Helka volcano ready to blow !
POTENTIAL TRAVEL DISRUPTION FROM HEKLA VOLCANO ICELAND / 06 JULY 2011
Officials in Iceland are closely monitoring the Hekla volcano which they think may erupt in the foreseeable future. A geophysicist from the University of Iceland, Pall Einarsson, said, 'The movements around Hekla have been unusual in the last two to three days.' Another expert agreed that the volcano looked "ready to blow".
Hekla is situated near the Eyjafjoell volcano, which erupted last year and disrupted European aviation for several weeks last year. The ash cloud forced cancellations and delays to more than 100,000 flights, affecting around eight million passengers. More recently in May, Iceland's Grimsvotn volcano erupted, spewing ash clouds for several thousands of miles into European airspace leading to minor disruption to European air travel.
Hekla has been described as the country's 'most feared' and has erupted around 20 times over the past 100 years, with the most recent occurring in 2000. Experts think that Hekla is due for another large-scale eruption, potentially more devastating than Eyjafjoell.
Although local experts have been unable to provide a specific timeline for a possible eruption, one salient point to note about Hekla is that it historically has given very short notice of an eruption. There is also the potential Hekla may have more of a lava eruption rather than a combination of ash and lava which will have less of an impact on flight conditions. However, there is consensus that it will be difficult to forecast what kind of eruption or how long it will last.