The eruption of a volcano in Iceland has the skies over the UK and Europe filled with ash. Like what happened on 9/11 in the USA, planes are landing everywhere and staying out of the skies. Volcanic ash eats scours jet turbines, making in flight failure almost a certainty.
There’s a cool website called flightradar24.com which is operated by a volunteer network of aviation enthusiasts with special receivers. They describe it as:
Flightradar24.com shows live airplane traffic from different parts around the world. The technique to receive flight information from airplanes is called ADS-B. That means the Flightradar24.com can only show information about airplanes equipped with ADS-B transponders. Today about 60% of the passenger airplanes and only a small amount of military and private airplanes have an ADS-B transponder. Flightradar24.com has a network of about 100 ADS-B receivers around the world that receives the information from airplanes with ADS-B and sends this information to a server, and then displays this information on a map on Flightradar24.com. Only airplanes within the coverage area of the 100 receivers are visible.
Watch as airplanes disappear from the skies over the UK and Europe. Here’s about 8AM PST. Blue X’s are receivers.
Two hours later:
…and at the time of this posting, 2PM PST, with a wider view:
And the ash continues to spread:
Basil (15:05:07) :
Mike J (14:31:26) :
Are we likely to see any cooling over Europe over the next 2 or 3 years from this event?
Not from this alone. Maybe if it keeps it up for a few months. Or causes the more dangerous Katla to erupt.
Judging by the color of the clouds and their height it’s more likely to cause warming.
Very nice video from Sky News.
Volcanic Ash Clouds To Head Deep Into Europe
http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/UK-News/Iceland-Volcano-Weather-Forecast-Shows-Wind-Pushing-Ash-Clouds-Deep-Into-Europe-Over-Next-24-Hours/Article/201004315603464?lpos=UK_News_Top_Stories_Header_4&lid=ARTICLE_15603464_Iceland_Volcano%3A_Weather_Forecast_Shows_Wind_Pushing_Ash_Clouds_Deep_Into_Europe_Over_Next_24_Hours
10:24pm UK, Thursday April 15, 2010
David Williams, Sky News Online
“Despite huge disruption to British flights, the volcanic ash cloud has not affected our weather.”
Dave Wendt (15:31:37) :
How does anyone really know what stresses caused the eruption?
It could just as easily be a weakened magnetic field letting things go.
We should look for hastily chiseled messages in Pompei and Herculaneum for telltale clues.
Stan (14:54:52) :
“Prop planes don’t have a problem – time to get those DC3’s out of mothballs.”
They do. They even have carburetors and all.
The Gods are NOT happy about AR4!!
Stan (14:54:52) :
Prop planes don’t have a problem – time to get those DC3’s out of mothballs.
Props get chewed up, too. Mt St Helens generated a lot of business for the light plane windscreen industry. Not all recip engine planes have air filters, and most of the DC3’s have been fitted with turboprops, which are unfiltered and suffer the same effects as pure jets.
We used to get re-routes on the Tokyo runs due to volcanoes popping off in Kamchatka and Alaska. You could often see long plumes down below in the 20’s.
@ur momisugly DirkH (15:29:49) :
Hmmm… Is Xenu back?
http://www.xenu.net/
I live near a small flight path near Bristol UK.
Its been really really peaceful today.
I hope it erupts for about 18 months as it did in 1821. Then I won’t have to listen to the devil mosquitoes all summer.
Why would there be a problem tracking air force one. Like really isn’t it the only aircraft on this planet that receives and transmits every possible protocol in existence? But even if that weren’t the whole case, AFO is probably the only aircraft out there that transmits so much “noise” all the time.
rbateman (15:46:07) :
Dave Wendt (15:31:37) :
How does anyone really know what stresses caused the eruption?
It could just as easily be a weakened magnetic field letting things go.
We should look for hastily chiseled messages in Pompei and Herculaneum for telltale clues.
