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 Volcanoe in Glaciar Erupts! 
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Post Volcanoe in Glaciar Erupts!
State of emergency declared after Icelandic volcano erupts, first since 1823
(1)
Sunday, March 21st, 2010 at 2:39 am

REYKJAVIK (BNO NEWS) -- A state of emergency was declared on Sunday after the Eyjafjallajökull volcano erupted in southern Iceland, the Icelandic Civil Defense said.

It said the surrounding area is being evacuated and that Red Cross shelters are being set up. Ash is falling down in nearby towns.

It is the first eruption of the volcano since 1823.

Another one: (2)

Quote:
A volcanic eruption has just begun under the Eyjafjallajökull glacier. This has been verified by local authorities in neighbouring Hvolsvöllur. Vísir reports that farms in the Fljótshlíð area and by Markarhlíð are already being evacuated. Locals in the area have confirmed that they are viewing flames and a steady stream of lava from the glacier.

Eyjafjallajökull is an active central volcano. There is reportedly no recorded history of catastrophic eruptions in the area. The volcano last erupted 189 years ago and apparently caused a lot of ash fall in the area. Although speculation on the subject is pretty much useless (especially since your loving team of Grapevine reporters isn't really comprised of geologists or anything, although we scored pretty well in the subject in high school), folks are saying that besides the ash fall the greatest danger lies in glacier bursts or runs stemming from all that hot hot heat melting the glacier. There might be a bunch of water flooding the area pretty soon.

ANYWAY, this is all moot speculation. What we know at the moment is that a volcanic eruption is indeed occurring under the Eyjafjallajökull glacier, and that lava is really, really hot.

More on this as it develops. Hey, we might even be able to get you some pictures. Stay tuned.


(1)
http://wireupdate.com/wires/2419/state- ... ince-1823/

(2)
http://www.grapevine.is/News/ReadArticl ... allajokull

:puter

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Sat Mar 20, 2010 9:44 pm
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Post Re: Volcanoe in Glaciar Erupts!
Hat tip to guanosphere

Iceland waits for volcanic shoe to drop


* 18:24 22 March 2010 by Nic Fleming

Icelandic communications links and even transatlantic flights could be disrupted by a second, more destructive volcano following this weekend's eruption.

Some 500 people were evacuated from their homes after the Eyjafjallajökull volcano 120 kilometres south-east of Reykjavik shot ash and molten lava into the air on Saturday night.

Initial fears that the eruption had occurred directly beneath the Eyjafjallajökull glacier – which could have caused glacial melt, flooding and mudslides – proved unfounded.

But volcanologists have warned that previous Eyjafjallajökull eruptions have triggered eruptions of neighbouring Katla, one of the largest volcanoes in Iceland. Katla erupted every 40 to 80 years in the thousand years before the last eruption in 1918.

"The eruption is long overdue at Katla and there is quite a bit of anxiety in Iceland about the potential size of eruption," says Dave McGarvie of the Open University in Milton Keynes, UK.

Coast changer

The larger volcano, beneath the larger Mýrdalsjökull glacier, has a reputation for triggering huge jökulhlaup – the Icelandic term for the sudden release of meltwater from glaciers and ice sheets. Its last eruption generated a peak discharge of 1.6 million cubic metres per second within 4 to 5 hours and moved so much debris that Iceland's coastline was extended by 4 kilometres.

A new Katla eruption would be unlikely to kill anyone, because the area is sparsely populated and eruptions are usually preceded by earthquakes that would give plenty of time to evacuate. It would cut the main road link in the south of the island, however.

Because air is thinner closer to the poles, the giant cloud of fine particles released would reach higher in the atmosphere than would dust from volcanoes in most other countries. Depending on the wind, this could disrupt air travel in the north Atlantic, forcing aircraft travelling between the UK and Scandinavian countries and North America to take slower, more expensive routes further south than normal.

History repeats

The three eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull in the last 1100 years – in 920, 1612 and 1821 – have all triggered larger Katla eruptions.

"With the current methods we have of resolving the plumbing systems of these volcanoes we can't explain why one triggers the other, but we know there is a symbiotic relationship," says McGarvie.

Iceland is well prepared for volcanoes, with sophisticated monitoring systems combining GPS, seismometers and satellite data as well as established civil defence plans.

A quarter of the island's population died from the famine that resulted from the 1783 eruption of the Laki volcano, the worst in modern times in high latitudes. It sent a huge cloud of haze across Europe and parts of North America, triggering dramatic climatic changes, from the largest recorded snowfall in New Jersey to one of the longest droughts seen in Egypt.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn1 ... -drop.html

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Mon Mar 22, 2010 7:45 pm
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Post Re: Volcanoe in Glaciar Erupts!
Two MAJOR and Un Presidented Avalanches in Revelstoke BC and now this...

Hmmmmmmmmm

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Mon Mar 22, 2010 8:00 pm
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Post Re: Volcanoe in Glaciar Erupts!
Nice pic of these Eyjafjallajökull -Glacier Volcano-: (1) Snow + Fire
Image

Online Web Cam:

http://dagskra.ruv.is/extra/

Earlier Footage:


(1)
http://scienceblogs.com/eruptions/

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Wed Mar 24, 2010 12:19 pm
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Post Re: Volcanoe in Glaciar Erupts!
800 evacuated as Iceland volcano erupts

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(CNN) -- Icelandic authorities evacuated about 800 people early Wednesday when a volcano erupted beneath the Eyjafjallajokull glacier, an emergency spokesman said.

