Iceland has lifted a ban on air traffic around the nation's largest volcanic system, as fears of an imminent eruption have subsided.

The Icelandic Met Office announced Sunday there had not been a small, sub-glacial eruption on Saturday, as previously thought, and, as a result, lowered the alert over the Bardarbunga volcano from red -- highest level on the country's five-point alert system -- to orange, according to a report by Agence France-Presse, or AFP.

A red alert signifies an eruption is imminent or underway with significant ash emissions likely.

"Presently there are no signs of ongoing volcanic activity," the IMO said on its website.

A major explosion at the Bardarbunga volcano, located under a glacier, could have initiated a replay of the global travel chaos that followed after another Icelandic volcano erupted four years ago, sending a massive ash cloud across Europe.

The red alert level called on Saturday resulted in the closure of airspace in the affected area though all the airports in the country remained opened.

Bardarbunga was hit by a 5.0-magnitude earthquake late Sunday, one of several large temblors felt throughout the day.

There have, in fact, been thousands of smaller quakes over the past week at Bardarbunga, prompting authorities to evacuate areas around the volcano, which is located in the central portion of the North Atlantic island nation, the AFP story said.

In April 2010, the eruption of Eyjafjoell, a smaller volcano, stranded more than 8 million people in the widest airspace shutdown since World War II.

As well, Iceland's most active sub-glacial volcano, Grimsvotn, erupted in 2011, forcing the nation to temporarily shut its airspace amid fears of an Eyjafjoell-type of travel nightmare.

Iceland is home to more than 100 volcanic mountains, according to AFP, some of which are among the most active in the world.