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An ash cloud crisis even worse than the Icelandic eruption, which grounded thousands of flights four years ago, could be possible, scientists have claimed.

The warning comes after the discovery that volcanic ash has travelled from Alaska to Northern Ireland - overturning previously held assumptions about the distances deposits could drift.

It is the first evidence that ash clouds can travel across the vast Atlantic Ocean.

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Queen's University Belfast scientists found volcanic ash had travelled from Alaska to Northern Island. It is the first evidence that suggest ash clouds (stock image shown) can cross the Atlantic. This could mean airways are more susceptible to volcanoes than first thought

Dr Sean Pyne-O'Donnell, from Queen's University Belfast (QUB), who helped conduct the research, said it could have major implications for the aviation industry.

He said: 'The usefulness is the awareness that such a thing can happen.

'Airlines are always interested in risk management. This allows them to be better prepared for such eventualities.'

Academics have traced ash found in sites across Europe, including Sluggan Bog near Randalstown in County Antrim, Northern Ireland to the so-called White River Ash resulting from the eruption of the Alaskan volcano, Mount Bona-Churchill, in 847AD.

Chemical 'fingerprinting' was used to match the White River Ash to tephra layers - material produced by volcanoes - in Ireland, Norway, Germany and Greenland. 

For 20 years it was believed these layers had come from Iceland - the source of most ash in Europe.

In 2010, plumes spewed out by the volcano Eyjafjallajokull in Iceland caused major disruption and grounded over 100,000 international flights, costing airlines more than £2 billion ($3.1 billion).

Volcanoes like Mount Bona-Churchill in Alaska are much more volatile and are scheduled to erupt on average every 100 years, increasing the risk of another ash cloud drama with consequences for transatlantic as well as European travel.

Plane creates ash cloud to help test volcanic ash detector

In 2010, plumes spewed out by the volcano Eyjafjallajokull in Iceland caused major disruption and grounded over 100,000 international flights (image shown), costing airlines more than £2 billion ($3.1 billion). The latest findings suggest a similar disruption from another volcano may not be as unlikely as thought

Dr Pyne-O'Donnell, from Queen's School of Geography, Archaeology and Paleoecology, added: 'If this was to happen again, which is not improbable, it would have massive implications for airspace.

'This is a very large area and is very busy with travel. There could be large-scale disruption.'

The findings were made by QUB scientists in partnership with an international team of academics and have been published in the journal Geology

Researchers also speculate that other tephra layers from similar transatlantic eruptions may yet be uncovered in other Irish sites.