Airplanes fall out of European sky as a result of Eyjafjallajokull Volcano Eruption in Iceland

The dust cloud caused by an Icelandic Eyjafjallajokull Volcano is now covering Europe and causing more than allergy reactions as thousands of European travelers are finding their flights delayed or even cancelled as several Airports have closed their doors and delayed flights.

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Although it has not been mentioned, the flight delays and cancellations will have a ripple effect felt around the world for quite some time as travellers search to find alternate ways to get home.

At this time, Lufthansa seems to have effected most travelers with the complete closure of Frankfurt International Airport and resulting cancellation of all flights both coming in and going out of Frankfurt International Airport.




Other Airports either closed or with serious flight restrictions caused by the Eyjafjallajokull Volcano dust cloud include Copenhagen Airport, Helsinki Vantaa airport, Frankfurt-Hahn Airport, Hamburg Airport, Bremen Airport, Prague Airport, Brussels Airport, Hanover Airport, Muenster/Osnabrueck Airport, Salzburg and Linz Airport, Vienna Airport, Geneva Airport, Norway’s Olso Airport, Dusseldorf Airport and Cologne.

In addition, all 25 airports being operated by Finavia have had been shut down as a result of the Eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull Volcano in Iceland. Further information on the Finlavia closures will not be available until at least tomorrow.

The complete list of European Airports which are closed as a result of Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull Volcano is growing. Suffice to say, if you or someone you know is planning on flying in or out of Mid or Northern Europe today, you can pretty much forget about it as the volcanic dust cloud from.




The dust cloud from Eyjafjallajokull Volcano in Iceland is also effecting the UK as airports in Scotland have been shut down effective today which is sending a shockwave throughout England as flights in and out of Liverpool, Manchester, Stansted, Birmingham, East Midlands, Bristol, Luton, Gatwick and Heathrow International Airport have also been effected by the eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull Volcano in Iceland.

Like the European skies, it is unclear how long air traffic in and out of Europe will be in Chaos as a result of the 2010 Eyjafjallajokull Volcano eruption in Iceland. We will continue to search for live video footage and webcams of the Eyjafjallajokull Volcanic eruption in Iceland.

Aside from frantic travellers who are stranded as a result of the Eyjafjallajokull Volcano eruption airport closures searching for available hotel rooms in the already swamped region, there will be some new coming out with regard to ticket refunds. You see, many airlines and insurance companies have "Act of God" or "Natural Disaster" exclusions which could leave many already cash strapped travellers with the unexpected expense of having to purchase another ticket just to get home. This is no small event people.

MOUNT REDOUBT IN ALASKA CONTINUES TO ERUPT

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Alaska's Mount Redoubt is continuing its volcanic explosions, the latest sending an ash cloud almost ten kilometres above sea level. The two new eruptions occurred less than an hour apart late Thursday and early Friday. The National Weather Service is warning about possible light ash falls in Anchorage, 160 kilometres to the northeast.

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Alaska Airlines has said it would assess the ash situation Friday morning before deciding whether to resume flights at Anchorage. The ash can damage airplane engines.


Since the series of eruptions began Sunday night, the volcano has had several bursts. One earlier in the day Thursday sent ash 20 kilometres high. The last time the volcano had erupted was during a four-month period in 1989-90.

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VIEW A LIVE MOUNT REDOUBT WEBCAMERA HERE

UNDERSEA VOLCANO IN TONGO ERUPTS SENDING VOLCANIC ASH INTO THE SKY

Spectators watch as an undersea volcano erupts off the coast of Tonga, tossing clouds of smoke, steam and ash thousands of feet (meters) into the sky above the South Pacific ocean, Wednesday, March 18, 2009. The eruption was at sea about 6 miles (10 kilometers) from the southwest coast off the main island of Tongatapu, an area where up to 36 undersea volcanoes are clustered.(




An undersea volcano in the South Pacific is spewing stunning columns of smoke, steam and ash thousands of feet into the air.
The eruption began Monday after a series of earthquakes near Tonga, a 170-island archipelago between Australia and Tahiti, residents told the Associated Press. There were magnitude-5.0 quakes there Sunday night and Monday afternoon, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

Though the Wellington Volcanic Ash Advisory Center (VAAC) issued an advisory for the area, the plume isn’t engendering island residents and so far hasn’t hurt fish or other animals, according to the AP.

Yesterday a plume rose to between 15,000 and 25,000 feet (4.6 to 7.6 kilometers), the Smithsonian's Global Volcanism Program reported. "It's a very significant eruption, on quite a large scale," Tonga's chief geologist, Kelepi Maf, told the Times of London. This is not unusual for this area and we expect this to happen here at any time."

