Continuing magma movement beneath Iceland's Bardarbunga volcano has compelled the Meteorological Office in Iceland to heighten the volcano alert level to orange for its aviation industry early Tuesday.
Aviation color codes are raised to indicate that the level of risk that can impact air travel industry.
Orange alert, as defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), is an aviation color code that implies higher risk for a volcano to erupt. This alert level also indicates that eruption will less likely lead to major volcanic ash emissions.
The Red alert, meanwhile, the fifth and most serious alert level, signals that an eruption is "imminent". This alert level also indicates ongoing eruptions with significant release of volcanic ash.
The volcanic system Bardarbunga is considered the largest in Iceland. It is situated under the ice cap of the Vatnajokull glacier.
Intense seismic activity at Bardarbunga has been detected since August 16. As of today, the Met Office has detected of no possible signs of eruption.
"It cannot be excluded that the current activity will result in an explosive sub-glacial eruption, leading to an outburst flood and ash emission" Mr. Martin Hensch, a resident seismologist at Met office added in a report by Sky News.
In 2010, ash from Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull volcano practically shut down most of airspace within Europe for six days affecting some 10 million people and posing massive economic backlash of as much as €2.5 billion in various European businesses.
In a report by the Travel Retail Business, a manager from Eurocontrol air traffic network warned about the high eruption risk posed by Bardarbunga.
European air space, as reported, will most likely have to deal with volcanic ash even as eruption is not that imminent.
According to Hensch, the risk of any ash cloud disruption like those in 2010 would depend on the intensity of ash thrown.
