REYKJAVIK, Iceland — Iceland's Eyjafjoell volcano threatened European skies with a new ash cloud Friday raising the risk of more flight cancellations, officials said.
"Renewed and more intensive ash eruptions took place overnight and as a result, the area of potential higher ash contamination is forecast to extend from Iceland as far south as the western edge of the Iberian Peninsula during the day," Eurocontrol, the European intergovernmental air traffic control coordinator, said.
"Lava has stopped running from the crater and the eruption is now again an explosive eruption," Icelandic geologist Bjoern Oddson said.
"When there's more explosive activity, the ash does become finer and if the activity increases, it could possibly cause problems in Europe's airspace," he said, noting "the ash is spreading to the south-east" of Iceland.
Late Thursday, Icelandic meteorologists and geophysicists warned Eyjafjoell would emit a larger ash cloud after renewed activity, though Oddson said it had stabilised overnight.
The ash, at sufficient concentrations, poses a hazard for plane engines.
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