Iceland on high alert for eruption near capital

Iceland is on high alert for a possible volcano eruption on the peninsula near the capital Reykjavik.

Tens of thousands of earthquakes have occurred in the past weeks in an area that hadn't seen volcanic activity for the past 800 years.

"We are seeing evidence of magma moving about on the plate boundary and there is a real possibility that this will get to the surface, and feed an eruption on the surface", said Pall Einarsson, Professor Emeritus of Geophysics at University of Iceland.

However, experts do not expect a violent, explosive eruption but instead "fairly harmless lava eruptions".

Gas emissions are a concern, however.

In particular Sulfur Dioxide, or so2.

"Natural hazard specialists are on duty 24 hours a day, so we have, so we have people looking at this data in real time day and night", said Sara Barsotti, Volcanic Hazard Coordinator, whose job is to prepare Iceland, despite hard-to-predict nature of volcanic activity.

The earthquakes have not created significant damage so far, and a volcanic eruption is not thought to be a threat to Iceland's homes, but for people in the area, living with continuous tremors is a new experience.