Posted on 04/18/2010 6:22:14 AM PDT by blam
Volcanic Ash Relentless As New Tremors Rock Iceland
Sun Apr 18, 2010 7:13am
By Omar Valdimarsson
REYKJAVIK, April 18 (Reuters) - Powerful tremors from an Icelandic volcano that has been a menace for thousands of travellers worldwide rocked the countryside on Sunday as eruptions hurled a steady stream of ash into the sky.
Ash from the volcano drifted southeast towards Europe, sparing the capital Reykjavik and other more populated centres but forcing farmers and their livestock indoors as a blanket of ash fell on the surrounding areas.
Iceland's Meterological Office said tremors from the volcano had grown more intense and had increased from a day ago, but that the column of steam and ash rising from the volcano had eased back to 4-5 km (2.5-3 miles) from as high as 11 km when it started erupting earlier this week.
"We are seeing mixed signals. There are some hints that the eruption will be decreasing, and others that show it is not decreasing," Einar Kjartansson, a geophysicist at the Meteorological Office, told Reuters.
One positive sign for people in the area is that there was no immediate threat of further flooding.
The eruption is taking place under Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull glacier, normally a popular hiking ground about 120 km (75 miles) southeast of the capital Reykjavik.
Kjartansson believes the volcano has melted about 10 percent of the glacier, but melting might have slowed in recent hours.
However, that does not mean Europe will see great relief from the plume of ash that is choking the upper atmosphere with tiny particles of glass and pulverised rock, threatening jet engines and airframes.
[snip]
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
This is making the Warmists look as stupid as they are.
How soon before some of the airlines slip into financial crisis? This has impacted virtually every major airline in the world, as London, Paris and Frankfurt are gateway airports for much of the travel between North America and south and eastern Europe, Africa, Middle East and India. Airlines typically run on tight margins, so it wouldn’t be a shock if this is enough to send a few into a tailspin.
I see there have been some test flights over Europe at lower altitudes without any problems. Unfortunately the fuel efficiency of jets falls off at lower altitude and the margin of error shrinks.
Published: April 18, 2010 at 8:42 AM
LONDON, April 18 (UPI) -- Ash from an Iceland volcano forced closure of much of European airspace for a fourth day, stranding thousands of travelers and causing economic losses to mount.
As the volcano continued erupting in Eyjafjallajokull, the plume of ash spread as far south as Italy, which closed some airports in the northern part of the country, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Airports throughout most of Europe were to remain closed at least through Sunday afternoon and European aviation officials reported only 5,000 flights across European airspace Saturday, compared with 22,000 normally.
The International Air Transport Association said the airline industry likely would lose more than $200 million a day because of the canceled flights.
"The bottom line is that it could not have happened at a more difficult time for airlines that are trying to climb out of the global recession," said association spokesman Steve Lott.
Trade and tourism losses mounted for countries battered by the global recession.
The economic toll extends to businesses dependent on air cargo shipments as perishable food sat in warehouses, stores awaited goods in short supply and flowers from Africa and Asia were in danger of dying before getting to European markets.
The volcanic ash also disrupted fights carrying military supplies for operations in Afghanistan and the Pentagon said all medical evacuation flights from Iraq and Afghanistan had been diverted to Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland instead of flying to Germany, The New York Times reported.
The ash is not expected to pose a health risk as long as it stays in the upper atmosphere, the World Health Organization said.
it won’t stop the the masters of the universe in our US Congress from enslaving us and our economic endeavors to a regime of “saving the climate” with forced taxation
the fix is in, has been for a long time, obama groomed and set in place to finalize the beginning of the end
It can be stopped. I am backing Pataki for 2012. He could clean sweep Obama.
Just look at what 9-11 airline shutdown( several days) did to our economy
Now extend this to most of Europe, already in crisis
I’ve seen a lot about European air travel, but what about the people who live in Iceland?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/apr/15/iceland-volcano-eruption-ash-earthquake
I haven’t seen any movement for aid or help for them. like we’ve seen for Haiti. A lot of them are homeless, now.
There has to be someone to rally for, and that someone better step up now and establish his/her creds
I hear there is a bigger one nearby that might go off. When Mother Nature speaks you have no choice but to listen. This shows off Man Made climate change for the communist hoax it is.
Oh, that was cute.
Katla- pay attention, if the news is not censored
Pataki is that man. I predict he will be the new President if we get him to run.
Iceland is pretty sparsely populated and the ash is flowing away from the island. They evacuated about 800 people but there isn’t a lot more they can do.
Also they have plenty of experience with this sort of thing. Back in the late 60 or early 70s the capitol city was threatened by a lava flow and they managed to redirect it and even used it as some kind of harbor wall.
Is that the big one? Katla?
That's why I'm pulling for the second volcano to spew. Hopefully we get enough dust in the air to decrease temperatures so the WarmMongers end up with more egg on their faces
Sorry about the economic loses though.
If Katla blows it may rock your world
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.