The first evacuations began at 2 a.m. (10 p.m. ET Tuesday), according to Rognvaldur Olafsson, chief inspector at Iceland's Department of Civil Protection and Emergency Management. He said everyone in the area was safe. :heart

"We have located the fissure that is erupting under the glacier," Olafsson told CNN. He said scientists are currently doing aerial reconnaissance of the area and that officials would know more when they return.

So far, he said, the eruption has created a large hole in the glacier. Lava is not a big concern but flooding is, he said.

"The volcano is under the glacier and it's melting parts of the glacier," Olafsson said. "The rivers will rise and potentially make some damage."

Rivers closest to the glacier have already started rising, he added.

The glacier is the sixth-biggest in Iceland, just to the west of the bigger glacier, Myrdalsjokull. It is about 100 miles (160 km) east of the capital, Reykjavik.

A map from the Icelandic Meteorological Office showed seismic activity of between 1 and 2 magnitude in the area around the glacier Wednesday morning.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/04/14/iceland.volcano.evacuation/index.html?hpt=T2

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Wed Apr 14, 2010 6:28 am
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Post Re: Volcanoe in Glaciar Erupts!
Travel chaos as ash closes air space :huh
By the CNN Wire Staff

London, England (CNN) -- A huge plume of volcanic ash sweeping in from Iceland forced the closure of air space over five countries Thursday causing travel chaos across Northern Europe.

Britain and Ireland moved first to shut their air space for six hours from midday, followed by planned closures over Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands.

Denmark's air space agency Navair confirmed its skies will close from 6 p.m (12 p.m. ET). Amsterdam's Schiophol Airport says that Dutch air space will shut down from 7 p.m. local (1 p.m. ET) and Sweden's aviation authority, LFV says its air space will close from 10 p.m. (4 p.m. ET).

It is not known when they will re-open. :awe

There were no exact figures for how many flights were being affected by the closures, but it could affect thousands of flights and tens of thousands of passengers around the world.

Many airports were already shut and flights were grounded across the United Kingdom on Thursday because of the ash, which came after an eruption under an Icelandic glacier early Wednesday, airport authorities said.

The ash cloud came from an eruption of a volcano beneath Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull glacier early Wednesday.

The eruption -- the latest in a series that began on March 20 -- blew a hole in the mass of ice and created a cloud of smoke and ash that went high into the air.

The volcano was still active Thursday, creating floods in the area and producing a lot of volcanic ash, a spokesman for Iceland's Department of Civil Protection and Emergency Management told CNN.

The disruption was already causing havoc for air travel around the world.

"There will be an immediate impact today in terms of passengers not being able to travel," said independent air transport consultant John Strickland, of JLS Consulting in England. "The key thing is we don't know how long it's going to last ... but even if that were to be resolved, it will take some significant time for airlines to recover."

At Denmark's Copenhagen airport, the cloud was having a minor impact on arrivals and departures, but more widespread disruption is expected in the afternoon, according to spokesman Bente Kornbo.

Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport was still open but warned on its Web site of disruption in northern Europe later in the day. In Germany, the Hamburg airport was open but flights to England, Norway, and Sweden were either canceled or delayed, a spokeswoman there said.

Stockholm Airport canceled around 20 flights to the rest of Europe and around 20 domestic flights, but a spokesman there said they expect the number to increase and the airport may shut later in the day.

Flights to or from Norway and Britain were canceled from several Spanish airports, the Spanish Airports and Air Navigation authority said.

Flights to the United Kingdom from Japan, Hong Kong, India and Australia were also affected. Etihad Airways announced that five flights between Abu Dhabi and England were canceled Thursday.

A spokeswoman at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris said the airport remained open.

Manchester Airport spokesman Russell Craig said the ash poses a threat to aircraft, even if it isn't visible in the air.

"If you think about the way an aircraft engine works, it sucks in air, it compresses it, forces it out on the other side. That creates thrust," Craig told CNN. "If that air were mixed with ash, it can cause engine failure and electrical difficulties with an aircraft. It's happened before, and the aircraft didn't come out the other end in one piece."

Eric Moody was the pilot aboard a British Airways flight that managed to fly through volcanic ash thrown up by Mount Galunggung in Indonesia in 1982. All four of the engines stopped because of the ash, and the plane glided through the air for about 15 minutes, he told CNN on Thursday. :shock:

"The engines just ran down," Moody said. "We couldn't see out the windscreen and half the electronic aids to landing weren't working, either."

Passengers were told to prepare for an emergency crash landing, with Moody making this now-famous announcement to passengers: "Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, It's Captain Eric Moody here. We've got a small problem in that all four engines have failed. We're doing our utmost to get them going, and I trust you're not in too much distress." :spit

Eventually at 13,000 feet, the engines started working again and the plane was able to land. That, said Moody, is why this Icelandic ash could be so dangerous.

"I don't know how thick this ash is, but I wouldn't go anywhere near it," Moody said.

