Iceland volcano – live: All eyes on ‘imminent’ eruption as stormy weather disrupts monitoring systems

From midnight there have been around 50 earthquakes detected centred around the magmatic intrusion near Grindavík compared to the 1,500-1,800 earthquakes that jolted the town daily.

The Met Office added that no events larger than Magnitude 2.0 have been detected today, so far.

A spokesman conceded: “It can be anticipated that the intense weather passing over the country affects the sensitivity of the seismic network to detect micro-earthquakes, making it difficult to assess whether the seismic activity is decreasing.

“Waves affect the low-frequency signals in the seismometers where waves appear as noise. Fog and dark hail also affect the visual confirmation of the eruption with cameras.”

The earth is at its most restless in Iceland right now. The Reykjanes peninsula, southwest of Reykjavik, is seething with seismic activity sparking hundreds of small earthquakes.

The town of Grindavík, just 10 miles south of Keflavik International Airport, has been evacuated as a precaution.

Yet flights are continuing to arrive and depart as normal. These are the key questions and answers on consumer rights.

Simon Calder has more.

If an eruption is going to occur in the magma dyke near Grindavik, it will likely be “within days”, Iceland’s civil defence chief has said.

According to Iceland’s national broadcaster RUV, Víðir Reynisson told reporters this morning: “We have very clear signs of magma along the dyke. It is estimated at less than 1km depth.

“Since then we have not seen signs of it getting closer to the surface. The likely time of something happening along the dyke, especially in the center, if it happens, is within days not weeks.

“If this continues without an eruption the chance of one decreases with time pretty rapidly. But then we see the changes at Svartsengi which possibly introduce the next stage of this.”

At a Civil Defence briefing last week, director Víðir Reynisson said there was significant damage to houses and pipes in the evacuated town of Grindavik, my colleague Athena Stavrou reports.

The fishing town has been the most affected area in Iceland, as the magma tunnel snakes beneath the ground leaving huge cracks in roads.

While the eruption is most likely to happen in Hagafell, there is a possibility that it could happen anywhere along the magma tunnel.

Mr Reynisson said: “This plus uncertainty about earthquakes means that residents have to prepare to live elsewhere in the coming months.”

Locals have been permitted to briefly enter their homes for five minutes this week to collect their valuables and pets but need prior authorisation.

Journalists in Iceland have criticised the authorities for restricting media access to the small fishing town of Grindavik, which was evacuated ahead of an imminent volcanic eruption.

“It is the role of the media to gather information, share information, allow the voice of the public to be heard and provide restraint to the authorities,” said Erla Björg Gunnarsdóttir, editor of the Vísis newsroom.

“These restrictions in Grindavik prevent this role of the media altogether,” the editor was quoted by state broadcaster RUV as saying.

Þorsteinn Ásgrímsson Melén, deputy news director of mbl.is, said: “There are many things that need to be monitored and it is natural that the media have their eyes on it.”

Both editors claimed that the government did not consult with the media before shutting down access to reporters.

“We need to stop treating the media like naughty kids on a field trip to Grindavik. We cannot convincingly tell about what is happening in Grindavik while reporters are not allowed to enter,” Ms Erla added.

Authorities in Iceland fear stormy weather conditions could affect monitoring systems as the country awaits an “imminent” volcanic eruption.

Just 165 small tremors have been recorded in the affected region since midnight on Monday, compared to the thousands that jolted the town of Grindavik in the days prior.

The IMO said it is likely the adverse weather conditions are impacting “both the sensitivity of earthquake detection and real-time GPS monitoring”.

“Waves affect the low-frequency signals in the seismometers where waves appear as noise. Fog and dark hail also affect the visual confirmation of the eruption with cameras,” it added.

The owners of more than 100 properties were allowed to enter Grindavik briefly to collect their belongings that were left behind during the evacuation last week.

Nearly 4,000 residents of the small fishing town were evacuated after a swarm of earthquakes triggered a volcano eruption warning.

All the residents were asked to arrive at a meeting point outside Grindavik, following which they were escorted into the town and back by security personnel.

Companies and businesses operating in the small fishing town of Grindavik would be able to request assistance in finding housing.

Companies are urged to register information related to their business on the website island.is/grindavik.

They have been asked to fill in the minimum requirement in square metres and the "number of employees at the company that need work facilities on the premises".

The area near the Svartsengi power plant has entered a “new eruption phase”, an Icelandic volcanologist has suggested.

The land near the power plant is swelling as a chamber some 4.5 kilometres below the surface fills with magma at a rate of around 50 cubic metres per second, according to Professor Thorvaldur Thordarson – in a repeat of the events which saw huge fissures appear in the ground earlier this month.

“I think the likelihood of an eruption in the northern part of the Sundhnúkar crater row or in Illahraun lava increasing every day. I think the likelihood of an eruption there is increasing because of the land rise in that area,” Professor Thordarson told Iceland Monitor.

He added: “We’re in a new and a changed situation and we’ve entered a new the eruption phase, and so it’s very constructive for us to think about what kind of preventive measures we can take. What can we do before an eruption occurs that will help us reduce its impact on society and infrastructure?”