Iceland declares volcano red alert after eruption
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REYKJAVIK - Iceland on Friday issued a red alert and banned air traffic near its largest volcano after it erupted overnight, threatening a replay of the global travel chaos four years ago when another peak blew.
While Bardarbunga, located under Europe's largest glacier, had not yet started spewing ash as of early Friday, the release of a massive cloud remained a possible scenario with potentially dire consequences for aviation.
In 2010, another Icelandic volcanic eruption caused the biggest closure of European airspace in peacetime, halting 100,000 flights and stranding eight million passengers.
Iceland's Meteorological Institute, charged with monitoring volcanic activity, raised the alert to the highest level of red after the eruption.
The civil protection office said the eruption began just after midnight (0000 GMT) and had created a volcanic fissure of up to one kilometre (over half a mile) long.
"No volcanic ash has been detected by the radar system at the moment. The earthquake caused by the eruption is small, indicating an... eruption without significant explosive activity," it said.
The alert around Bardarbunga was initially raised from orange to red on August 23, which led to the closure of airspace in the affected area, although all airports in Iceland remained opened.
The aviation ban however was lifted the following day although seismic activity in the area remained high, with earthquakes shaking the volcanic system more than 20 times an hour on Tuesday alone.
AFP
