Iceland Issues Red Alert Over Erupting Volcano

Iceland's Barðarbunga volcano - located near the center of the island - is thought to be currently erupting just beneath the region's glacial ice sheet. The aviation warning for the volcano have thus been elevated from orange to red, closing off the air space in the event volcanic and steam ash starts to billow into the air.

Although if you have family in Iceland, or are there yourself, it's certainly not time to panic. The Icelandic Meteorological Office is currently calling the eruption "a small sub glacial lava-eruption," essentially meaning that it's activity is not intense, and remains trapped beneath the Dyngjujökull glacier.

This glacier covers a number of volcanoes located on the southeastern quarter of Iceland and, according to Met Office volcanologist Melissa Pfeffer, it is between 330 to 1,300 feet thick - quite a lot of ice for a minor eruption to break through.

Still, if enough lava builds up, it can cause some serious flooding and ash pollution in the immediate area around Barðarbunga mountain.

"The thicker the ice, the more water there is, the more explosive it will be and the more ash-rich the eruption will be," she told the Washington Post.

Thankfully, researchers have been keeping a wary eye on the volcano for some time. Small clusters of earthquakes began to occur around Barðarbunga back in 2007. As those clusters started to escalate in magnitude and frequency, experts became convinced that the volcano was stirring. However, things settled once more in 2011, when nearby Grímsvötn mountain erupted.

Since then however, pressure has been building once more, and seismic activity has been getting worse. On Monday, a strong earthquake (a magnitude 4) occurred that elevated the aviation warning to code orange - warning of an inevitable eruption.

This also prompted the evacuation of several hundred people on Wednesday, but land that is thought to be at greatest risk of melt-water flooding has no permanent residents, according to BBC News.

A police statement on Twitter Saturday morning confirmed that a significant swath of airspace has been closed over Iceland ensure the safety of travelers.