at 4:16 PM by Mallory Schnell

Eruptions Cause Aviation Alerts in Iceland

Lava eruptions along a fissure in Iceland caused authorities to raise the aviation alert to code red earlier today. Red is Iceland’s highest warning code, restricting flights throughout the area up to 6,000 feet (USA Today). Fountains spewed lava 50 meters into the air from a fissure about a mile long, near the Bardarbunga subglacial volcano. The Icelandic Met Office has been keeping their website up to date with the latest seismic activity:

Weather conditions made it difficult to follow the progression of the eruption since this morning, but scientists are in the area, using every opportunity to acquire information on gas and lava outflow. Weather conditions do not allow overflight at this time. 

The aviation warning code has since been moved back to orange. The fissure openings are known to produce mainly lava and not much ash, so aviation disturbances should remain minimal. As per the Met Office:

The Aviation Colour Code for Bárðarbunga was rised at ‘red’ this morning and it has been moved back to ‘orange’ since 15:00 UTC.

Sunday’s eruption was preceded by a similar one in the same area on Friday. Many fear the recent seismic activity will cause the main volcano under the ice cap to erupt, but nothing of that sort is currently imminent.