A series of earthquakes struck the South Iceland volcano of Katla last night – two of them well over magnitude 4 in strength.
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Scientists at the Icelandic Meteorological Office are on alert after two earthquakes rocked the caldera of Katla, the country’s largest volcano.
The volcano erupted in 1955 and 1999 but has not experienced a major eruption since 1918 when it spewed ash for more than five weeks.
Travel chaos ensued and left millions stranded at airports unable to travel home, including families and teachers on holiday during the school Easter break.
Matthew Roberts of the Icelandic Met Office said: “It is quite a dynamic situation now, in the next hours and days following this”.
Gudmundsson says ‘people have been waiting for an eruption for 50 years’.
Katla has not erupted since 1918, though the Icelandic Meteorological Office considers it one of the country’s most active volcanoes.
However, scientists say just because there are tremors an eruption will not necessarily follow.
The eruption caused a huge ash cloud that caused the cancellation of 100,000 flights across the United Kingdom – including many into Bristol Airport.
The origin of the river in question is the glacier that covers Katla volcano, and experts have every reason to suspect and believe that the elevated gasses in the water and surrounding area are the direct result of the recent seismic activity at Iceland’s Katla volcano.
A spokesman for Bristol Airport said: “Since the 2010 volcanic ash event, the Civil Aviation Authority has put arrangements in place to minimise any disruption in the event of significant volcanic activity”.
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The Bardarbunga eruption was the strongest of its kind in Europe in more than 240 years, and released two cubic kilometers of volcanic material.