CNN's Claudia Rebaza, Teresa Martini, and Melissa Gray contributed to this report.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/TRAVEL/04/15/iceland.flights/index.html?hpt=T1

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Thu Apr 15, 2010 6:17 am
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Post Re: Volcanoe in Glaciar Erupts!
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No flights until 7am: UK airport terminals deserted after giant volcanic ash cloud turns Britain into a no-fly zone

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z0lBprcf1k


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... rists.html

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Post Re: Volcanoe in Glaciar Erupts!
:awe

Talk about TEOTWAWKI!!!!!!! :shock:

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Thu Apr 15, 2010 12:26 pm
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Post Re: Volcanoe in Glaciar Erupts!
Hi All!

As of this morning Frankfurt is closed (one of the biggest hubs in europe).
Vienna airport will be closing within the next few hours.

one more funny fact: apparently the last time this volcano errupted/became active some 200 years ago, it did so for a couple of years!!!

lotsa love,
phishy

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Fri Apr 16, 2010 3:37 am
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Post Re: Volcanoe in Glaciar Erupts!
:wavey Phishy - thanks for the update!

Quote:
one more funny fact: apparently the last time this volcano errupted/became active some 200 years ago, it did so for a couple of years!!!


Not good - not good at all. Funny how our "modern" world is now so vulnerable to acts of nature, isn't it? :hmm

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Fri Apr 16, 2010 6:02 am
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Post Re: Volcanoe in Glaciar Erupts!
How volcanoes can change the world

Editor's note: Rosanne D'Arrigo is a senior research scientist at the Tree-Ring Laboratory of the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in Palisades, New York. She is also the associate director of the Biology and Paleoenvironment Division at the observatory.

Palisades, New York (CNN) -- The recent volcanic eruption in Iceland is stranding hundreds of thousands of air travelers at Heathrow Airport in the UK and other airports across northern Europe, due to its voluminous clouds of volcanic ash that can clog airplane engines and limit visibility.

However, this is by no means the first such volcanic eruption in Iceland to affect human activities. Long before the advent of air travel, the eruption of Iceland's Laki volcano in 1783-84 had profound effects on climate, not just in Iceland but around the globe.

Volcanologists Thorvaldur Thordarson and Stephen Self estimated that a comparable event in the modern era would release enough ash and other eruptive materials into the atmosphere that the resulting ash cloud and sulfuric haze would probably disrupt air travel over much of the Northern Hemisphere for about five months. But there were impacts well afield of Iceland and Europe at the time of Laki.

Besides releasing clouds of ash into the atmosphere that can disrupt visibility and damage airplane engines, eruptions can cool the climate with the reflection of incoming solar radiation from the troposphere by volcanic sulfur-rich ash, which can decrease temperatures significantly for months or years in some cases.

Just such an aerosol effect is believed to have disrupted the Earth's thermal balance during the Laki event, cooling some Northern Hemisphere regions by as much as 1 or more degrees Celsius below the long-term average.

Highly unusual conditions were described in the summer of 1783 after Laki, including poisonous volcanic fumes that killed perhaps 25 percent of the population of Iceland, persistent haze and oppressive heat in Europe, and blood-red sunrises over North America, Europe and other locations. The Laki eruption was believed to have caused thousands of deaths because of unusual conditions in Europe that summer, along with the severe cold of the following winter.

Benjamin Franklin was one of the first to suggest that the extreme cold of 1783-84 over much of the Northern Hemisphere was connected to the Laki event. In North America, Laki has been blamed for the starvation of Inuit populations from severe cold in northwestern Alaska, based on Inuit oral history as well as tree-ring density data investigated by Gordon Jacoby and others, who estimated that conditions were about 4 degrees Celsius colder than the mean.

The density record of temperature-sensitive white spruce for this region showed extremely low values in the summer of 1783, known in Inuit lore as "the summer that did not come".

This observation was used to infer that this was the coldest summer in at least the past 400 years. :shock:

Such tree-ring records, along with other so-called proxy archives, can provide a wealth of information about volcanic events and their varying impacts around the globe because of resulting shifts in atmospheric circulation and other climate changes, dating for centuries prior to the period of instrumental record.

The effects of major volcanic eruptions such as Laki can also be felt elsewhere on the globe, often far from their actual location. For example, significant cooling and strong dynamical effects after the Laki event and other high-latitude eruptions are believed to have caused decreased flow of the Nile River in Egypt and weakened African and Asian monsoons based on climate model simulations, with potentially very significant impacts on food and water supplies.

Tree-ring, coral and ice core records also indicate the effect of major volcanic events in the tropics of monsoon Asia for low-latitude eruptions such as that of Tambora, Indonesia, in 1815 and other such events of the past several centuries, although this climate signal is also complicated by the El Niño-Southern Oscillation.

Although the current eruption of Eyjafjallajoekull in Iceland appears not to be comparable in intensity to those of Laki and Tambora, it will have some effects, such as those on air travel, that were never realized back in those simpler times.

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Rosanne D'Arrigo.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/04/16/darrigo.volcano.impact/index.html?hpt=C1

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Fri Apr 16, 2010 10:16 am
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Post Re: Volcanoe in Glaciar Erupts!
Experts Seek Clues to How Long Eruption Will Go On
By HENRY FOUNTAIN

Image

A computer enhanced image of the volcano under the Eyjafjallajokull glacier in Iceland taken by the TerraSAR-X satellite on Thursday evening

As an Icelandic volcano spewed more ash on Friday, disrupting air travel in Europe for a second day, the big question for scientists was how long the eruption might continue.

