Another eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull Volcano in Iceland, another round of air traffic closures.
download large image (3 MB, JPEG)
After more than a week of relatively subdued activity in late April, Iceland’s Eyjafjallajokull Volcano began a fresh round of explosive ash eruptions in the first week of May. On the morning of May 6, 2010, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite captured this view of a thick plume of ash blowing east and then south from the volcano. Clouds bracket the edges of the scene, but the dark blue waters of the Atlantic Ocean show in the middle, and above them, a rippling, brownish-yellow river of ash.
Ash clouds like this are impressive to see, and they can have a dramatic influence on air quality and vegetation, including crops. In Iceland, the ash from Eyjafjallajokull has settled thickly on the ground, posing a threat to livestock and wildlife. The risk of engine damage due to ash has grounded European air traffic repeatedly.
Despite their dramatic appearance, however, these ash plumes are insignificant when it comes to long-term affects on global climate. What matters most to the climate isn’t even visible in images like this. For an eruption to have an influence on global climate, the event must be explosive enough to push sulfur dioxide into the stratosphere, which is above the altitude where rain and snow occur.
Sulfur dioxide turns into tiny droplets of sulfuric acid. These light-colored droplets cool the Earth by reflecting sunlight back to space. Because it doesn’t rain in the stratosphere, the droplets can linger for months or years. Massive eruptions can cool the global average surface temperature by several degrees for several years.
In most cases, though, high-latitude eruptions have little influence on global climate even when they are explosive enough to inject sulfur dioxide into the stratosphere; the reflective particles rarely have a chance to spread around the globe. Stratospheric air generally rises above tropical latitudes, spreads toward the poles, and then sinks back toward the lower atmosphere at high latitudes.
This circulation pattern means that stratospheric particles from eruptions in the tropics have a better chance of spreading all around the world, while particles from high-latitude eruptions are more likely to quickly sink back to lower altitudes. When they re-enter the troposphere, they are rapidly washed out of the atmosphere by rain and snow. Eyjafjallajokull’s high-latitude location means that its eruption probably won’t influence the global climate significantly.
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References
- Schmidt, G. (2006, May 16). Current volcanic activity and climate? RealClimate.org. Retrieved May 6, 2010.
Story from NASA Earth Observsatory
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The EyeFullofAsh Volcano certainly has an effect on Global Air Traffic, being that the whole system pancackes onto itself when European airtraffic is grounded.
The ash is pretty far reaching too as Israel is taking emergency precautions against these eruptions. http://www.jta.org/news/article/2010/05/10/2394737/volcanic-ash-cloud-nears-israel
“JERUSALEM (JTA) — A volcanic ash cloud that has closed airports throughout Europe is set to reach Israel.
The Israeli Transportation Ministry has begun emergency preparations for the volcanic ash cloud, which is expected to hit Israel on Monday night, according to reports.
The ministry may cancel airline flights due to the situation, Ynet reported.
Thousands of flights throughout Europe were canceled last month as a result of the cloud, formed after the eruption of the Mount Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland. Some airports also were forced to close this week.
It is feared that volcanic ash can damage an airplane’s engines. “
anyone know a good link for live ash cloud tracking? (my sis is stuck in spain!)
Ashland, soon to be Iceland:
http://www.weather.com/outlook/travel/businesstraveler/wxdetail/97520?dayNum=0
😉
Ah, but if Katla erupts…
Anthony — very professional of you to cite RC as a reference. It was one of the better discussions I’ve read there and I detected a “kinder, gentler” Gavin. Perhaps there’s hope yet for civility on all sides.
Looks like Europe just blew all the money devoted to pollution controls for the last century or so. The lesson, we don’t do it for Gaia, we do it to quit coughing.
Any evidence the nearby volcano is teaming up yet? Isn’t it believed that the next door bigger volcano shares the same lava reservoir? And isn’t it supposed to be the bigger one? I read in the news reports they seem to go off in pairs.
“For an eruption to have an influence on global climate, the event must be explosive enough to push sulfur dioxide into the stratosphere, which is above the altitude where rain and snow occur.” What is the height reached by this volcanoe’s erruptions? Are scientists monitoring the amount of SO2 being released?
mike says:
May 10, 2010 at 12:17 pm
anyone know a good link for live ash cloud tracking? (my sis is stuck in spain!)
This site is pretty good, it corresponds well with the visible plume where there are no clouds. My wife’s flight to Edinburg was cancelled early in the week and I checked it out and MODIS to see when she’d be able to go.
http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/aviation/vaac/vaacuk_vag.html
As Joe D’Aleo at ICECAP notes, a major eruption in Iceland, especially from Eyjafjallajokull’s larger neighbor, Katla, could impact the climate in the Northern Hemisphere.
“ICECAP NOTE: It is true that tropical volcanism has more global impact as the ash and aerosols travel north and south and affect most of the globe while high latitude volcanoes find ash and gases limited more to the higher latitudes and tend to have effects that don’t last as long. But research by Oman (2005) showed northern hemispheric high latitude volcanoes influence the Arctic and North Atlantic Oscillations which can have a profound effect on the climate as we saw last summer and then this past winter with Redoubt and Sarychev and may this summer and next winter with Eyjafjallajokull, especially if the eruptions continue and become stronger and if it excites nearby larger Katla into action as past eruptions have. The stratosphere is lower in the polar regions than in the tropics where eruptions need to get well above 55,000 feet to have long term impact. In the polar regions a 30,000-40,000 foot ash and aerosol cloud can have impact. Some of the biggest eruptions in April and again May 6th reached above 30,000 feet. Read more on high latitude volcanoes here. “
The last 48 hours has shown a significant increase in earthquake activity in this area. I keep my eyes on the large “white patch” just to the East which is the glacier on top of Katla.
http://en.vedur.is/earthquakes-and-volcanism/earthquakes/myrdalsjokull/
Expat in France says:
May 10, 2010 at 12:37 pm
Ah, but if Katla erupts…
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This site seems to have some information but I am not sure how truthful they are. They talked of a “major” earthquake at Katla but the only information I could find said it was around a 2.
