An eruption has started in Iceland's most active volcano Grimsvotn, according to reports reaching Stockholm from Reykjavik on Saturday.

Smoke rises from the Grimsvotn volcano, Saturday, May 21, 2011 in Reykjavik, Iceland. Iceland's most active volcano has started erupting, scientists said Saturday - just over a year after another eruption on the North Atlantic island shut down European air traffic for days. [Xinhua/AFP Photo]

The smoke from the eruption can be seen from many places in south Iceland, Iceland's television channel RUV said in a report.

Iceland's Meteorological Office also confirmed that an eruption had begun in Grimsvotn.

"All indications are that an eruption will start in this area," Icelandic geologist Hjorleifur Sveinbjornsson was quoted as saying earlier on Saturday by the local media.

But scientists in Iceland believed that the new eruption in Grimsvotn could be small and would not lead to a repeat of the air travel chaos in Europe one year ago, which was caused by ashes from the Eyjafjallajokul volcano's eruption.

Located in the middle of the Vatnajokull glacier, Grimsvotn is the most active volcano in Iceland, with major eruptions recorded in 1922, 1933, 1934, 1938, 1945, 1954, 1983, 1998 and 2004. Most of the eruptions lasted one to three weeks.