A small eruption has occurred north of Iceland's Bardarbunga volcano prompting the Icelandic Met Office to raise the warning code for aviation to red, the highest level.

According to the geologists, a fissure eruption 1km long started in a lava field north of the Vatnajokull glacier.

Icelandic Air Traffic Control had closed the airspace above the eruption up to a height of 5,000ft (1,500m), civil protection officials said.

According to the Department of Civil Protection, the fissure eruption took place between Askja caldera and Dyngjujokull Glacier.

The Icelandic Met Office has said that so far no volcanic ash had been detected but a coast guard aircraft was due to take off later to survey the site.

According to Bjorn Oddsson, who is a geophysicist at Iceland's Iceland's Department of Civil Protection and Emergency Management, the current eruption is not affecting air travel.

Till now, the Icelandic Met Office had kept its aviation warning level at orange, it's second-highest. Scientists have said they were inspecting cauldrons found near Bardarbunga volcano that could be a sign of an eruption.

The cauldrons, depressions in the volcano's surface, each between 10-15m deep and 1km wide, were seen during a flight on Wednesday.