Iceland heightens aviation warning level

Iceland has raised the aviation warning level to its highest following an eruption in its Bardarbunga volcano system.

The eruption began around 0600 GMT on Sunday, sending lava more than 50 meters in the air. It prompted the Icelandic Met Office to raise its aviation warning code to red from orange for the Bardarbunga area.

The warning level indicates that an eruption is imminent or underway, with a risk of spewing ash.

The alert entails a ban on all flights below 6,000 feet (1.8 kilometers) within a radius of 10 nautical miles (18.5 kilometers, 11.5 miles) of Bardarbunga.

The volcanic system has been hit by thousands of earthquakes over the last two weeks.

“There is no ash, only lava,” Eggert Magnusson at the National Crisis Coordination Centre said.

“The eruption is producing 50- to 60-metre high lava fountains,” said Armann Hoskuldsson, a geologist at the University of Iceland, adding, “The lava flow from the fissure is about 10-20 times more than Friday morning.”

In April 2010, Iceland’s Eyjafjallajokull volcano erupted and shot a large plume of volcanic debris into the sky, producing an ash cloud that caused biggest airspace shut down since World War II. Over eight million travelers were stranded due to the incident.

HN/AB