The word on everyone’s lips right now is ‘volcano.’ The eruption of the long-dormant Eyjafjallajökull on March 21^st has absolutely devastated travel across the UK and most of Europe. Most websites on the internet cannot cope with the amount of traffic from people trying to find ways home - the P&O Ferries website has actually crashed due to so many people trying to catch a boat. And phone systems are ringing off the hook.

 But is this only the beginning to the main event?

Katla is another volcano in Iceland. Situated to the north of Vík í Mýrdal and partly covered by the Mýrdalsjökull glacier, Katla’s peak reaches 1,512 metres. Katla last had a major eruption in 1918 and the one word used to describe that has been ‘vicious.’ Since 1999, geologists have been uneasy around the Katla volcano as it showed signs of waking up and historically, every time the Eyjafjallajökull volcano erupts, Katla soon follows. The past two days has seen an increase of 200% in Katla’s activity. This isn’t something to just worry the residents of Iceland, but of the whole world too. Smog, famine, floods and freezing were just some of the things the last Katla eruption caused. Let’s hope that travel disruption is the worst of it.

Will the Katla Volcano erupt next?

Particularly, monitoring has been intensified following the March 2010 eruptions of a smaller neighbouring volcano beneath the Eyjafjallajökull glacier. The eruption of this nearby long-dormant volcano in March and April 2010 prompted fears among some geophysicists that it might trigger an eruption at the larger and more dangerous Katla. In the past, all three known eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull triggered subsequent Katla eruptions. 

How big is the Katla Volcano?

Katla is a volcano in Iceland. It is situated to the north of Vík í Mýrdal and to the east of the smaller glacier Eyjafjallajökull. Its peak reaches 1,512 metres (4,961 ft) in height and is partially covered by the Mýrdalsjökull glacier with an area of 595 km² (230 sq mi).

The crater of the volcano has a diameter of 10 km (6 mi) and the volcano normally erupts every 40–80 years. The last major eruption occurred in 1918, although there may have been a small eruption that did not break the ice cover in 1955. Since 930, 16 eruptions have been documented. The Eldgjá canyon is part of the same volcanic system. It is thought that Katla is the source of the Vedde Ash (more than 6 to 7 cubic kilometers (1.4 to 1.7 cu mi) of tephra dated to 10,600 years BP) found at a number of sites including Norway, Scotland and North Atlantic cores.

Before the Hringvegur (Iceland's Ring Road) was constructed, people feared traversing the plains in front of the volcano because of the frequent glacier outburst floods and the deep river crossings. Especially dangerous was the glacier outburst that followed the eruption of 1918. Katla has been showing signs of unrest since 1999 and geologists have concerns that it might erupt in the near future.

At the peak of the 1755 eruption the flood discharge has been estimated at 200,000–400,000 m³/s (7.1-14.1 million cu ft/sec); for comparison, the combined average discharge of the Amazon, Mississippi, Nile, and Yangtze rivers is about 266,000 m³/s (9.4 million cu ft/sec).

See Also : [ Five biggest volcano eruptions in modern times ] - [ Super Volcano Compilation ] - [ The Worst Natural Disasters ] - [ Yellowstone's Super Sisters - Known super volcanoes ]

^^ Katla erupting in 1918 ^^