A volcano in Iceland is currently spewing molten lava after roughly 800 years of sitting dormant. And thanks to the wonders of technology, anyone with an internet connection can watch it happening in real time. Oddly enough, it’s actually quite soothing to watch, as far as live videos go, especially when you know that people aren’t in danger. At least, that’s what the scientists are telling us.
Iceland’s Fagradalsfjall volcano, situated on the Reykjanes peninsula about 40 km from the capitol city of Reykjavik, finally erupted on Friday after plenty of anticipation over the past few weeks. The region experienced more than 50,000 earthquakes during the past month, a pretty clear signal that one or more volcanoes in the area were about to explode. And now that it’s here, it’s quite a sight to behold.
The livestream is maintained by RUV, Iceland’s national broadcaster — the rough equivalent to PBS in the U.S. or BBC in the UK — and users are able to rewind by roughly four hours, which means that if you’re seeing this in the morning east coast time you can scrub back to see some of the night shots as well, which are very cool.
A second webcam from further away is also available, though there’s not much to see during the day. The second vantage point is really only impressive at night.
If the two livestreams of volcanic activity both still seem a little bit far away for your own tastes, might we recommend videos captured by Icelandic drone pilot, Bjorn Steinbekk, and posted to social media sites like Facebook and Instagram?
They’re pretty incredible, and Steinbekk even set one of the videos to Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit.”
Don’t ask us why it works, it just does.
Though Bjork would have been another suitable choice, as one of Iceland’s most iconic artists. As she explained on Instagram over the weekend, she filmed the 2015 music video for her song “Black Lake” at the site.
As Bjork explains in her Instagram post, the site is very close to her house. But again, all the leading scientists insist everyone in the area is going to be fine. There’s no immediate danger to life or property.