Posted on 04/17/2010 6:08:49 AM PDT by blam
Volcano Spews More Ash, Spawns Wider Flight Chaos
Associated Press Writer Paisley Dodds
4-17-2010
LONDON – A lingering volcanic ash plume forced extended no-fly restrictions over much of Europe on Saturday, as Icelandic scientists warned that volcanic activity had increased and showed no sign of abating — a portent of more travel chaos to come.
Scientists say that because the volcano is situated below a glacial ice cap, the magma is being cooled quickly, causing explosions and plumes of grit that can be catastrophic to plane engines if prevailing winds are right.
"The activity has been quite vigorous overnight, causing the eruption column to grow," Icelandic geologist Magnus Tumi Gudmundsson told The Associated Press on Saturday. "It's the magma mixing with the water that creates the explosivity. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be an end in sight."
An expansive cloud of grit hovered over parts of western Europe on Saturday, triggering extended flight bans that stranded people around the globe. Continued volcanic activity could produce more plumes if the weather patterns stay the same.
The Icelandic Meteorological Office said the amount of ash in the plume grew Saturday and that the vast ash cloud is continuing to travel south and southeast. Scientists had planned to fly over the volcano to see how much ice has melted to determine how much longer the eruption could spew ash, but the Icelandic Coast Guard said Saturday's flight had been postponed.
[snip]
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Yea, I don't find the situation funny a all. Lets hope it dies down or the winds shift more westwardly.
It sure changes business for our military operations (and our NATO allies) in Iraq and Afghanistan
“Seems the dislocation will be massive.”
There are only about 300,000 people in Iceland, so they could ALL be re-located without too much trouble.
That would be very sad for them, of course, but this is very few people.
Plan B is from Ripley....”I say we take off and nuke the entire site from orbit. It’s the only way to be sure”
There is really no indication of ash at ground level, but he said the sky was white. A coworker in Amsterdam said that the sky was really dark yesterday. If he really needed to get out of there, he said he'd have to drive to either Barcelona or possibly Milan - but airports at both may be closed later today - and said the only certain way out at this point would be Greece.
Anyway, aside from missing his family, he's doing fine and having a good time with friends and co-workers.
Piston engine aircraft with multiple air filters and electronic switching that would allow pilots to switch to a clean filter when one became clogged. The filters could be situated where aircrews could change them out when they became clogged allowing a clean filter to always be online. Of course waiting until those old constellations were built again might take a few years:). That was a great passenger plane, BTW. Far more comfortable to fly in than todays crowded jets.
I think we get into this mindset that .... well we can recover from earthquakes, fires, floods, hurricanes etc. But what about a on going disaster that would last months or years? How would that be handled?
Most people don’t realize that all of Europe fits into less than 1/3 of the United States.
I’m not understanding why they aren’t working out alternative travel for those stranded within the Euro belt.
The plume is supposedly traveling in the 25-30,000 foot airspace. Nothing is mentioned about ground travel being halted.
Thanks for posting, I have never read that.
Last time this volcano went off it lasted for 2 years.
I wonder if cruise ships will start offering transatlantic service. They’ll be losing lots of business anyway from people flying across the atlantic to start their cruises.
I have an idea! Immediately put all of our older non-turboprop air transports back in service.
Voila! No problems with ash, reciprocating-radial-type engines should be able to handle it-a few scratched windscreens maybe, but they can easily be repaired or replaced.
INDEED.
Some sources indicate that late summer . . . the toll may have reached a horrific tipping point.
As a bottlenecker and steel player, I shall try and catch their gig in Cleveland!
> cannot imagine Iceland recovering from this disaster.<
From what I’ve read, the flooding is in a less populated area of Iceland. Also, prevailing winds are blowing the ash away from the island and over Scotland, the Scandinavian countries and the rest of Europe.
“Since every observable natural event is a result of global warming, they don’t even need this.”
True that. But they will be able to dismiss the next three or four years of the ongoing cooling trend of the past ten years as caused by the volcano. On that, they will probably be partly correct for a change.
Ironically, you still can fly to Iceland from America. Or Spain or Portugal or (southern) Italy or Greece. It depends on his actual destination (and connections). Perhaps he can change destinations to some place still open. The volcanic ash advisories are here:
http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/aviation/vaac/vaacuk_vag.html
Just open the latest (top) graphic. Anywhere within the RED polygon likely has airports practically closed. Flights within other polygons are severely curtailed.
Interesting site.
“The Global warming folks love this. Now the can use this as a rallying cry”
No, they call it climate change now.Anything that happens can be blamed on man made climate change. This and any other large volcanic eruption will cause climate decline.The idiots that think we have any control over this need to be institutionalized
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Volcanic Ass in White House Spawns Wider Chaos
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