iKoz

The beautiful glacier of Eyjafjallajökull, is the source of volcanic activity

Thousands of passengers are stranded in airports across the world as flights in Europe have been cancelled due to a volcanic eruption in Iceland.

On March 20th a volcano on the Icelandic glacier of Eyjafjallajökull erupted. The eruption briefly ceased before resuming violently on April 14th. Although 800 people in Iceland have been evacuated life on the sparsely populated island has continued without significant disruption.

From April 15th winds carried the plume of volcanic ash south east into Europe, causing national authorities to ground flights across the continent. As of April 18th flights remain suspended, on the 16th of April 16,000 of 28,000 European flights were cancelled and on April 17th 16,000 of 22,000 flights were cancelled.

Thousands of passenger stranded across the world are becoming desperate as they are unable to get home. It is estimated 5,000,000 are now stranded. Rail, bus and ferry services across the continent are increasing congested: fairs on the Eurostar service between London and Paris have skyrocketed and remains fully booked. The economic fallout could be immense, airlines are losing millions per day and tonnes of freight has been diverted to road and rail across Europe, drug supplies remain stuck at airport warehouses, mail is piling up as the delivery process has stalled and millions of tonnes of food is now rotting in warehouses in Africa unable to be imported into Europe. Most world leaders who had announced plans to attend the funeral of the late Polish President Lech Kaczynsk have had to cancel their plans, although the dedicated President Valdis Zatlers of Latvia embarked on a 14 hour car trip in order to attend.

The ash cloud over Europe on April 18, 2010: Ironically Iceland remains mostly ash free. Map from the New York Times.

It remains unclear how long the situation will continue,  Eyjafjallajökull last erupted in 1821 until 1823, in 1612 and in 920. If the prevailing wind changes direction consistently for a sustained period then the ash cloud will start to dissipate. Some reports suggest that in the worst case Eyjafjallajökull could continue to erupt for several months.

A few European airlines including AirFrance, Lufthansa and KLM have disputed the public hazard of the ash plume, claiming they have successfully undertaken test flights with no damage reported.

Still it’s amazing that one obscure volcano on a little known glacier, Eyjafjallajökull, in a far remote and isolated part of the world could cause such a disruption. It’s a reminder that we still aren’t quite in control, that natural events still have potential to drastically effect our lives with substantial global consequences.