Grímsvötn, the most active volcano in Iceland erupted again at 1930h on Saturday 21 May 2011. It has erupted 5 times since 1983, the previous event being in 2004. The volcano lies beneath the vast Vatnajokull ice cap and often there is delayed flooding associated with eruptions. None of these eruptions threatened lives or inhabited areas and most are classified as minor eruptions lasting 2 – 14 days. Activity from Grímsvötn is steady after a peak yesterday, the plume now reaching around 10km in height.

The Icelandic authorities have the situation fully under control and whilst there is some disruption to travel at present in Iceland, nobody is in danger and no areas have been evacuated. Considerable amounts of course ash has been deposited along the southeast coast and as a precaution the Ring Road (Route 1) has been closed between Vik and Skaftafell area. The glacial lagoon of Jokulsarlon is also affected.

International and domestic flights have been cancelled and we will continue to monitor events and update as necessary.

1200h 23 May 2011

UPDATE: Keflavik International Airport is scheduled to open later this afternoon.

We are inspired by Iceland! It is an incredible country, not far away and easy to explore on your own. Today only a small area around Ejyafjallajokull icecap is out of bounds for obvious reasons but Iceland has launched a campaign “Inspired by Iceland”. If you want to be inspired by Iceland and discover some of its amazing nature, adventures and geology in summer or winter then contact us as we’d love to tell you about it!

Obviously with much disruption to travel across Europe Iceland’s Eyjafjallajokull volcano is in the spotlight. Just what a bright spotlight it is can be seen in this infra-red image taken overhead by the Earth Observing-1 spacecraft on Saturday 17 April. Ironically the plume has not affected Iceland too much and most internal flights continue undisrupted. Photo couresy of NASA and further images available here .