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Iceland rocked by thousands of small earthquakes, volcanic eruption imminent

Published November 15, 2023 at 8:52 AM EST
Steam rises from a fissure in a road near the town of Grindavik, Iceland Monday Nov. 13, 2023 following seismic activity. Residents of Grindavik, a town in southwestern Iceland, have been briefly allowed to return to their homes on Monday after being told to evacuate on Saturday after increasing concern about a potential volcanic eruption caused civil defense authorities to declare a state of emergency in the region. (Brynjar Gunnarsson/AP)
Steam rises from a fissure in a road near the town of Grindavik, Iceland Monday Nov. 13, 2023 following seismic activity. Residents of Grindavik, a town in southwestern Iceland, have been briefly allowed to return to their homes on Monday after being told to evacuate on Saturday after increasing concern about a potential volcanic eruption caused civil defense authorities to declare a state of emergency in the region. (Brynjar Gunnarsson/AP)

Iceland has thousands of active volcanoes and seismic activity is common there. But over the past few weeks, there have been thousands of small earthquakes, a town had to be evacuated and scientists believe an eruption could happen at any moment.

Host Robin Young speaks with Thorvaldur Thordarson, a volcanologist from the University of Iceland.

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.

Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.