Photo by Ulrich Latzenhofer

A small eruption has been reported at Dyngjujökull glacier, northeast of Iceland’s subglacial Bárðarbunga volcano.

RÚV report that Kristín Jónsdóttir with the Icelandic Met Office has confirmed that a small eruption at Dyngjujökull started around 2pm today.

The aviation code has been escalated to “red” and air traffic around Bárðarbunga has been forbidden.

Seismic activity in the area escalated considerably today and the Coast Guard’s radar-equipped TF-SIF surveillance plane put on stand-by.

At time of writing all internet live-feeds are down.

*****UPDATE*****

The Coast Guard’s radar-equipped TF-SIF surveillance plane is in the air and will soon be flying over the glacier.

Jökulsárgljúfur National Park and the Dettifoss area is being cleared, closed and tourists turned away.

Data from radars show no changes to the surface so far.

It is estimated that between 150-400 metres of ice are located above the eruption area.

At 14:04 an earthquake occurred, estimated 4.5 in magnitude.

Background

Seismic activity around Bárðarbunga began late last week and has continued with several hundred to a thousand earthquakes daily, some reaching a magnitude of 4.

Major flooding is expected north of Bárðarbunga and as a result the past few days has seen Iceland’s Civil and Protection Management Department working in tandem with the Coast Guard and the nation’s rescue services to evacuate and monitor the area.

Kristján Jónsson, a geologist with the Icelandic Institute of Natural History, has said that although he cannot confirm it, he expects the ash from this eruption will be coarser than that of Eyjafjallajökull in 2010, meaning it may not effect the aviation industry as heavily. But then, it might.

(The above image is of the Fimmvörðuháls fissure during the 2010 Eyjafjallajökull eruption – we will update with new picture once available.)

See more Eruption Iceland stories.