Move over Eyjafjallajökull, there's a bigger volcano in Iceland.

While the unpronounceable volcano's reputation has been made as a holiday wrecker, another volcano named Katla may cause even more trouble. Vulcanologists warn that this bigger volcano near Eyjafjallajökull may cause even more trouble. Katla erupts more frequently, about once every fifty years, but hasn't had an eruption since 1918. Generally, the longer the period between eruptions, the bigger the eruption. Add to this the fact that Katla usually goes off within a year of when Eyjafjallajökull starts erupting, and there's some serious cause for worry.

Vulcanologists are keeping an eye on Katla and report no evidence of an impending eruption, but they warn that trying to study magma hidden deep within the bowels of the Earth is hardly an exact science. They only knew that Eyjafjallajökull was going to erupt a few hours ahead of time. Katla's magma chamber is ten times the size of Eyjafjallajökull's, and the volcano's cap has lots of ice on top of it, so any eruption could be a real problem for air travel.

With Eyjafjallajökull, the slump in the travel industry, and impending strikes at British Airways, Katla may very well be the Fourth Horseman of the Apocalypse for European air travel.

Filed under: Europe, Iceland, Airlines, Airports