Volcano Explodes After 6,000 Years Of Silence…All Caught On Film

YouTube / New Scientist

Most of us will never see a volcano erupt in real life, and it can be tough to fathom just how intense these natural phenomenons can be. Bjorn Seinbekk caught some awesome drone footage of Fagradalsfjall, a volcano in southwest Iceland, showing off its insane strength.

Fagradalsfjall is more than 1,200 feet tall (for the sake of comparison, the Eiffel tower is just under 1,100 feet tall). After watching the footage, it’s hard to imagine that anyone could call this eruption small, but Icelandic Meteorological Office said exactly that. The eruption was predictable and followed an increase in tectonic plate activity.

This was the first time in 6,000 years that Fagradalsfjall erupted and the peninsula it is located on has not seen volcanic activity in nearly 1,000 years.

The Icelandic Meteorological Office said that the gasses leaving the volcano aren’t likely to cause problems for people who live nearby (the volcano is about 19 miles away from Reykjavik, Iceland’s capital).

While the eruption was slow and expected, it managed to cover a square kilometer (a little more than half a mile) in four hours.

Of course, it’s dangerous to get too close to an active volcano, but many nearby residents are enjoying the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see Fagradalsfjall in all her glory.

See some of this incredible footage below.