Thar she blows! Grimsvoetn, Iceland’s most active volcano began erupting late on Saturday, sending a plume of smoke and ash 12-miles high. It was reported there was so much ash blasted into the sky that it blocked out the sun and covered nearby villages and farms.

Last year, the eruption of Eyjafjallajökull volcano shut down airspace in 34 countries (the largest since World War Two), which cost the global airline industry $210million a day during the disruption. According to the Telegraph:

Experts and aviation authorities said the impact of the Grimsvoetn eruption should not be as severe and was likely to mainly affect Iceland.

Gunnar Gudmundsson, of Iceland’s Meteorological Office, said: “I don’t expect this will have the same effect as Eyjafjoell volcano because the ash is not as fine.”

However, they acknowledged that changing weather patterns could sweep the ash into areas where it would affect other countries.

Einar Kjartansson, a geophysicist at Iceland’s Met Office, warned: “If the eruption lasts for a long time we could be seeing similar effects as seen with Eyjafjallajökull last year.”

He added that “most of the traffic at least to the south of Iceland will probably not be affected” but said: “We don’t know what will happen after that.”
The forecast is for winds to clear the ash from Reykjavik and dissipate the problem over the coming days.

Bjorgvin Hardarsson, a farmer in the village of Kirkjubaejarklaustur, close to the latest eruption, described the ash, saying: “It’s just black outside, and you can hardly tell it is supposed to be bright daylight.”

Eurocontrol, the European air safety organisation, said no impact was expected on European airspace outside Iceland or on transatlantic flights for at least 24 hours.

Grimsvoetn, which has erupted nine times between 1922 and 2004, is located in an enormous caldera - a collapsed volcanic crater – five miles in diameter near the centre of the Vatnajoekull icefield.

When it last erupted in November 2004, volcanic ash fell as far away as mainland Europe and caused minor disruptions in flights to and from Iceland.

A spokesman for the Civil Aviation Authority said: “It’s early days and we’re keeping an eye on the situation but at the moment the weather patterns are looking pretty favorable.