Fire and ice - Icelandic volcano erupts
Updated on 25 March 2010
The first clear pictures of a volcano in south-central Iceland are filmed as molten rock and fire continue to burst into the air in an eruption which began four days ago.
The volcano at Eyjafjallajoekull has continued to spew from under an ice-sheet creating an erupting fissure of about 500 metres (550 yards) long.
Almost all the 600 people who were moved from their homes early on Sunday morning have been allowed to return, although inhabitants of 14 farms were still ordered to stay away.
There have been no injuries or damage to property so far.
Vulcanologists said the location of the eruption, between the Eyjafjallajoekull and Myrdalsjoekull glaciers at a height of 1100 metres (3,600 feet), meant that there was little likelihood of flooding as long as the erupting fissure did not extend beneath the glacier.
The area, called Fimmvorduhals, lies on a popular walking path over the mountain pass. Bad weather had hindered close filming until yesterday morning.
Previous eruptions in Eyjafjallajoekull have triggered eruptions in the volcano Katla some 20 km (12 miles) to the east but there have been no signs of any changes in the much more powerful Katla.
Katla is beneath Myrdalsjoekull and an eruption there would cause widespread flooding from the melting of glacier ice.
A major eruption could also release a large amount of sulphur dioxide and volcanic ash into the atmosphere, with consequences for trans-Atlantic air traffic.
