Not again! Icelandic volcano set to erupt dwarfing last year's devastation, warn scientists

By http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/search.html?s=y&authornamef=Daily+Mail+Reporter - Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 4:28 PM on 9th February 2011

Scientists in Iceland are warning that another volcano on the island looks set to erupt, threatening to spew-out a blanket of dust that would dwarf last year's eruption.

Geologists detected the high risk of a new eruption after noticing an increased swarm of earthquakes around the island's second largest volcano Bárdarbunga.

Pall Einarsson, a professor of geophysics at the University of Iceland, says the area around Bárdarbunga is showing signs of increased activity, which provides 'good reason to worry'. 

Last year's eruption of volcanos near Eyjafjallajokull, located in the south of the island, caused chaos around the world as hundreds of planes were grounding due to dust and ash filling the sky.

Eruption: Lava flows from Eyjafjallajokul sending plumes of thick black smoke high into the air in Iceland

Cloud: Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull volcano caused travel chaos in May last year with hundreds of planes grounded

Mr Einarsson told the country's national TV station 'RC:v' that a low number of seismometer measuring devices in the area is making it more difficult to determine the scale and likely outcome of the current shifts.

But he said there was 'every reason to worry' as the sustained earthquake tremors to the north-east of the remote volcano range are the strongest recorded in recent times and there was 'no doubt' the lava was rising. 

The geologist complained that the lack of coverage from measuring devices means he cannot accurately detect the depth and exact location of the increased number of localised earth movements.

'This is the most active areas of the country if we look at the whole country together,' he told Icelandic TV News. 

'There is no doubt that lava there is slowly growing, and the seismicity of the last few days is a sign of it.

Map: Bardarbunga is in a more central position north east from Eyjafjallajokull. The last recorded eruption of Bárdarbunga was in 1910

'We need better measurements because it is difficult to determine the depth of earthquakes because it is in the middle of the country and much of the area is covered with glaciers.'

Eruptions at the Eyjafjallajokull volcano thrust torrents of molten rock through the shattered ice sheets in the mountain crater, spewing a towering wall of ash, dust and steam high into the air. 

Respected volcano watcher Jón Frímann, said on his volcano watch blog: 'After the
Eyjafjallajokull volcano eruption in 2010 it seems that geologists in Iceland take earthquake swarms more seriously then they did before.'

He explained the Icelandic Met Office had on Sunday warned of the increased risk of a eruption in north-west side of Vatnajökulll glacier due to the high earthquake activity in the area, and added: 'It is clear that only time is going to tell us if there is going to be a eruption in this area soon or not.'

The last recorded eruption of Bárdarbunga was in 1910, although vulcanologists believe its last major eruption occurred in 1477 when it produced a huge plume of ash and pumice and the largest known lava flow during the past 10,000 years on Earth.

It is the second largest volcano on Iceland and is directly above the mantle of molten rock.

Delays: Thousands of passengers whose flights were cancelled were forced to travel hundreds of miles by coach or ferry

Stuck: Passengers queue to board coaches for other airports, after their flights were cancelled due to the volcanic ash cloud re-entering the UK's airspace last year

Could this happen again? Scientists fear that the Bardabunga volcano could cause similar scenes if it erupts