Iceland volcano hints at eruption

Before Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull volcano erupted in April, spewing ash that grounded airline flights for days, magma began melting the thick ice covering the volcano's crater, sending water coursing down the glacier. Torrents of water are pouring from a glacier that sits atop Iceland's most active volcano, an indication that it is growing hotter and may be about to erupt, scientists said Monday.

The flood that began Thursday at the Grimsvotn volcano is similar to one in 2004 that lasted five days and ended with an eruption that disrupted European air traffic, University of Iceland geophysicist Pall Einarsson said. In April, millions of air travellers around the world were grounded when ash from Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull volcano caused most northern European countries to close their airspace for five days.

There are no signs yet of the underground tremors that would signal an eruption at Grimsvotn, Icelandic Meteorological Office geophysicist Gunnar Gudmundsson said. Grimsvotn lies under 200 metres of ice at the Vatnajokull glacier in southeast Iceland. In addition to 2004, it erupted in 1998 and 1996, causing flooding on a largely uninhabited plain around it.The flooding triggered by molten rock from the volcano has been expanding a lake underneath the glacier, building pressure strong enough to send water pouring from beneath the ice cap.Iceland, a rugged island in the North Atlantic, is one of the world's most volcanically active countries.

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