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As the volcano looks to be dying down (for now) we will rest this liveblog. 

The Reykjanes Peninsula has given us some incredible images and footage and still could threaten an evacuated town and the area's power supply. 

All the while emergency services are turning day-trippers away from the dangerous terrain and rescuing the ones who slip through - scroll back through our posts to read about those developments in more detail.

And you can read all the latest here...

An Icelandic drone pilot has attracted more than 27,000 views on his impressive footage of the eruption.

Isak Finnbogason, who has posted many videos of previous volcanic eruptions to his YouTube channel, said he captured the footage of Monday's event throughout yesterday and into the night.

The amount of lava spewed out after Monday's eruption is "significant" and already comparable to a different month-long event at the Reykjanes peninsula in the summer, a volcano expert has said.

Dr Katie Reeves, a teaching fellow at the University of Warwick, told Sky News it has been a "really intense but shorter event".

"The actual lava output is quite significant in this eruption. I believe it's comparable to the month-long eruption in [July and August] 2023 already in a couple of days," she said.

The eruption fissure has localised into two "active areas" where cones are now building, Dr Reeves said, though its intensity is "definitely reducing".

It's too early to say whether the eruption will stop in the coming days, she added, noting that it is a "dynamic and evolving system".

"It may continue at this rate. It may also increase in its rate or open up further along the actual fissure system," Dr Reeves said.

She explained that magma had been accumulating under the earth's surface in the area for some time before reaching a "critical point" on Monday.

Scientists had been monitoring the inflation in the area for months following a series of eruptions in recent years, Dr Reeves said.

"Clearly, there was a critical point where this inflation was so much and the magma eventually made its way to the surface, which is what triggered this eruption."

A public safety official in Iceland has told people stay at home and "get into the Christmas spirit" rather than attempt the riAG百家乐在线官网 journey to the eruption area.

Hjordis Gudmundsdottir, communications director for Iceland's civil defence department, that teams have already spent "a lot of time" turning away people trying to reach the site.

She thanked those that had stayed at home, but acknowledged the interest in the eruption.

Though the lava flow has abated, things could still change quickly, Ms Gudmundsdottir warned.

She told RUV that the walk to the fissure is "particularly difficult" and there is a risk of people falling into cracks in the ground.

It would be better to do some Christmas shopping, "get into the Christmas spirit or maybe just have a hot cocoa at home and wrap Christmas presents", Ms Gudmundsdottir said.

A blanket of snow has covered the area of the eruption today as lava flows continue to die down.

"It is difficult to see exactly what is going on, but when you get some glimpses through the snow it is obvious that it is just less and less lava flow," said Halldor Geirsson, associate professor at the Institute of Earth Sciences at the University of Iceland. 

On what might happen next, Mr Geirsson said the eruption could stop over the weekend or next week, or lava flows could carry on at a slower rate for weeks or months.

The "most likely scenario is that it just stops", he said.

"But if that happens, the pressure will start building again in the magma chamber, which is likely to trigger another eruption after a few weeks," he added.

By Thomas Moore, science correspondent in Iceland

The lava now covers an area of several square miles. 

Maps released by the Icelandic Met Office show how it has flowed down the slopes on either side of the long fissure that opened up in the ground.

They've shaded it purple on the map:

The other chart gives more context. It marks the fissure as a red line:

The power station at Svartsengi is partly protected by a hill, and the lava flows are also well away from the town of Grindavik, which is off the bottom of the map.  

The current thinking is that the biggest current risk from the lava is damage to the road - the thin black line - that runs north from Grindavik to the main Reykjavik highway.

Some power lines could also be taken out.

Of course that all changes if new cracks open up, particularly if they are closer to Grindavik. Then the damage could be far worse.

There have been spectacular scenes of orange and gold in Iceland after a volcano erupted in the southwest of the country on Monday.

Semi-molten rock has been spewing into the air from a fissure around 2.5 miles long near the town of Grindavik.

Here are some of the most striking images and video so far.

Grindavik, the fishing town of 3,400 people threatened by Monday's eruption, will be closed until 28 December, according to a report.

Iceland broadcaster RUV said the police chief in the Southern Peninsula has banned "all traffic and presence" in the town until then while a new risk assessment map is in effect (we've more details on this in our previous post).

Activity at the Svartsengi power station just north of Grindavik will be limited, he said, while the nearby Blue Lagoon spa will also be closed.

RUV reports that there is a 24-hour police watch in Grindavik.

The town had been evacuated last month as a precaution - meaning its residents will now have to spend Christmas away from home.

By Thomas Moore, science correspondent in Iceland

From our vantage point on the edge of the exclusion zone, the lava fountains appear to be more of a splutter this morning. 

The orange glow in the AG百家乐在线官网 and smoke plume that we could see last night have gone. There's just the red-hot dots of lava in the distance.

Scientists can't agree on what comes next. 

In one camp you have the Icelandic Met Office, which does seismic monitoring as well as weather forecasts. They warn the eruption is far from over, with the risk of magma erupting from new fissures, possibly closer to the evacuated town of Grindavik.

The Norwegian Meteorological Agency agrees. They've published a new hazard map, which rates the risk of further volcanic activity as "very high" in the area where the eruption has been taking place so far (the two purple boxes on the map). 

It also rates the risk of activity in Grindavik itself as "high" (the red box).

But other scientists are more optimistic. One has told the Icelandic state broadcaster RUV that the eruption could be over by the weekend. 

In truth nobody really knows. Scientists can't see what's going on underground. 

All they can do is monitor earthquakes that indicate magma is pushing upwards through the bedrock towards the surface - and look for signs on GPS measurements that the surface is bulging upwards. 

But the authorities had just 90 minutes' warning of the eruption on Monday night, so a fresh burst of activity could happen very quickly.