With its geothermal assets put in the spotlight² by the volcano ash that has grounded much of Europe's air traffic, Iceland on Saturday urged visitors stranded³ there to take a free dip in its thermal¹ pools.

冰岛火山喷发形成的大量火山灰致使欧洲大量航班停飞，而该国的地热资源也因此成为人们关注的焦点。冰岛有关部门于上周六表示，被困在冰岛境内的游客可前往该国的温泉池免费泡温泉。

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This aerial image shows the crater at the summit of the volcano in southern Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull glacier Saturday April 17, 2010.

"We have bubbling（冒泡，鼓泡） hot waters, spas（矿泉，温泉） , saunas（桑拿浴） and heated water pools to swim in," Svanhildur Konradsdottir, chairwoman of the Icelandic Tourist Council, said.

The tourist body said it had offered all stranded（搁浅的） visitors free access to the capital Reykjavik's eight pools, which have temperatures ranging from 29 to 42 C (84 to 108 degrees Farenheit). Konradsdottir said the uptake had been tremendous.

"There are loads of people out and about, the response has been incredible," she told the reporters, adding that despite the volcano spewing（呕吐，喷涌） soot⁶（煤烟，烟灰） into the atmosphere, the skies were sunny and blue over the city.

The eruption⁷ is taking place under the Eyjafjallajokull glacier, normally a popular hiking ground about 120 km (75 miles) southeast of the capital.

A cloud of ash from the volcano has drifted southeast across Europe, grounding thousands of flights and stranding⁸ passengers worldwide.

Flights are operating on regular schedules between Iceland and the United States but service from the island nation to other destinations is limited by the airport shutdowns caused by the ash plume⁹（羽毛，烟羽） .