Today's Article

Michelle Parks, Volcanologist: Iceland is essentially one of the best places in the world to study this. It's a natural 8laboratory because we have both volcanism and glaciers. So at the moment about 10 of Iceland is covered by glaciers and we have over 32 active volcanoes here.

CNN Narrator: Scientists say the Askel volcano in Iceland's central highlands has risen about 80 centimeters in the past three years because of pressure building underneath it that's pushing the ground upwards. The theory is that magma, or 9pressurized gas, under a volcano increases as glaciers melt because the heavy ice no longer weighs down the Earth's crust, allowing magma to move more freely underground. And those 10subterranean pressure changes can 11permeate to areas which aren't directly under glaciers, like Askja, which is just north of the country's largest glacier. But with recent eruptions in Grindavik, a town in southwest Iceland, which not only put on a 12spectacular lava show, but also forced the 13evacuation of the town's residents, scientists are 14eager to learn more about what's triggering such 15volatility.

Freysteinn Sigmundsson, Geophysicist, University of Iceland: There are many benefits of volcanoes, all the geothermal heat, we heat all the houses with 16geothermal, so lots of benefits. But now with the activity in southwest Iceland where a lot of property has been destroyed and people have needed to move out, we are again reminded about how 17hazardous volcanoes are.

CNN Narrator: 18Preliminary results in one study show that in the last three decades, magma beneath Iceland was produced at a rate two to three times what it would have been without ice loss. A possible 19pressure cooker 20lurking in one of the world's most 21picturesque places.