The IMO has warned for weeks that another eruption was likely and said on Monday that “seismic activity” indicated a build-up of pressure to magma accumulation under Svartsengi, where a power plant that supplies electricity and water to around 30,000 people on the peninsula is located.
The Svartsengi plant was evacuated and has largely been run remotely since the first eruption in the region in December, and barriers have been built to protect it.
The Reykjanes peninsula had not experienced an eruption for eight centuries until March 2021.
Further eruptions occurred in August 2022 and in July and December 2023, leading volcanologists to warn that a new era of seismic activity had begun in the region.
Iceland is home to 33 active volcano systems, the highest number in Europe. It straddles the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, a crack in the ocean floor separating the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates.
