Icelandic ash cloud shuts down airspace
Source: Agencies |
May 23, 2011, Monday
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ICELAND closed its main international airport and canceled all domestic flights yesterday as a powerful volcanic eruption sent a plume of ash, smoke and steam 20 kilometers into the air.
The eruption of the Grimsvotn volcano was far larger than one a year ago at another Icelandic volcano that upended travel plans for 10 million people around the world, but scientists said it was unlikely to have the same effect.
University of Iceland geophysicist Magnus Tumi Gudmundsson said this eruption, which began on Saturday, was Grimsvotn's largest eruption for 100 years.
"(It was) much bigger and more intensive than Eyjafjallajokull," the volcano whose April 2010 eruption shut down airspace across Europe for five days, he said.
"There is a very large area in southeast Iceland where there is almost total darkness and heavy fall of ash," he said. "But it is not spreading nearly as much. The winds are not as strong as they were in Eyjafjallajokull."
He said this ash is coarser than last year's eruption, falling to the ground more quickly instead of floating vast distances. The ash plunged areas near the volcano in southeast Iceland into darkness yesterday and covered buildings, cars and fields in a thick layer of gray soot. Civil protection workers urged residents to wear masks and stay indoors.
Iceland's air traffic control operator ISAVIA said the Keflavik airport, the country's main hub, closed down at 08:30 GMT for the day.
Meanwhile, airlines were warned yesterday that the ash could reach northern Scotland tomorrow as well as other parts of Britain, France and Spain by Thursday or Friday if the eruption continues at the same rate.
The warning is based on latest five-day weather forecasts, but must be treated with caution because of the forecast period and the presence of different air currents from those prevailing at the time of last year's ash crisis, weather officials said.
US President Barack Obama was flying last night to Ireland, but there was no immediate word on whether the volcano would affect Air Force One's flight path.
Trans-Atlantic flights were being diverted away from Iceland, but there was no indication the eruption would cause the widespread travel disruption triggered last year by ash from Eyjafjallajokull.
The eruption of the Grimsvotn volcano was far larger than one a year ago at another Icelandic volcano that upended travel plans for 10 million people around the world, but scientists said it was unlikely to have the same effect.
University of Iceland geophysicist Magnus Tumi Gudmundsson said this eruption, which began on Saturday, was Grimsvotn's largest eruption for 100 years.
"(It was) much bigger and more intensive than Eyjafjallajokull," the volcano whose April 2010 eruption shut down airspace across Europe for five days, he said.
"There is a very large area in southeast Iceland where there is almost total darkness and heavy fall of ash," he said. "But it is not spreading nearly as much. The winds are not as strong as they were in Eyjafjallajokull."
He said this ash is coarser than last year's eruption, falling to the ground more quickly instead of floating vast distances. The ash plunged areas near the volcano in southeast Iceland into darkness yesterday and covered buildings, cars and fields in a thick layer of gray soot. Civil protection workers urged residents to wear masks and stay indoors.
Iceland's air traffic control operator ISAVIA said the Keflavik airport, the country's main hub, closed down at 08:30 GMT for the day.
Meanwhile, airlines were warned yesterday that the ash could reach northern Scotland tomorrow as well as other parts of Britain, France and Spain by Thursday or Friday if the eruption continues at the same rate.
The warning is based on latest five-day weather forecasts, but must be treated with caution because of the forecast period and the presence of different air currents from those prevailing at the time of last year's ash crisis, weather officials said.
US President Barack Obama was flying last night to Ireland, but there was no immediate word on whether the volcano would affect Air Force One's flight path.
Trans-Atlantic flights were being diverted away from Iceland, but there was no indication the eruption would cause the widespread travel disruption triggered last year by ash from Eyjafjallajokull.
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