travelling-blogger

comments

Tourists have been evacuated by Iceland's national police force from an area north of the country's largest volcano amid fears that it could erupt.

All roads leading to the region north of the Bardarbunga volcano have been blocked as officials prepare for a possible eruption after five days of seismic activity.

The National Commissioner of the Icelandic Police warned that a quick evacuation would not be possible if the volcano suddenly began to belch lava and a cloud of ash.

Bardarbunga: Iceland's largest volcano is seen from afar on a webcam positioned on Grimsfjoll mountain

The NCIP also said in a statement that it has raised its civil protection level to 'alert phase'.

The police agency said: 'This is first and foremost a precautionary action since the evacuation of the area is impossible on short notice.'

Areas near the volcano would be at risk of flooding from ice melt, should an eruption occur.

Thousands of intense earthquakes have been detected around Bardarbunga since Saturday, raising fears that an eruption could send a massive cloud of ash into the air and disrupt flights during the busy summer travel season. 

Shaking all over: Nearly 300 earthquakes were detected near the Bardarbunga volcano this morning

Airlines are bracing for disruptions, although Iceland's meteorological office says there are still no signs of magma moving toward the surface.

Iceland has already raised its aviation alert level to orange, the second-highest level on the five-colour scale.

Nearly 300 earthquakes were detected in and around Bardarbunga this morning, the Icelandic National Broadcasting Service (RUV) reported.

The strongest earthquake had a magnitude of 3.0.

Professor Nick Petford, vice chancellor of the University of Northampton and an expert in volcanology, said the size and height of a volcanic ash cloud depend on the magnitude of the eruption and the stickiness of the magma. 

Petford told MailOnline Travel: 'Sticky magma, when it interacts with the ice, can create a big ash cloud.'

Chaos: The Eyjafjallajokull volcano erupted in 2010, creating massive disruptions for air travellers

Another key factor will be wind direction.

In 2010, when Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull volcano erupted and caused widespread chaos for air travellers, the wind blew the ash cloud over the Atlantic Ocean and into heavily-travelled flight paths.

More than 100,000 flights had to be cancelled because volcanic ash is considered an aviation safety hazard.

Petford said experts are better prepared for this eruption, if it happens, because of the lessons they learned from Eyjafjallajokull's behaviour.

If Bardarbunga blows its top, people around the world will have a front-row seat from their living rooms or workplaces.

M&T, an Icelandic company that manufactures and installs automatic weather stations, and a website called Live From Iceland have set up webcams that offer different angles of the subglacial volcano, which last erupted in 1910.

Located a safe distance away, the cameras capture still images every few minutes and will allow people to watch an eruption as it happens – if it happens at all.

M&T set up three cameras with help from the country's Civil Protection Agency and Coast Guard after the area was rocked by a strong earthquake Monday morning.

The cameras overlook the volcano, located beneath the Iceland's largest glacier, from Grimsfjoll mountain, about 18 miles away.

The still images are updated every few minutes.