Grimsvotn Eruption

The cloud rising up from Grimsvotn as a result of the eruption was seen first time around 1900 GMT and in less than an hour it had reached an altitude of 11 kilometres (6.8 miles),’ according to the Icellandic meterological institute.

In this image taken from amateur video, smoke from the Grimsvotn volcano, Iceland is seen from a plane Saturday, May 21, 2011.

Smoke rises from the Grimsvotn volcano on Saturday in Reykjavik, Iceland. Iceland’s most active volcano has started erupting, scientists said just over a year after another eruption on the North Atlantic island shut down European air traffic for days.

In this Friday, Dec. 18, 1998 file photo clouds of steam spew from beneath Europe’s largest glacier, the Vatnajokull glacier, near Grimsvotn in southern Iceland throwing gases an estimated 32,000 feet (9,750 metres) into the air.

A plane flies near clouds of dust above the volcano on Grimsvotn mountain in eastern Iceland Tuesday Nov. 2, 2004.

In this photo taken on Saturday, May 21, 2011, smoke plumes from the Grimsvotn volcano, which lies under the Vatnajokull glacier, about 120 miles, (200 kilometers) east of the capital, Rejkjavik, which began erupting Saturday for the first time since 2004.

In this photo taken on Saturday, May 21, 2011, smoke plumes from the Grimsvotn volcano, which lies under the Vatnajokull glacier, about 120 miles, (200 kilometers) east of the capital, Rejkjavik,

An image released by the NASA Modis on May 22, 2011 shows smoke billowing from the Grimsvotn, Iceland’s most active volcano.

Tourists leave the Islandia Hotel in Nupur as ash continue to pour out of the erupting Grimsvoetn volcano on May 22, 2011.

Sheep farmers try to round up a flock as they walk through a cloud of ash pouring out of the erupting Grimsvoetn volcano in Mulakot on May 22, 2011.

The eruption of the Grimsvotn volcano sends thousands of tonnes of volcanic ash into the sky on May 23, 2011 above Iceland.

A member of a rescue team checks on a farmer near to Kirkjubaearklaustur, approx. 260 km from Reykjavik, Iceland, Monday, May 23, 2011.

Farmers Thormar Eller and Henny Hrund go to check their livestock as an ash cloud is seen in background, near Kirkjubaearklaustur, approx. 260 km from Reykjavik, Iceland, Monday, May 23, 2011.

A farmer’s footprint is seen in the ash near to Kirkjubaearklaustur, approx. 260 km from Reykjavik, Iceland, Monday, May 23, 2011.

A dead lamb lies covered in ash near Kirkjubaearklaustur, Iceland Tuesday May 24 2011 after the Grimsvotn volcano began erupting on Saturday, sending clouds of ash high into the air that have then been carried toward the European continent on the wind.

The eruption of the Grimsvotn volcano sends thousands of tonnes of volcanic ash into the sky on May 23, 2011 above Iceland.

The eruption of the Grimsvotn volcano sends thousands of tonnes of volcanic ash into the sky on May 23, 2011 above Iceland.

A man walks over a field in the settlement of Vik near the Grimsvoetn volcano on Iceland on May 23, 2011. Activity at Iceland’s erupting volcano has slowed significantly and its flight-halting ash plume has dropped to a quarter of its peak of 20 kilometres (12 miles), experts in Iceland said on May 24

Iceland’s most active volcano, Grimsvotn, began erupting. A cloud of smoke has risen 19 km into the sky from the volcano in a few seconds.