The Tectonic Plates are pulling it so a few centimetres every year. But they dont seem to smoothly pull apart, they go through pulses of higher activity, and this is likely what we are seeing right now. What were seeing right now. In 2010, in the south of the country, another eruption generated a giant ash cloud. It exploded through an Ice Sheet which pulverised the ash into an even finer material, disrupting Air Travel across europe. Its unlikely the same thing will happen now. Theres no glacier here. Instead, the lava is erupting through fissures, cracks in the ground. The 2010 eruption was over in a matter of months, but scientists think this could see lots of smaller eruptions, over a much longer period. But over a much longer period. The probability is once its begun its going to keep going for some time, and so that isnt great news