Iceland on watch for new volcanic eruption
REYKJAVIK |
REYKJAVIK (Reuters) - Meltwater flooding is from the Grimsvotn glacial lake in Iceland and could signal the volcano underneath is about to erupt, a spokeswoman at the Icelandic Civil Protection Department told Reuters on Monday.
In April, clouds of ash from an eruption under the Eyjafjallajokull glacier grounded flights across Europe for a week, causing billions of dollars in losses for airlines and other industries.
Water now pouring from Iceland's biggest glacier, Vatnajokull, which sits on top of a number of volcanic hotspots, could be a sign of fresh geological activity, Civil Protection Department spokeswoman Gudrun Johannesdottir told Reuters.
Eyjafjallajokull is about 100 km southeast of Vatnajokull.
"We have to check if there will be an eruption," Johannesdottir said. "Sometimes it initiates an eruption when a glacial outburst flood starts, but not every the time. So we are monitoring the situation closely."
The latest eruption at Grimsvotn, in 2004, caused short-term disruptions to airline traffic into Iceland.
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The glacier sits on top of a number of established volcanic systems. These volcanic systems exist, in their current form, at least largely due to the presence of the (singular) Iceland Hot Spot – presently located almost directly beneath Vatnajokull glacier. The hot spot is thought to be related to a mantle plume, but that’s a whole other discussion.
Also, there is ‘fresh geological activity’ going on all the time. This even includes erosion of rock by glaciers, and so on. What a wooly statement.
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