, the larger one is at Hagafell and the smaller one is right at the town’s border. Lava flows from both fissures. The smaller fissure, about 100 meters long, which opened around 12 noon today, is just about 200 meters from the Efrahópi neighborhood in Grindavík. Lava flows from it into the city limits and causes considerable damage there.
Updated January 14 at 18:45
The new eruption near Hagafell-Grindavík has maintained the same strength for the past hour or so. Seismic measurements show that at the beginning of the unrest this morning (~2:30 am), the magma filled dike intrusion initially moved from the SE edge of Stóra-Skógfell and then continued southwest to the southern end of Grindavík. At 5:30 am seismicity had reached the northern end of Grindavík and both seismicity and deformation measurements indicate the dike has since propagated beneath Grindavík town. A new eruptive fissure opened at 12:10 this afternoon, just north of the town. Lava flows extruded from this fissure have now entered the town. Due to the dike propagation, existing faults and fractures were reactivated and likely new fractures formed within Grindavík.
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