Important Takeaways:
- One of Iceland’s largest volcanoes is on the brink of erupting, experts have warned.
- Bárðarbunga – the second-largest volcano in the country – has been hit with a swarm of 130 earthquakes within just five hours.
- This is a key sign an eruption could be imminent, according to The Icelandic Meteorological Office (IMO).
- As a precaution, the aviation color-code for Bárðarbunga has been raised from green to yellow, indicating ‘heightened activity above normal background levels’.
- Bárðarbunga – located under Iceland’s largest ice cap (Vatnajökull) in the center of the country – last erupted a decade ago, prompting a red travel alert.
- Earthquake activity has been increasing gradually in Bárðarbunga over recent months and four earthquakes measuring magnitude 5 or higher were detected in 2024, the department added.
- In the past four years, the Icelandic volcanoes of Fagradalsfjall and Sundhnúkur have hit the headlines for consistent eruptions, although these are further southwest, closer to capital city Reykjavík.
- Many of these eruptions were preceded by earthquakes with magnitudes somewhere between five and six.
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