Iceland says eruption over, lifts all airspace restrictions

Iceland said a small volcanic eruption in the Bardarbunga volcano system that started in the early hours of Friday had stopped and it had lifted all airspace restrictions.

Earlier in the day the Icelandic Meteorological Office reduced its ash warning level for aviation to orange after concluding the eruption posed no threat to aircraft.

“A fissure eruption which started at midnight at Holuhraun lava north of Vatnajokull glacier, ended at around 0400 UTC,” the National Crisis Co-ordination Centre said in a statement. “The fissure has been estimated to be 600m long.”

It said there continued to be seismic activity in the area.

Iceland’s largest volcanic system, which cuts a 190km-long and up to 25km-wide swathe across the North Atlantic island, has been hit by thousands of earthquakes over the past two weeks and scientists have been on high alert in case of an eruption.

Reykjavik’s Met Office said that in the early hours of Friday, a fissure eruption began in a lava field north of the Vatnajokull glacier, which covers part of the Bardarbunga system. There have been no signs of ash like that from the Eyjafjallajokull eruption that shut much of Europe’s air space in 2010.

While the risk of an ash cloud is highest in the case of a sub-glacial eruption, Icelandic authorities for a few hours on Friday raised the aviation warning level to red, indicating that an eruption is imminent or under way, with a risk of spewing ash. – Reuters