A new volcanic eruption in Iceland shut down the country's airspace yesterday, a year after the eruption of nearby Eyjafjoell caused aviation chaos across Europe. Experts and aviation authorities said however that the impact of the Grimsvotn eruption should not be as far-reaching. Grimsvotn, Iceland's most active volcano located at the heart of its biggest glacier Vatnajoekull, began erupting late on Saturday, sending a plume of smoke and ash as high as 20km into the sky. Ash soon covered nearby villages and farms and had by yesterday morning reached the capital, nearly 400km to the west.


Tharr she blows: A cloud of smoke and ash is seen over the Grimsvoetn
volcano on Iceland yesterday. Pic/AFPu00a0u00a0 Ash from the volcano could reach
northern Scotland by Tuesday and parts of Britain, France and Spain by
Thursday or Friday.

"It's just black outside, and you can hardly tell it is supposed to be bright daylight," Bjorgvin Hardarsson, said a farmer at Hunbakkar Farm in the nearby village of Kirkjubaejarklaustur. Yesterday morning, Iceland's airport administration Isavia, announced that the country's main airport Keflavik was shutting and that basically all of the country's airspace was closing due to the ash cloud.

The airspace closure "affects pretty much all of Iceland right now, at least for the next hours. ... Flights to and from Iceland are shutting down," said Isavia spokeswoman Hjordis Gudmundsdottir. The Eyjafjoell eruption caused the planet's biggest airspace shutdown since World War II, lasting almost a month, amid fears the volcanic ash could wreak havoc on aircraft engines.

However, no other European country has decided to close their airspace, although aviation authorities in Britain and Scandinavia, among the hardest hit last year, said they were keeping a close eye on developments. The European air safety organisation said no impact was expected on European airspace outside Iceland or on transatlantic flights for at least 24 hours.

Did you know?
Grimsvotn has erupted nine times between 1922 and 2004