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It’s unclear whether the earthquakes are linked to the eruption. Sally Kuhn Sennert, who writes the weekly volcano report for the Smithsonian, didn’t immediately return a call and email for comment.

But Simon Turner, a geochemist at Macquarie University in Sydney, told the Times that the quakes and volcano eruption probably aren’t linked. "If this eruption was caused by the earthquake, it would mean magma coming 110 kilometers (68 miles) to the surface in a few days," Turner told the newspaper. "I think that would be fairly unlikely."

Tonga is part of the ''ring of fire,” an arc of earthquake and volcanic zones in the Pacific. We’ve got more on what causes a volcano to erupt and the ring of fire below.

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An a undersea volcano erupts off the coast of Tonga, tossing clouds of smoke, steam and ash thousands of feet (meters) into the sky above the South Pacific ocean, Wednesday, March 18, 2009. The eruption was at sea about 6 miles (10 kilometers) from the southwest coast off the main island of Tongatapu, an area where up to 36 undersea volcanoes are clustered.

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When a part of the earth's upper mantle or lower crust melts, magma forms. A volcano is essentially an opening or a vent through which this magma and the dissolved gases it contains are discharged. Although there are several factors triggering a volcanic eruption, three predominate: the buoyancy of the magma, the pressure from the exsolved gases in the magma and the injection of a new batch of magma into an already filled magma chamber. What follows is a brief description of these processes.

As rock inside the earth melts, its mass remains the same while its volume increases--producing a melt that is less dense than the surrounding rock. This lighter magma then rises toward the surface by virtue of its buoyancy. If the density of the magma between the zone of its generation and the surface is less than that of the surrounding and overlying rocks, the magma reaches the surface and erupts.

Magmas of so-called andesitic and rhyolitic compositions also contain dissolved volatiles such as water, sulfur dioxide and carbon dioxide. Experiments have shown that the amount of a dissolved gas in magma (its solubility) at atmospheric pressure is zero, but rises with increasing pressure.

For example, in an andesitic magma saturated with water and six kilometers below the surface, about 5 percent of its weight is dissolved water. As this magma moves toward the surface, the solubility of the water in the magma decreases, and so the excess water separates from the magma in the form of bubbles. As the magma moves closer to the surface, more and more water exsolves from the magma, thereby increasing the gas/magma ratio in the conduit. When the volume of bubbles reaches about 75 percent, the magma disintegrates to pyroclasts (partially molten and solid fragments) and erupts explosively.

The third process that causes volcanic eruptions is an injection of new magma into a chamber that is already filled with magma of similar or different composition. This injection forces some of the magma in the chamber to move up in the conduit and erupt at the surface.

Although volcanologists are well aware of these three processes, they cannot yet predict a volcanic eruption. But they have made significant advances in forecasting volcanic eruptions. Forecasting involves probable character and time of an eruption in a monitored volcano. The character of an eruption is based on the prehistoric and historic record of the volcano in question and its volcanic products. For example, a violently erupting volcano that has produced ash fall, ash flow and volcanic mudflows (or lahars) is likely to do the same in the future.

Determining the timing of an eruption in a monitored volcano depends on measuring a number of parameters, including, but not limited to, seismic activity at the volcano (especially depth and frequency of volcanic earthquakes), ground deformations (determined using a tiltmeter and/or GPS, and satellite interferometry), and gas emissions (sampling the amount of sulfur dioxide gas emitted by correlation spectrometer, or COSPEC). An excellent example of successful forecasting occurred in 1991. Volcanologists from the U.S. Geological Survey accurately predicted the June 15 eruption of the Pinatubo Volcano in the Philippines, allowing for the timely evacuation of the Clark Air Base and saving thousands of lives.

ALASKA REDOUBT VOLCANO about to ERUPT

Mount Redoubt, a volcano 100 miles southwest of Anchorage, is rumbling and simmering, prompting geologists to warn that an eruption may be imminent. Scientists from the Alaska Volcano Observatory have been monitoring activity round-the-clock since the weekend.



On Thursday, the observatory said: "Seismicity remains above background and largely unchanged with several volcanic earthquakes occurring every hour." The last time the 10,197-foot peak blew was during a five-month stretch starting in December 1989. It disrupted international air traffic and placed a layer of volcanic dust throughout the Anchorage area.

