GRINDAVIK, Iceland (AP) 鈥� A volcano in southwestern Iceland erupted Thursday evening for the sixth time since December, spewing red lava through a new fissure on the Reykjanes Peninsula.
The eruption began shortly after 9 p.m. following a series of strong earthquakes and within the hour a 4-kilometer (2.4-mile) fissure cut through the Sundhn煤kur crater.
Iceland authorities say the eruption鈥檚 effects remain localized with road closures but do not threaten the population.
Halld贸r Bj枚rnsson, head of weather and climate at the Norwegian Meteorological Agency, told the Icelandic news portal V铆sir, that unlike previous eruptions, the lava flow is not heading for the town of Grindavik that was largely evacuated in December when the volcano came to life after being dormant for 800 years.
Magn煤s Tuma Gu冒mundsson, a geophysicist, who flew over the eruption centers this evening told the website that 鈥渋f this continues like this, Grindav铆k is not in danger because of this. Of course, we don鈥檛 know what will happen in the near future, but it is likely that this has reached its peak and then it will start to subside like the other eruptions.鈥�
The eruption is not expected to impact air travel.
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Keyton reported from Berlin.
Marco Di Marco And David Keyton, The Associated Press
