Iceland downgraded the aviation color-code back to orange from red over the volcanic eruption in north of Dyngjujokull in Iceland, considering no risk of volcanic ash reaching the atmosphere, the Iceland's Meteorological Office (IMO) said Friday.
The Icelandic Transport Authority has reduced the restricted flight area around the volcanic activity in central Iceland from 10 nautical miles (NM) to 3 NM and 5,000 foot altitude. The warning area restricting instrument flight rules (IFR) flight remains unchanged.
The fissure eruption started in Holuhraun lava field north of Dyngjujokull around local time 00:02 a.m. (0002 GMT) on Friday. Seismic tremor was observed on all seismic stations and the web camera installed in that area showed some pictures of the eruption. The activity appears to have decreased at 02:40 a.m.
The IMO raised the level of aviation alert over the eruption site to red early Friday morning with a restriction on traffic set both on the ground and in the air around the eruption site. But all airports in Iceland remained open.
Seismic activity has decreased as a result of the pressure release. However, a significant amount of earthquakes were still detected in the magma dike, between the eruption site and south to about 5 km into Dyngjujokull, said IMO.
IMO added that these earthquake were very closely monitored, but no significant change of volcanic activity has been observed so far.