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"The level of seismic activity" has "increased markedly" in recent days at the 10,197-foot peak located about 100 miles southwest of Anchorage, the state's most populous city, according to the Alaska Volcano Observatory. "We don't have a crystal ball," said Peter Cervelli, a research geophysicist with the observatory, which is aggressively monitoring the volcano. But "we expect based on the past behavior of this volcano that this activity is going to culminate in an eruption." The activity has consisted "of a combination of discrete, relatively small earthquakes and periods of more continuous volcanic tremor," Cervelli said.



Scientists raised the alert status Sunday to a "watch" level, the second-highest, based on seismic activity detected January 23. The "watch" status means the "volcano is exhibiting heightened or escalating unrest with increased potential of eruption, time frame uncertain, or eruption is under way but poses limited hazards," according to the U.S. Geological Survey.



Maureen Burke, 29, a coffee shop manager in Anchorage, said she remembers the last eruption and isn't too worried this time. She said living in Alaska and being close to nature, residents just laugh such events off, dealing with them as they come. Falling ash is a potential problem. The best way to protect yourself from the harmful showers of ash is to wear a mask, Missy Moore, 33, said.



Volcanoes in Alaska, including Redoubt, typically erupt explosively, shooting ash almost eight miles high. Volcanic ash features small, jagged pieces of rock and glass. This differs from volcanoes in Hawaii, which usually have slow rolling lava ooze out. The difference is gas trying to escape gets blocked, possibly by a lava dome or a viscous magma that increases the power from beneath, said observatory geologist Jennifer Adleman. "Its pressure keeps building and building," she said.



Depending on wind, the ash plume could be pushed straight at Anchorage, the state's largest city. This has prompted state and city officials to post bulletins on how to deal with the ash. Tips include staying inside, wearing a mask or wet bandanna if going outside and wearing goggles over contact lenses.

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s an administrator and supervisor of Starbright Early Learning Center in Anchorage, Moore said, "it's really not anything to worry about just yet."



If Mount Redoubt covers nearby cities with ash, Moore said the school will adhere to the public school district's guidelines.



"If the [public] school district closes schools, our school closes too. The city of Anchorage advises citizens to stay indoors," Moore said. "The ash can get into your engines and mess up your car."



Shana Medcoff, 17, a barista in Kenai, about 50 miles from the volcano, said residents are encouraged to buy air filters for their cars.



Mount Redoubt last erupted nearly 20 years ago, in December 1989, and that lasted until April 1990. Geologists think there could be an eruption "similar to or smaller than the one that occurred in 1989-90." Learn more about Redoubt and its history »



That eruption spread ash in Kenai and Anchorage, where it disrupted air traffic operations. Cervelli said the ash plumes caused engine failure on a jet.



"It's not the closest volcano to Anchorage," Cervelli said, but "it has the potential to disrupt air traffic at Anchorage."



LIVE REDOUBT VOLCANO WEB CAMERA - Hit refress to get updated image

A better full screen view of the LIVE REDOUBT WEBCAMERA can be found here

The 1989-90 volcano also spurred volcanic mudflows, or lahars, that flowed east down the Drift River. The ash fall was seen as far away as Fairbanks and the Yukon Territory border.



The observatory has set up a Web camera near the summit of the volcano and another within Cook Inlet. It plans to do continuous visual surveillance, measure gas output and analyze satellite and weather-radar data.

Kasatochi volcano erupts in Aleutians, Alaska

The Alaska Volcano Observatory has issued a red alert for planes flying near the Kasatochi volcano in the Aleutian islands after a major eruption Thursday sent ash plume 45,000 feet into the air.

The 2-square-mile Kasatochi island about 50 miles west of Adak is uninhabited.

Kasatochi is one of three Aleutian volcanos currently erupting. Okmok began erupting July 12. Mount Cleveland erupted July 21.

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Kasatochi Volcano Latest Observations
From the Alaska Volcano Observatory:

2008-08-08 08:38:17

The eruption of Kasatochi continues. Current satellite data shows a continuous ash plume extending in a counterclockwise spiral for about 600 miles (950 km). The NWS warning message for the ash cloud estimates the cloud altitude at 45,000 ft (13.7 km).

We note that once ash emissions became continuous (sometime after 0500 UTC), volcanic tremor recorded on the nearest seismometers on Great Sitkin has declined. This could be due to a more open system the allows ash emission at lower levels of tremor.

A possible thermal anomaly was noted in a recent satellite image suggesting that the eruption is on land and not through an ocean vent.

