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Archive for the ‘Icelandic ash cloud’ Category

Powerful Explosive Eruption at Eyjafjallajökull Volcano

Posted by feww on May 19, 2010

Eruption rate believed to be 200 tons per second: IMO

The average height of the volcanic plume is about 7 km (21,000 ft), according to radar observations, with the gray plume drifting northeast.

At least 70 flashes of lightning struck in a 12 hour period with a maximum of 10 flashes per hour, IMO reported.

An ongoing powerful explosive eruption at the current plume height suggests that the eruption rate is at least 200 tons per second, IMO said.

For more details see status report.


This natural-color satellite image was acquired by MODIS aboard NASA’s Terra satellite on May 18, 2010 at 12:20 p.m. local time. The pale gray ash plume blows from the summit of Eyjafjallajökull almost directly northwest. Eurocontrol said the airspace over Europe was open, and ash was unlikely to affect flights until May 20, 2010. Image and [edited] caption: NASA E/O. Download large image (2 MB, JPEG). Click image to enlarge.


MODIS on NASA’s Aqua satellite passed over Eyjafjallajökull and acquired this natural-color image on May 17, 2010.  Image and [edited] caption: NASA E/O. Download large image (2 MB, JPEG). Click image to enlarge.

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Eyjafjallajökull Eruption – Satellite Animation 6 – 17 May

Posted by feww on May 18, 2010

Eyjafjallajökull Volcanic Plume Still Bursting to 9km (27,000 ft)

Volcano Status Report by IMO – 17 May 2010 18:05

The plume from Eyjafjallajökull eruption is reaching a height of about 7 km a.s.l, Icelandic weather radar shows, with bursts of about 9 km (27,000 ft). Increasing wind speed is forcing down the easterly drifting plume which has now turned dark-gray, IMO said.

[Note: The new development may mean an increase in the amount of tephra that is being ejected. ]

Lightning reported at the crater summit striking at a rate of about 10 flashes per hour.

The activity is explosive, but somewhat less violent than May 13 scenario. Considerable ashfall has been reported at the adjacent areas and is expected to continue. The force of activity is expected fluctuate in the foreseeable future.

More details available in the status report.


Satellite image (SEVIRI BTD) showing ash ejected from Eyjafjallajökull, click to animate. Origin and technique described under May 7, entry. Click image to enlarge.

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Eyjafjallajökull Eruption – MISR Satellite Image

Posted by feww on May 15, 2010

Images of the 2nd Round of Eruption at Eyjafjallajökull Volcano


Eyjafjallajökull Volcano produced its second major ash plume of 2010 on May 7.  The Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) aboard NASA’s Terra satellite collected data on ash height when it passed just east of the Eyjafjallajökull Volcano mid-morning on May 7.

MISR has nine different cameras, each viewing the scene below from a difference angle nearly simultaneously. By combining all these images using a hyper-stereo technique, scientists can calculate the height of the ash plume.

The above image is a natural-color, nadir (downwards-looking) view of the scene. The top image is the stereo-derived plume height. Each pixel in the image shows an area 1.1 kilometers (0.68 miles) wide. The vertical accuracy is about 0.5km.

Much of the plume resides between 4 and 6 kilometers above the ocean surface (orange and red color in the right image), but the ash descends to near 3 kilometers yellow-green) far downwind.  Images and caption: NASA/MISR [edited for brevity.]

Status Report – 15 May 2010 (3:55UTC)

The Icelandic Met Office (IMO) reported plume reaching a height of about 7 km (24,000 ft) drifting in a  southwesterly direction. Ashfall was detected in the capital Reykjavík.

At least  50 lightning strikes were recorded during the previous 24 hours. No major changes in the activity were reported. There’s no sign the eruption could end anytime soon.

For details of status report by IMO and others click here.

LATEST NEWS FROM ICELAND:

Volcanic ash from Eyjafjallajokull eruption has forced the authorities to shut down the intentional airport at Reykjavík, the country’s main airport, authorities say.

