This image, acquired on 15 April 2010 by Envisat’s Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS), shows the vast cloud of volcanic ash sweeping across the UK from the eruption in Iceland, more than 1000 km away. The ash, which can be seen as the large grey streak in the image, is drifting from west to east at a height of about 11 km above the surface Earth.
An enlarged view and story follows.
It seems the Volcano has accomplished what the nutballs of “Plane Stupid” could not – shut down UK airports, including Heathrow.
Flights have been disrupted across northern Europe by volcanic ash drifting south and east from Iceland.
Airspace was closed or flights cancelled in countries including the UK, the Republic of Ireland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland and France.
The ash, which can damage aeroplane engines, was produced by a volcanic eruption under a glacier in Iceland.
Flooding was reported as the glacier melted, and up to 800 people were evacuated from the area on Wednesday.
By Thursday afternoon, the UK had shut its airspace and other countries, from Belgium to Scandinavia, were in the process of following suit.
‘Wait and see’
UK airspace was shut down to all but emergency flights from midday (1100 GMT) on Thursday to 0700 BST (0600 GMT) on Friday, at the earliest. It was also closed in Ireland.
“Volcanic ash represents a significant safety threat to aircraft,” said the UK’s Air Traffic Control Service (Nats).
Airspace closed:
Oslo airport, which is Norway’s largest, was closed on Thursday morning, meaning Norwegian airspace was completely closed.
Belgium, Sweden and Denmark announced they would be shutting their entire airspace, northern Finland was closed and the Netherlands was being closed progressively.
French aviation officials said on Thursday afternoon that the main airports in Paris and other airports in the north of the country were to be closed.
more here
Can you imagine all the efforts in all these years by the european union to enforce GREEN LAWS for a GREEN ENVIRONMENT, all the jobs losts, all the broken economies, to be ruined in one single day?
Good reference for Lakagigar eruption and its effect.
http://english.ust.is/National-Parks/Protectedareas/Lakagigar/
I dont get it. Why would a thin ash cloud bearly reaching the northern part of scotland shut down airports in southern england and northern europe? I plead ignorance on this topic..so im wondering why its such big news?
The ash is tough on the lungs, gets into everything including computers, and isn’t easy to get rid of because its so abrasive. Its also makes roads very slick. I hope it doesn’t hit populated areas.
If dust masks run short, do what this clever Anchorage woman suggested when Mt. Redoubt was about to erupt. “I don’t bother buying dust masks, just use coffee filters to cover my face”.
It may be blowing our way for some time
http://www.metcheck.com/V40/UK/FREE/jetstream.asp
Gotto get right now the votes to pass Cap&Trade bill!. It’s now or never!, folks out there won’t believe a thing after all these volcanic eruptions, those f* earthquakes everywhere…call the prophet inmediately and tell him to invent a tale!
I can see it now, volcanic ash hides man made CO2 caused global warming by 2 degrees. I can see this now “Gore stated today that the real numbers will be shocking once eruption is over.”
Gore stated “We need to make sure this info is out, WWUT is hiding the real data….”
LOL
gcb (10:08:08) :
Tenuc (09:35:09) :
I though we asked the Icelanders to send us cash 🙂
Cash… ash… An honest mistake.
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Thanks for the laugh! Not often I laugh out loud at a post.
The topic of the day at work has been the eruption, with it being blamed, tongue in cheek, for all sorts of unlikely events; deliveries delayed by drifts of ash in Southampton for example. Pronunciation of Eyjafjallajökull has also been a hot topic.
As the listen-to on Wikipedia is in ogg format we had been unable to hear it, because we don’t have anything with ogg support at work. The BBC chickened out of trying to pronounce it at all, just calling it “the Icelandic volcano” too.
I have been going around telling everyone it’s pronounced Eyeful-o-yoghurt.
Half an hour ago we watched the sun going down. A complete washout. OK, it was “nice” but we’ve seen much better and it was absolutely nothing to write home about.
