Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull Volcano

[johnholmes]

The UK Met Office is still detecting an ash cloud in European airspace, so why is it now safe to allow planes to fly?

Continued here: news.bbc.co.uk

thanks for that full link C-an interesting read.

[AtlanticFlamethrower]

Simple Money. Since ash moves around and doesn't show up on radar or on visual how the hell do they know whether they've gone above the new limit. The good news is wind direction change will remove the danger.

Just caught a brief view of a plume on one of the webcams so the it's still going Seismic activity peaked over night but now on it's way back up.

The moon last night had a good halo round it. Ice crystals or volcanic ash???

One thing they have done is raised the tolerance threshold above which it is considered unsafe to fly. It was about 200 micrograms per cubic meter, the threshold is now 2000 mpcm. I posted the new ash map in the "No Fly" thread.

[SnowBear]

Must admit for a while last night the moon had a sickly yellowish tinge to it.

[The PIT]

More dust on the car last night. The sky was also hazy this morning despite the air being fairly dry.

[LadyPakal]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8637978.stm

'Training flights on RAF Typhoons in Lincolnshire have been suspended after ash deposits were found in one aircraft's engines.'

[The PIT]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8637978.stm

'Training flights on RAF Typhoons in Lincolnshire have been suspended after ash deposits were found in one aircraft's engines.'

There's no ash up there it so can't be in the engines either ........

Does make you wonder what the airlines are risking. Good article at Eruptions

There has been a lot of criticism about the fact that a lot of the ash ban made using computer models of the ash dispersal - and that is the best tool we have to predict the elevation and concentrations of ash. Sampling ash at all elevations all over Europe is not feasible at this point, so we needed to rely on models. We didn't know what the volcano was going to do - would it continue to produce tall phreatoplinian ash clouds for weeks or would become less explosive as the crater lost access to abundant water? Opening the skies prematurely and then needing to safely land air planes in ash or do a "open-closed" dance are both not pretty pictures.

So, what are we left to gain? For one, the airlines will never let a closure like this go unquestioned for six days again. They lost too much money - $1.7 billion by some accounts. My optimistic side will hope that they will help fund better models and understanding of ash dispersal. My pessimistic side is they will force EU officials to take the "blame" for it and force their way into the decision-making process in future eruptions. On the plus side, the rapid reaction from EU and Icelandic officials meant that, to my knowledge, no passenger flights were put in harm's way. Combined with the lack of direct fatalities in Iceland due to the eruption, this was a, to put it oddly, very well managed eruption (thank you Scandinavian!) My hope is that cooler heads will prevail and that the decision to keep planes out of the air will not be seen as poor decision, but rather, the wise, prudent decision it was based on the threat of ash to commercial aircraft.

http://scienceblogs.com/eruptions/

[LadyPakal]

Nice big plume visible at the moment:

http://www.simnet.is/jonfr500/earthquake/vefmyndeyjafjalmulaen.html

http://eldgos.mila.is/eyjafjallajokull-fra-thorolfsfelli/

Edited April 22, 2010 by LadyPakal

[AtlanticFlamethrower]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8637978.stm

'Training flights on RAF Typhoons in Lincolnshire have been suspended after ash deposits were found in one aircraft's engines.'

I don't understand how people think that jet engines of a fighter plane are similar to those of a large commercial airliner. For the same level of dust concentration there is obviously much more stress on the smaller engine than the larger.

Fighter jet engines fly faster, at higher temperature. Over 1 hour in an area of low ash concentration, the length of a training exercise, fighter jets gulp in much more air and dust than planes which travel half their speed for the same amount of time (or in fact less time) in the same area.

[jamesbhx]

http://www.airlineindustryreview.com/latest-volcanic-ash-related-aircraft-accidents/

There have been a few "under investigation" incidents over the last 48hrs. The Thomas Cook one reported on that site also provides the ATC/Pilot recordings should anyone want to get a better understanding.

http://i40.tinypic.com/jsozo0.jpg is a screenshot of the flight.

Edited April 22, 2010 by jamesbhx

[coldfingers]

A couple of earthqukes recorded on the seismic chart but unsure whether they actually relate to Heckla or if it is picking up data from further afield.

http://www.simnet.is/jonfr500/earthquake/tremoren.htm

Edited April 22, 2010 by coldfingers

[Lincs Observation]

http://news.bbc.co.u.../uk/8637978.stm

'Training flights on RAF Typhoons in Lincolnshire have been suspended after ash deposits were found in one aircraft's engines.'

I can confirm this and also i believe Six engines are been scrutinized for possible damage.

LO

There's no ash up there it so can't be in the engines either ........

Does make you wonder what the airlines are risking. Good article at Eruptions

There has been a lot of criticism about the fact that a lot of the ash ban made using computer models of the ash dispersal - and that is the best tool we have to predict the elevation and concentrations of ash. Sampling ash at all elevations all over Europe is not feasible at this point, so we needed to rely on models. We didn't know what the volcano was going to do - would it continue to produce tall phreatoplinian ash clouds for weeks or would become less explosive as the crater lost access to abundant water? Opening the skies prematurely and then needing to safely land air planes in ash or do a "open-closed" dance are both not pretty pictures.

