Airlines have been warned that the risk of an eruption at Iceland’s Bardarbunga volcano has increased, causing fears of a repeat of the chaos of 2010 when thousands of flights across Europe were grounded due to the Eyjafjallajokull eruption.
Iceland’s meteorological office has raised the risk level to the aviation industry to orange, the second highest.
The volcano lies under the north-west region of Iceland’s Vatnajokull glacier and any eruption could cause flooding or an emission of gas, said the met office.
Intense seismic activity began at the volcano on August 16 and there was a strong earthquake in the region early Monday, which was the strongest in the region since 1996.
"Presently there are no signs of eruption, but it cannot be excluded that the current activity will result in an explosive sub-glacial eruption, leading to an outburst flood and ash emission," the met office said.
An orange alert indicates that a volcano is showing ‘escalating unrest with increased potential of eruption’, or is erupting without any major volcanic ash emissions.
A red alert means that an eruption is ‘imminent’, or is underway with ‘significant emission of volcanic ash into the atmosphere’.
