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According to researchers, the "very dangerous" and very active volcano produces carbon dioxide, suggesting that magma chambers below the surface fill up.
Icelandic and British volcanologists believe that the "huge" amount of gas emitted by Katla could be the precursor to an eruption that would eclipse that of Eyjafjallajokull in 2010, the Sunday Times reports.
The eruption sent a huge cloud of volcanic ash into the sky, which quickly spread to Europe, forcing the cancellation of more than 100,000 flights.
A research report published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters revealed that Katla daily published between 12 and 24 kilotonnes of carbon dioxide, making it "one of the largest volcanic sources of CO2 on the planet".
The team behind the study said the volcano's cone, hidden under a glacier on a 5,000-foot peak, meant it was difficult to assess its activity.
The report states that Katla "has experienced significant unrest in recent decades".
And by using high-precision measuring equipment, the researchers concluded that the amount of gas released now is much higher than previous estimates.
Sarah Barsotti, Volcanic Risk Coordinator at the Icelandic Meteorological Office, said: "There is no way to say when it will burst, just that it will."
Evgenia Ilyinskaya, a researcher at the Institute of Geophysics and Tectonics at the University of Leeds, told Iceland's national broadcasting service RUV that current levels of CO2 suggest an imminent eruption.
She said: "There must also be an accumulation of magma to release this amount of gas.
"It is well known from other volcanoes, for example in Hawaii and Alaska, that CO2 emissions increase by weeks or years before eruptions.
"It's a clear sign that we have to watch Katla closely. It does nothing, and these results confirm that something is happening. "
But others have minimized the risk of an impending eruption, saying current CO2 levels are not necessarily higher than usual.
Magnus Tumi Guomundsson, professor of geophysics at the University of Iceland, said further research is needed before conclusions can be drawn.
In a Facebook post, he said that Katla's lack of historical data on gas emissions meant it was impossible to say whether the massive quantities produced today were normal.
He said: "Even more unclear is whether these massive emissions are directly related to an underground magma chamber, or [Katla’s] connection to the magma chamber in the east volcano.
"It is possible that Katla is functioning as a sort of escape or exhaust channel for gases emitted by the deep magma beneath the southern part of the volcano belt."
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