Coast Guard press release:
The Alaska Volcano Observatory has reported Kasatochi Volcano has erupted just east of Adak Island, an island in the Aleutian Islands chain, causing an ash cloud in the area at an approximate elevation of 45,000 feet.

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Due to possible sub-surface eruption, numerous large pumice rafts, volcanic gases, or ash fallout may cause hazards to navigation. All mariners are urged to stay outside of seven nautical miles of Kasatochi Island and to use extreme caution while transiting that area.

Volcano in Alaska Erupts

A volcano in Alaska's Aleutian chain erupted on Saturday, sending a cloud of ash 35,000 feet (10.7 kilometres) into the air and prompting the evacuation of the 10 people who live on the eastern side of the island, officials said.

Okmok Volcano, located on Umnak Island, had an explosive eruption that started just before noon and was continuing through Saturday night, reported the Alaska Volcano Observatory, the joint state-federal agency that monitors Alaska's volcanoes.

The volcano rises to 3,520 feet (1,073-metre) and is located about 65 miles (105 kilometres) southwest of Unalaska/Dutch Harbor, a major fishing port with 4,300 full-time residents, and about 900 miles (1,450 kilometres) southwest of Anchorage.

Shortly after the eruption, the residents of the island's cattle ranch, located close to the volcano, placed a call seeking evacuation, the U.S. Coast Guard said. A fishing vessel took the Umnak residents to Unalaska, the Coast Guard said.

In Unalaska/Dutch Harbor, residents have been showered with a light ashfall, said Jennifer Adleman, a geologist with the Alaska Volcano Observatory.

"There have been reports of eye irritation and people being able to taste it, if you will," Adleman said. "Some folks have seen it on their windshields."

At least two airline flights into Unalaska/Dutch Harbor were canceled and advisories have been sent out to aircraft pilots and mariners, Adleman said.

Okmok Volcano is highly active, with about 16 eruptions occurring every 10 to 20 years since 1805, she said. The last eruption was in 1997, an event that produced ash clouds and a lava flow that traveled five miles across the volcano's caldera floor, she said.

There is a small Aleut village, Nikolski, that is also located on the other side of Umnak Island. That village of about 40 people is to the west of Okmok Volcano and out of the southeasterly path of the ash cloud.

President Michelle Bachelet tours Volcano Evacuee Shelters

President Michelle Bachelet toured shelters Sunday packed with evacuees fleeing a major volcanic eruption in southern Chile, as the Chaiten Volcano continued to blast ash into the sky.

Evacuees sought their president's support to rebuild the town of Chaiten outside the path of the like-named volcano, which sprung to life Thursday for the first time in thousands of years. Chaiten neighborhood association leader Lorenzo Maureira was among those suggesting the town of 4,500 should be moved.

But Bachelet said it was too early to decide on relocating the town, located 6 miles (10 kilometers) from Chaiten Volcano, and that experts were working to determine when it may be safe to return.

"Obviously, we'd like people from Chaiten to return as soon as possible, but we know there are still risks and uncertainty about how the volcano will behave," Bachelet said.

Roiling clouds of volcanic ash loomed overhead as Michelle Bachelet briefly visited Chaiten and spoke with a few remaining residents. A plume of ashes spewed by the Chaiten volcano as seen from the city of Chaiten, 1,200km south from Santiago, Chile on Monday. The volcano, which have erupted for the first time, has buried the surrounding region under a blanket of ash and has turned Chaiten into a ghost town, with its 4,000 residents - evacuated to nearby towns and cities - facing an uncertain future.

Police and soldiers patrolled deserted streets to keep looters from stores and homes, while preparations were made to evacuate the mountain village of Futaleufu near Chile's border with Argentina, Bachelet said. Her attempt to reach that village was frustrated by lack of visibility.

Visiting Puerto Montt, the president vowed to provide evacuees with cash subsidies, food, shelter and medical care, though she gave no details and unveiled no specific aid package.

Bachelet vowed to provide evacuees with cash subsidies, food, shelter and medical care, though she gave no details and unveiled no specific aid package.

"The people of Chaiten deserve a round of applause," Bachelet said, praising residents at a local shelter for their orderly evacuation.

Most of Chaiten's residents fled as the initial eruption cloaked their corner of the Los Lagos region with a thick layer of ash — polluting the air and water supply.

Police said Sunday that a 92-year-old woman died of a heart attack aboard a navy boat as she was evacuated.

Some residents already want to go home. "We will rebuild from the ashes," Chaiten Mayor Jose Miguel Fritis promised on Saturday.

Experts estimate that Chaiten last erupted at least 9,000 years ago.