AccuWeather.com

By Jim Andrews, Senior Meteorologist

Jul 7, 2011; 7:52 AM ET

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Signs of restlessness deep under a major Iceland volcano have some volcanologists on edge with concern that an eruption may be pending.

The fire mountain at issue would be Hekla, which is one of the nation's most active and violent. It is also not far from Eyjafjall, the volcano which led to the biggest airspace shutdown since World War II after its 2010 eruption.

Hekla Volcano, Iceland (image credit: Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History/Global Volcanism Program)

Very sensitive earth-measuring equipment has shown a slight swelling of the volcano surface, suggesting the buildup of magma beneath the mountain, according to Australia's ABC News and AFP on Wednesday.

"The mountain has been slowly expanding in the last few years because of magma buildup," University of Iceland geophysicist Pall Einarsson was quoted as saying.

Magma is molten rock beneath the surface.

What is more, the scientist also said that "the movements around Hekla have been unusual in the last two to three days."

The report went so far as to quote Einarsson as saying "the volcano is ready to erupt."

Another geophysicist called measurements around Hekla very "unusual," according to the report.

Hekla has a history of erupting with little warning. The last big eruption happened in 2000, following about 90 minutes of rumbling, according to Einarsson.

Recent history has been for Hekla to erupt about once every decade.

Meanwhile, an online columnist gave reason to believe that eruption fears could be premature.

Writing in bigthink.com, Erik Klemetti suggested that, while "clearly magma is moving at depth," the "ready to erupt" quote might not be helpful, given what the current data suggest about Hekla.

He indicated that Hekla has new GPS monitoring equipment, which makes watching for minute-by-minute changes in the volcano possible. This was not possible before the 2000 eruption. Thus, it could be that warning signs will come earlier than in the past.

In the end, Klemetti, while acknowledging that Hekla "will erupt again," expressed uncertainty as to whether the volcano's next eruption would happen within a matter of days or years.

Impact of a major blast by Hekla could be felt throughout Europe and beyond, if past experience is telling.

Hekla has a history of erupting huge ash clouds as well as lava flows. A major ash eruption could conceivably bring a repeat of last year's sweeping air-space closure, which adversely effected more than 100,000 flights and 8 million passengers following the eruption of Iceland's Eyjafjall.