Posted on 04/15/2010 2:00:58 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
REYKJAVIK (Reuters) – A volcanic eruption in Iceland, which has thrown up a 6-km (3.7 mile) high plume of ash and disrupted air traffic across northern Europe, has grown more intense, an expert said on Thursday.
The eruption under the Eyjafjallajokull glacier continued to spew large amounts of ash and smoke into the air and showed no signs of abating after 40 hours of activity, said Pall Einarsson, a geophysicist at the University of Iceland.
"The seismographs are showing that since this morning the intensity of the eruption seems to be growing," he said.
Hot fumes had melted up to a third of the glacial ice covering the crater, causing a nearby river to burst its banks, and frequent explosions on the floor of the crater sounded like bombs going off, he said.
The floods were abating, however, and some of those living in the sparsely populated area near the volcano had returned to their homes.
Another scientist said the eruption was 10 times more powerful than one which occurred last month on the flank of the volcano, though the two were part of the same event.
To the east of the volcano, thousands of hectares of land are covered by a thick layer of ash while a cloud blotted out the sun in some areas along the southern coast of Iceland, local media reported.
The cloud of ash from the eruption has hit air travel all over northern Europe, with flights grounded or diverted due to the risk of engine damage from sucking in particles of ash from the volcanic cloud.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
An aerial handout photo from the Icelandic Coast Guard shows a plume of steam rising 22,000 feet (6700 meters) from a crater under about 656 feet (200 metres) of ice at the Eyjafjallajokull glacier in southern Iceland April 14, 2010. REUTERS/Icelandic Coast Guard/Arni Saeberg/Handout… Read more »
A handout photo provided by the Icelandic Coast Guard shows the Eyjafjallajokull glacier, as Iceland's second volcano eruption in less than a month melts part of the glacier. A violent volcanic eruption in Iceland spewed clouds of ash into the air for a second day, blanketing large parts of the Nordic country in the potentially toxic dust and disrupting air traffic across northern Europe. (AFP/Icelandic Coast Guard)
afp
Pretty cool stuff going on all over the globe.. Ping
A cloud of volcanic ash is seen spreading from the southern side of Iceland (top left in each picture) in this combination of handout satellite photographs taken at 1916 GMT on Wednesday (L), 0045GMT on Thursday (C) and 0915GMT on Thursday, and received from Norway's Met Office in London April 15, 2010. A huge ash cloud from an Icelandic volcano turned the skies of northern Europe into a no-fly zone on Thursday, stranding hundreds of thousands of passengers. The coastlines were superimposed on the photographs by the Met Office. REUTERS/Norwegian Met Office/Handout (ENVIRONMENT)
Map locating the volcano on the Eyjafjallajokull glacier in southern Iceland. Hundreds of flights worldwide were cancelled as volcanic ash from Iceland swept across northern Europe, causing eight countries to close their airspace amid warnings of days of disruption.« Read less (AFP/Graphic)
My friend is stuck in New York with her 3 year old. They were on their way to Ireland from New Orleans. She is crazed. Has to stay until Sunday to get a flight out. Was in the airport 9 hours. 1/2 of her vacation will be in New York waiting to go home.
http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/articles/article/Iceland/Laki-Volcano-Eruption-Iceland/529
The Laki eruption of 1783.
At least the weather is really nice here right now
Obviously, the key question here is - how on EARTH does one pronounce “Eyjafjallajokull”?
Anyone?
BTTT
Cold summer ahead of us. Awesome picture.
Supposedly the one going off with the long name might melt a glacier for another dormant one with a short name that is nearby. The dormant one is a bigger threat. Everytime the long name volcano goes off - it sets the other one off.
You have scum like Kerry, Graham-nesty and Lieberman (General Electric Joe) push for cap & trade and climate BS while this volcano has spewed out more stuff *just today* (as Rush said) than every car in history.
Amen to that. Foolish libs.
“AY-eff-YALL-a-yokel” as I read it.
Why, exactly as it is spelled.
;-)
In short, is global warming hysteria at fault here?
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