We've become very used to seismic activity in Iceland's southwest corner, but last night, four earthquakes above magnitude three hit a very different area - the Kolbeinsey ridge, far off the country's northern coast.
A new fissure eruption on Iceland's Reykjanes Peninsula, the third since December, began without posing immediate danger to populated areas or infrastructure.
The GrindavÃk eruptions began on January 13, 2024, in the Southern Peninsula of Iceland.
A volcanic eruption began near Hagafell mountain on the Reykjanes Peninsula in Iceland at 10:17 pm, following an M4.2 earthquake, with local authorities seeking to determine its impact.
The expedition revealed that gannets have easy access to plastic, as their nests are mostly made from plastic debris. Hundreds of dead gannets were also observed by the experts, with it being estimated that three factors played a role in their deaths: natural attrition, bird flu, and plastic pollution.
Despite the very strong activity, widely felt throughout Reykjanes Peninsula as well as the capital area and beyond, there remains no sign of any volcanic eruption.
In West and Southwest Iceland, rainfall has been less than 10% of the average for July and early August. Rivers and streams have been shrinking and even drying up entirely following several weeks with little to no rainfall in Iceland.
Stormy conditions in the southwestern and western parts of the country saw residents experiencing thunder and lightning yesterday. Eysteinn Örn Stefánsson captured a video of lightning that struck Mosfellsbær, which can be seen in the player above.
A man biking to work in Iceland this morning was unexpectedly accompanied by a walrus on his commute. Walruses are not native to Iceland.
Such deaths are unusual at this time of year in Iceland and their cause is unknown. The widespread deaths of Kittiwakes cannot be attributed to bird flu, according to Brigitte Brugger of the Icelandic Food and Veterinary Authority (MAST). Samples from the birds analysed by MAST ruled out the illness. While bird flu is unlikely to be the cause, extreme weather may be a possible explanation.
May 2023 in Reykjavik, Iceland has been a month of gloom and rain, with a chance of breaking a 70-year-old "sunless" record and becoming the "least sunniest" fifth month of the year since measurements began, as well as potentially breaking the record for the rainiest May on record.
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