An underground lava eruption at the Bardarbunga volcano has seen its alert level raised from orange to red
Aviation authorities were put on red alert today after a lava eruption at the Badarbunga volcano in Iceland.
The volcano could cause widespread disruption to air travel similar to problems in...
2010 when an ash cloud from the Eyjafjallajokull volcano resulted in the cancellation of more than 100,000 flights worldwide over a week.
At the moment the lava is contained beneath the Dyngjujokull glacier. An earthquake of 4.5 magnitude there was detected at about 3pm British time today.
And seismologists say the magma is moving horizontally at a depth of between three to six miles. There is approximately between 150 to 400 metres of ice on the glacier.
But the Bardarbunga volcano – in the centre of the country – will erupt into the air if the magma rises and melts the ice.
Melissa Pfeffer, a vulcanologist at the Iceland Met Office, said: "The thicker the ice, the more water there is, the more explosive it will be and the more ash-rich the eruption will be."
The area around the volcano has already been evacuated due to days of heightened seismic activity there.
The Icelandic Met Office added: "It is believed that a small subglacial lava eruption has begun under the Dyngjujokull glacier. The aviation color code for the Bardarbunga volcano has been changed from orange to red."
The red code indicates that an eruption is imminent or under way with a significant emission of ash likely.
Brussels-based aviation authority Eurocontrol said that as soon as the volcano had erupted, the Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre in London would produce a regular forecast about the levels of volcanic ash in the atmosphere.
Based on this forecast, civil aviation authorities may issue a notice but it was the responsibility of individual airlines whether they would operate and how they would adapt their flight schedules, Eurocontrol said.
Aviation authorities in the UK are closely monitoring the fallout from a volcanic activity.
A spokeswoman for NATS, the UK's air traffic control organisation, said: "NATS is monitoring the situation and working in close collaboration with the Met Office, Department for Transport and our safety regulator, the Civil Aviation Authority, as this dynamic situation develops further."
She added that NATS will help determine what impact the eruption will have for operations in UK airspace and advise airline customers accordingly.
Derek Rust, senior lecturer at the University of Portsmouth's School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, said: "The eruption at present is confined beneath an ice cap larger than any others outside of Antarctica and Greenland.
"Only if and until the eruption melts its way through the ice cap will there be a wider threat to aviation. The increasing volume of melted water trapped by unmelted may eventually be released in a catastrophic glacial outburst flood."
The Icelandic Coast Guard airplane TF-SIF is flying over the area with representatives from the Civil Protection and experts from the Icelandic Met Office and the Institute of Earth Sciences. Data from the equipment on board is expected later today.
Data from radars and web-cameras is being received, showing no signs of changes at the surface.
A spokesman for budget airline easyJet said it was putting its contingency plans into action following the red alert, using specialist technology to ensure any ash created by the eruption is detected and charted.
He added: "EasyJet will use this and other data provided by the authorities to determine what, if any, changes it should make to its flying programme.
"As things stand there are no changes to easyJet's flying programme, including flights to and from Iceland."
He added: "The safety and wellbeing of our passengers and crew is easyJet's highest priority."
Source:http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/icelandic-volcano-erupts-sparking-red-4095856
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