Iceland may want to look into changing its name to “Fireland” as officials warn that a volcanic eruption could be imminent on the Nordic island nation.


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After experiencing upwards of 20,000 earthquakes since late last month — a rising total that includes the 700 earthquakes recorded between midnight and just before 8 a.m. local time on Tuesday, per CBS News — officials from the Icelandic Met Office warned that an eruption could come at any moment.




"The likelihood of an eruption remains high," the nation’s weather service explained, noting that "If an eruption occurs, the most likely location will be on the magma intrusion.”


“Our latest hazard assessment does not indicate any other potential eruption sites,” they noted.


But as nearly 4,000 residents from the southern fishing town of Grindavik evacuate ahead of the possible eruption, Iceland is far from the only nation that has found itself grappling with recent volcanic activity.


On Sunday, Mount Etna began erupting in Sicily, days after Klyuchevskaya Sopka, Eurasia’s tallest active volcano, erupted in Siberia. Meanwhile, a series of undersea eruptions in Japan last month landed the nation a new island roughly 745 miles away from Tokyo.



While on the surface, this trend may seem concerning — you know it’s bad when Mt. Saint Helens’ Twitter page, which has narrated these various eruptions, takes to Twitter demanding that “VOLCANOES UNITE!” — the end isn’t necessarily near.



The number of confirmed volcanic eruptions so far in 2023 may currently stand at 67, per the Smithsonian’s Global Volcanism Program, landing it on the higher range of the 50-70 volcanoes that erupt each year. But even so, 67 pales in comparison to the stats from 2022 and 2021, which respectively boasted 85 and 83 eruptions.


So take it from the numbers — we’re not gonna die the Pompeii way, no matter what Twitter’s resident sassy volcano may say.