Volcanic eruption

Steady volcanic activity continues to approach the iconic Blue Lagoon resort on Iceland's Reykjanes Peninsula, following the eruption last week.
The Icelandic Meteorological Office (IMO) reported Thursday that lava flows are expanding east and southeast from the eruptive vent near Fagradalsfjall. The eruption, ongoing since November 20, had been traveling westward earlier this week, but the lava has slowed and cooled on the surface.
However, the IMO warned that lava may still continue to flow beneath this solidified crust toward the protective barriers near the Blue Lagoon, though its advance has significantly slowed.
Over the last week, the constant flow of the lava has gradually engulfed the tourist destination's car park and continues to grow in size.
The Blue Lagoon was evacuated ahead of the lava's arrival, as were 50 homes in the town of Grindavík, which is home to 3,800 residents.
The town has had to be evacuated several times over the course of previous eruptions in the area, one of which even reached the outskirts of the town and burned down a few houses.
Iceland's government said they "monitor any seismic and volcanic activity closely in collaboration with the department of civil protection and emergency management and the Icelandic meteorological office, local authorities and partners across industry, travel and tourism."

Satellite Image Shows Lava Flow
Earlier this week, NASA released a satellite image of the eruption, showing lava oozing from a fissure in the Sundhnúkur crater.
Rachel Beane, a professor of natural sciences at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, previously told Newsweek that it was called a fissure eruption.
"Iceland's current eruption is a fissure eruption. A fissure is a fracture through which a sheet of magma flows; where this fracture intersects with the surface, lava erupts onto the surface," Beane said.
She added: "Where the magma remains in a fracture-generated conduits below the surface are called dikes. Magma can travel several kilometers laterally within dikes and fissures such as is occurring near Grindavík."

Are the Eruptions in Iceland Long-Term?
Another geologist said that these eruptions could persist for decades—or even centuries.
"The last time we saw this, it lasted decades to hundreds of years," David Pyle, a professor of Earth sciences at the University of Oxford in the U.K., previously told Newsweek. "We're seeing the slow release of accumulated strain as the American Plate and the Eurasian Plate pull apart.
"Volcanism doesn't happen in a smooth fashion; it happens in pulses of activity and then quiet again," Pyle said.