Volcano inspection
I finally went last weekend to have a look at the volcanic eruption in Geldingadalir, accompanied by my brother and fellow photographer Stefán. We picked a good time: weather was nice, not a lot of people about in the early morning and a new crater had opened up during the night, which meant that it was still possible to get close to it.
It was a fantastic experience, full stop. There are so many things unique to the eruption that it’s definitely a once in a lifetime opportunity to witness anything like it.
The Geldingadalir eruption is very unusual in that it is an effusive eruption. It is thought to be the first stages of a shield volcano ("dyngja”) which would make it the first such eruption in Iceland for over 3000 years, and Icelandic geophysicists are just drooling over such an unexpected event. Effusive eruptions are not explosive with lava flowing relatively gently out of craters along a fissure. They can last for years or tens of years and in the early stages it’s easy to get close to the craters. The main thing to worry about are gases and new craters opening up.
The wind was blowing from the east, so to stay upwind of the gas we had to go on the east side. That meant we did not have a great view of the more mature craters but we did get close to a new one. And by close I mean 20-30 meters!
Visiting is quite organized now. A parking lot has been set up and from there it’s a relatively easy hour’s hike each way along a marked trail. It can get extremely crowded and it will be interesting to see what happens when Covid is over and the tourists arrive. The place is deceptively dangerous and some people really do stupid things. Have a look at the photo of the guy in red and blue walking on the lava - about 2 meters behind him you can see a spot of glowing lava.
