Reykjanes Fissure Eruption Cam

A Curtain of Fire on the Reykjanes Rift

This webcam looks out over the Sundhnúksgígar crater row, part of the Reykjanes volcanic system in southwest Iceland. The defining feature here is the fissure eruption: instead of a single cone, lava erupts along an extended crack in the earth, producing a vivid wall of fountaining magma that can stretch for hundreds of metres.

Geology of the Reykjanes Peninsula

The Reykjanes Peninsula sits directly atop the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, where the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates pull apart. This spreading boundary feeds repeated basaltic eruptions, and the region reawakened in 2021 after roughly eight centuries of dormancy, entering a new cycle of frequent fissure activity near Grindavík.

Lava Fields and New Landscape

As fountaining lava cools, it spreads into broad basaltic lava fields that reshape the surrounding terrain. The dark, ropey and blocky flows visible from this vantage are the cooled crust of earlier outpourings, gradually burying older ground and extending the peninsula's volcanic plain.

Watching an Active Rift Zone

Fissure eruptions in this area are dynamic and unpredictable, with vents opening, migrating, and sealing over hours and days. This live view offers a rare, continuous window onto an active divergent plate boundary, where the raw geological processes that create new crust unfold in real time.