Iceland volcanic eruption

[The Chronicler]

Since we have a lot of members who live in Europe, I wanted to bring up a bit of news I've been hearing about recently. The ash cloud from a volcanic eruption in Iceland has spread into northern and western Europe, causing virtually every flight to and from those areas to be canceled. These flights were canceled due to the hazards of flying through an ash cloud, but there's no telling how long it will take for that ash cloud to dissipate. Based on one article I read, these flight disruptions could last for days or even weeks.

[Mumbling]

Yep.. It has been there for 2 days I think by now. Amsterdam, London and Paris all closer = no good. I've heard that my dad had several meetings with people from China (for his work) cancelled because the airports are closed here.

I've even heard that the volcano might keep on erupting a couple more times for the next 1.5 year... I hope it doesn't erupt this summer, as I wanna go to Canada. Bah.

[Littlefoot1616]

Apparently the ash is still hovering over the western part of the continent. A lot of flights out of London are still suspended until Monday but it's not gonna last the entire summer. As per usual, health officials have gone haywire worried about ash settling and being inhaled causing asthma and lung diseases etc. To be honest, according to satallite pictures, I'm directly underneath where the ash cloud is in the atmosphere and we've had nothing but sunshine for the past 2 weeks. Which makes a nice change!

[jedi472]

Apparently the ash is still hovering over the western part of the continent. A lot of flights out of London are still suspended until Monday but it's not gonna last the entire summer. As per usual, health officials have gone haywire worried about ash settling and being inhaled causing asthma and lung diseases etc. To be honest, according to satallite pictures, I'm directly underneath where the ash cloud is in the atmosphere and we've had nothing but sunshine for the past 2 weeks. Which makes a nice change!

I'm glad you mentioned that there isn't much of a visual sign of any ash. When I first read the report, I immediately thought of massive, impenetrable clouds of dust blotting out the sun, or at least what happened to a few cities in America after the Mt. St. Helens eruption in 1980. Thank God that wasn't the case!  

[Mumbling]

Some did, lol



That was in Iceland though.

[jedi472]

Some did, lol



That was in Iceland though.

Wow..that'd be a hell of a sight to wake up to!  

[Kor]

I can imagine it sure would be impressive.  It was enough for someone to take a picture of it.  

I guess with the airplane flights being canceled they'd rather be overly careful then the other way around.  Which is how many humans tend to be.  Fixing a problem after something happens.

[Noname]

Is there any official tally of the economic costs of this eruption?

[MrDrake]

Do hope it doesn't stay in the air for too long.  Hopefully that it will clear up at some point, hopefully soon too.

[Kor]

Hopefully some wind or rain will help disperse it.

[aabicus (LettuceBacon&Tomato)]

^ Ash clouds are weird. I live in an area with a lot of fires, and all wind does is spread the ash around, it doesn't really blow the ash away. Rain is slightly better, because a lot of ash will disintegrate when it comes in contact with water, but a lot of it will just become soupy and creep into cracks and shingles and stuff like that. It's a real hassle all around.

[Amaranthine]

I hope the people in Iceland get out of there safely. :unsure:

And I just want to say WOW about the piccy. Just more proof that nature is both beautiful and very deadly.

[Kor]

It may result in a layer of dust on everything in some places.  I forgot when but I recall as a kid some volcano erupted off somewhere and all we got was one morning there was what looked like a thin grayish layer of dust on everything that was outside.

[Mumbling]

Is there any official tally of the economic costs of this eruption?

The paper said a couple of millions get lost every day.

[Malte279]

^ And they don't know how long it is going to continue.
Over here some people say that closing down the whole flight traffic over Germany is overkill, the much the more as we have absolutely clear and sunny skies for pretty much the first time in the year without a spot of ashes to be seen anywhere.

[The Chronicler]

Based on the articles I've read over the last few days, the entire airline industry loses about 200 million dollars every day. Now that its day 5, the total loses have now reach a billion dollars.

According to the most recent article I read, some flights are being resumed today. Only about half of the scheduled flights are expected to fly, while the rest remain grounded. Also mentioned in that article was that the volcanic eruption has strengthened and a new ash cloud was heading towards Britain.

[Kor]

Sounds unfortunate for those who depend on flight.  I wonder how long it'll last.

[Noname]

I've heard that half of the flights have resumed. Has anyone else heard anything to this effect? Are trans-Atlantic flights back?

[Littlefoot1616]

Despite the constant delays and pushing back of the formal re-opening of airports, one plane did touch down in Heathrow this evening after news announcements said that airports were scheduled to open up at 7pm this evening. However, eggheads have warned that apparently this volcano in Iceland is still spewing smoke and ash up into the atmosphere and so as quickly as the air traffic was reinstated; it may be shut down again just as fast. Guess it's gonna be very touch n go until the seismic activity of this volcano stops chucking ash into the air for good (or at least not as constantly).

[Noname]

Hopefully it will not take a tragic crash to make them close the airports. I hope that there will be no problems of this sort in the future, and I hope that this volcano stops erupting already.  :blink: