After more than two months of quiet, a volcanic fissure once again burst open on Iceland’s Reykjanes peninsula on November 20, 2024. Lava from the eruption flowed across major roads and closed in on the Blue Lagoon, a popular tourist destination.
A swarm of earthquakes signaled the new eruption on the evening of November 20, according to the Icelandic Meteorological Office. About five hours after the eruption began, the VIIRS (Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite) on the Suomi NPP satellite acquired the nighttime image below. Light from the eruption appears brighter than light from the Icelandic capital of Reykjavík.
The image at the top of the page shows lava coming from an eruptive fissure near Stóra Skógfell peak, along the Sundhnúkur crater row—a similar location to the February 2024 eruption. This natural color scene, acquired by the OLI-2 (Operational Land Imager-2) on Landsat 9 on November 24, is overlaid with an infrared signal to help distinguish the lava’s heat signature. A plume of gas, consisting primarily of sulfur dioxide, streamed from the lava, although the eruption did not affect flights to and from Iceland.
The lava flowed east and west from the fissure, rather than toward the town of Grindavík. The Icelandic National Broadcasting Service reported that the latest event forced the evacuation of some of the town’s residents and the Blue Lagoon resort, a geothermal spa. A tongue of lava flowed over the car park of the spa, enveloping a small service building located there.
The Reykjanes peninsula eruption is the seventh in a series of events that began in December 2023. As of November 26, 2024, the Blue Lagoon was closed to the public, but lava movement toward the spa had slowed.
NASA Earth Observatory images by Michala Garrison, using Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey and VIIRS day-night band data from the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership. Story by Emily Cassidy.
