Recently, scientists have expressed their concern when a volcano in Iceland that has long been "sleeping" erupted. The mountain is the last Oraefajokull spewing ash and lava in 1728.
Some time later, the volcano shows signs of new activity. One of them, a hole in the snow peak of the mountain has been submerged more than 45 centimeters every day.
In fact, at this time the mountain is 22 meters lower than before the activity began. In addition, volcanologists say there is an increase in seismic activity and leakage of geothermal water lately.
Experts at the Icelandic meteorology office also detected 160 earthquakes in the region in the past week. As a result, the authorities raised this volcanic security warning status to yellow.
"We see a large pattern of cracks rising around the caldera, now more than large in shape from a circle, extending to the southwest," said Ingibjorg Jonsdottir of the University of Iceland quoted by Sky News on Thursday (7/12/2017).
"Geothermal energy is still there and it shows that this process is far from the normal process there," added Armann Hoskuldsson, a volcanologist.
The mountain caldera is indeed 160 kilometers from the capital of Iceland, Reykjavik. However, there are settlements near the volcano.
When the volcano Eyjafjallajokull erupted in 2010, the mountain produced ash which disrupted flights across Europe and the Atlantic.
It is caused by fears that the tiny particles of volcanic material being spewed by the mountain into the atmosphere could damage the aircraft and kill millions of people stranded by plane crashes.
To that end, evacuation plans have been designed for possible eruption of Oraefajokull mountain. The evacuation route is from east to west of the island.
In the historical record, the volcano has erupted twice in 1362 and 1727-1728. In the 1362 eruption, this mountain produced an incredible amount of rock, ash, and other materials. It has left this region abandoned for decades.