Icelandic Met Office reported today (14. October 2023) that an new eruption in Fagradalsfjall volcano or nearby is now expected to happen before or close to Christmas. After the end of the eruption on 6th August 2023 the inflation that has been happening is now faster then before earlier eruptions. At the writing of this article, an earthquake with magnitude of Mw2,7 took place north of Grindavík town and was felt in Grindavík.
In the last two eruptions, after the first eruption ended. There have been around ten months between eruption. That does not seem to be the case now. Since it seems that next eruption is going to happen at four to six months time. A half or close to it from when the last eruption took place. This situation is dangerous, because this means that an eruption can start without much warning and not a lot of earthquake activity. Icelandic Met Office advice is that people travel around and in Fagradalsfjall volcano carefully.
Very worrying indeed, closer to Grindavik (which I visited in 2018) and that means the Blue Lagoon too (also visited). The closure of the Blue Lagoon would cost Iceland dearly, it is a busy place and gives employment to many staff.
What about local industry, since the Blue Lagoon uses waste water from a local establishment, how might an eruption in this area impact local industry? We can all remember the sights from La Palma in the Canary Islands, it seems there is a real potential for a less tourist friendly event, now or later.