(picture from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8621992.stm)If you were planning on traveling to Europe today it looks like that's not going to happen. An erupting volcano in Iceland appears to have thwarted plans of many travelers. The volcano located under a glacier in the Eyafjallajokull region of Iceland erupted emitting volcanic ash. This ash drifted as a high-altitude cloud south to east. Now you may be asking yourself why can't the planes travel, and why is this volcanic ash considered so dangerous?
Volcanic ash is actually made up of small pieces of rock and glass emitted by volcanic eruptions. These materials are very fine particles less then 2 millimeters in diameter. You may ask yourself how do these rocks and glass get so small. Well, you see ash is created when solid rock shatters and magma separates into little bitty particles during explosive volcanic activity. Because eruptions are usually violent, steam that is involved results in the magma and solid rock surrounding the vent being torn into particles of clay to sand size.
How does an eruption in Iceland affect travel all over Europe?
The eruption started Wednesday and sent ash up into the air. The ash cloud continued to rise and spread over Scandinavia and as far north as Great Britain and is likely to spread over the whole island by the end of today. As the plume continues to rise and spread it will loose intensity.
Why can't plans fly through?
If the ash gets into the engines of a plane it can block up the ventilation holes and even stop engines. Also windows become abraded by ash and can't be seen through. So as you can see its pretty dangerous for planes.
soooo... it is pretty crazy to see how things work and how different things are effected by what happens in one place on earth by something in the earth!