“(5/5/10)Today, the activity in Iceland
……The 2 small earthquakes at Eyja are nothing out of the ordinary during an eruption, but what is interesting is that Katla also experienced a small quake within a short amount of time of the Eyja quakes…..
If you would like to review the earthquake data, it is available at this link:
http://en.vedur.is/earthquakes-and-volcanism/earthquakes/myrdalsjokull/ “
Read more: http://scienceray.com/earth-sciences/iceland-volcano-katla-and-eyjafjallajokull-earthquakes-update-5710/#ixzz0nYj3Nisn
So…all green europeans becoming gray. Interesting times indeed, hope for more skeptic behaviour from mother gaia. Check for Cancun´s closest volcanoes…just in case.
Ashland, Pennsylvania seems just fine right now. That’s where you”ll find the Pioneer Tunnel Coal Mine and Steam Train tours. Go deep inside an actual anthracite coal mine, far away from wi-fi and cell phone reception, if you dare.
I love this note on the Schedules page:
The way temps have been running lately here in central PA, inside a coal mine is running warmer than the outdoors. You might have to take a layer off!
noaaprogrammer says:
May 10, 2010 at 12:49 pm
See: http://www.evropusamvinna.is/page/ies_Eyjafjallajokull_eruption
Most of it is in english.
The volcano has indeed affected air traffic in Europe mainland, more so than in Iceland. The main international airport in Keflavik (near Reykjavik) has only been closed for a few days, but the airport in Akureyri has been open at the same time so the country has really never been isolated.
The volcanic eruption in Eyjafjallajökull glacier is localized to a small
part of the country – directly affecting only around 2 dozens of farmsteads
or so. Some ash has fallen in the small village Vík where about 300 persons live.
Day-to-day life continues here in Iceland apart from the directly affected areas
of the volcanic eruption in south Iceland, businesses are open as usual and
society at large functions normally.
FAQ: http://www.iceland.is/qanda/nr/8320
‘Sulfur dioxide turns into tiny droplets of sulfuric acid.’
pfft, sulfur dioxide turns into mirrors, and sulfur acid is what humans out gassed in the 80’s, hence the acid rain back then, just ask the greenies. :p
The El Chichon volcano is the closest to Cancun, so it could cooperate with the next climate jamboree… (cross your fingers!)
http://www.volcanodiscovery.com/en/volcanoes/mexico/el_chichon/
I wuold like to know what does this closing of airports mean again. Who’s game is it? If one looks at the satelite (Eumetsat animation – may 4-9 <a href="http://xmarinx.sweb.cz//volcanic-dust-04-05-10-to-09-05-10-v2.gif" title=”http://xmarinx.sweb.cz//volcanic-dust-04-05-10-to-09-05-10-v2.gif” rel=”nofollow”> – one quite clearly sees the ash was circling between Iceland and Greenland last 5 days and one minor branch of the cloud went slightly through northern Spain and dissipated then in western mediteranean, so one much doesn’t understand why they’re shutting airports in the central Europe. Moreover there was this in the Czech media: “Transatlantic flights will be diverted through Greenland, declares the european agency Eurocontrol.” Why the heck would they send the airplanes on transantlantic lines in the most extreme ash concentration area – as quite clearly shows the satelite – and at the same time close central European airports – some thousands miles from Iceland, where no significant ash cloud can be detected? Classical eurobureaucracy stunt or something more? Anybody?
There were reports that actually there are multiple NATO military drills in several European countries including Germany going on. Do they need the clear skies?
Can it, Katla. It doesn’t have to get that cold that fast. We’ve got ’em on the run.
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Ash tracking: http://www.weatheronline.co.uk/cgi-app/volcanic?LANG=en&ART=0
I’ve been keeping an eye on this since I have some travel coming up. The first set of airspace closures only meant an 8 hour train journey home instead of a 1 hour flight for me, but this time it would be “do I get to go?” and “if I do, can I get home again?”
The live streaming webcams of the volcano are cool (the first link also has an infrared camera):
http://eldgos.mila.is/eyjafjallajokull-fra-thorolfsfelli/
http://eldgos.mila.is/eyjafjallajokull-fra-hvolsvelli/
This is turning into a very robust eruption.
Very beautiful picture!
Now we need to wait two years and then upload it to, say the wikipedia together with a text that says it’s the exhaust from a new aluminium smeltering plant on Iceland…
Iceland is like the hotrod going down the road–they’re pretty much immune to the ash outpouring. Those behind them, downwind, are not so lucky.
Environmental impacts over an extended period of time of activity over Iceland and the EU are probably not going to be good. Travel delays and reroutes will be a nasty problem, as well. The constant feed of ash and gases into the lower and middle atmosphere affecting millions of people for weeks or months is going to take a toll. Icelandic eruptions are never good for this region of the world.