The answer will go a long way toward determining any lasting impact on air travel, climate and health. But experts said that, for now, the question was essentially unanswerable.

“This may have been it,” said Colin Macpherson, a professor in the department of earth science at the University of Durham in England. “Alternatively it may be that we’re seeing the beginning of prolonged activity.”

Jennie Gilbert, a professor at the University of Lancaster in England who has studied Icelandic volcanoes, said: “I don’t think there’s any general feeling for how this volcano will operate. My best guess is that it will be explosive for a few days and then might continue at a reduced level.”

Dr. Macpherson said that volcanologists in Iceland would be monitoring the volcano for indications that the eruption was continuing or starting to taper off. Small-scale seismic activity, for example, would be a sign that hot magma was still coming up through the volcano, cracking the ground as it moved through. Slight changes in the slope of the volcano’s flanks, as measured by a device called a tiltmeter, would suggest that gases were continuing to build up below as they bubbled out of the magma, causing the surface to bulge, or were dissipating.

As long as the tilt is increasing, it’s still erupting,” Dr. Macpherson said.

One complicating factor is that the eruption is occurring under an ice sheet, the Eyjafjallajokull glacier. Melting of the underside of the ice has caused flooding, forcing evacuations of some communities near the volcano in southern Iceland.

But of more concern for Europe is how the water being produced might be affecting the volcano and the ash it is generating.

“Certainly the fact that the eruption is going on underneath the ice sheet is likely to have an effect on the explosivity of the volcano,” Dr. Macpherson said.

He likened the situation to putting a hot pan under the kitchen faucet — as the hot magma hits the cold water it rapidly creates steam. If the steam is contained by rock, the pressure can build up and a localized explosion can occur.

Dr. Macpherson said that the magma also contained gases of its own that bubble out and build up. The explosivity of the volcano is a function of both these gases and the steam, he said, and the precise contribution of each is unknown. But if the eruption continues at some point there will be no more ice to melt near the eruption site, which might reduce the explosivity.

Dr. Gilbert said the presence of water can also affect the characteristics of the sandlike ash that is produced. As the molten rock hits the cold water it is rapidly quenched, fusing into a glassy material. Then when the pressure builds up and the volcano explodes, this material breaks up into very fine particles. “It’s like this sort of shattering effect,” she said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/17/science/17plume.html

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Fri Apr 16, 2010 10:29 am
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Post Re: Volcanoe in Glaciar Erupts!
Volcano erupts more strongly, chaos continues

LONDON - An Icelandic volcano causing travel chaos throughout the world is erupting more strongly, a geologist warned Saturday, as the European aviation control agency said flight disruption would continue for at least 24 hours.

Eurocontrol said no landings or takeoffs were possible for civilian aircraft in most of northern and central Europe.

But flights were taking place in southern Europe, including Spain, the southern Balkans, southern Italy, Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey. Eurocontrol said it expected 6,000 flights in European airspace on Saturday compared to 22,000 normally.

"Forecasts suggest that the cloud of volcanic ash will persist and that the impact will continue for at least the next 24 hours," the agency said in a statement."

Magnus Tumi Gudmundsson, of the University of Iceland, told The Associated Press that winds had cleared visibility for scientists and Saturday would be the first day they could fly above the volcano to assess the activity.

Once scientists determine how much ice has melted, it will be easier to say how long the eruption could last.

An ash plume, which has risen to more than 5 miles into the sky, has been caused by hot magma being cooled quickly by the melting ice cap.

The ash could wreak havoc on jet engines and airframes and the widespread flight bans have cost airlines hundreds of millions of dollars and thrown travel plans into disarray on both sides of the Atlantic.

Gudmundsson said as long as there was enough ice, more plumes could form — causing even more travel disruption.

Airports in Britain, France, Germany and the Netherlands remained closed and flights were also grounded in Austria, Hungary and parts of Romania.

Among the most distant countries to close air space were Italy, where flights over the north were grounded, Belarus and Ukraine.

In a statement prior to the Eurocontrol one, British air control company NATS said restrictions currently in place across U.K. airspace would remain until "at least" 1 a.m. U.K. time Sunday (8 p.m. ET Saturday).

However it added: "We are looking for opportunities when the ash cloud moves sufficiently for us to make some airspace available within Scotland and Northern Ireland."

The French government ordered the airports serving Paris and all others in northern France to remain closed until Monday morning, NBC News reported.

'Furious'
Sara Bicoccih, stranded at Frankfurt airport on her way home to Italy from Miami, said: "I am furious and frustrated."

The U.S. military had to reroute many flights, including those evacuating the wounded from Afghanistan and Iraq, a Pentagon spokesman said.

BA cancelled all flights in and out of London on Saturday. Irish airline Ryanair, Europe's biggest low-cost carrier, said it would cancel flights to and from northern European countries until 1200 GMT (5 a.m. ET) on Monday.

Delta Air Lines, the world's largest airline, cancelled 75 flights between the United States and European Union countries on Friday, Delta spokesman Anthony Black said.

Joe Sultana, head of network operations at European air control agency Eurocontrol, said the situation was unprecedented. Eurocontrol said it was up to each country when flights were resumed, based on whether there was clear air, which depended on wind direction.