UK Airspace

Parts of the UK’s airspace may close on Sunday as volcanic ash clouds continue to drift south of Iceland, the UK Department for Transport said, BBC reported.

Last week, about a dozen airports in southern Europe were forced to close and many flights were re-routed to avoid the risk from the Icelandic ash clouds.

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Eyjafjallajökull Volcano: Unending Eruption

Posted by feww on May 13, 2010

Eyjafjallajökull Following Chaitén Scenario?

Chaitén Erupted for Many Months, Stopped, and Erupted Again

Eyjafjallajökull eruption continues unabated, Icelandic Met Office (IMO) said. The ash plume reduced slightly and changed direction heading ESE.

The ash cloud has wreaked havoc in parts of southern Europe, disrupting flights in as far south as Portugal, Spain and Morocco in recent days, according to media reports.


Reaching a height of four to 5 kilometers (13,000-17,000 feet), the plume of ash from Iceland’s Eyjafjallajökull volcano rises above a sea of clouds in this image. MODIS on  NASA’s Aqua satellite captured the image on May 12, 2010. Source: NASA E/O [Caption edited for brevity.] Download large image (1003 KB, JPEG). Click image to enlarge.


The above photo was taken by Ólafur Sigurjónsson on May 7 at 21:00 local time. Image published by IMO. Read full story here. Click image to enlarge.

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Eyjafjallajökull Eruption UPDATE – Latest MODIS Image

Posted by feww on May 12, 2010

Eyjafjallajökull Volcano: NO Immediate Plan to Cease Activity

Eyjafjallajökull continues to erupt with no major changes detected in its  activity.  There is no sign that the volcano could cease activity any time soon: IMO

The Plume is currently reaching a maximum height of about 6,000m (20,000) a.s.l., IMO report said.


This natural-color image of the ongoing eruption was acquired by MODIS aboard NASA’s Terra satellite at 12:15 p.m. local time. Iceland’s Eyjafjallajökull Volcano continues to erupt a thick plume of ash. On May 11, 2010, the ash was streaming almost directly south, visibly extending at least 860 kilometers (530 miles) from Eyjafjallajökull. The ash clouds forced the closure of some Spanish and Moroccan airports. Image and Caption: NASA [Edited for brevity.] Click image to enlarge. Download large image (2 MB, JPEG)


Eyjafjallajökull and Gígjökull. Dated 11 May 2010at 10:58 today. Photo Credit: Sigurlaug Hjaltadóttir. Image release by Iceland Met Office (IMO). Image may be subject to copyright. See FEWW Fair Use Notice.

Volcanic Ash Advisory from London Met Office – Issued graphics



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Eyjafjallajökull Eruption – Latest Satellite Image

Posted by feww on May 11, 2010

Eyjafjallajökull Eruption Continues Unabated

Europe Should Fear the Worst From Icelandic Volcanoes, and Start Large-Scale Contingency Planning: Fire-Earth*

Fire Earth believes there’s more than 80 percent probability of a second, larger Icelandic volcano erupting this year.

About 50 additional volcanic tremors have struck beneath Eyjafjallajökull Glacier volcano in the past 12 hours, IMO automatic chart shows.

Farms  south of the eruption site have experienced almost continuous tephra fall over the last 24 hours, Iceland Met Office (IMO) reported.


The plume rising from the Eyjafjallajökull volcano reached up to 6kms (20,000 feet) a.s.l. on May 10, 2010, as MODIS on NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this image. The ash is blowing southeast over the North Atlantic Ocean. Red outlines the location of a hot spot (probably lava) on the summit of the volcano. Farms south of the erupting volcano reported that course ash fell throughout the day. The icecap east of the volcano—Myrdals-jökull—is painted with two black stripes that reveal where the wind blew concentrated plumes of ash in previous days. Image and Caption: NASA E/O. [Caption edited for brevity.]

