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Iceland Volcano Eruption Raises Pollution Fears, Spa Evacuated

A photo taken during the night from August 22 to 23, 2024 shows lava and smoke erupting from a volcano near Grindavik on the Icelandic peninsula of Reykjanes. (AFP)
A photo taken during the night from August 22 to 23, 2024 shows lava and smoke erupting from a volcano near Grindavik on the Icelandic peninsula of Reykjanes. (AFP)
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Iceland Volcano Eruption Raises Pollution Fears, Spa Evacuated

A photo taken during the night from August 22 to 23, 2024 shows lava and smoke erupting from a volcano near Grindavik on the Icelandic peninsula of Reykjanes. (AFP)
A photo taken during the night from August 22 to 23, 2024 shows lava and smoke erupting from a volcano near Grindavik on the Icelandic peninsula of Reykjanes. (AFP)

A volcano spewed lava and smoke over southwestern Iceland for a second day on Friday raising fears of spreading pollution hours after its eruption forced the evacuation of a spa resort.

Fountains of glowing molten rock shot into the night sky when the volcano first erupted on the Reykjanes peninsula on Thursday.

The flow from the volcano has since slowed, Rikke Pedersen, head of the Nordic Volcanological Centre, said. "We have a quite intense fountaining and high output in the beginning and it rapidly declines, but that doesn't tell us anything about how long it will last."

The meteorological office warned that wind could carry gas pollution from the eruption towards the south and southeast.

The nearby Blue Lagoon spa, which has large outdoor pools heated by geothermal energy, was evacuated late on Thursday and said it remained closed on Friday.

"We just went there as tourists looking for a good day," said real estate broker Dennis Murphy, from Cape Cod, Massachussets, who was there with his daughter.

"The next thing you know, the ground is exploding right next to us," the 53-year-old said. They watched the sky turn red as they were being evacuated.

"There was definitely a sense of urgency as we were trying to get out of there. The staff was throwing all of our belongings into our bag and just saying, you got to get out of here," he added.

Around 1,300 guests and staff were at the spa, Icelandic daily Morgunbladid reported.

Lava initially flowed out of the volcano at a rate of up to 2,000 cubic meters (70,600 cubic feet) per second, making it comparable to the last eruption in May, Pedersen of the Nordic Volcanological Centre said.

The length of the fissure in the volcano, which has erupted six times since December, expanded to 5 km (3.1 miles) during the day from 3.9 km late on Thursday, Pedersen said.

The nearby fishing town of Grindavik, which was threatened by burning lava and hit by earthquakes during some earlier eruptions, was not directly impacted, the meteorological office said.

Lava flows stopped short of a nearby road, Pedersen said.

Air traffic in and out of the capital's Keflavik Airport was not affected, it said on its website on Friday.

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Varieties

Chinese Scientists Use Lunar Soil to Produce Water

Using the new method, one tonne of lunar soil will be able to produce about 51-76 kg of water - EPA
Using the new method, one tonne of lunar soil will be able to produce about 51-76 kg of water - EPA
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Chinese Scientists Use Lunar Soil to Produce Water

Using the new method, one tonne of lunar soil will be able to produce about 51-76 kg of water - EPA
Using the new method, one tonne of lunar soil will be able to produce about 51-76 kg of water - EPA

Chinese scientists have discovered a "brand-new method" of producing large quantities of water using lunar soil brought back from a 2020 expedition, state broadcaster CCTV reported on Thursday.

In 2020, China's Chang'e-5 mission marked the first time humans retrieved lunar samples in 44 years. Researchers from the state-run Chinese Academy of Sciences discovered that the minerals in this 'moon soil' contain large amounts of hydrogen, which reacts with other elements when heated to very high temperatures, producing water vapour, CCTV reported, according to Reuters.

"After three years of in-depth research and repeated verification, a brand-new method of using lunar soil to produce large amounts of water was discovered, which is expected to provide important design basis for the construction of future lunar scientific research stations and space stations," said CCTV.

The discovery could have important implications for China's decades-long project of building a permanent lunar outpost amid a US-China race to find and mine the moon's resources.

NASA head Bill Nelson has repeatedly raised the alarm about the rapid advances in China's space program and the possibility of Beijing dominating the most resource-rich locations on the moon.

Using the new method, one tonne of lunar soil will be able to produce about 51-76 kg of water, equivalent to more than a hundred 500ml bottles of water, or the daily drinking water consumption of 50 people, the state broadcaster said.

China hopes that recent and future lunar expeditions will set the foundations to build the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS), an initiative it is co-leading with Russia.

China's space agency has set 2035 as the date by when a "basic station" on the moon's south pole will be built, with a moon-orbiting space station added by 2045.

The announcement of the discovery comes at a time when Chinese scientists are already conducting experiments on lunar samples brought back in June by the Chang'e-6 mission.

While the Chang'e-5 mission brought back samples from the near side of the moon, Chang'e-6 retrieved lunar soil from the far side of the moon, which perpetually faces away from the Earth.

The importance of lunar water goes beyond making permanent human presence viable. NASA's Nelson told NPR in May that water found on the moon could be used to create hydrogen rocket fuel which could fuel further space exploration to Mars and other destinations.