ICELAND, — Parts of Iceland are under a state of emergency with a volcano eruption possible in the next few days.
Police evacuated the small fishing community of Grindavik over the weekend because of tremors in the earth's surface. The town of 4,000 people sits 31 miles southwest of Iceland’s capital, Reykjavik.
The Icelandic Meteorological Office (IMO) said around 1,000 earthquakes have been recorded north of the town since midnight Sunday. They have all been below a magnitude 3.0, which means they were all minor quakes, but there have been reports of stronger ones in the last few weeks.
The IMO said a corridor of magma has been building below the village, sitting about 3 miles below the surface. Officials said it's too soon to know when a volcanic eruption is going to happen, but it's likely sometime in the next few days.
The impacts of this possible eruption are already being felt beyond Iceland. The volcano could end up having a big impact on travel because many flights going from the US to Europe fly near the country.
Right now, there is an aviation alert for planes traveling over the country. The volcanic ash from an erupting volcano can cause jet engines to fail and can also lower visibility.
A different eruption happened in Iceland back in 2010. It led to 100,000 flights from North America to Europe being canceled while other flights were delayed.
One of the country's biggest tourist spots is closed for now. The Blue Lagoon geothermal resort closed temporarily following the earthquakes.