Another Iceland Volcano About to Erupt?

The BBC is reporting that a volcano under one of Iceland's largest glaciers is showing signs of an imminent eruption that could be one of the most powerful the country has seen in almost a century.

Katla, which is partially covered by the Mýrdalsjökull glacier, could cause "catastrophic flooding" as it melts the frozen surface of its six-mile caldera and sends billions of gallons of water surging through the east coast and into the Atlantic ocean.

Last year, air travel throughout Europe was impacted when a volcanic eruption at neighboring Eyjafjallajökull made airspace dangerous to fly through. (NASA's satellite image of that eruption is pictured right.) Katla is east of Eyjafjallajökull, and significantly larger. Earlier this year, another eruption briefly closed down the country's airports.

Ford Cochran, the National Geographic's expert on Iceland, told the BBC that there have been more than 500 tremors in and around the caldera of Katla just in the last month.