Air Space over Europe Re-opens

(Dive Travel Business News - April 21, 2010) -- The eruption of the volcano under the Eyjafjallajokull glacier, about 120 kilometers (75 miles) southeast of the capital Reykjavik, continues but the ash clouds have lessened, allowing more airports across Europe to reopen today. Almost 75% of the 28,000 flights scheduled in Europe are expected to take place.

Almost all of European airspace below 20,000 feet is open allowing some 21,000 flights to take off in European airspace. Airspace above 20,000 feet opened this morning at 0900 GMT.  Some restrictions still apply to Sweden and Helsinki in Finland. Industry pundits say it could take weeks to get the airlines back online and passengers to their destinations.

By the end of Wednesday it's expected that a total of more than 100,000 flights would have been cancelled since April 15 when the cloud of volcanic ash first spread across northern Europe.

More good news - The eruption of Iceland’s Eyjafjoell volcano is spewing a substantial amount of CO2 into the atmosphere every day, but the grounding of most airplanes in Europe is offsetting the volcano's carbon emissions reports to the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies.  

Katla, another volcano located under a much larger glacier  next to the current eruption, is being closely monitored. According to scientists, Eyjafjallajokull is a rather mild volcano while Katla is highly active and dangerous. Katla's last eruption occurred in 1918 and history has shown that it often followed its next door neighbor in eruption. 

Ash and grit from volcanic eruptions can sabotage a plane in various ways: the abrasive ash can sandblast a jet's windshield, block fuel nozzles, contaminate the oil system and electronics and plug the tubes that sense airspeed. But the most immediate danger is to the engines. Melted ash can then congeal on the blades and block the normal flow of air, causing engines to lose thrust or shut down.

Scientists say that because the volcano is situated below a glacial ice cap, magma is being cooled quickly, causing explosions and plumes of grit that can be catastrophic to plane engines, depending on prevailing winds.

"Normally, a volcano spews out ash to begin with and then it changes into lava, but here it continues to spew out ash, because of the glacier," said Reynir Bodvarsson, director of Swedish National Seismic Network. "It is very special."

Bodvarsson said the relative weakness of the eruption in Iceland also means the ash remains relatively close to the earth, while a stronger eruption would have catapulted the ash outside of the atmosphere.

For Country Details visit CNN. More on Katla, visit Reuters. More on the disruptions visit USA Today. 

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