If you think Eyjafjallajökull was bad, wait ’til you see what her big sister can do…

Just when you thought Mother Earth was through spanking us all thoroughly with tornadoes in Duduza, cyclones off Florida, earthquakes in New Zealand and air traffic-paralysing ash clouds over Europe, seismologists in Iceland have nervously let us all know that Katla, the bigger, nastier sister of nearby Eyjafjallajökull (the volcano that gave Europe an ash wedgie last year), is making a little more noise than they, or we, should frankly be comfortable with.

Not ironically, Katla is named after a scary, legendary Icelandic troll that caused mayhem across the cash-strapped island and spread displeasure far beyond its shores (not Bjork then?).

Dozens of small earthquakes have been recorded in the vicinity of Katla in recent weeks, and they’ve been increasing in intensity- up to a category four last week, which, in disaster movies, is usually when the President mops his brow nervously, and barks orders at the General to go fetch Bruce Willis.

Icelanders are worried: not only did Eyjafjallajökull cause billions of Euros worth of damage just last year, the last time Katla blew her lid, in 1918, the eruption choked the skies over Iceland for over a month, laid waste to livestock and crops for dozens of miles around, and even caused nearby ice sheets to melt, resulting in flooding.

Volcanic eruptions may make it difficult to catch a flight!

In terms of response, there’s little Icelanders, or the European aviation industry, can do to prepare for disruptions like the one caused by Eyjafjallajökull last year. Despite having evacuation procedures in place; given the size of Katla, people in the affected area may have less than an hour to get the hell away, and if the relative size of Katla is any predictor of the scale of eruption or subsequent ash cloud, air travelers across the world may be cooling their heels in their respective departure lounges for even longer this time round.

[Source: The Guardian]