This looks to be a very serious event for all of Europe. I have been following it via the BBC News feed I have. I hope you stay safe and well.
Thanks, I will. And yes, I follow this as well on several news channels.
Hope you guys hold up all right, looks to be quite the spew. Mother Nature is really edgy lately.
Yes, we do held up all right. I noticed a slight eye irritation this night, but nothing else so far.
No more then normal. Its just with modern communications we know more about whats going on. Problem is that Iceland is part of the mid atlantic ridge and therefore could continue erupting for mounths or even years like hawaii does
So true, last time this volcano went through a cycle of eruptions, it lasted for 18 months.
No kidding-- there have been so many natural disasters strung together over the past six months, clustered one after the others. It's truly bizarre and more than a little intimidating. Finding out this volcano in Iceland erupted (again) and caused all this to happen had a sort of "now what?" feeling about it. Knowing that there are people the world over stranded in airports because of a massive plume of volcanic ash is seriously depressing-- waiting in lines forever is my personal vision of hell....
Yes, people are stranded. On the news today I even found out that president Obama can't get to the funeral in Poland due to the ash cloud which now is spreading out over the entire Europe.
And our prime minister can't get home to Norway for the same thing. Not to talk about that John Cleese is stranded in Norway. Just to mention three people that is stranded. Of course many others is as well, and now several are either taking buses, trains or boats to get to their location. Or, like in one case, take the cab instead of plane.
Yeah, people were angry over flights being delaied or cancelled. But honestly: I would rather be stranded on the ground than being in an aircraft that is forced to crashland due to engine malfunctions.
In our society people rather rant than think about the reasons.
The Volcanic ash is sucked into the fans of the jet engines and seals the very small wholes that are used for cooling the engine. Outcome: the engine overheats and malfunctions. Happened on Juli 24, 1982 with a Boeing 747. Thankfully the plane could do a controlled touch down.
Most of the people sitting on the airports in Germany are people who are waiting for flights going to other destinations in-country.
I don't know, I really like flying, but within Germany I travel by train. (I am 1,90 meters tall, how should I fit in an "ecenomy class" seat?)
Other than the really important business guys who cannot get to their really important business meetings in time, it has not affected us that much.
You can't see the stars as clearly as before, though (even in Berlin).
Low-level flights (like Police, Rescue and Army helicopters) don't seem to be affected. A formation of three heavy helicopters of the Federal Police just flew over my house.
@ Starfleetkid: Yeah, Earth was hit by a number of natural events lately. Do you know this feeling, that everything is soo far away... until it hits you right in the face....
Indeed, I would rather be stranded on the ground than in a plane under this circumstances. And I do know about the incident back in 1982 you talk about. It was shown in one of the episodes in "Air Crash Investigation", and I'm happy it all went well there. Before that time people didn't knew ash clouds were dangerous for planes, but that incident told them otherwise.
Oh, and in Northern parts of Norway and Sweden, limited air traffic is being done now.
And yes, I know the feeling of that everything is so far away, until it hits you in the face.
This looks like it will continue for quite a while longer yet. At a certain point, I am thinking there could be health issues for people with respiratory ailments or conditions. As to flying hither and yon, one of the things I miss about Europe is the train system. The seats are more comfortable. And larger. The food is better. And the scenery is very pleasant.
"Ride the train. Ride the train.
Everywhere I'm goin' I ride trains.
Sleepin' in a boxcar when it rains.
Ride the train. Ride the train."
True, the scientists believes this can continue for quite some time due to past history of that volcano. But their biggest fear, outside of that the volcano will trigger a lahar (volcanic flood), is that it can trigger a larger eruption from the much larger volcano Katla. In the past the eruptions of this volcano has indeed been followed up by an eruption from Katla.
Eyjafjallajokull is a relatively small volcano, unlike Katla, which is the largest volcano on Iceland. And Katla is already long overdue for the next eruption, an eruption the scientists fear will be ten times larger than the one from Eyjafjallajokull.
funny thing is, that ive seen a passanger plane (A330) flying...
maybe there where no passangers onboard.
btw great picture, i havent seen any ash clouds yet
Maybe the air space you live in has been cleared, not sure though. Thanks about the picture, by the way.
I may come with more pictures later, depends on the situation.
And yes; WHO states the volcanic ash can be a serious hazard to the health, and they encourage everyone to stay indoor should it start raining ash.
In VG (a Norwegian newspaper) it also says that a new ash cloud would soon reach Norway, and that ash cloud will be bigger and darker. The prognosis states that it will happen on Monday. And they say that the Southern parts of Norway will take the brunt of it. Interesting, as it's in the Southern parts of Norway I live.
But it all depends on the weather conditions the next few days if that cloud would affect Norway like that.