Former Monty Python star John Cleese told the Daily Mail, a U.K. newspaper, that he was taking a 943-mile taxi journey from Oslo to Brussels at a cost of $4,600, en route to London. He was due to arrive Saturday afternoon.

Cleese, 70, told the paper before setting off: "We checked every option, but there were no boats and no train tickets available. That's when my fabulous assistant determined the easiest thing would be to take a taxi. It will be interesting. I'm not in a hurry."

There were suggestions that the Sunday funeral of Polish President Lech Kaczynski and his wife Maria, killed with 94 others in a plane crash in Russia last Saturday, would be delayed because dozens of world leaders, including Barack Obama, might be unable to attend.

However, it looked set to go ahead with presidential aide Jacek Sasin telling reporters: "I wish to say that the (Kaczynski) family's will is that the date of the funeral should not be postponed under any circumstances."

Still spewing magma

The volcano began erupting on Wednesday for the second time in a month from below the Eyjafjallajokull glacier, hurling a plume of ash 4 to 7 miles into the atmosphere.

Officials said it was still spewing magma and although the eruption could abate in the coming days, ash would continue drifting into the skies of Europe.

Iceland's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said there was some damage to roads and barriers protecting farms.

"There is still an evacuation of around 20 farms, which is 40 to 50 people," she said, noting this was less than the 800 people who had been evacuated earlier this week.

Volcanic ash contains tiny particles of glass and pulverized rock that can damage jet engines and airframes.

In Asia, thousands of air passengers were stranded Saturday and Australia's Qantas cancelled all flights to Europe on Saturday.

Qantas passengers were being offered refunds or seats on the next available flight. The airline said it was not known when flights would resume, and warned of further delays as European airports struggle to clear a heavy backlog of flights.

Qantas said it had been providing accommodation and food vouchers to some 1,750 passengers stuck since Friday — about 1,000 in Singapore and 350 each in Hong Kong and Bangkok. Qantas said its flights to Asian hubs would continue with the exception of one service to Singapore.

Taiwan's China Airlines canceled a Saturday flight to Amsterdam, after canceling flights to Amsterdam and Frankfurt on Friday. Two return flights — from London and Amsterdam — also were cancelled.

Taiwan's EVA Airways canceled flights to London and Amsterdam on Saturday. Travel agents said more than 2,000 Taiwanese passengers were stranded in European airports because of the disruptions.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36611426/ns/travel/[url][/url]

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Sat Apr 17, 2010 6:27 am
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Post Re: Volcanoe in Glaciar Erupts!
a little more = snippets from various sources:

Quote:
London, England (CNN) -- Volcanic ash from Iceland snarled air traffic across Europe for a second day Friday, causing the cancellation of some 16,000 flights, according to the intergovernmental body that manages European air travel.

The ash cloud is expected to drift farther south and eastward through Europe on Friday night, Eurocontrol said, raising concerns that more countries and airports could be affected.


** (What did Clif say would circle the globe 9 times? Wasn't there a question that it might be radiation from a nuclear blast/war? Could it be the ash cloud from this volcano and possibly others that are going to erupt?)

********************************************************************************************************

Ash cloud chaos set to continue

Iceland’s gigantic cloud of volcanic ash spread further across Europe on Friday as experts warned that the fallout from the eruption of a volcano under the Eyjafjallajokull glacier could take several days to clear. The ash plumes spewing out of the erupting volcano extended from the Atlantic to Moscow and from the Arctic Circle to Austria, as more countries cancelled air travel.

“The eruption that started on the morning of the 14th [April] is still going on, and is still as strong as it has been for the last two days,” Pall Einarsson, a geophysicist from the University of Iceland, told RFI.

“We have been monitoring this volcano, quite actively, and the activity has been increasing steadily. We have been tracing the pathway of the magma through the crust from the very beginning, so when it finally made it to the surface, it was not a surprise, it was actually predicted.”

Around 800 people in Iceland returned to their homes after being evacuated, when the volcanic eruption triggered flash floods.

“Because the eruption is under a glacier, it melts a lot of ice, and this water is coming down the flanks of the volcano,” said Einarsson.

Health authorities were also monitoring the situation, and although the World Health Organisation said there was no major risk to health, they were concerned about the effect on those with respiratory problems once ash particles began settling to earth.

The ash cloud was believed to being spread at a height of around 6,000 to 7,000 metres, while precautions over air travel were justified, according to reports from Finland.

Finnish F-18 Hornet fighter jets which flew through the dust on Thursday morning experienced blockages in ventilation channels which could have led to the fracture of engine components.

Air travel across Europe remains seriously disrupted, with passengers advised to stay at home. Though some travellers have been less fortunate: a group of 200 Bangladeshis were stranded at Brussels airport, unable to leave the building, because of a diversion and inadequate visas.

Airspace in the following countries remains affected:

* Austria
* Belgium
* Czech Republic
* Denmark
* Estonia
* Finland
* France
* Germany
* Latvia
* Lithuania
* Netherlands
* Norway
* Poland
* Republic of Ireland
* Slovakia
* Sweden
* UK

http://www.english.rfi.fr/europe/201004 ... t-continue

****************************************************************************

Quote:
MILLIONS of passengers remain trapped as a huge cloud of volcanic ash from Iceland swept Europe, grounding thousands of flights in the biggest air travel shutdown since World War II.