In case anyone read my earlier post about putting out some sticky tape – yes I got some dust, none of it looked “volcanic” under a powerful hand lens. Above the most intriguing thing was the small flies that got caught.
Latest Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia report from KVERT: SHEVELUCH, KLYUCHEVSKOY and KARYMSKY: ORANGE (Explosive-effusive eruption of the volcanos continues.) BEZYMIANNY: YELLOW
http://www.kscnet.ru/ivs/kvert/updates.shtml
USGS Alaska Volcano Observatory
All Green (see green is good ; )
http://www.avo.alaska.edu/activity/
Hernando (10:56:22) :
The volcano erupted because the glacier was melting. If the glacier had remained solid, this most likely would not have happened, because the environment above and around the volcano would not have changed. This is a perfect example of how global warming can trigger scary events that accelerate the process out of control. Now, surely other glaciers are melting faster because of this, thinning the barriers above other underground volcanoes
Sure. and they could also say: the 2004 Aceh Earthquake ( and the Tsunami that accompanied it ) happend, because the ocean warmed a bit…about .25 degC and the underground “boiling” did it.
If “They” can stop global warming by reducing CO2, why can’t “They” stop a small volcano puffing a bit?
Of course, silly me; it’s all in the mind. I forgot.
The comments are almost as good as the article. Loved the photos from the Boston site… This event will be spun in any direction that makes Algore more money.
I love this comment from KVERT; see John from CA (12:56:56) for the link.
“According to satellite data, a big thermal anomaly was registering over the volcano all week.”
Mike Haseler (12:56:54) :
Half an hour ago we watched the sun going down. A complete washout. OK, it was “nice” but we’ve seen much better and it was absolutely nothing to write home about.
In case anyone read my earlier post about putting out some sticky tape – yes I got some dust, none of it looked “volcanic” under a powerful hand lens. Above the most intriguing thing was the small flies that got caught.
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Calm observation is the path to understanding.
The NASA web site has an updated picture of the ash plume stretching to the Shetland Islands:
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/view.php?id=43670
Paul
You know the saying: “If the mountain does not goes to Mahommed…”
Hope this Eyjafjallajökull goes to visit Al Baby ☺
Let’s for the moment assume a worst case scenario and that this will result in a long destructive release of ash.
Are there scenarios by which we could blunt the effects. Could we, and this is just an example, pump water either fresh or seawater into the volcano and co-precipitate the ash with water vapour in the atmosphere? Aside from the potential of producing a George Carlinesque mudstorm, could this shorten the lifespan of suspended dust in the air?
This is a point source emission so it lends itself well to a point source action.
@PaulH
United and others will cancel any Europe-bound flights because they fly into the airspace and therefore can’t land because of the eruption.
Clearly, Iceland is suffering from a virgin shortage. I wonder if pitching a few Climate Change Scientists into the volcano instead might work.
To all WWUTers downwind of the ash clouds, I send my best wishes for minimal damage to persons, pets, and property.
Per Strandberg (12:15:20) :
I smell something rotten too. Last time I was in your neck of the woods, I could have sworn that Voss was east of Bergen. What happened, globull worming caused it to go west?
Well I’m stuck away from home thanks to grounded flights, so I have a slightly different interest in this than normal.
Hernando (10:56:22) :
Oh, so when there was an eruption here a couple hundred years ago, there was a similar round of global warming? I don’t think that’s on the hockey stick, so I guess you’ve confirmed it’s wrong.
Stephan (10:04:57) :
“R”? What’s that? (Besides a statisical programming language.) Richter scale? That’s pretty much no longer used, among its flaws it specified a particular type of seismograph. I think current earthquakes are described by the total energy released as measured by the Moment Magnitude.
Interesting point quoted on BBC radio 5 Live Drive this evening.
Apparently Friends of the Earth are celebrating the fact that the airports closure has saved loads of CO2 from being emitted today.
Somehow I fear that they’re only giving part of the story here…….