Volcanic Ash Advisory from London – Issued graphics


Flight Cancellation/ Airport Closures

  • More than a dozen European airports in southern Europe and N Africa were closed.
  • Parts of Turkish airspace were restricted

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*We know that you can’t and won’t prepare for the looming disasters, but we are morally obligated to warn you! Fire-Earth

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Eyjafjallajökull Glacier Hit by New Wave of Seismicity

Posted by feww on May 10, 2010

About 3 dozen quakes strike Eyjafjallajökull Glacier, other quake clusters near Kolbeinsey ridge and Tjörnes fracture zone

Recent IMO Assessment – dated 09 May 2010 at 15:00UTC

The plume mostly reached height of about 4-5 km shooting up to 6 km (20,000 ft) occasionally, and heading southeast despite low level easterly winds.

Deflation continued at Eyjafjallajökull volcano. No indications eruption might end soon.

Eyjafjallajökull view from Hvolsvelli

Eyjafjallajökull view from Thórólfsfelli webcam (Heat Signature)

European Air-Travel

Meanwhile, airtravellers experienced more delays today as more ash clouds drifting from Eyjafjallajökull volcano continued to disrupt some flights.  Transatlantic flights faced severe disruption as planes were forced into long detours to avoid the ash cloud, thereby increasing flight times.

The air traffic volume was about 500 below the daily average of 28,500 flights today compared to 1,500 cancellations yesterday.

“We’re all at the mercy of the volcano and there is just no way of knowing how long it will continue to erupt. We would normally be getting south-westerly winds at this time of year and it’s pretty unusual to have northerly winds dominating the weather. It’s very much a day-to-day situation at the moment. The volcano died down a bit for a spell and has now got more active.” A UK Met Office spokeswoman said.

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Eyjafjallajökull Eruption – UPDATE May 7

Posted by feww on May 7, 2010

Fire-Earth Forecasts a Large Explosion at Eyjafjallajökull Glacier, Possibly Soon

New Ash Cloud Grounds Flights

The Irish Aviation Authority (IAA), the body responsible for Irish airspace, has imposed flight restrictions at six of Ireland’s airports from 00:00UTC on Friday, citing risks from new volcanic ash cloud.

The flight bans are at Shannon, Donegal, Knock, Galway, Kerry and Sligo airports , which will remain shut until at least  12:00UTC on Friday, May 7, 2010.

The new ash cloud from the ongoing eruption at Iceland’s Eyjafjallajökull Glacier volcano  was penetrating the Irish airspace along the west coast of Ireland, the IAA reported.

“The restrictions are required as the increased level of recent volcanic activity has created a massive ash cloud stretching 1,000 miles long and 700 miles wide,” an IAA spokesperson told reporters.


Iceland’s Eyjafjallajokull Volcano began a fresh round of explosive ash eruptions in the first week of May. On the morning of May 6, 2010, MODIS on NASA’s Terra satellite captured this view of a thick plume of ash blowing east and then south from the volcano.  Ash clouds can have a dramatic influence on air quality and vegetation, including crops. In Iceland, the ash from Eyjafjallajokull has settled thickly on the ground, posing a threat to livestock and wildlife. Image and Caption NASA. [Edited for brevity.] Download large image (880 KB, JPEG)

Recent Status [IMO and Webcams]