So, what are we left to gain? For one, the airlines will never let a closure like this go unquestioned for six days again. They lost too much money - $1.7 billion by some accounts. My optimistic side will hope that they will help fund better models and understanding of ash dispersal. My pessimistic side is they will force EU officials to take the "blame" for it and force their way into the decision-making process in future eruptions. On the plus side, the rapid reaction from EU and Icelandic officials meant that, to my knowledge, no passenger flights were put in harm's way. Combined with the lack of direct fatalities in Iceland due to the eruption, this was a, to put it oddly, very well managed eruption (thank you Scandinavian!) My hope is that cooler heads will prevail and that the decision to keep planes out of the air will not be seen as poor decision, but rather, the wise, prudent decision it was based on the threat of ash to commercial aircraft.

http://scienceblogs.com/eruptions/

There was ash in the engines, six in fact are been scrutanized, training finished before completion around early afternoon.

LO

I don't understand how people think that jet engines of a fighter plane are similar to those of a large commercial airliner. For the same level of dust concentration there is obviously much more stress on the smaller engine than the larger.

Fighter jet engines fly faster, at higher temperature. Over 1 hour in an area of low ash concentration, the length of a training exercise, fighter jets gulp in much more air and dust than planes which travel half their speed for the same amount of time (or in fact less time) in the same area.

You have hit the nail right on the head.

LO

[The PIT]

I can confirm this and also i believe Six engines are been scrutinized for possible damage.

LO

There was ash in the engines, six in fact are been scrutanized, training finished before completion around early afternoon.

LO

Any news on the damage??? Where they near any normal air routes???

[Lincs Observation]

Any news on the damage??? Where they near any normal air routes???

Hi PIT

I work there at Coningsby and the training in this indecent was mainly over the airfield, As for the damage it is rumored that the six engines been scrutinized are US first signs was over heating. Unfortunately i cant elaborate much more on that.

LO

Edited April 22, 2010 by Lincs Observation

[LadyPakal]

A couple of earthqukes recorded on the seismic chart but unsure whether they actually relate to Heckla or if it is picking up data from further afield.

http://www.simnet.is/jonfr500/earthquake/tremoren.htm

FYI The owner of this seismometer said they were not earthquakes but something local (tractor or something maybe) nearby.

Post #16 here: http://scienceblogs.com/eruptions/2010/04/eyjafjallajokull_flight_cancel.php#comments is trhe latest reference (there were some in the previous blog comments).

Edited April 22, 2010 by LadyPakal

[coldfingers]

FYI The owner of this seismometer said they were not earthquakes but something local (tractor or something maybe) nearby.

Post #16 here: http://scienceblogs....el.php#comments is trhe latest reference (there were some in the previous blog comments).

Many thanks for the info. I did wonder as the Iceland Met Office didn't seem to have any quakes recorded then in Hekla region.

I keep reading in newspapers that the volcano is slowing down but this web site below seems to suggest the opposite.

http://hraun.vedur.is/ja/Katla2009/gosplott.html

Shame the weather has been too poor to see the volcano itself through the clouds.

[coldfingers]

Now the weather is clearing somewhat it is possible to see that the plume is once again reaching much higher in the sky.

http://eldgos.mila.is/eyjafjallajokull-fra-thorolfsfelli/

[Mondy]

Probably been posted before. Found this: http://hraun.vedur.is/ja/Katla2009/

All sorts of graphs and stats to keep the mind ticking over ;-)

[LadyPakal]

Nice plume views here at the moment, the cloud has cleared away a bit:

http://eldgos.mila.is/eyjafjallajokull-fra-valahnjuk/

http://eldgos.mila.is/eyjafjallajokull-fra-thorolfsfelli/

Edited April 22, 2010 by LadyPakal

[Snowcheeks]

At least its a white plume. White is good - according to an expert on TV the other night, white is steam, not ash

[karyo]

At least its a white plume. White is good - according to an expert on TV the other night, white is steam, not ash

Beautiful image now with the clear weather. Definately some ash there too!

http://www.simnet.is/jonfr500/earthquake/vefmyndeyjafjalmulaen.html

Karyo

Edited April 22, 2010 by karyo

[coldfingers]

At least its a white plume. White is good - according to an expert on TV the other night, white is steam, not ash

Looks like a lot of ash in the cloud now but not sure that it is high enough to cause further disruption to flights over the UK.

http://eldgos.mila.is/eyjafjallajokull-fra-valahnjuk/

My brother was complaining today about having a terrible time to wash the ash off his car in Southampton. Said it was definitely volcanic ash because of the way it sparkled.

Flight still seem to be using Southampton airport OK though.

Edited April 22, 2010 by coldfingers

[Mondy]

Reykjavik's Keflavík Airport likely to be closed on Friday due to changing wind directions

Ha! About bloody time they shut down. Damn cause of it all and still they had flights flying through all the disruption..their turn now ;-)

[coldfingers]

Ha! About bloody time they shut down. Damn cause of it all and still they had flights flying through all the disruption..their turn now ;-)

I agree with the sentiments Mondy! My sister in Spain was telling me it couldn't be a problem in the UK as Iceland was still flying planes!!!

Such is ignorance. Still perhaps I would have been as daft without all the knowledge I have picked up on this site in the last 5 years and thanks to everyone on here for that.

[PB22]

This volcano is likely to result in at least one relationship breakdown. This is true. Someone I know went away last Thursday morning and told his other half he was going for a fishing weekend and would be back late Sunday. In fact he went abroad in Spain with his secretary who he is having an affair with, and last I heard (yesterday) he was still stranded out there! That's going to take some explaining me thinks!

[coldfingers]

Just notice lava eruption on thos webcam.

http://eldgos.mila.i...-fra-valahnjuk/

Should look good when it is darker if it continues.

Yep, getting better already even in daylight.

Who siad this eruption was dying down? Wishful thinking I reckon.

Here too! http://eldgos.mila.is/eyjafjallajokull-fra-fimmvorduhalsi/

Edited April 22, 2010 by coldfingers