Iceland’s Famous Blue Lagoon Has Reportedly Closed
If you visited Iceland and didn't make the pilgrimage to Blue Lagoon, did you really go to Iceland? I kid, of course, but seriously- the grip that the iconic baby-blue geothermal hot springs have had on Iceland visitors for years can't be overstated.
However, tourists in Iceland will have to find a different hot spring to enjoy, at least for the next week. As of November 9, the world-famous Blue Lagoon is reportedly closed to the public- and for a pretty unsettling reason, too.
It would take a lot to close this wildly popular tourist attraction, but as @allthingsiceland explained, there's a pretty good reason for it. With hundreds of daily small earthquakes and the land rising in the area around Blue Lagoon, it seems that a volcanic eruption may be imminent.
Now you may be thinking, "But Iceland is one of the most volcanically active countries on Earth. They've already had several notable volcanic eruptions this year. Why is this potential one the last straw for Blue Lagoon?" Well, those last few eruptions were distant enough not to endanger the public- but this one might not be.
According to AP News, the bulk of the seismic activity is centered around Mount Thorbjorn, which is less than 5 miles from Blue Lagoon and right next to the accompanying town of Grindavik. If the mountain blows, these areas could be threatened. This is a worst-case scenario, and scientists don't believe that the magma is built up to the point of a major eruption yet- but that could change at any moment.
In the meantime, the increasingly-intense earthquakes have begun frightening tourists away from Blue Lagoon. Even though an evacuation order hasn't been called for the area yet, the hot springs resort's owners made the decision to close up shop for one week to monitor the situation, with a plan to reassess on November 16.
Hopefully, this worse-case scenario won't happen, and the eruption will take place elsewhere on the Reykjanes Peninsula, further from towns and resorts. If worst does come to the worst, though, authorities have developed emergency plans, including an evacuation plan for Grindavik and a contingency plan in the potential event that the nearby Svartsengi geothermal power plant is destroyed.
For now, all anyone can do is watch and wait. Our thoughts are with the people of Grindavik, and we hope that their community avoids the threat of a volcanic eruption.
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