Quote:
The International Air Transport Association warned the fallout from the eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano in southeast Iceland was costing airlines more than 200 million dollars (230 million euros) a day.

In a sign the airspace shutdown was starting to take its toll, Scandinavian airline SAS warned it would temporarily lay off up to 2,500 employees in Norway starting Monday if flights remained grounded.

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Sat Apr 17, 2010 10:09 am
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Post Re: Volcanoe in Glaciar Erupts!
Here's a google map from USA Today that shows the ash spread:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/mapxmlfile ... e-0415.htm

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Sat Apr 17, 2010 11:53 am
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Post Re: Volcanoe in Glaciar Erupts!
Finnish fighter jets damaged by volcanic cloud

AFPApril 16, 2010 HELSINKI - Finnish fighter jets which flew through the volcanic dust covering much of Europe suffered damage and the air force warned Friday the cloud could have a significant impact on planes.


The air force F-18 Hornet jets were on training flights in northern Finland on Thursday morning, when airspace was still open, and the engines were later found to contain fine, volcanic ash dust.


"Based on the pictures, it was discovered that even short flights in ash dust may cause significant damage to an airplane's engine," the Finnish Defence Forces said in a statement.

con.

http://www.timescolonist.com/technology ... z0lLNwhB1A
**************************************************************************

Volcanic dust from Iceland likely to reach Greece overnight
**************************************************************************

If this fine dust remains in the upper atmosphere and does not fall to the ground, it will disperse evenly over the whole of the northern hemosphere of the earth. If more dust continues to be emitted by this and other volcanoes the density in the upper atmosphere will continue to thicken.


Particles emitted during volcanic eruptions are “very dangerous to health because these particles when inhaled can reach the peripheral regions of the bronchioles and lungs and can cause problems especially for people with asthma or respiratory problems,”

http://www.redorbit.com/news/health/185 ... _concerns/
********************************************************************************
from Bloomberg:

“Expect ongoing interruptions for the next four or five days,” Teitur Atlason, at the Icelandic meteorological office, said in a telephone interview today. “The eruption is still in full swing, and the volcano is spewing pretty dark ashes as high into the air as 5 to 6 kilometers.”


Volcanic eruptions may continue for months, curtailing European air traffic when the ash reaches the region, said Sigrun Hreinsdottir, a geophysicist at the University of Iceland in Reykjavik. “From what we’ve seen, it could erupt, pause for a few weeks, and then possibly erupt again.”


The edge of the ash cloud was forecast to reach as far south as northern Italy and Romania and as far east as the borders of Kazakhstan today, according to the Met office.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid= ... hdMivcLsNg

http://www.redorbit.com/news/health/185 ... _concerns/

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Sat Apr 17, 2010 12:12 pm
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Post Re: Volcanoe in Glaciar Erupts!
Mother Nature foiled by technology - for now! Watch out, my friends; that won't last long.


Image
Volcanic ash from Iceland strands Norway's prime minister in NYC airport, so he governs via iPad

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Sat Apr 17, 2010 1:17 pm
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Post Re: Volcanoe in Glaciar Erupts!
excerpts from an article on ash settling in the UK

The dust really IS starting to settle: Scientists find particles of volcanic ash on the streets of Sheffield

By Liz Hazelton
Last updated at 5:34 PM on 16th April 2010

Quote:
We analysed the samples and found they contained silicon and oxygen, calcium, aluminium and sodium, which make up volcanic matter.



(As usual, differing levels of warning were issued by GB and WHO, ranging from nobody should have any problems, to only those with respiratory difficulties, to everyone should stay indoors because we DON"T KNOW what effects the ash will have. :headbang


Quote:
'Low concentrations of volcanic dust, which may contain low levels of sulphur dioxide, are also expected to ground with the plume, although this is not expected to be a significant threat to public health,' the spokesman added.
:gah


Quote:
'If people are outside and notice symptoms such as itchy or irritated eyes, runny nose, sore throat or dry cough, or if they notice a dusty haze in the air or can smell sulphur, rotten eggs, or a strong acidic smell, they may wish to limit their activities outdoors or return indoors.
(Shades of Ground Zero?)


Met Office forecaster John Hammond:
Quote:
'There's always been a small chance of it reaching the ground. Over the next few days or so, with winds as they are, there is a chance we will see some small deposits but these will be quite difficult to see.

'It might be easiest to see anything that comes out of the sky on cars because the amounts will be very small.'


Image

Quote:
Reports from Iceland indicated there were little signs of the eruption at Mount Eyjafjallokull abating after two days of activity.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z0lP4w96mP

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Sat Apr 17, 2010 3:35 pm
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Post Re: Volcanoe in Glaciar Erupts!
April 18, 2010
This is just the beginning, warn scientists
Jack Grimston and Chris Haslam



THE clash between molten rock and ice on the surface of the Iceland volcano has produced ash so fine that radar and other aircraft instruments are unable to detect it.

The near-invisibility of the ash swirling in vast clouds over Britain and Europe has magnified the confusion and trepidation brought about by the eruption of Eyjafjallajokull.

Now the uncertainty is set to increase still further, with scientists warning that, based on the volcano’s historic behaviour, the eruption could be “just the beginning”. The mountain may continue to blow out ash sporadically for a year or more.

