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   From: sfp@bns.com   
      
   By Robert Robertsson and Simon Johnson   
      
   Aug 31 (Reuters) - A new eruption in Iceland's Bardarbunga   
   volcano system spewed lava more than 50 metres in the air on   
   Sunday prompting authorities to raise their warning of the risk   
   of ash to aviation to the highest level on Sunday.   
      
   Iceland's largest volcanic system, which cuts a 190 km long and   
   up to 25 km wide (118 miles by 15.5 miles) swathe across the   
   North Atlantic island, has been hit by thousands of earthquakes   
   over the last two weeks and scientists have been on high alert.   
      
   In 2010, an ash cloud from the Eyjafjallajokull volcano, in a   
   different region of Iceland, closed much of Europe's air space   
   for six days.   
      
   The latest eruption has not led to ash clouds, however.   
      
   "There is no ash, only lava," Eggert Magnusson at the National   
   Crisis Coordination Centre said.   
      
   The current eruption began around 0600 GMT prompting the   
   Icelandic Met Office to raise its aviation warning code to red   
   from orange for the Bardarbunga area.   
      
   Red is the highest level on a five-colour scale and indicates   
   that an eruption is imminent or under way, with a risk of   
   spewing ash.   
      
   Iceland's aviation authorities have declared a danger area which   
   reaches from the ground to 6,000 feet around the volcano.   
      
   The Department of Civil Protection and Emergency Management said   
   the eruption is along a 1.5-kilometre front.   
      
   "The eruption is producing 50- to 60-metre high lava fountains,"   
   Armann Hoskuldsson, a geologist at the University of Iceland   
   told Reuters.   
      
   "The lava flow from the fissure is about 10-20 times more than   
   Friday morning."   
      
   Two days ago, a 600 metre-long fissure in a lava field north of   
   the Vatnajokull glacier, which covers part of the Bardarbunga   
   system, erupted.   
      
   That eruption only lasted for a few hours and was not in an area   
   covered by ice and did not produce ash. The risk of an ash cloud   
   is highest when there is a sub-glacial eruption as meltwater and   
   magma mix to produce ash particles.   
      
   The new eruption is very close to Friday's and is not under the   
   glacier.   
      
   "It is almost in the same location. The crack has only extended   
   a little bit further to the north," Magnusson at the National   
   Crisis Coordination Centre said.   
      
   Last week, scientists estimated around 400 million cubic meters   
   of lava had flowed out from under the volcano in a long dyke.   
   The eruption on Friday was at its tip. (Reporting by Robert   
   Robertsson; Editing by Hugh Lawson)   
      
   http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/31/iceland-volcano-   
   idUSL5N0R10A520140831   
      
       
      
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