This picture from video supplied by Iceland Civil Defense reveals lava erupting from a volcano between Hagafell and Stóri-Skógfell, Iceland, on on Saturday, March 16, 2024.

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This picture from video supplied by Iceland Civil Defense reveals lava erupting from a volcano between Hagafell and Stóri-Skógfell, Iceland, on on Saturday, March 16, 2024.

AP

GRINDAVIK, Iceland — A volcano in Iceland erupted Saturday night for the fourth time in three months, sending orange jets of lava into the evening sky.

Iceland’s Meteorological Office mentioned the eruption opened a fissure within the earth about 3 kilometers (nearly 2 miles) lengthy between Stóra-Skógfell and Hagafell mountains on the Reykjanes Peninsula.

The Met Office had warned for weeks that magma — semi-molten rock — was accumulating beneath the bottom, making an eruption doubtless.

Hundreds of individuals had been evacuated from the Blue Lagoon thermal spa, considered one of Iceland’s high vacationer sights, when the eruption started, nationwide broadcaster RUV mentioned.

No flight disruptions had been reported at close by Keflavik, Iceland’s important airport.

The eruption website is just a few kilometers (miles) northeast of Grindavik, a coastal city of three,800 folks about 50 kilometers (30 miles) southwest of Iceland’s capital, Reykjavik, that was evacuated earlier than the preliminary eruption in December. Just a few residents who had returned to their properties had been evacuated once more Saturday.

Spectators watch plumes of smoke from volcanic exercise between Hagafell and Stóri-Skógfell, Iceland, Saturday, March 16, 2024.

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Spectators watch plumes of smoke from volcanic exercise between Hagafell and Stóri-Skógfell, Iceland, Saturday, March 16, 2024.

Marco di Marco/AP

Grindavik was evacuated in November when the Svartsengi volcanic system woke up after nearly 800 years with a sequence of earthquakes that opened giant cracks within the floor north of the city.

The volcano finally erupted on Dec. 18, sending lava flowing away from Grindavik. A second eruption that started on Jan. 14 despatched lava towards the city. Defensive partitions that had been bolstered after the primary eruption stopped a number of the move, however a number of buildings had been consumed by the lava.

Both eruptions lasted solely a matter of days. A 3rd eruption started Feb. 8. It petered out inside hours, however not earlier than a river of lava engulfed a pipeline, slicing off warmth and scorching water to hundreds of individuals.

RUV quoted geophysicist Magnús Tumi Guðmundsson as saying that the most recent eruption is probably the most highly effective thus far. The Met Office mentioned a number of the lava was flowing in the direction of the defensive limitations round Grindavik.

Iceland, which sits above a volcanic scorching spot within the North Atlantic, sees common eruptions and is very skilled at coping with them. The most disruptive in current occasions was the 2010 eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano, which spewed enormous clouds of ash into the ambiance and led to widespread airspace closures over Europe.

No confirmed deaths have been reported from any of the current eruptions, however a workman was declared lacking after falling right into a fissure opened by the volcano.