Even more worryingly, Katla, the neighbouring volcano, is groaning from the eruption under pressure equivalent to 3,000 mini-earthquakes a day of up to 3.1 on the Richter scale. Katla is some five times bigger than Eyjafjallajokull and would erupt in a similar way — but spewing out far bigger plumes of ash.

This does not mean British airspace will be closed for a year, but it could herald months of repeated bouts of disruption, depending largely on the weather.

Yesterday a British scientist described how even modern aircraft technology cannot detect the clouds of ash.

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Sat Apr 17, 2010 10:57 pm
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Post Re: Volcanoe in Glaciar Erupts!
Ruts you made a great point earlier about something Cliff had said, I think you may be on to something with that, great work :clap :clap :clap

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Sun Apr 18, 2010 8:40 am
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Post Re: Volcanoe in Glaciar Erupts!
Thanks, L, I hope I'm wrong, but it seems that this is just the beginning of volcanic eruptions. We were dreading a major eruption, such as Yellowstone, but several - or more! - eruptions could cover the world with ash, poisoning people, plants, animals, killing or delaying crops, lowering temperatures, etc. etc. For those who didn't see it, one of the webbot predictions was that "something" would circle the globe 9 times. Fears were of radiation from nukes, but ash could be almost as bad.

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Sun Apr 18, 2010 10:17 am
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Post Re: Volcanoe in Glaciar Erupts!
Economy impact to rise sharply if ash cloud lingers
Sun, Apr 18 03:25 PM

The economic impact of the volcanic cloud halting flights across Europe will increase sharply the longer disruption continues, forcing holiday cancellations, delaying deliveries and reducing jet fuel demand.

African exporters of flowers and vegetables by air to European supermarkets, technology companies relying on "just-in-time" deliveries of components, event organisers and others could all feel the pinch.

snip

The event is a classic example of a "Black Swan", a totally unexpected event with widespread impact, impossible to predict and hard to model.

The key questions now are whether the volcano keeps erupting and spewing ash into the atmosphere, where the wind takes the ash and how long the ash already in the sky remains over Europe.

snip

NO "JUST-IN-TIME"

The world's biggest air freight operators say they are moving what they can by road and looking at contingency plans of using southern European airports that are outside the cloud. But they say deliveries will be sharply affected.

"If your just-in-time operation is depending on parts that come from Asia or the U.S. or Africa or the Mideast... , you just can't get it," said United Parcel Service Inc spokesman Norman Black.

Pharmaceutical firms are heavy users of air freight, but most said on Friday they had enough stocks to avoid a short-term crunch.

snip

That could mean the most vulnerable national economies to the shutdown could prove to be African producers of fruit and flowers that will swiftly perish if not shipped to market.

"Kenya, as the largest supplier of cut flowers to Europe, where tourism is also an important sector, is likely to be the most vulnerable; followed by the East African soft commodity producers more generally," said Standard Chartered chief Africa economist Razia Khan, herself stranded in Botswana by a cancelled flight.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) estimates airlines are losing $200 million a day from the shutdown, which has caused chaos well beyond the immediate European airspace closed. Most airlines will be uninsured for this loss, although insurer Munich Re said on Friday it would consider offering cancellation insurance in future should the crisis produce demand.

NO MONEY FOR GOVERNMENT SUPPORT

European airline shares dipped on Friday and will likely fall sharply if it appears disruption will be prolonged. Even if the wind shifts, ash clouds over the Atlantic and Arctic would continue to disrupt flights to North America and Asia.

Analysts estimate the shutdown is reducing demand for jet fuel by some 2 million barrels a day, last week undermining jet fuel prices. This could filter into the wider oil price if the shutdown continues.

snip

Even if the initial cloud clears, vulcanologists warn the same thing could happen again for as long as the eruption under the glacier lasts, further threatening struggling firms.

"If this had happened a couple of years ago, governments would have had the money to step in and provide support," she said. "But right now, after the crisis, that money isn't there. This could be enough to push some weaker airlines and travel companies to the wall. It couldn't have happened at a worse time. On the other hand, it could all clear overnight and we could be back to normal by next week."

It could be worse. Scientists say this eruption looks unlikely to impact agriculture outside Iceland itself, in contrast to the much larger 1783 Laki eruption, also on Iceland.

"They were famines in France due to crop failure and this might well have been a factor in the French Revolution," said Prof Steve Sparks, director of the Bristol Environmental Risk Research Centre at Bristol University.

http://in.news.yahoo.com/137/20100418/3 ... to-rise-sh

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Sun Apr 18, 2010 12:03 pm
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Post Re: Volcanoe in Glaciar Erupts!
Officials: Test flights show European skies may be safe

London, England (CNN) -- A few dozen test flights Sunday offered hope that the skies over much of Europe may be safe for air travel, but officials made no promises that the massive disruptions due to volcanic ash are about to go away.

"The results coming from these flights is... there's no impact in the area," European Union Secretary of State Diego Lopez Garrido said. :crazy

EU Transport Commissioner Siim Kallas said if the ash cloud continues "moving as it moves, then tomorrow almost 50 percent of European [Union] space will be risk free." That would allow more flights to resume, he said. "But we'll see [Monday] what the picture shows." :dunno

The two men spoke at a meeting of Eurocontrol, which oversees air safety operations in the region.

A spokeswoman for KLM -- one of the airlines that conducted test flights -- told CNN the flights show European airspace is safe, with the exception of Iceland.

