Volcanic Aurora by Örvar Atli Þorgeirsson (Iceland)

Volcanic Aurora by Örvar Atli Þorgeirsson (Iceland).

A shimmering aurora, resulting from magnetic activity on the Sun, provides a spectacular background to a dramatic eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano.

A dark cloud of ash at ground level can be seen to the left in this photograph, while there is bright red lava at the mouth of the volcano.

The eruption caused substantial disruption to international travel in the spring of 2010.

Picture: Örvar Atli Þorgeirsson

Grimsvotn May 2011 eruption seen by the US GOES-13 satellite

The start of the Grimsvotn May 2011 eruption as seen by the US GOES-13 satellite. The volcanic plume was apparent on the very edge of GOES-east imagery, which can be seen in the animation of visible channel images.  The oblique viewing angle from this satellite helped to emphasise the large vertical extent of the erupted plume.  Credits: Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies.

Iceland Volcano Erupts: Reykjavík-Keflavik International Airport Closed

Iceland’s most active volcano began erupting over the weekend, sending billows of ash up to 11 miles into the air on Sunday, and prompting the island nation to close its main international airport to commercial air traffic as a precaution, aviation officials said.

Watch the BBC Video and listen to BBC's pompous travel reporter

The Icelandic authorities said that as of 8:30 a.m. local time, Reykjavík-Keflavik International Airport was closed to all inbound and outbound air traffic.

"The ash is covering up all of Iceland,” said Hjordís Gudmundsdottir, a spokeswoman for Isavia, Iceland’s air navigation services provider. "We are trying to identify some holes in it and to use them to allow some flights, but it’s not looking very good right now.”

Overnight, Iceland’s civil protection agency said it had imposed a no-fly zone of 120 nautical miles around the Grimsvötn volcano in southeast Iceland.

Meteorologists said the prevailing winds were expected to blow the volcanic ash in a generally westward direction through the rest of this week — most likely avoiding a repeat of the widespread shutdowns of European airports that grounded more than 100,000 flights in April and May 2010.

Eurocontrol, the Brussels-based agency that coordinates air traffic management across the region, said it was monitoring the situation but it appeared there would be no wider threat to trans-Atlantic or European air travel at least for the next 24 hours.

Ms. Gudmundsdottir of Isavia said Iceland’s aviation authorities planned an update on the situation at around noon. For the time being, Iceland’s three other international airports remained open, she said.Iceland officials said roughly 30 flight arrivals and departures had originally been scheduled at Keflavik airport on Sunday.Iceland’s Met Office weather agency reported heavy ash fall near the volcano itself.

Grimsvötn, a volcano of 1,725 meters, is located beneath an uninhabited icecap, Vatnajokull, in southeast Iceland.

Time-lapse video: Eyjafjallajökull volcanic ash hides Aurora Borealis

On 21 March 2010, the Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland erupted for the first time in 200 years, launching lava into the skies. It was enough to trigger evacuations and close airspace across the country.

Soon thick plumes of dust and ash billowed further out, bringing European airspace to a standstill between 15 and 20 April. The economies of many countries were hit hard by the severe travel disruption it caused.

Despite the chaos, the eruption was also stunning to witness. Pétur Guðmundsson, a photographer and filmmaker from Iceland, produced this motion time-lapse in early May 2010 as the volcano continued to spew out ash.

Using a digital SLR camera positioned on a dolly, he captured a picture every few seconds as the camera was moved really slowly to create a motion effect. At one point, a lightening strike dramatically lights up the plume.

The eruption was declared officially over in October 2010 by Ármann Höskuldsson, a volcanologist at the University of Iceland.

According to Höskuldsson, although there are currently some steam and gas emissions in the summit area, there are no signs of imminent volcanic activity and it's considered to be dormant.

TU Delt - Geomatics lecture on Iceland's Volcano

To play the video click on the picture or on this link

The heat is on - Volcanic activity in Iceland - A.J. Hooper

Iceland lies on the rift between the Eurasian and North American plates, which are moving apart from each other by about 2 cm every year.

It also lies above a mantle “hot spot”. These two facts conspire to make it a highly volcanic land. Eruptions, which occur every few years with the latest occurring right now, can be hazardous both to people living in the area and to air traffic.

Geomatic studies play a key roll in monitoring the active volcanoes. Prior to the current eruption, movement of magma to shallower depths caused deformation of the surface, which was imaged using radar remote sensing and GPS.

In addition to the volcanic activity these and other surveying techniques are also used to measure motion due to rifting, earthquakes, landslides and changes in the ice/snow load, the last of which causes the Iceland to bounce up and down on a yearly cycle.

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