  • Explosive activity has been increasing since May 4, 2010.
  • Ash plume shooting higher, reaching up to 9km (30,000 feet) a.s.l.
  • Tephra fallout on the rise.
  • “Considerable ashfall at Þykkvabæjarklaustur in Álftaver (at a distance of 65-70 km), (everything has turned black). It has not been established whether the ash cloud south of Eyjafjallajökull is ashfall or ash that has already fallen and is being blown from the ground.” IMO said.
  • “Discharge from Gígjökull decreases further and meltwater seems to be running from the eastern side of the glacier. This is different from Tuesday’s meltwater were water was running from the west side. Lava flow might be changing the direction of meltwater flow. Such changes should be taken seriously with regard to possible outbursts due to accumulation of meltwater.”
  • Earthquakes occurring at a rate of about 1 per hour (average M2., largest 2.2Mw).
    [should start packing your bags if the frequency reaches 3-5 per hour and the magnitude rises above 3.3Mw. FEWW]
  • Eruption appears to be ongoing.
  • No measurable geophysical changes within the Katla volcano reported.
  • System chaos is increasing,  rather than decreasing.

Volcanic Ash Advisory from London – Issued graphics


Click image to enlarge.

Earthquake location   07 May 15:05 GMT [IMO]



© Veðurstofa Íslands. Click image to enlarge.


Freeze Frame Eyjafjallajökull Hvolsvöllur Webcam (15:30UTC). Fire-Earth estimates the plume to be reaching a height of about 7km a.s.l. Click image to enlarge.

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Volcanic Ash Closes Parts of UK Airspace Again

Posted by feww on May 5, 2010

Iceland’s Volcanoes Could Potentially Cause Collapse of Europe

Eyjafjallajökull Volcanic Ash closes Airspace over Ireland and Scotland Once Again

Airspace over Northern Ireland and Scotland will be closed from 07:00 to 13:00GMT (UTC) on Wednesday due to a new cloud of volcanic ash drifting from Eyjafjallajökull Glacier volcano in Iceland, the UK Civil Aviation Authority said.

The ash cloud is expected to move further south, possibly forcing the closure of airspace in the NW England and north Wales today.

“The situation is very dynamic, so passengers expecting to travel from the impacted airports should contact their airlines to check whether their flight is operating,” CAA website said.


Volcanic Ash Advisory from London – Latest graphics   click image to enlarge


These images are monitoring for the presence of volcanic ash emission in the vicinity of Iceland using infrared data from the Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) satellite. Because cloud particles and volcanic ash particles interact with the infrared radiation in different ways, data at several different wavelengths can be combined to identify the main ash plume, which, when present, would be shown as yellow and orange colours in the images. Note that it is only the thicker parts of the plume that are able to be detected by this method. In addition, the ash plume is often masked by overlying high cloud. Source and Copyright EUMETSAT/Met Office.

A Webcam Image of Eyjafjallajökull Eruption saved by Icelandic Review yesterday. The webcams seemed to be out of action today.


One function of webcams is to prevent unnecessary traffic to the site of volcano, which could also be extremely hazardous.

Icelandic Met Office said:

Plume was observed at 5.8-6 km height (19-20,000 ft) estimated from the Icelandic Coast Guard (ICG) flight at 10:40 and 15:30 GMT. It is heading east-south-east to south-east from the eruption site. Plume track clearly visible up to 300-400 km distance from the eruption site on a NOAA satellite image at 13:13 GMT.

On lava flow they reported:

Lava is still flowing northwards, forming a lava fall down the steep hill under Gígjökull, about 4 km north of the crater. Blue gas is seen rising from the lava and white steam plumes are seen somewhat lower and mark the front of the lava stream. The size of the eruptive crater is 280 x 190 m. Lava splashes are thrown at least a few hundred meters into the air.

Status Report: 14:00UTC, 04 May 2010 – IMO and Earth Science Island:

Explosive activity and ash production is strong and has increased since yesterday. Dark ash plume rises above the crater. Lava is still flowing northwards, forming a lava fall down the steep hill under Gígjökull, about 4 km north of the crater. Blue gas is seen rising from the lava and white steam plumes are seen somewhat lower and mark the front of the lava stream. Radar images from ICG-flight today show tunnels in Gígjökull increasing in size and continuing the build up of the cone at the crater. The size of the eruptive crater is 280m x 190m. Lava splashes are thrown at least a few hundred meters into the air.

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