The Erupting Grimsvotn Volcano :-/

March and April last year saw the biggest disruption to European travel since World War 2 - the eruption of Icelandic Volcano Eyjafjallojokull sent jets of lava 150m up into the air and caused a 55, 00 feet cloud of ash. European airspace was closed down for 6 days amid fears that the ash could damage jet engines, 95,000 flights were cancelled across Europe leaving hundreds of thousands of travellers stranded, however these flight cancellations also avoided 344,109 tonnes of CO2 emissions from the aeroplanes.

One year on and a new eruption from another of Iceland’s Volcano's, Grimsvotn has begun firing ash, smoke and steam 12 miles into the sky, its largest eruption in over 100 years. The ash is set to hit Scotland by mid-day tomorrow (24.5.11) and spread across the rest of Europe by the end of the week.

The exploding volcano as seen from space (Image: AFP / NASA Modis)

 

 

Although this eruption has been larger than the one at Eyjafjallijokull, experts say the impact on air travel will be limited in comparison due to favourable wind conditions and a heavier cloud of ash, which is likely to fall to Earth before it can spread too far. With lessons learned from last year, officials say we will not be facing the widespread closures unless the cloud gets particularly dense.
 

So we can all breathe a sigh of relief as our treasured and most certainly well-deserved holidays should flow according to plan.

Follow this link for more facts about Volcano’s
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/22/us-iceland-volcano-eruptions-idUSTRE74L30I20110522

Peace 

UGxx