Concerns are mounting that Iceland's most dangerous volcano is waking up.
A 72-foot depression in the snow at the summit of Oraefajokull volcano, which has been dormant since a 1727-1728 eruption, is an alarming development.
The depression coupled with the volcano's recent increase in seismic activity and geothermal water leakage has scientists worried. With the snow hole on Iceland's highest peak deepening 18 inches each day, authorities have raised the volcano's alert safety code to yellow.
Experts at Iceland's Meteorological Office have detected 160 earthquakes in the region in the past week alone as they step up their monitoring of the volcano. The earthquakes are mostly small but their sheer number is exceptionally high.
"Oraefajokull is one of the most dangerous volcanos in Iceland. It's a volcano for which we need to be very careful," said Sara Barsotti, Coordinator for Volcanic Hazards at the Icelandic Meteorological Office.
What worries scientists the most is the devastating potential impact of an eruption at Oraefajokull.
Located in southeast Iceland about 200 miles from the capital, Reykjavik, the volcano lies under the Vatnajokull glacier, the largest glacier in Europe. Its 1362 eruption was the most explosive since the island was populated, even more explosive than the eruption of Italy's Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D. that destroyed the city of Pompei.
https://www.wunderground.com/news/2017-12-08-iceland-dangerous-oraefajokull-volcano-waking-up
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