In the words of one my childhood cartoon heroes, Foghorn Leghorn, “it was a joke, son”
rbateman (15:46:07) :
Iceland is at the pole of rotation of the mid-Atlantic Ridge. Away from the pole of rotation all the lava is erupted on the ocean floor. Due to the very low spreading speed near Iceland all the lava has piled up to form the island. The stresses which are causing the spreading are due to huge convection cells in the mantle.
So, if the eruption last long enough to cause a volcanic winter, where would the effects be seen first?
Mike J (14:31:26) :
“Are we likely to see any cooling over Europe over the next 2 or 3 years from this event?”
Basil (15:05:07) [response]:
“Not from this alone. Maybe if it keeps it up for a few months. Or causes the more dangerous Katla to erupt.”
So far, the amount of SO2 addition is barely noticeable:
http://sacs.aeronomie.be/nrt/index.php?Year=2010&Month=04&Day=15&Region=105
Not weather, but there has been some discussion about HF (Hydrogen fluoride) which Icelandic volcanoes tend to have more of… for some reason. It turns into Hydrofluoric Acid when it mixes with water… (if strong enough, can dissolve glass) and has been known to kill off livestock (along with the shards of silica in the fallout) and cause serious respiratory issues. Last I have heard, no one has a good ash sample yet to find out just how much HF is present.
A nice paper about the dynamics of how Iceland came to be Iceland.
http://www.itv.is/ics2005/Data/A0.1/bjonsson_pa.pdf
With this display of vulcanism, someone is going to ‘rubberish’ the climate impacts.
If this eruption goes on for months or years, will this be the signature of a climate ash hole?
SSam (16:56:26) :
Thanks, what a great site!
Any idea why there is so much SO2 over the Arctic?
http://sacs.aeronomie.be/nrt/index.php?Year=2010&Month=04&Day=15&point.x=96&point.y=14&Region=104
Did the toads give any warning of this? Or is Iceland toad-free and vulnerable?
In any case, this is quite amazing, especially if it keeps going and/or gets worse. Anything is possible.
Al Gored (17:11:51)–
Alarmist toadies are the worst.
And this huge disruption of air traffic is from a (so far) only relatively minor eruption. If there was a Pinatubo-scale eruption in Iceland that went on for several months; and assuming prevailing winds towards Europe most of the time; it would fairly well paralyze much of the continent.
Note preceding comments by others about cars and piston-engine aircraft are well taken:
A friend of mine was up in the eastern Cascades with his astronomy club when Mt. Saint Helens blew. They were well outside the direct impact zone, but were close enough that they got significant ash-fall; enough that they had to stop and empty their air cleaners several times: Their cars keep stalling on the long, slow drive out.
SUMMARY: Modern combustion-powered ”conveniences” do not play well during heavy ash fall; i.e.: Most things that sucks even moderate quantities of air are in trouble. . . . Including humans: breathing ash in any significant quantities not a good plan.
Anyone know what the VEI of this one is?
Watch as the Goreacle attributes any resulting cooling to the lack of air traffic and not the volcanic ash.
OT,
But, what occurred on the 5th to drop the Oulu Nuetron Monitor so far??
Looks like three steps total the last few weeks.
http://cosmicrays.oulu.fi/
“Volcanic ash eats scours jet turbines, making in flight failure almost a certainty.”
It is not the abrasive qualities of volcanic ash that causes turbojet engines to fail, the ash melts as it passes through the burners and then condenses as it cools on its way through the turbine. From the Wikipedia account of the British Airways flight 9 …
“As the aircraft flew through the ash, it melted in the combustion chamber of the engine and stuck to the inside of the power-plant. As the engine cooled from not running and as the aircraft descended out of the ash cloud, the molten ash solidified and enough broke off to allow air to flow smoothly through the engine allowing a successful restart.”
http://www.bing.com/reference/semhtml/British_Airways_Flight_9?q=boeing+747+glider+volcano
Strange, the very first thing I thought about when I read this was “What about all of those windmill bearings?” or “How to turn all your power Gray”.
As a biological scientist I have the same feeling about reliance of “hand to mouth – Green sources of carbon energy”.