European transport ministers plan to discuss the results of flight tests at a technical meeting Monday.

The British government said British airspace will be closed for at least another 24 hours. :clap

British Transport Secretary Andrew Adonis said officials were working around the clock to establish whether safe flight paths could be identified.

"Urgent discussions are taking place with European and international regulatory agencies. We want to be able to resume flights as soon as possible, but safety remains my paramount concern," Adonis said. :clap

At London's Heathrow airport, a crowd broke out into cheers as a flight took off to test the skies.

Since the eruption beneath southern Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull glacier worsened last week, prompting local evacuations and affecting European airspace, airlines have been losing at least $200 million a day, according to the International Air Transport Association, the trade group representing airlines. That could mean airlines worldwide have lost about a billion dollars as of Sunday.

Across much of Europe, huge crowds have packed into airports, train stations and ferry lines, desperate for a way to get to their destinations -- which, in many cases, is home.

"My heart is aching," Jen Patterson told "CNN Sunday Morning." She and her husband, Steve, were traveling in the Netherlands when the problems began. They've been unable to get home to their four children, all younger than 9, who are being cared for by friends and family. :heart

An airline Sunday booked them on a flight Friday from Madrid to Dulles airport near Washington. "So the next challenge is getting to Madrid, whether by plane or by car," said Steve Patterson.

In various ways, millions of people have been affected by the aviation disruption, which some officials call worse than after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States.

Some European airports reopened Sunday, including several in France and Germany, and all 16 that had been closed in Spain. But officials in each country emphasized that decisions were being made around the clock and could change at any time.

Airports in much of the continent remained closed, with passengers unable to go anywhere. Many hotels quickly ran out of rooms.

As the situation became more dire, Britain said Sunday it was looking at whether to draft in the Royal Navy to help those stranded. The government planned efforts overnight to see what military and commercial vessels were available for possible deployment.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/TRAVEL/04/18/volcano.ash.test.flights/index.html?hpt=T1

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Sun Apr 18, 2010 2:14 pm
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Post Re: Volcanoe in Glaciar Erupts!
Iceland farmers try to save herds from ash :candle

'Animals like the salty taste' but it can cause bleeding, bone damage
By CARLO PIOVANO
The Associated Press
updated 3:25 p.m. CT, Sun., April 18, 2010

SKOGAR, Iceland - In Europe, the volcanic ash danger travels at high altitudes, but for Iceland's farmers the problem is very much on the ground.

Farmers across the region where the volcano erupted this week under the Eyjafjallajokull glacier have been scrambling to protect their herds from inhaling or ingesting the ash, which can cause internal bleeding, long-term bone damage and teeth loss. :heart

Near Skogar, south of the volcano, the ash blew down from the mountain, blotting out the sunlight and covering everything — pastures, animals and humans — in a thick, gray paste.

Berglind Hilmarsdottir, a dairy farmer, teamed up with neighbors Saturday to round up her cattle, some 120 in all, and get them to shelter. In the panic, some of the animals got lost in the fog of ash, and the farmers had to drive around searching for them.

"The risk is of fluoride poisoning if they breathe or eat too much," Hilmarsdottir said through a white protective mask.

The fluoride in the ash creates acid in the animals' stomachs, corroding the intestines and causing hemorrhages. It also binds with calcium in the blood stream, and after heavy exposure over a period of days makes bones frail, even causing teeth to crumble. :candle

Locked up in barns
"The best we can do is put them in the barn, block all the windows and bring them clean food and water as long as the earth is contaminated," said Hilmarsdottir.

The volcanic ash, which has spread over Europe to bring air travel to a near standstill for days, has not settled in other countries in any great quantities. It gets thinned out and blown to high altitudes by the wind, threatening to knock out jet engines with its abrasiveness, but is not expected to endanger those countries' human or animal populations.

In Iceland's rural region near the volcano, the amount of ash is becoming overwhelming. The vast majority of the country's farming activity is based on herding cattle, horses and sheep, so the stakes are high for the farmers.

On the north side of the volcano, a valley hit by violent floods but so far spared from the ash fall, 33-year-old sheep farmer Anna Runolfsdottir was preparing for the worst — that the wind direction could change and spread the ash over more land, including hers. :heart

It's lambing season, and she expects between 60 and 100 newborns this spring. But if the ash hits her farm, their survival would be uncertain.

Salty taste a danger
"The animals like the salty taste of it, so even if there's just a bit they will be in danger," she said, cradling a lamb while the huge plume of smoke towered in the distance. The problem is not a new one for the farm, which she grew up on and eventually inherited.

In 1947, another volcano erupted further north and the farm was hit. More than 60 years later, some of the ash still scars her back yard, leaving a grass-less patch of black sand.

"In Iceland you live with such things," she said. "But we didn't expect a big one like this."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36630753/ns/world_news-europe/

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Sun Apr 18, 2010 2:21 pm
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Post Re: Volcanoe in Glaciar Erupts!
Map of the ash cloud found here:

http://www.weatheronline.co.uk/cgi-app/volcanic?LANG=en

Forecast for 18 hours from now - look at PEI! I thought the West Coast would have to worry, but it looks as if the cloud is also spreading westward toward the East Coast of the USA.

http://www.weatheronline.co.uk/cgi-app/ ... G=en&ART=3

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