It’s debatable whether Iceland’s Bardarbunga volcano is than , which when it erupted in 2010. But Bardarbunga is certainly bigger鈥攊t’s part of Iceland’s largest volcanic system鈥攁nd it’s .
Volcanic eruptions have five alert levels, and Bardarbunga is currently at the fourth, or orange, stage, which聽聽(IMO) means that the volcano “is exhibiting heightened or escalating unrest with increased potential of eruption.” The next step, red, would indicate that an eruption is either imminent or currently happening.
The threat level went up Monday after the area experienced . Since the first earthquakes in the area were detected Sunday morning, 聽about 2,600 earthquakes have occured in the area. There’s also evidence of .
When Eyjafjallajokull erupted, it affected 10 million travelers, as European airspace became disrupted for six days鈥攙olcanic ash can seriously damage aircraft engines. If聽Bardarbunga does erupt, it could look like “an explosive glacial eruption, leading to an outburst flood and ash emission,” according to the IMO. Seismologist Martin Hensch 聽that it’s still unclear how the ash cloud would measure up to Eyjafjallajokull’s, but the biggest risk would probably be flood waves because Bardarbunga is located under the ice cap of the Vatnajokull glacier.
As we wait to see what happens, you can keep track of聽Bardarbunga with 聽of the area that updates every 10 minutes.