My first day in Iceland this previous August was clear and sunny, a vacationer’s dream. And it turned out to be an ideal day to squeeze in a sightseeing exercise I hadn’t initially signed as much as do: fly over the Reykjanes peninsula in a helicopter to get a top-down view of an lively volcanic eruption, particularly Sundhnúksgígar.

Ryan Connolly from Hidden Iceland, a tour firm who helped me manage my journey, prompt the last-minute helicopter journey as a result of a volcano on the southwestern fringe of the island had not too long ago turn out to be lively. Not eager to miss the chance, I paid for the helicopter tour from my cellphone at 1 pm after having arrived in Iceland that morning at 6:15. After a quick nap on the lodge, I drove two hours to the assembly level, which is situated 10 minutes from town of Reykjavík, for a 7 pm flight that night.

The helicopter seated six folks whole, together with the pilot, with little wiggle room. Based mostly on the heights and weights of me and my fellow passengers, I used to be strategically positioned within the back-right of the helicopter. The cabin had glass home windows from the roof to the ground so we may take within the full view of the panorama. All of us placed on headsets fitted with microphones, the one method we may talk with each other over the noise of the helicopter’s thudding blades.

Inside minutes of take-off, the pilot described the sights under, which at first included town however quickly grew to become an enormous, vacant, black land. Because the helicopter dipped to the best, the erupting volcano got here into full view with magma rising and sparking purple and orange, a stark distinction to the black earth. We may see the magma ooze down the facet, turning into thinner and extra subdued because it moved farther down from the slope. The pilot circled the volcano a couple of occasions so passengers on the left and proper every acquired an excellent look earlier than flying to a close-by dormant volcano and explaining its historical past.

Security Laws

Jón Grétar Sigurðsson, proprietor of Atlantsflug, the helicopter touring firm I used, explains that planning for these flights has turn out to be normal for the reason that eruptions have turn out to be extra frequent. “We fly in accordance with aviation laws. Normally when an eruption begins, the world is closed for everyone. However now the Icelandic authorities has arrange sure flight routes we comply with and sure procedures, [including] distances of how shut we are able to come and what altitude we now have to remain at.”

Once I arrived that night, the flight earlier than me had been delayed. So, I waited within the workplace with the opposite visitors the place we chatted, had espresso, and watched a reside feed of the volcano.

Total, there are two foremost the reason why a flight could also be delayed or canceled. “Typically the world is closed to all operations as a result of the federal government is performing some measurements,” says Sigurðsson. “One thing that may occur with out a lot discover. The climate can be an element, particularly within the wintertime. If there’s a delay on the primary one or two flights, we now have normally picked it up on the third flight to get on contract once more.”

How They Monitor Volcanic Exercise

In line with Sigurðsson, the federal government in Iceland is tuned into the volcanic exercise and is monitoring it continually. “It is like a affected person in fixed care on the hospital,” he says. “I might say they’re measuring very extensively and watch the lifting of the bottom in millimeters. On the graph, we see when the eruption began after which the bottom sinks down once more. Whereas the eruption is ongoing, and begins to climb up once more, we all know magma is amassing in the identical chamber. I used to be displaying the pilot this morning that there is a particular enhance within the uplifting of the world, and it is a duplicate of what occurred final time.”

Volcanic eruptions are a daily incidence in Iceland and one thing Sigurðsson says they’ll anticipate for the following 30 to 100 years.

My helicopter journey on that August night time lasted about 40 minutes, with the six of us circling the volcano from the left facet to the best and again once more. Smoke was billowing out however headed in the other way of our flight sample, giving us a transparent view of the volcano. Because the pilot flew us to the airport, I may see the bottom turn out to be extra populated once more earlier than we descended towards the earth. A clean touchdown acquired me on the bottom, and I headed to my lodge that night time glad to have been in the best place on the proper time.

Observe: Since this text was written there was one other eruption in the same location. In line with Connolly of Hidden Iceland, it’s nonetheless “enterprise as common for worldwide flights, foremost roads, native infrastructure, and journey to anyplace aside from the eruption website, which incorporates Grindavík and the Blue Lagoon.” For the time being, the one protected technique to see the volcano is by helicopter.