Most of the park is taken up by the Vatnajokull glacier itself - the largest in Europe at 8.100 sq km (3.100 sq mi). It can reach depths of over 1 km and hides mountains, valleys and, most importantly, volcanoes. Since it covers vast section of the mid-Atlantic ridge - a split in the Earth's crust where the North American and Eurasion plates are slowly moving apart - there are a fare few formidable volcanoes underneath the ice cap. The most active being the Grimsvotn which last erupted in 2011 causing 900 flights around north-west Europe to be cancelled and sending up ash clouds 12 km in the air. Flight disruptions isn't the only consequence caused by Vatnajokull volcanoes. 'Jökulhlaup' meaning 'glacier run' is a very disruptive and damaging result. It occurs when the volcano causes enough ice to melt that it creates large lakes held by a thin wall of ice that eventually breaks causing vast amount of water to rush to the valleys underneath and find its way to the ocean. These floods can carry water 10 times the Amazon, the one in 1996 devastated sections if the Ring Road. Due to global warming, volcano eruptions are expected to increase since it is the pressure of the vast amount of ice that keep many eruptions to a minimal level. As a consequence there will be more glacier runs and more flight disruptions.
Scientists expect the recent eruptions in Vatnajokull to indicate a start of an active period so more eruptions are likely to occur over the next years.
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